BCheaP GooDs

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F. Fernandez |
Date: 2010-04-06

First off I want to be clear about the kind of review this is intended to be. I am not a profession TV rater. I am not a videophile. I am a regular Joe and I am reviewing this for the regular Joe who is thinking about spending more than usual on a good quality television. During the next few months, I'm sure you can find a more professional review from the usual places... But for now, this is my impressions.

CORNER LIGHT: After reading many reviews on last years B8000 and this year's C7000, I was worried about the light that emits from the corners. I've seen displays of last year's B8000 and this year's C7000 and have VERY easily seen what people are talking about. I took a big gamble in purchasing this TV before I read if people were having issues with this C8000. So let me say... After watching this TV for about 5 hours per day for 3 days... I have NOT seen the light coming from the edges as seen on other sets. And believe me I've been looking. I tried to find it watching the HD feed on Time Warner Cable, Blu-ray's from the PS3, Blu-Ray's from the Samsung 3D Blu-Ray player, watching at night, during the day... Nothing. I just do not see it!

LOOKS: This TV looks just amazing. It has a VERY dark black screen. It looks as beautiful turned off as it does on. I was nervous about the brush metal look, but it actually looks very nice and compliments the new chromed four-legged stand.

PICTURE: The picture clarity looks incredible. It's as if I'm discovering HD for the first time. This set replaces a Samsung DLP set, so of course this is a vast improvement. Having said that, I have a newer plasma in the bedroom and this set looks much better than that. As with all new LED sets with 240 Hz, there is a bit of the Spanish Soap Opera/Home Video look to it. Some people really like this, some people don't. I really like it. For those of you that don't, you can always turn this feature down or off. To me this makes the picture look very clear and it makes it stand out from the other sets.

3D: Along with this TV I purchased the Samsung 3D Bluray player so I can get the 3D startup kit for free. Turning the 3D feature on and connecting the glasses was easy. The intro to Monsters v. Aliens was very cool. The opening scene in outer space looked incredible. The ball tied to a paddle part was funny and kinda made me jump a little. I haven't spent too much time with 3D but I did notice that there were some scenes in the movie that had a double image while wearing the glasses. It doesn't happen a lot, but it is noticeable. You can see this right away during the church scene at the beginning of the movie. It was a little annoying. I'm hoping that this is the kind of stuff that gets ironed out with a firmwear update, or as more content is released, they learn to fix it.

OnlineTV: This is also a very new area for me. I never understood the need for me to want apps on my TV... But its actually kina cool. I've tried a few apps but my favorite by far is the Pandora app. I'm a big fan of Pandora and this app I actually like better on my TV than online or the iPhone. The only thing I hate is that Samsung did not have Wifi built in. I think pricing this set at the $3000+ mark should be enough to include it with the set and not require me to drop another $80 for the USB adapter. I just hardwired it, but that's another wire I don't like dealing with.

USB: I wanted to mention that this set allows you to connect a USB external hard drive and play music, photo's and movies directly from the HDD. I have a Western Digital 320GB Passport filled with movies and music, and I was able to navigate the files structure in the drive using the remote quite easily. And it played all the files formats I threw at it.


Pros:
No corner light!!!
Very dark screen.
Very clear picture
Pandora Samsung App
3D was surprisingly fun
USB external HDD capable
and... NO CORNER LIGHT!

Cons:
Slight double images on 3D.
Wifi requires an $80 USB adaptor.

Overall I am very satisfied with the UN55C8000. Even with the few CONS, this set to this average Joe is a definite 5 star! As I spend more time with the set, I'll be sure to update this review if I find something worth mentioning.

Please feel free to ask me questions and I'll try my best to answer them. I know how nerve wrecking buying a big ticket item such as this is... So I would be glad to help as much as I can.

Plastic Chef America |
Date: 2010-04-13

Let me start by saying that I do own this TV, and it is replacing the c7000 model. About a month ago I walked into a local retailer and asked when the 3D sets were coming out, to my surprise they had just received the first shipment of C7000 3D ready sets from Samsung. After spending about a half an hour checking out the TV, and asking a lot of questions I decided to take the plunge and purchase the TV, 3D Blu-Ray player, and starter kit. My intentions were not to buy a new set that day, but it was getting to be time to upgrade anyway so I wanted to have something with some "wow factor" for a while. A friend and I loaded up the set and got the connections made, cracked a couple of beers and checked out my new investment. There were mixed reactions to say the least. Once the novelty of the 3D wears off you can be really critical of that model. Huge amount of "crosstalk" on the picture, and cloudy bright spots with "flashlighting" in the bottom two corners. Very disappointing. I went back to the store to look at the display model again and did not see a fraction of the issues that my set was showing. The salesperson said that the Panasonic Plasma should be coming in any day and they expected it to be light years ahead of the Samsung in picture quality, black level, no crosstalk, etc.

