Samsung NU6900 vs NU7100 – What are their Differences? (UN43NU6900 vs UN43NU7100, UN50NU6900 vs UN50NU7100, UN55NU6900 vs UN55NU7100, UN65NU6900 vs UN65NU7100, UN75NU6900 vs UN75NU7100)

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Samsung NU6900 and the Samsung UN7100 are Samsung’s entry level models of the 4K HDR LED TV Lineup. As an entry level TV, the performance and features offered may be not as excellent and complete as series above them, but they still have a great picture and a low price. Both of come in several screen sizes. For the Samsung NU7100, there’s a 40 Inch (UN40NU7100), a 43 Inch (UN43NU7100), a 50 Inch (UN50NU7100), a 55 Inch (UN55NU7100), a 58 Inch (UN58NU7100), a 65 Inch (UNUN65NU7100) and the largest is the 75 Inch (UN75NU7100). Similarly for the Samsung NU6900, there’s a 43 Inch (UN43NU6900), a 50 Inch (UN50NU6900), a 65 Inch (UN65NU7100), and a 75 Inch (UN75NU7100).  Within the same sized screen (such as UN43NU6900 vs UN43NU7100, UN50NU6900 vs UN50NU7100, UN55NU6900 vs UN55NU7100, UN65NU6900 vs UN65NU7100, and UN75NU6900 vs UN75NU7100), the Samsung NU6900 typically is lower priced than the NU7100. On the other hand, the features and technology offered by each isn’t much different. So what are their differences and which is a better choice for you?

The Samsung NU6900 vs the NU7100 Key Specs

Specs and Features Samsung NU6900 Samsung NU7100
Resolution 4K (2160×3840) 4K (2160×3840)
Sizes Available 43” (UN43NU6900FXZA), 50” (UN50NU7100FXZA), 55” UN55NU6900FXZA), 65” (UN65NU6900FXZA), and 75 Inch (UN75NU6900 FXZA) 40 Inch (UN40NU7100 FXZA), 43 Inch (UN43NU7100 FXZA), 50 Inch (UN50NU7100 FXZA), 55 Inch (UN55NU7100 FXZA), 58 Inch (UN58NU7100 FXZA), 65 Inch (UN65NU7100 FXZA), 75 Inch (UN75NU7100 FXZA)
Screen Type Flat Flat
Backlighting Technology Edge Lit LED Edge Lit LED
Local Dimming No No
UHD Dimming N/a Yes
Picture Engine UHD Engine UHD Engine
HDR Format HDR10, HLG HDR 10, HLG
Color Technology PurColor PurColor
Support 10 Bit Yes Yes
UHD Up-scaling Engine Yes Yes
Motion Clarity Enhancement Motion Rate 120 (native 60 Hz refresh rate panel) Motion Rate 120 (native 60 Hz refresh rate panel)
Smart TV Tizen 2018 with reduced some features Tizen 2018 with reduced some features
Processor Quad Core Quad Core
Samsung Bixby No No
Remote Samsung Standard Remote (TM1240A) Samsung Standard Remote (TM1240A)
HDMI 3 2
USB 2 1
Composite IN 1 0
Component In 1 0
Ethernet 1 1
RF In (Terrestrial) 1 1
Built In Wi-Fi Yes Yes
Audio Channel 2.0 2.0
Sound Output 20 watts 20 watts
Price See today’s price See today’s price

Technology and Features of the Samsung NU7100 and the NU6900

Panel Technology

As seen on the table above, there’s not many differences between the Samsung NU7100 and the NU6900. For the display panel, both use a VA panel with an Edge Lit LED backlight. Additionally both don’t have local dimming technology. As you may know, the use of a VA panel may make them produce a strong native contrast ratio and a deep black level which makes their desired performance in a dark room  to be good, but it comes at the expense of a poor side viewing angle.

Color Technology

For the technology that supports color reproduction, both the Samsung NU7100 and the NU6900 are powered by PurColor Technology. With this technology, both series can produce good color reproduction. Even so, it’s the lowest priced Samsung color technology priced lower than the Active Crystal Color and the Quantum Dot used for the higher priced series.

