Review: Samsung Q7C 4K UHD TV

I was a latecomer to the HD era. For a few years, I didn't even own a TV, much less a Blu-ray player. I chugged along with my prized collection of DVDs and a mediocre projector, preferring to watch content on my computer or blasted onto a wall. But, over the last five years, as content and devices with truly great HD support trickled down to ubiquity, I signed on. Today, I've got an HDTV, a gaggle of Blu-Rays, and an Xbox One.

That's to say that I'm rarely the first to own bleeding-edge technology. It's why, despite some impressive gains in image quality, 4K just doesn't do it for me. I'm nowhere near ready to make the resolution jump—the lack of reliable content sources, the clash of HDR formats, and the scarcity of 4K Blu-ray discs all still pose problems. The best TVs in the world are worth little if all you have to watch is Planet Earth 2 and a handful of Netflix shows.

But, things are getting better (and, more importantly, cheaper) and I think I'm beginning to change my mind about 4K in the home. One of the big reasons I'm feeling bullish about the tech, even if I'm not planning to take the plunge myself, is the impressive 55-inch Samsung Q7C set I've been testing. If you want an astounding-looking TV set to start piecing together the 4K puzzle, I can definitely recommend this premium Samsung LCD. It's curved, and if that doesn't appeal to you, Samsung has flat versions of this LCD too.

That's right. This is an LCD television. Let's ignore Samsung's insistence that something called "QLED" exists—that's a marketing term. Even though Samsung's got some of its best panel technology in the Q7C, don't confuse the edge-lit LCD panel with one rocking OLED technology. This premium set might be tuned to support standards like HDR10, DCI-P3 color and features quantum dot-enhanced color, but it's still not OLED.

I stared at this gorgeous TV for many, many hours and never tired of it. After all, it's the TV I tested the impressive Microsoft Xbox One X with. It's well-suited to highlight the 4K-capable console's media streaming and gaming capabilities. Games like Super Lucky's Tale and 4K HDR movies like Star Trek Beyond looked awesome on this set. After I was done with reviewing the Xbox, I gave the Q7C to someone I knew would find the annoying everyday quirks and flaws—my mother.

Swapping out my mom's tried-and-true Vizio E-series TV for this gigantic 55-inch Samsung was a pretty big deal. In her living room, it dominated the wall where the puny, 45-inch Vizio used to reign. Setting it up, the first thing that I did was turn the brightness down. Even with the automatic brightness on, the Q7C can sometimes feel like staring at a light bulb. That brightness is needed to get the most out of HDR's wide range of lights and darks, but it's ridiculous if you don't have any HDR content to peep.

My mom's feedback on the TV was surprising to me. Even though she was excited to try such a big upgrade from her normal set, she came away from the experience with mixed feelings. She found Samsung's One Remote to be confusing at first, since the toggle-style volume button isn't exactly obvious coming from a typical push-button up and down, and the hidden mute command isn't easy to discover.

She was also dismayed by the way this curved TV set performed in her bright, west-facing living room. The room gets blasted with sunlight as the sun goes down, and the parabolic Q7C reflected the rays in ways she didn't expect. Thankfully, you can buy a non-curved version of this TV if you have a brightly-lit room, but the glare was an unexpected side effect of the curved panel. Also, many TV programs from her HD Xfinity cable box, when scaled up to the big 4K set, just looked terrible.

What started to win my mom over was the experience of watching, interestingly, a film from 1959. Around the World in 80 Days, which was shot in Todd-AO Technicolor and presented letterboxed in its original 2.2:1 aspect ratio by Turner Classic Movies. The size and curved shape of the TV, along with its rich colors, worked to help make this classic epic look amazing. It was the first time my mom gave her full approval of this Samsung's Q7C.

It's not a super-affordable way into 4K, but I think Samsung is offering a very nice TV for the money. I can't recommend the curved version for most people, but any of these Q7-series TVs would make a lovely investment for your 4K future.