Samsung MU6300 40" (UN40MU6300) vs TCL S405 65" (65S405)

In its range, the Samsung MU6300 has better than average picture quality because of the TV’s high native contrast ratio, excellent black uniformity, and relatively high SDR peak brightness.

The TV does almost flawless dark scene reproduction. It has the highest contrast ratio in its range at 5768:1, which allows it to recreate rich and immersive dark scenes which are further enhanced by the TV’s excellent black uniformity. In fact, the MU6300 has the best black consistency out of all of its closest competitors, including the VIZIO M-series and Sony X720E.

Priced just above $400, the Samsung MU6300 is the most budget-friendly option in its range.

The Samsung MU6300 is an excellent companion to any current generation gaming console, including the Xbox One X, PS4 Pro, and Wii U. The TV is also suitable for HDR console gaming.

The MU6300 makes an excellent 4K computer monitor because of the TV’s fast response time and full 4:4:4 color support.

The Samsung MU6300 runs the Tizen smart platform which is well known for its simplicity and intuitiveness. Tizen’s entire menu is organized around the Smart Hub which acts as a gate for accessing all the functionality of the TV. Additionally, the Smart Hub has a row which contains the most-used apps.

As all the inputs of the Samsung MU6300 are situated on the side of the TV, you will always have unobstructed access to all the needed ports (HDMI ports, USB, Ethernet, etc.) even when the TV is mounted on a wall.

The Samsung MU6300 has all the bits and pieces needed for a good gaming TV. It has the input lag of 20.2 ms which allows it to do a decent job in fast-paced gaming. Additionally, the TV is perfectly suitable for HDR gaming, since its input lag remains low even while the TV is processing high-bandwidth 4K HDR input.

The Samsung MU6300 has everything needed to display high-quality dynamic content since it TV features well-handled motion blur, decent picture quality, and acceptable color uniformity.

The TV’s motion blur is handled by its relatively fast pixel response time which ensures that even fast moving objects do not leave overly long trails. Its full response time of 18.7 ms is on par with its main competitors, like the Sony X720E and VIZIO M-series.

While the MU6300’s color uniformity may not be as good as its main competitors, the TV is still capable of displaying attractive and uniform football, hockey, and golf fields.

The S405 is a decent, affordable pick if you're a casual viewer. You'll get decent picture quality and a good 4K experience, but the HDR performance might be lackluster due to the lack of local dimming, wide color gamut, and low HDR peak brightness.

The S405 strikes a nice balance between picture quality, screen size, and input lag, all for an affordable price of below $500. It's a great choice for watching and gaming casually without breaking the bank.

Compared to its direct competitors, it offers decent picture quality that is a tad below them, bigger screen size, and lower input lag.

Content looks decent enough for most casual viewers - the black levels are sufficiently deep, colors are vivid, and it gets bright enough for most types of content in a dark room.

The size difference is pretty huge as options with similar size of 49", or even smaller, cost fairly more than the S405.

Its low input lag of ~15ms contributes to a more responsive gaming experience. It's barely noticeable, and it’s also one of the lowest among 4K TVs, which is an impressive feat in this price bracket.

The S405 works well as a computer monitor thanks to its low input lag, barely noticeable motion blur, and full 4:4:4 color support. The 43" model can even be used up close due to its small minimal viewing distance.

The low input lag and low motion blur of ~15ms makes it highly responsive to input and gives it the ability to handle dynamic content well.

It also has full 4:4:4 color support, so text or shapes with hard edges on the screen won't be blurry.

The S405 is a good pick for watching sports thanks to its low motion blur and reasonably consistent color uniformity.

Fast-moving objects, like footballs, won't leave any visible trails on the screen due to the low motion blur of ~15ms. While there are slight uniformity inconsistencies in the edges of the panel when displaying large, same-color objects on the screen, like football fields, the issues generally go unnoticed by most.

The S405 runs on the Roku TV smart platform, touted for its simple, straightforward, and lag-free UI.

It’s easy for anyone to grasp how navigation works, thanks to its two-column design with the menu on the left and options on the right.

There’s also no noticeable lag during navigation or menu selection.

The S405 is excellent for gaming - the overall experience will be very responsive and fluid, thanks to the really low input lag and barely noticeable motion blur.

It has an input lag of ~15ms that makes the TV highly responsive to user input - gamers will have no issues keeping their actions in sync with what's on the display. The panel can fully change its pixels color in under 15ms, resulting in fast-moving objects not leaving any trails on the screen, eliminating virtually all motion blur.

It's also suitable for HDR gaming because there is no increased input lag for HDR, and it has full 4K support @ 60 FPS, which makes it suitable for all new 4K games.

The S405 has no ads on its main interface, although there can be ads in third-party applications. Third-party ads can't be blocked, but the tracking and personalization can be limited through the TV's settings.

The S405 is excellent at reproducing colors accurately out of the box.

Even without calibration, the colors are spot-on - they're very close to what the source signal demands and any inaccuracies are generally considered imperceptible to most end users.

The overall average difference between the source signal and the panel's reproduction of the color is measured in Delta-E, where lower means better accuracy. The S405 has a Delta-E of below 2.0, and anything below 3.0 is generally considered accurate for most end users.

The S405 looks decent with adequately deep black levels, above-average color accuracy, and sufficient peak brightness levels for most content.

It’s especially great at reproducing dark scenes thanks to the panel’s contrast ratio of about 4000:1, which means blacks can get really dark at about 4000 times darker than the brightest white it can produce.

Colors are spot-on even without calibration, and the panel can get bright enough with a peak brightness level of ~200 nits to make them pop in dark environments.

The best viewing experience will be in a dark environment where the panel won’t have to compete with light. The S405’s screen can’t really get bright enough to perform as well in bright environments.

Even when the S405 is mounted on a wall, you'll still have access to all essential inputs and outputs which are situated on the side of the unit.

The S405 is versatile enough to be used as a general-purpose display.

The picture quality is decent for movies and TV shows, and it checks all the boxes that make a TV suitable for gaming, sports, and as a computer monitor: low input lag, low motion blur, good screen uniformity, and full 4:4:4 color support.