Motion Clarity Technology

For maximizing performance in handling motion blur, both are powered by Motion Rate 120 technology based on a native 60 Hz refresh rate panel. This technology may be Samsung’s best technology because Samsung makes a Motion Rate 240 technology used by their higher priced series. But the performance in handling motion blur isn’t solely dependent on this technology as motion blur is also controlled by a good pixel response time.

Smart TV Platform

Like the other models in Samsung’s 4K HDR LED TV Lineup, the Samsung NU6900 and the Samsung NU7100 feature the same Smart TV platform of Tizen 2018. Although with this smart TV platform, the features offered by the NU7100 and the NU6900 are not as thorough as the features seen on the higher priced series above these models. Both the NU7100 and the NU6900 do not have the Samsung’ Bixby Voice Assistant and are only equipped with the most basic remote for their controller.

The Differences

UHD Dimming

Although both the Samsung NU6900 and the Samsung NU7100 use a VA panel with an Edge Lit backlight, there is a major difference between these two in terms of the UHD Dimming technology. As seen on the comparison table above, the NU7100 has UHD Dimming technology while the NU6900 does not. Although the name of “UHD Dimming” is more like a misnomer and actually is not real local dimming. It’s actually an improvement in dimming technology designed in a way to deliver a deeper black and a brighter white so that the “halo” effect and picture distortion can be minimized as much as possible.

Connectivity

The Samsung NU7100 has more connectivity ports than the NU6900. As we see on the comparison table above, the NU7100 has 3 HDMI ports, 2 USB Ports, 1 Composite In and 1 Component In. Meanwhile, the Samsung NU6900 only has 2 HDMI ports, 1 USB ports and doesn’t have a Composite In and Component In. In addition to these inputs/outputs, both are equipped with the connectivity of RF In, Ethernet port and 1 Digital Audio Out (Optical).

>> Please click here to see today’s price for the NU6900 <<

>> Please click here to see today’s price for the NU7100 <<

The Samsung NU6900 and the NU7100 Performance

Picture Quality

Contrast and Black Level

Since both the Samsung NU7100 and the Samsung NU6900 use a VA panel, they have an excellent contrast ratio. The Samsung NU6900 has a bit stronger native contrast ratio than the NU7100, but their contrast ratio is each above 5000:1, meaning they both produce a deep black. The result is that the black produced by them will look very black, even when viewed in a dark room. Combined with their good black uniformity, this makes dark scenes displayed on screen to look excellent. Even when playing HDR content, the details of images in dark scenes are revealed excellently, making shadow detail also look excellent. With this great performance in producing a deep black, this certainly makes both the NU7100 and the NU6900 to be a good choice for watching movies in a dark room, particularly for those movies with lots of dark scenes such as thrillers and horror movies.

Peak Brightness

In contrast to the black level where both the NU7100 and the NU6900 excel, their peak brightness is mediocre. Except in a very small window where the peak brightness is less than 200 nits, both the Samsung NU6900 and the Samsung NU7100 only reach peak brightness up to 300 nits in any window size. With real scenes in either HDR or SDR content, they’re only able to reach a peak brightness of about 270 nits. Unfortunately this peak brightness is not bright enough to overcome glare when set in very bright room. On the other hand, since the peak brightness in very small window size is less than 200 nits, both can not show a small highlight brighter than the rest. Even when playing HDR content, their peak brightness is still far from the standard expectation. As you might know, to show HDR images like the creators intended, a TV must have a peak brightness brighter than 1000 nits. With the lower peak brightness reached by these series, you just will not get the full benefit offered by HDR technology. And since both series don’t have local dimming, when showing a small highlight they both can not eliminate the unwanted adjacent light around a small bright object which is a phenomenon known as “Blooming”.

Overall as long as you don’t use these in a very bright room, the picture displayed on their screen looks bright enough even though you’re not watching HDR content achieving the creator’s intent.  This means that both the Samsung NU7100 and the Samsung NU6900 are better suited for a dim room.

