Samsung UN55B7100 55" 120Hz LED HDTV Review

Picture Quality: Gaming

All subjective testing was done with the settings mentioned on the calibration page in addition to a Sony Playstation 3 being used as the primary gaming platform. In this example, the screen captures you see are from the Killzone 2, Resistance 2 and Tom Clancy’s HawX. All games are rendered at 720P resolution.

Please remember that no digital camera (Digital SLR or otherwise) is capable of accurately reproducing an image from a HDTV as the human eye would see it. As such, the pictures below are for illustration purposes only.


In the past, I found it hard to sing the praises of LCD TVs when it comes to gaming since in most cases there has been a distinct lack of performance. Either there was ghosting, faint halos around moving objects or a general breakdown of picture quality. Well, the B7100 exhibits none of those things once it is properly calibrated and it actually provides one of the better gaming experiences I have had on an LCD in a very long time.

To me, Killzone 2 is the true litmus test of any TV since it makes use of scenes where high contrast is a must and TVs with a supposedly high refresh rate are routinely brought to their knees due to fast movements. The B7100 allowed me to play through most of the game without drawing my eyes to even a single flaw in its rendering abilities other than a few missteps when it came to some over-saturated colors.


Unlike the first game in the Resistance series, Resistance 2 uses a much darker color pallet and as suck provides a perfect test for a TV’s ability to distinguish between different contrast zones. Here Samsung’s LED-based LCD had a bit of a harder time of things with some sections getting washed out in a sea of black. Adjusting the contrast, gamma and other settings alleviated this issue somewhat but in the few brighter scenes within the game this adjustment also led to some brighter colors being washed out. And before you ask; no, I didn’t find a happy medium.


With so many moving objects on the screen, it is easy for things to go wrong even though HawX’s pacing and need for twitch-like reflexes isn’t as advanced as the other two games used in testing. That being said, I was stunned at the picture quality this TV was able to display in this game. Colors looked spot on, there wasn’t any ghosting and the whole atmosphere was able to draw the player right into the game.

Gaming seems to really be one area where the UN55B7100 is able to shine. Other than a few missteps within Resistance 2, there weren’t any areas where I can honestly say I found glaring problems with its ability to keep a player hooked on the action. It should also be mentioned that not once did I experience any discernable input lag.

Even though this may sound like a ringing endorsement, here is a word to the wise: do NOT use the Game Mode unless you want a serious degradation in overall image quality. It really does make the image look like someone beat it with an ugly stick.