When comparing Samsung MU7000 65" (UN65MU7000) vs TCL R617 65" (65R617), the Slant community recommends Samsung MU7000 65" (UN65MU7000) for most people. In the question“What are the best TVs?” Samsung MU7000 65" (UN65MU7000) is ranked 66th while TCL R617 65" (65R617) is ranked 128th. The most important reason people chose Samsung MU7000 65" (UN65MU7000) is:
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.
Specs
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Pros
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 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 Great picture quality
Regarding the overall picture quality, the TCL R617 performs on par with the noticeably pricier high-end TVs. In its price range, the TV offers exceptional performance no matter if it is placed in a dark or bright environment.
It can reproduce a wide range of bright and vibrant colors as well as some truly inky blacks because of its wide color gamut, high color accuracy, excellent gamma tracking, high native contrast ratio, and stellar peak brightness.
Colors pop and look realistic thanks to the low average color error dE of 2.33, which is noticeably below the color error margin that can be spotted by a human eye. Also, colors don't look flat due to the TV's near perfect gamma tracking. The colors look very bright thanks to the TV's high overall peak brightness that is measured at more than 700 nits. No other TV in this price range can get that bright.
Dark scenes look profound thanks to the high native contrast ratio and excellent uniformity of its blacks. The TV's native contrast ratio is measured at around 6000:1, which is significantly above what its competitors offer.
Pro Good for console gaming
Thanks to its low input lag and 4K 4:4:4 support, 65R617 is a good option for console gaming.
Pro Works well in a bright room
With this TV you will not have problems associated with reflections and glare even in fairly bright environments thanks to the TV's amazing brightness and semi-gloss screen finish that helps it to diffuse reflections fairly well.
The TV's peak brightness measures at around 700 nits, which is far above what the other TVs in this price range offer.
Cons
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 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 Poor viewing angles
To enjoy the exceptional picture quality of this TV, you need to sit right in front of it as the overall picture quality of the R617 decreases drastically when viewed from an angle. Black levels start to degrade once the vertical viewing angle gets higher than 11 degrees.
Though, this is a widespread issue for the VA TVs.