Color Performance

For their price range, the color gamut produced by the Samsung NU7100 and the NU6900 can be very good. Nevertheless, they both actually don’t support the wide color gamut needed by HDR content. Their color gamut can only cover about 80% of the DCI P3 color space. This means that their color gamut is best suited for SDR content. When playing HDR content, they can not show saturated color well. And their color volume is also disappointing. This is a result of their limited color gamut. Both can not produce deep dark color very well. Since their peak brightness is limited, their ability for producing bright saturated color like a bright outdoor scene is also limited. But we must remember, they are each an entry level TV. And although they can not show color of HDR images as intended, overall most colors of HDR images are still able to be shown fairly accurate and HDR images displayed on screen still look colorful and natural.

While color gamut and color volume of the Samsung NU6900 and the NU7100 are not very good, both  have good color gradient. When displaying 10 bit content such as HDR images, color gradient of images displayed on screen looks smooth. Some little imperfections may be noticeable in certain colors, but this should not be a major problem and overall their color gamut is excellent.

Side Viewing Angle

The use of a VA panel allows both the Samsung NU7100 and the Samsung NU6900 have an excellent native contrast ratio, but this makes viewing angle coverage to be poor. From the side, the quality of picture displayed on screen is not as good as when viewed from front and center. This is because — and starting at less than 15 degrees off center and front — the black will look degraded. Colors and brightness may be still able to be maintained at wider angles, but at less than 30 degrees the color will start to fade while brightness will decrease starting at less than 40 degrees.  This makes both series not well suited for use in a wide room with wide seating.

Motion Handling

Although the Samsung NU7100 and the Samsung NU6900 have the same native refresh rate panel at 60 Hz, the NU6900 has a better pixel response time than the NU7100. The result when playing fast moving images like sports and fast movies, on the screen of the NU6900 a ghosting trail following fast moving objects will look less noticeable than on the screen of the NU7100. This certainly makes motion look a bit smoother and clearer on the screen of the NU6900 compared to the NU6900. Even then the pixel response time of the NU7100 actually is not too bad where the motion trail looks longer than on the screen of the NU6900, but it’s still acceptable. The blur that may be visible is more caused by persistence than by pixel response time. While the NU6900 has a better pixel response time than the NU7100, in terms of backlight flicker, the NU7100 performs a better job than the NU6900. To dim the backlight, they both use a PWM Dimming System. In this case, the NU7100 uses 240 Hz of PWM frequency while the NU6900 uses 120 Hz.  Since the NU7100 uses a higher PWM frequency than the NU6900, this makes backlight flicker less noticeable.

As mentioned, blur that may be visible when playing fast moving images is more caused by persistence than by pixel response time, particularly when playing 60 fps content like sports and video games. To overcome this issue, both series have an optional 60 Hz BFI (Black Frame Insertion) mod. By activating this mode, is make backlight flicker at 60 Hz. The result is to help to clear-up motion but on the other hand, since the backlight flickers at a lower frequency, this could make flicker more noticeable. Even if this happens, if flicker becomes a problem then you can disable the option.

Input Lag

Discussing the input lag for PC and Game Mode, the Samsung NU7100 has better input lag than the NU6900. No matter the resolution of the source, the input lag of the NU7100 is lower than 15 ms, making it a good TV for gaming and when used as a monitor. This means that no matter whether you’re playing 1080p or 4K games, with HDR or non HDR, casual or fast paced games, with the NU7100 playing games will feel responsive. On other hand, although not as quick as the NU7100 in Game mode and no matter the resolution of the source, the input lag of the NU6900 is also lower than 25 ms. Although not as responsive as the NU7100, playing games with the NU6900 will also feel responsive. In PC mode, the input lag of the NU6900 is a bit higher, but still acceptable as a monitor.

Smart TV Experience

As mentioned previously, both the Samsung NU6900 and the NU7100 feature the Tizen OS for their smart TV platform and are powered by a quad core processor. In terms of user interface and performance, they’re not much different to what’s offered by the series above them such as the NU8000 and even Samsung’s QLED TV lineup. Navigation is still easy and simple. The preinstalled apps provided are also similar to the series above them. There is still video on demand Service like YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Video, Smart Things, web browser, screen mirroring apps, and much more. They also have an apps store called the “Samsung apps store” providing lots of downloadable apps, games, content, and much more. Even so their remote does lack Samsung’s Bixby Voice Assistant, which is a smart feature that recognizes voice command. In other words, they are equipped with a basic remote that makes the navigation manual and not have convenient as the series above them.

