Samsung MU9000 vs Q7F Review (UN55MU9000 vs QN55Q7F, UN65MU9000 vs QN65Q7F, UN75MU9000 vs QN75Q7F)

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The Samsung MU9000 is the flagship of Samsung’s 2017 premium UHD TV lineup while the  Samsung Q7F is the lowest priced model of the Samsung QLED TV lineup. In the marketplace, there are 3 screen size options for both including a 55 Inch (UN55MU9000 vs QN55Q7F), a 65 Inch (UN65MU9000 vs QN65Q7F), and a 75 Inch (UN75MU9000 vs QN75Q9F). For pricing, the Q7F series is more expensive than the MU9000 and the difference depends on the screen size. The bigger the screen size, their difference in price is more significant. So what technology and features are offered by and what is a better choice for you?

The Short Review of the Samsung MU9000 (UN55MU9000, UN65MU9000, UN75MU9000)

As mentioned, the Samsung MU9000 is the top model of Samsung’s 2017 Premium UHD TV lineup. Compared to the predecessor KS900 series, the MU9000 lacks a quantum dot panel and as a result its color gamut is not as wide as the predecessor KS9000 series. Nevertheless with the support of 4K color Drive extreme technology, it delivers a wide color gamut and has good rendition of color. Like other models of Samsung’s 2017 4K HDR TV lineup, the MU9000 comes with HDR technology and is powered by the 4K HDR Extreme Engine just like its HDR processor. But unlike the mid-priced to high-priced class of LG televisions, the Samsung MU9000 supports HDR 10 format only and with a software update, it also supports HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma) once format standardization is confirmed.

For its display panel, the Samsung MU9000 uses VA panel technology with an edge-lit LED backlight and local dimming technology (Precision Black). Maximized by Triple Black Extreme technology, this makes the contrast and black level produced by the MU9000 to be strong and deep for an LED TV. For delivering bright peak luminance, it’s powered by Peak Illuminator Pro, resulting in a very bright peak brightness for fighting glare in a bright room. The combination of bright peak brightness, strong contrast, and wide color gamut results in an amazing picture quality on screen, no matter the light condition of the room used. Unfortunately, since it uses a VA panel technology, its side viewing angle coverage is poor. This means that when watched from an angle, the picture displayed on screen doesn’t look as good as when watched from the center and front.

The Samsung MU9000 is a good TV when used for watching sports programs and other fast paced movies since it has a low pixel response time that is maximized by Motion Rate 240 Hz technology based on a native 120 Hz refresh rate panel.  Not only that, it’s also a good TV when used for watching 24p movies due its ability to remove the judder from any source. For playing games although not exactly the best, its pixel response time is quite low, making game play on the MU9000 to feel responsive without lag. For its smart TV platform, the MU9000 features the Tizen 2017 OS that offers a fast, responsive, and attractive smart TV experience with a lot of useful apps available.

>> Please click here to see today’s price for the MU9000 <<

Short Review of the Samsung Q7F (QN55Q7F, QN65Q7F, QN75Q7F)

As  mentioned, the Samsung Q7F is the lowest priced model of Samsung’s 2017 QLED TV lineup. QLED TV is Samsung’s advanced Quantum Dot technology and is the mainstay technology of the Q7F. Driven by the Q 4K Color Drive Elite, it can almost perfectly display color in DCI P3 color space that makes it including TVs with the best rendition of color. With a focus on HDR, the Samsung Q7F is powered by Q 4K HDR Elite as its HDR processor. But unlike the competitors (like the LG OLED TV and the Sony X930E series which supports Dolby Vision), Q7F doesn’t yet Dolby Vision and only supports HDR 10 and HLG format only. Nevertheless, HDR performance that offered is really great, allow you to enjoy HDR entertainment like what intended.

Like MU9000 series, the Samsung Q7F also uses a VA panel technology with Edge Lit LED backlight on its panel. Additionally, it also has local dimming technology called (precision black). It also comes with a higher version (pro version) that has more dimming zones. Unfortunately, Samsung does not clearly reveal how many dimming zones for each. For maximizing contrast ratio and black level produced, there is also Samsung’s advanced technology like Supreme UHD Dimming, Contrast Enhancer, and Q 4K Elite Black technology. For maximizing performance in a bright room, there are some advanced technologies behind it like the Ultra Clear Panel, Peak Illuminator Pro, and more. The combination of bright peak brightness, good black uniformity, strong contrast, and excellent rendition of color makes the picture displayed on screen to look absolutely amazing. But even so, like the MU9000, its side viewing angle coverage is poor, making the picture look degraded when viewed from an angle.

