Samsung UE46C7000

The Samsung UE46C7000 is the first 3D television using active shutter glasses to enter our product survey. It features edge LED backlighting and 200 Hz Motion Plus technology for smooth-flowing pictures, not to mention 2D-to-3D conversion. It's also got plenty of multimedia functions with DLNA compatibility, the Internet@TV content service, PVR-Ready functionality and an integrated multimedia player. It's worth bearing in mind that our UE46C7000 is one of Samsung's pre-issue models, although the picture quality is not likely to change much between this and the final version.

The 3D glasses
In order to watch 3D content, each viewer will have to wear a pair of special glasses that are compatible with the TV. These are not supplied with the TV itself and will be available to buy separately. Adults will have two different types of glasses to choose from — a rechargeable pair (£150) or a battery-powered pair (£100) — and a smaller, coloured pair for children will be released with a similar price tag. The cut-price family pack of four pairs of glasses originally announced by Samsung has now been dropped.


3D picture quality

Like other manufacturers, Samsung has opted to use active technology its range of consumer 3D TVs. This means that the 3D effect is created by sending a successive stream of 1080p Full HD images to each eye separately. Active glasses turn the glass covering one eye dark to mask the image that particular eye is not intended to see.

Samsung BD-C6900

To help us get the best out of the TV's 3D functionality, Samsung lent us their BD-C6900 3D Blu-ray player and the 3D version of the film Monsters vs. Aliens. To really put it to the test, we asked everyone in our offices to come take a look and tell us what they thought. On the whole, the verdict was pretty positive. In certain scenes, objects actually seem to shoot out from the screen and the depth of field is generally very well rendered. Most of us found ourselves reaching out and trying to grab or touch things and the overall experience was actually quite extraordinary: it was like actually being in the film. However, during our tests we did notice some crosstalk. This is when the images for the right and left eye overlap, which you can see in the background of the still shot above. In this case though, the effect was thankfully not caused by the television but the way the film had been encoded. Let's just hope some more 3D content hits the market soon!

2D-to-3D conversion

Until 3D content becomes readily available (and you could be waiting a while), you can use the 2D-to-3D conversion function to watch television, DVDs or regular Blu-ray discs in 3D. Just select the option on-screen. In fact, realistically speaking, you're likely to spend most of your time watching converted 3D rather than actual 3D content, which is why I find it hard to believe some competitors haven't included a function like this in their own 3D TVs!

So does it work? Surprisingly, the answer is yes! We didn't hold out much hope for this function but we were surprised just how well it worked. The results are actually pretty good — impressive even — although they're still not a patch on the effect created by a genuine 3D source. We put it to the test with a selection of 2D films. To compare the 2D to the 3D version, all you need to do is close one eye, and when we gave it a go, most of us preferred the 3D version! It's actually quite surprising. Remember the chase scene in Casino Royale when Bond follows the villain to the top of a crane? Well, the crane really stood out from the sky, and chase scenes all flowed well and in the right direction as the cutting is cleverly done. This all works very well most of the time, but it's not perfect!

In another film we tested, a character's right eye looked to be over-converted and sticking out too much. Bizarre! Plus, even though most of us were pleased with the overall result, not everyone enjoyed it. Our brain is constantly filling in information to complete the artificially generated 3D images, as there are still regular gaps and discrepancies. The result's not entirely natural yet, and the conversion function will probably be one of the main features earmarked for improvement in the coming years. Anyway, for most of us, the brain's corrective filling-in goes unnoticed, but that's not the case for everyone. Two members of our team didn't feel too great after watching converted 3D content. One complained of a headache while the other had a feeling similar to sea-sickness. It's a function to try before you buy!

Next, we tested some games on the PS3, and the 3D picture was even better! Give it a try and you'll find yourself plunged head-first into a whole new gaming experience.

A few 3D issues

You have to stay sitting straight-on and upright in front of the TV when wearing the 3D glasses. The more you tilt your head to the side the darker the picture appears, completely ruling out those lazy Sunday afternoon film sessions lounging about on the sofa. Another frequently noticed downside is that the glasses reduce the brightness of the picture. In a series of tests, our sensor detected a loss in brightness of around 60% that even the backlighting can't compensate for. In fact, given that it's difficult to reach 100 cd/m², you'll have to keep 3D viewing for darker rooms of the house (or at least shut the curtains).


One of the new tests we're carrying out on 3D TVs is whether the images intended for the left and right eye overlap. That's the effect known as crosstalk I mentioned above.


