When comparing Samsung MU7000 Series 40" (UN40MU7000) vs Sony X930E 65” (XBR65X930E), the Slant community recommends Sony X930E 65” (XBR65X930E) for most people. In the question“What are the best TVs?” Sony X930E 65” (XBR65X930E) is ranked 12th while Samsung MU7000 Series 40" (UN40MU7000) is ranked 30th. The most important reason people chose Sony X930E 65” (XBR65X930E) is:
This TV offers much better HDR experience than the overwhelming majority of competitors in its price range because of its ability to display shots that combine bright and crisp highlights with some truly inky dark regions.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Great well-rounded option
The MU7000 is a great well-rounded option for watching movies, gaming, and sports. Its picture quality is decent, it has low input lag and low motion blur, and the screen uniformity is great. It can also be used as a PC monitor.
Pro Remote has a voice command feature
The MU7000's remote has a voice command feature that can perform actions as you physically would with the remote, and it can even be used to adjust settings directly.
Pro Intuitive user interface
The MU7000 runs on the Tizen smart platform, known for its simplicity and intuitiveness.
It’s easy to navigate and access all the functions of features of the TV - the whole menu of the Tizen OS is organized around a menu known as the “Smart Hub” which contains everything: apps, settings, input switching, etc.
It also has a section for quick access to frequently used items.
Pro Decent for casual movies/TV watching
The MU7000 is a decent pick if you're a casual viewer. You'll get a great 4K/SDR experience, but the HDR performance might be lacklustre due to the lack of local dimming and low HDR peak brightness.
Pro Decent for gaming
The MU7000 is decent for gaming thanks to the fairly low input lag and barely noticeable motion blur. Its input lag of ~20ms contributes to a responsive gaming experience, and the panel's response time of ~20ms means it can handle motion fairly well - most don't notice any visible trails behind fast-moving objects.
Pro Can be used as a PC monitor
The MU7000 is suitable as a PC monitor because of its relatively small screen size of 40". It can be used up front thanks to the small minimal viewing distance, and it has full 4:4:4 color support that ensures text or shapes with clear, hard edges are not blurry.
Pro Decent picture quality
The MU7000 looks good with really deep black levels and sufficient peak brightness levels for most content.
Dark scenes look amazing thanks to the panel’s contrast ratio of roughly 6300:1, which means it’s capable of producing blacks that are 6300 times darker than the brightest white pixel the screen can produce.
It gets bright enough for SDR content with a peak brightness level of ~350 nits, which is sufficient for making colors pop.
The best viewing experience will be in a dark environment where the panel won’t have to compete with light as the MU7000’s screen can’t get bright enough to perform as well in bright environments.
Pro Great for HDR
This TV offers much better HDR experience than the overwhelming majority of competitors in its price range because of its ability to display shots that combine bright and crisp highlights with some truly inky dark regions.
Pro Screen has virtually no reflections
The X930E's panel is excellent at handling reflections, thanks to its semi-gloss finish that significantly decreases the intensity of glare.
Pro Excellent for HDR content
The X930E shines when it comes to HDR content. HDR pictures look true-to-life with stunning highlights and great black details. This is thanks to the high contrast ratio, local dimming, wide color gamut, and really high peak brightness level.
The local dimming can make parts of the screen darker when neccessary, giving it a boost in contrast ratio from 5744:1 to 6564:1. This gives the image deeper blacks and greater detail, resulting in brighter HDR highlights and better overall picture quality.
Its wide color gamut enables it to reproduce all the colors neccessary for HDR, and the high peak brightness level of ~1.4k nits makes the color really vibrant.
Pro Excellent at handling glare
When set in a bright environment, the X930E's picture quality doesn't suffer from much deterioration.
It has no issues fighting glare thanks to its really high peak brightness levels of ~900 nits for SDR & ~1.4k nits for HDR. The intensity of glare is also further reduced by the panel's semi-gloss finish.