For maximizing performance when playing fast paced content or 24p movies, the Samsung Q7F is also powered by Motion Rate 240 technology based on a native 120 Hz refresh rate panel. Paired to its pixel response time, results in a very smooth and clear picture quality with virtually no motion blur when used for watching sports and other fast paced video. Its performance when playing 24p video is also great, allowing you to enjoy 24p movies from any source with judder-free. Additionally its input lag is low for any source and similar to the MU9000, making it is very enjoyable when playing any kind of game with any resolution, even fast games. And like the MU9000, it also comes with the Tizen OS for its smart TV platform with a metal-finished smart remote.

>> Please click here to see today’s price for the Q7F <<

Samsung MU9000 vs Q7F Key Specs

Specs and Features Samsung Q7F Samsung MU9000
Resolution 4K (2160×3840) 4K (2160×3840)
Sizes Available 55 Inch (QN55Q7F), 65 Inch (QN65Q7F), 75 Inch (QN65Q7F) 55 Inch (UN55MU9000), 65 Inch (UN65MU9000), 75 Inch (UN75MU9000)
Panel Technology VA Panel VA Panel
Screen Type Flat Flat
Backlighting Technology Edge Lit LED Edge Lit LED
Local Dimming Yes (Precision Black Pro) Yes (Precision Black Pro)
Picture Engine Q Engine UHD Remastering Engine
HDR Engine Q 4K HDR Elite 4K HDR Extreme
Color Technology Quantum Dot with Q 4K Color Drive Elite 4K Color Drive Extreme
Support 10 Bit Yes Yes
Blacks Technology Q 4K Elite Black Triple Black Extreme
UHD Dimming Supreme UHD Dimming N/a
Peak Illuminator Yes (Pro) Yes (Pro)
Ultra Clear Panel Yes Yes
Contrast Enhancer Yes N/a
Ultra Black Yes N/a
UHD Up-scaling Engine Yes Yes
Motion Rate 240 (native 120 Hz) 240 (native 120 Hz)
Smart TV Tizen 2017 Tizen 2017
Processor Quad Core Quad Core
Remote Samsung Smart Remote (TM1790A) Samsung Smart Remote (TM1750A)
HDMI 4 4
USB 3 3
RF In Terrestrial Terrestrial/Satellite
Audio Channel 4.2 2.1
Speaker Type Front Firing Down Firing + Front Firing
Sound Output 40 Watts 40 watts
Price See today’s price See today’s price

The differences between the Samsung Q7F and the MU9000

As mentioned above, one of the major differences between the Samsung MU9000 and the Q7F is the quantum dot panel where the Samsung Q7F comes with a quantum dot panel and the MU9000 doesn’t have this technology. This has a big impact on their rendition of color. With Samsung’s advanced quantum dot technology, the Q7F can nearly perfectly cover color in DCI P3 Color space and shows properly. On the other hand, the MU9000 supports a wide color gamut, but the colors that can be covered are not as wide as the Q7F. Additionally the Samsung Q7F and the MU9000 actually have some differences in technology and features supporting them like the level of precision black, Picture Engine, HDR Processor, Color Driver, Contrast Improvement technology, and others. Overall, their differences in some technology and features do not have a significant impact on the picture quality produced by each.

The Samsung MU9000 vs the Samsung Q7F Performance

Picture Quality

Essentially, both the Samsung MU9000 and the Q7F have a strong native contrast ratio and combine for good dark uniformity, making a dark scene picture displayed on screen to look excellent, even when viewed in a dark room. Additionally, this is able to make shadow detail of HDR images look very clear as intended by the HDR technology. For displaying HDR images as intended, an HDR TV must have 0.05 nits or darker of black level, and the native contrast ratio is quite strong to make black level produced by each far deeper than the standard requires.  Comparing them, the MU9000 as a lower priced model has a better native contrast ratio than the Q7F. This allows the Samsung MU9000 to have a deeper black level than the Q7F. Nevertheless, this difference is not significant and doesn’t have a big impact on the picture quality produced.