In Side-by-Side mode, we can see that the picture is affected by a slight amount of crosstalk, as a light imprint of the right-hand image can be seen on the left-hand image and vice versa. Here, the effect seems to be more marked on the picture intended for the right eye.

Hardware & handling

Before getting on to picture quality, let's take a closer look at what the UE46C7000 has to offer. It's actually difficult to find a bad thing to say, as this TV has pretty much everything you ask for in a top-of-the-range model, including a swivel stand, two USB ports, four HDMI sockets, DLNA compatibility via the Ethernet port, and a backlit remote control. Speaking of the remote, for the UE46C7000 Samsung has dropped its old and much-criticised remote control design for something simpler. For a start, it's out with the shiny black plastic casing and in with some good-quality imitation brushed aluminium. The keys have been redesigned and improved, and you won't find any more of those sticky-up buttons as they're now moulded directly into the surround to make a flat surface. This makes it pleasant to use, stylish and easier to clean.


Just like most other LED TVs, this model is incredibly slim. In fact, at less than three centimetres deep, it's barely thicker than a £2 coin, making it one of the skinniest TVs I've tested yet.

The UE46C7000 has an integrated multimedia player that's compatible with NTFS and FAT32. Unlike previous models, it's therefore possible to play files of over 2 GB in size. Most of our AVC (x264) HD videos contained in MKV files played just fine, although M2TS and MTS files proved more problematic. Subtitles contained in separate files to the video itself are handled very well, but if you try incorporating them into the container it's impossible to make them appear on-screen.

The real downfall of the C7000 is its glossy screen. All of Samsung's high-end models seem to be treated with this glossy finish, and although it's very nice, and pictures look great in dark rooms, as soon as there's a window or a light in the line of the screen then it's a different story entirely. The dark areas of the picture simply turn into a mirror.

A new feature we found particularly interesting was the PVR-Ready function, which effectively turns the telly into a digital TV recorder when you hook up an external hard drive or USB flash drive. Upon connection, your peripheral is automatically formatted for use as a storage device for recording TV programmes. During the formatting process, the drive is linked to the TV in a unique manner using DRM. That means it's not possible to copy or play recorded files on a computer or another TV, not even if it's the same model. You can't record one channel while watching another either, as only Samsung's series 9 televisions can offer this thanks to their twin TV tuner. Nevertheless, like on all other models, you can still programme the TV to record while it's on standby.

Default picture quality
The UE46C7000's factory settings are programmed in the Standard mode. As seems to be the case with all televisions, the results obtained with the default settings are not great. The colours are too blue and the brightness curve is unbalanced. To top things off, the sharpness is too strong, making the picture look harsh without necessarily making it more detailed. Visibly, Samsung has done everything it can to try and impress novice users, but the result is a picture that's completely inaccurate.


Picture quality in Movie mode Unfortunately, switching to Movie mode doesn't solve the problem. Just like in the manufacturer's most recent series of LED TVs (B6000, B7000 and B8000), the dynamic backlighting stays on all the time, whether you like it or not, and it's the brightness curve that suffers the consequence. By default, the backlighting in Movie mode is set to 10, but we'd advise you to up that a bit. At 12, for example, you'll get a good all-round setting (200 cd/m²). Apart from the problem of brightness, the colours are acceptable but certainly not perfect. Light tones are well rendered but there's a slight (and admittedly not easily detected) problem with darker shades and bright colours. On the other hand, the contrast is pretty good thanks to the screen's deep black (0.07 cd/m²).

Standard definition upscaling works well, and picture quality in HD is quite simply perfect. In both cases, 200 Hz Motion Plus proves highly effective, so long as you don't turn it up too high. We wouldn't advise going above the Standard setting. Jolts and glitches are largely smoothed out without creating too many digital artefacts. Ghosting is largely eliminated too.

Audio quality

It would be very difficult to make a decent audio system fit into such a slim TV, so it's no surprise that the sound output from the UEC7000 is pretty poor. Bass is practically inexistent and high sounds are few and far between. Only sound in the middle of the spectrum is covered effectively, making audio reproduction less than accurate.

Power consumption

The UE46C7000 has one of the lowest power consumption values of all the TVs in our product survey. In fact, at just 0.05 watts on standby, it'd cost you about 5p to leave it on standby all year long. It's just as impressive when in operation too, at just 126 watts. That's really not bad for a 46-inch TV!