We reviewed the 55-inch Samsung MU6470 a while back. It was a pretty good performer and offered top-notch picture quality. Another TV within the same 6 Series is the Samsung MU6100, a slightly lower-end model. It’s a flat panel TV with HDR+ support. The MU6100 is a 40-inch model equipped with almost the same features as the MU6470 though. The major difference on the specification sheet is its Purcolor feature. The MU6100 is priced at Rs. 67,900* which is quite affordable. It sounds like the TV has everything that a premium TV does but what gives? Let’s find out.
Design
Most of the Samsung 6 Series TVs are identical in design. The MU6100, our review unit is available in three size variants - 40, 43 and 50 inches. The more expensive MU6470 was not much different either, besides its bezel and Y-shaped stand design. The TV is a good fit for small rooms. The TV comes with a 40-inch screen and has a plastic build all over. The bezel is thick compared to the older MU6470 model. It has a brushed finished on the front, and a glossy finish on the sides, which gives the TV a premium look.
The Samsung branding is engraved at the center of the lower bezel. Towards the right is a power indicator with a dim red light. At the bottom are the two speaker grills that are placed close to each other. There is a space in between the speaker grills to attach the TV stand. The TV comes with a V-shaped stand that makes it look stylish. Its simple compact design should not take a lot of space. The back of the TV is finely textured. There is a small directional pad at the back for easy navigation. All the other connectivity ports are on the right and are neatly aligned. All the ports are easily accessible.
The Samsung MU6100 Smart 4K TV comes along with a Smart Remote. It has a curved design and is made up of hard plastic. It has a texture at the back which makes it firm to hold in the hand. There are very few buttons on it. There is a circular disc and two trigger buttons to control the volume and channels. Samsung has made a few changes to it. There is a voice search on the top and the two triggers buttons have a metal-like feel. The back of the remote has a fine texture, so you get a good grip.
Features
Several TV manufacturers are making their TVs HDR enabled, which lets the TV render a wider gamut of colours for more natural shades. Even the Samsung MU6470 4K TV that we reviewed had HDR+. HDR+ is a slightly improved and updated version of HDR. The Samsung MU6100 also supports HDR+. We will check this out later when we test the performance of the TV.
There is an auto-detection feature that helps the TV recognise external devices when connected. It automatically displays the name of a device immediately after you connect it to the TV. There are three HDMI ports and two USB ports. One of the HDMI supports ARC which is of great help if you want to create a connection between the audio device and the TV. Audio devices can be a speaker, home theatre or a sound bar. In addition to this, the Samsung MU6100 also supports HDMI-CEC which helps in controlling all your HDMI devices connected to the TV using a single TV remote. A wired LAN port is present for network and internet connectivity. You can also connect a USB mouse and keyboard to the TV to browse the web.
Like the Samsung MU6470, there is also a USB and Bluetooth HID support which lets you connect a wireless mouse, keyboard or a game controller to the TV. This is useful when you want to connect more devices to the TV but without using additional USB ports. With the help of ConnectShare, you can copy content from one drive to another without having to use a laptop or PC. In terms of audio, the TV speakers are powered at 20W and this should be perfect for smaller rooms.
Performance
The Samsung MU6100 comes with the latest Tizen operating system which is very easy to use. Handling the TV is simple with the smart remote. Pairing it takes no time at all. Besides it, there are quick settings and a source option.
We watched some 4K movies and photos to test the quality of the screen. On the standard settings, colours appear quite saturated and need to be tweaked. This is where you need to spend quite some time. The brightness levels aren't up to the mark. This means the picture looks a bit dull and darker, if you turn down the saturation even if the backlight and brightness levels are set to maximum. Details were still very good and motion pictures looked fine, besides the slightly lower brightness. This is not a problem when you turn on the HDR+ mode, but you lose most of the tweaks you've made in the process.
To check the HDR+ feature, we watched some sample 4K HDR clips, one of which was Life of Pi. The TV automatically switches to the HDR+ mode when it detects HDR content being played. Colours immediately pop out and the screen looks brighter but it overrides all the tweaked picture settings. This behaviour is similar to the MU6470 model we had reviewed earlier and there wasn’t any major difference between the two. Like the MU6470, there is also a 360 degree feature in this TV which works only on some specific content.
Controlling the TV with voice commands was very easy. As mentioned earlier, Samsung has designed the voice search button on the remote separately which can search for apps or content easily. Besides this, you can also tweak the volume, change the channels, set the timer and change the video source with voice commands.
If you have content stored on your phone, streaming it with the help of the Samsung Smart View app is quite simple. It was very smooth and we didn’t face any problems connecting the phone to the TV.
The audio performance of the TV was not very great. We played some music using the inbuilt player. You can see the current song playing with some transition effects at the background. You also get a list of songs on the right side of the screen so you can search for your favourite songs without having to switch between screens. If you want to use this TV in a large room, you might need a good pair of speakers for loud sound. The speakers are average sounding.
Verdict
The Samsung MU6100 4K Smart TV is a 40-inch TV priced at Rs. 67,900*, which is around the same figure as most other models from competing brands. Talking about the performance and the picture quality of the TV, it is similar to Samsung’s KU6000 and MU6470 models. The features are almost identical with minor differences in design. There is not a lot you miss out on by purchasing the MU6100. The 40-inch model fits the budget, with all the possible smart features and top-notch picture quality. If you want a larger screen, you can also look for a 50-inch model (UA50MU6100WXXY) from the same series.