On the other hand, both of them also have great peak brightness, particularly when displaying HDR content. In a dark room and a lit room with moderately ambient light, bright scenes look excellent on each  screen. Both are bright enough to make highlights of HDR images get very bright. When set in a very bright room with a lot of ambient light or with sun light, both series might be the best option there is compared to other TVs which offer brighter peak brightness like last years Samsung KS Series and the Sony X930E. For each, performance is still better than most other TVs available on the market. Compared between them, each gets a different result depending on the source. When input by SDR signal, the MU9000 can show a brighter bright scene than the Q7F, but when the inputted is an HDR signal, the Samsung Q7F offers a better performance. But just like with contrast ratio, the difference in peak brightness doesn’t have a significant impact on the picture quality produced between them.

Samsung Quantum dot With 10 Bit Panel

When talking about color performance, this is a major advantage of the Samsung Q7F compared to the MU9000. Both equally support a wide color gamut, but the Q7F with the quantum dot panel series offers far better performance than the MU9000. Almost all color in DCI P3 color space can be properly shown on the screen of the Q7F. The Q7F is included among all TVs with the best color rendition, better than competitors like the LG OLED C7 and the Sony X930E series. On the other hand, although not as good as the Q7F series, the MU9000 also supports a wide color gamut and its rendition of color can also be considered as very good. Its still able to properly show most color in DCI P3 color space. Even so, like most of other modern TVs, it has a small issue with saturated green. Overall the Samsung Q7F has far better color volume than the MU9000 series. At a high brightness, the Q7F can produce saturated colors nearly perfect, while in darker color (although not as saturated as OLED TVs) the colors produced still get saturated.  On the other hand, the color volume of the MU9000 is also not bad. Except for dark colors, the MU9000 can show color in its color gamut coverage almost perfectly. For color performance, both equally support 10 bit depth of color and performance is similar. This means they can deliver about 1.07 billion shades of color. The result is both are able to show a smooth color gradient without any major color banding. Some imperfections might still visible in darker shades of color but overall (although not as good as what’s offered by Sony TVs) their performance is great.

Considering the many low resolution videos available on the market, both the Samsung Q7F and the MU9000 are equally equipped with a great UHD Up-scaling engine. This allows you to enjoy any resolution video with quality close to 4K resolution.  The final image in 4K resolution is really clear and sharp, even when the source is a low resolution video like DVD movies with 480p resolution. The higher the resolution of the video source like movies from HDTV with 720p resolution or Blu ray Movies with 1080p resolution, the final image 4K result will look sharper with small details preserved better.

Unfortunately, since both series use a VA panel, this makes side viewing angle coverage limited. The impact is the quality of the picture displayed on screen will look degraded starting at 20 degrees off center and front. Deep black shown on the screen will tend to look grey while the color will shift. This makes the picture displayed not as good as when you’re watching from the center and front. Nevertheless, it becomes the major drawback of the Samsung MU9000 and the Q7F, and as long as you don’t often watch TV from an angle, this certainly should not present a problem.

Motion Handling and 24p Playback

For maximizing the picture displayed when playing fast paced videos like sports programs and fast movies, both are powered by Motion Rate 240 Hz based on a native 120 Hz refresh rate panel. And essentially, both do a great job when handling motion blur. This means that when used for watching sports programs and other fast moving images, the picture displayed on screen looks smooth and clear with almost no motion blur visible. Because the Samsung Q7F has a lower pixel response time than the MU9000, this also makes the picture displayed on the screen of the Q7F to looks smoother and clearer with less motion blur than the MU9000. For those with untrained eyes, this difference might not be noticeable. On the other hand, both the Samsung MU9000 and the Q7F do a great job when playing 24p movies. No matter the source of the movie, whether it is 24p video like Blu ray movies, 24p video via 60i signals like movies from satellite TV or even 24p video via 60p signal like movies from streaming device, all of them will be displayed on screen clearly and smoothly judder-free. Nevertheless, to remove judder without adding the “soap opera effect”, you can change the picture setting to “Auto Motion Plus” then “Custom” and set both “Judder Reduction” and “Blur Reduction” to “0”.