Pro Decent sound quality
The sound quality of X930E’s built-in speakers is decent enough for users that aren't picky about sound details.
Dialogue sounds clear, and details aren't drowned out by too much bass or treble. It can get pretty loud at ~95dB, but there's some distortion at higher volumes.
Pro Interface is ads-free
The X930E's interface has no ads, and it even has a feature for limiting ads in third-party applications.
Pro Great alternative to OLED TVs
The X930E doesn't suffer from image retention issues like OLED TVs do, and the picture quality can be considered on par with OLEDs in the same price bracket, making it a great alternative when image retention is a concern.
Pro Excellent at handling highly dynamic content
The X930E can handle fast-paced or rapidly-moving objects very well.
Objects don't leave any trail behind it, thanks to the panel's quick response time. It only requires ~13ms fully change the pixel's color, which eliminates virtually all motion blur.
The panel also has a native refresh rate of 120Hz that makes images look smoother.
Pro Excellent picture quality
The X930E’s picture quality is top-notch. Images are wonderfully reproduced with captivating colors and great detail.
The blacks are really deep - it’s about 6000 times darker than the brightest white pixel the screen can produce. This creates a sense of depth as the focus of the picture pops, without any loss in background details.
It gets even better when watching in a dark room. You’ll be able to notice subtle details in the picture, and dark scenes will look stunning as the lack of glare allows you to perceive blacks better.
On top of that, the colors are really vibrant, even in broad daylight, thanks to its really high peak brightness levels of ~900 nits for SDR & ~1.4k nits for HDR. It can get brighter than most smartphone’s screen under the sun without significant loss in picture quality.
Pro Works well straight out of a box
You will most likely not need to spend time calibrating this TV because it's out-of-the-box color accuracy is reasonably high.
Cons
Con Pretty expensive for a 40" TV
Other similarly priced TVs are 49" and above, while this specific model of the MU7000 (UN40MU7000) is only 40".
Con Glare might be an issue
The MU7000 might not be able to handle environments with lots of light, such as sunlight pouring into a living room with no curtains. Its panel is only average at handling reflections, and the brightness levels peak at ~350 nits which isn't really sufficient for fighting glare.
Con Speakers produce distortion at high volumes
The MU7000's speakers produces distortion that starts getting noticeable at around ≥40% of max volume.
Con Not suitable for group watching
The MU7000 has a narrow viewing angle that makes it unsuitable for group watching.
Audience sitting away from the center of the screen will not experience the same picture as those sitting in the center, because the picture quality starts to deteriorate significantly when viewing from just ≥20° away from the screen's center.
Con Might require some color calibration out of the box
The MU7000's colors might look off to some viewers out of the box due to its high white balance. Switching to the "Movie" option in "Picture Mode" should be enough to remedy this for most, but only calibration can fix this for some viewers.
Con Interface has ads
There are ads that can't be removed on the MU7000's interface.
Con Lacks support for Dolby Vision
The MU7000 currently supports the HDR10 format only.
Con HDR performance is lacking
The main drawback of the MU7000 is its HDR performance.
While it has a wide color gamut that allows it to reproduce the wide range of colors necessary for true HDR playback, it can’t get bright enough to take advantage of it. At only ~300 nits of brightness, it's pretty hard for HDR pictures to pop.
It also doesn’t have local dimming, so its black levels can’t be improved further for better HDR performance.
Con Lacks support for Dolby Vision
The X930E currently only supports the HDR10 format. Dolby Vision is not supported.
Con Speakers produce distortion at higher volumes
The X930E's speakers produces some distortion at higher volumes, and it becomes significantly noticeable when nearing maximum volume.
Con Poor viewing angles
The X930E is not suitable for group-watching because of its poor viewing angles.
Audience viewing from other angles might not experience the same picture quality as those directly in front of the screen. The picture quality starts deteoriating at just ~10° off the center of the screen with the blacks turning into gray and colors looking dull.
Con Doesn't sound good
The TV's overall sound quality is not a match to its picture quality.