>> Please click here to see today’s price for the NU6900 <<

>> Please click here to see today’s price for the NU7100 <<

Summary

For watching movies

Both the Samsung NU6900 and the NU7100 have a good black level and contrast, and for their class both are good choices for watching movies. To have the cinema feel at home, many people prefer watching movies in a dark room. To accomplish this, the black level and contrast of the TV is very important.  Fortunately both the NU7100 and the NU6900 have a strong native contrast ratio, making black produced by them look very black even when viewed in a dark room. But even so, since they don’t have some features like local dimming and lacking some aspects like color gamut, motion handling and others are mediocre, watching movies with both the NU7100 and the NU6900 are not as visibly detailed as the series above them such as the NU8000 and the Samsung QLED TV. Nevertheless overall, for their class their performance for watching movies is very good.

Winner: NU7100

For Watching Sports

The ability of the Samsung NU6900 and the Samsung NU7100 when used for watching sports would be considered as mediocre. This is due to both of them having mediocre motion handling. Their pixel response time is not as fast as competitors, so fast motion doesn’t look as smooth as competitors who  have a faster response time. Additionally their peak brightness is limited. Fortunately, both have decent reflection handling, so although the peak brightness is not very bright, they can be viewed in an average lit room. Unfortunately they both have low viewing angle coverage, for example if you’re watching sports with a group of friend seated across the room then some may not get the best viewing. Compared between them, the NU6900 has a lower pixel response time than the NU7100 which means that motion on the screen of the NU6900 will look smoother than on the screen of the NU7100.

Winner: NU6900

For Watching TV Shows

Both the Samsung NU7100 and the Samsung NU900 are good TVs for watching TV Shows. With a combination of decent reflection handling and decent peak brightness — the picture displayed on screen looks fairly bright in an average lit room. Unfortunately their viewing angle is not very good and when you’re watching TV shows with a group of friends seated across a room, some may not get the best view.

Winner: Draw

For Playing Video Games

Overall both the Samsung NU6900 and the NU7100 are good TVs for playing games. This is because they have excellent input lag. Although the NU7100 has lower input lag than the N6900, and this makes the NU7100 more responsive than the NU6900. Even though not as responsive, the input lag of the NU6900 is also low which makes it also very enjoyable for games. In addition to excellent input lag, both series have good image retention and free form permanent burn-in, so there’s no need to worry if you play the same game for a long time. Although the pixel response time for these series is not as fast as the competitors, it’s still acceptable for gaming. To make images produced crispier, both also support BFI mode. As mentioned, since their side viewing angle coverage is not very good, some may not get the best view when playing games with a group of family and friends.

Winner: NU7100

HDR Experience

Both the NU7100 and the NU6900 support HDR but their HDR performance is limited. The only thing that stands out from the HDR experience offered is their excellent black level and native contrast ratio. Unfortunately, they lack local dimming so even though they can show deep black, the shadow detail of HDR images displayed on screen doesn’t look quite as good as other TVs with local dimming. Except for black level, most aspects required by the HDR standard is limited when viewing the performance of these TVs.  They don’t support a wide color gamut and also don’t have bright peak brightness.  So although they can play HDR content, you’ll not get much benefit offered by HDR content over SDR content.

Winner: NU7100

>> Please click here to see today’s price for the NU6900 <<

>> Please click here to see today’s price for the NU7100 <<

Conclusion

As discussed above, there are not many differences between the Samsung NU7100 and the NU6900. One of them may be superior to the other in some aspects like how the NU6900 is superior in pixel response time and the NU7100 is superior in input lag, but this superiority is not very significant. Overall, for mixed uses they’re not very different. So which is a better choice for you? As mentioned, when comparing the same screen size, the NU7100 is a little more expensive but also offers a better performance than the NU6900 for mixed uses. Now the decision is yours according to your preferences.

>> Please click here to see today’s price for the Samsung NU6900 <<

>> Please click here to see today’s price for the Samsung NU7100 <<

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