Inputs/Outputs

Both the Samsung MU9000 Q7F and the MU9000 are equipped with 4 HDMI ports and 3 USB ports as their major connectivity. Additionally there is also 1 RF In, 1 Ethernet In, and 1 Digital Audio Out (Optical).  Both are not equipped with an AV In or Composite In. A small difference between them is their RF IN where the Samsung MU9000 supports both Antenna and Satellite In and the Q7F only supports Antenna. Unlike other TVs available on the market, most input/output ports for both series are located on a separate box called the “One Connect Box”. The difference between them is the Samsung Q7F comes with a “One Connect Box” with all the ports located on this box and no inputs/outputs located on the TV except for a port for the One Connect Box’s cable, while the MU9000 has 1 USB port and the Ethernet In installed on the rear panel. For input lag, both the Samsung MU9000 and the MU9000 have similar low input lag under Game mode and PC mode. With about a 20 ms – 25 ms input lag at any resolution, this certainly is low enough to make playing any kind of game feel responsive without lag.

Smart TV

For their smart TV platform, both feature the same smart TV platform of Tizen OS 2017. Both are also equally powered by a quad core processor to make performance fast and responsive. For this version, the layout is designed to be more attractive than last year’s version with a nicer theme and animation. Nevertheless this doesn’t reduce simplicity of navigation. Once you press the “home button” on the remote, you’ll be taken to an attractive “Home Screen” where there’s a “ribbon” across the bottom of the screen containing quick access to popular apps and your favorites apps. With this feature, you can launch an app without leaving the home screen. Once the app is launched, the loading time is fairly fast. When  selecting between apps or multitasking it’s also quick and responsive. And talking about apps provided, there’s a lot of preinstalled apps provided like YouTube, Amazon Video, Netflix, Web Browser, Cloud Games Apps, Screen Mirroring app, Social Network apps, and many more. Additionally there is also the Samsung apps store where there’s lots of downloadable interesting apps, games, and content provided and you can directly download them to your TV.

For the controller, both are equally equipped with the Samsung Smart Controller. A small difference in their remotes is the material of their case where the remote of the Q7F is made of metal and the remote of the MU9000 is made of plastic.  Regarding functionality, both are similar and both have minimalistic button. The quick access button is limited, there is even a no “number button”. Nevertheless to replace the lack of quick access to common functions, both are equipped with a built in microphone for voice command. Additionally both can be function as a universal remote for controlling other devices connected on your TV via HDMI ports.

>> Please click here to see today’s price for the MU9000 <<

>> Please click here to see today’s price for the Q7F <<

Summary

Performance Samsung MU9000 Samsung Q7F
Design (4.8/5) (4.8/5)
Picture Quality (3.9/5) (3.6/5)
HDR Performance (3.9/5) (4/5)
Motion Handling (4.2/5) (4.5/5)
Inputs (4.4/5) (4.4/5)
Sound Quality (3.1/5) (3.6/5)
Smart TV (4.1/5) (4.1/5)

Conclusion

Essentially both the Samsung MU9000 and the Samsung Q7F have good picture quality, no matter the light condition of a room where viewed. Both have equally strong contrast, good black uniformity, bright peak luminance, and wide color gamut, making the picture displayed on screen to look absolutely amazing. As mentioned above, the major advantage of the Samsung Q7F over the Samsung MU9000 is about color reproduction, where it has a more life-like picture quality with better rendition of color. Except for picture quality, particularly on the rendition of color, what’s offered by the Samsung MU9000 and the Samsung Q7F is not very different. Both offer great performance when used for watching fast paced video or 24p movies, offer a great UHD Up-scaling engine, have low input lag for any kind of game, and have an attractive and responsive smart TV platform. On the other hand, their drawbacks are also similar where they equally have a limited side viewing angle coverage.

Which is a better choice for you? With all the advantages offered, the Samsung Q7F is more expensive than the Samsung MU9000, depending on screen size. The decision is yours according to your preference and budget and the information you read here. If you have the budget and picture quality is your main consideration for buying a 4K TVhe Samsung Q7F is a better choice. If your budget is limited, the performance of the Samsung MU9000 is also very good.

>> Please click here to see today’s price for the Samsung MU9000 <<

>> Please click here to see today’s price for the Samsung Q7F <<

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