After a week or so I went in to see the Panasonic that was now also on display only to see the same issues with crosstalk in 3D. The 2D experience on the Panasonic was quite good but at the time the only size available was 50", and I was replacing a 62" set and really didn't want to make that drastic of a change. So on bright pictures the Samsung was absolutely stunning! In a dark room while watching a dark movie the picture was just unacceptable for a TV in this price range. At this point I figured that I would return the TV, and wait for one of the larger Panasonic's to hit the stores.

Then I saw that the C8000 was being released earlier than expected, and had new technology called Pinpoint Dimming. After doing quite a bit of reading reviews, and others' experience with the Samsung locally dimmed set's I decided to give Samsung another chance before going to Plasma. Amazon had the TV for sale before my local retailer so I placed the order and crossed my fingers that I would not be returning two new TV's instead of one. Well let me wrap this up by saying that I am sooooo glad that I made this choice! The C8000 is absolutely stunning in aesthetic quality, and is the best picture quality I have probably ever seen! Dare I say it is even better than the 8500 from last year that gets such great reviews. There is no flashlighting, the black levels are completely pitch black, and as another reviewer already stated, once you get the picture dialed in the way you like it there really is no comparison. Everyone that sees the TV in my house has to stop and watch for a while, in fact, the downside to owning it is that I can't get people to go home!

Now with that being said, there are some minor observations that would be different in a perfect world. If you put this set in a large room and watch it from a large angle you will lose some of the black levels, and for the price it really should have wifi built in. Also, in the menu's it seems that some settings should be grouped together under the headings, so you have to jump around in the menu's a bit to get your set dialed in, but this is typically not something you will be doing all the time. Other than that I really can't see a problem with it. When considering the C7000 or C8000 do yourself a favor and choose the latter. Even if this set was hundreds of dollars more it would be worth it. This one will be hard to beat.

UPDATE: After having the TV for about a week it started having some technical issues like switching sources randomly, and changing the picture settings for no reason. Samsung tech support was very good and we thought initially the problems were being caused by the Logitech remote I use, however after increased tech issues the TV had to be returned. Being that the picture quality is so exceptional on this set I have already replaced it with another one of the same model purchased at retail (for much less money actually) and am keeping my fingers crossed that this one does not have any technical issues. I am leaving my review at five stars simply because every so often you can get a bum product, or something could have happened during shipping, but have to say that Samsung, and Amazon have been really great about taking care of me on this, and the picture quality really is very good. Reading the other reviews I am surprised that anyone would not give this a five star rating. When replacing my C8000 I checked out one of the last B8500's still available, and side by side I have to say that not only me, but most people in the store were more impressed with the C8000. By the way, I have owned several products that C-net gave very high ratings that I had no success with, and vice versa, so I really think it comes down to your own expectations on a purchase like this.

Mr. Mitesh J. Patel |
Date: 2010-04-12

Simply Breathtaking! So much new stuff here that its hard to figure out where to start. The picture quality is first rate, but I don't think anyone would expect anything less from a TV of this stature, so I'm not going to speak anything more about that - 8 million:1 contrast ratio!!. Make sure you upgrade your HDMI cables to v1.4 to get the 3D to work best, although I've heard that it works just fine with other HDMI versions.

I had originally thought the 2D movie to 3D feature was a bit over-rated by some other reviews that I have read, however after playing with it for a while, I have developed a new appreciation for it. I recommend watching the Blu-Ray - Planet Earth, the chapter on Mountains. The 3D was simply ashtonishing. I can't seem to wrap my head around how the TV can do this 3D conversion on the fly, but I'm definately excited about this technology. Earlier I had watched "300" with the 3D turned on and it was pretty trippy until I got sick to my head. It also works with video games like PS3 and Xbox360 (keep in mind its fake 3D and not as good as real 3D, but some will enjoy the new way of playing and watching TV). I thought Halo looked pretty impressive on the Xbox360, until I saw how good Gears of War 2 looked in 3D. It was hard to believe the 3D was fake, and I don't think I will ever play Gears of War without the 3D from now on. Make sure you turn up the 3D settings to "10" for maximum 3D effects. The amount of 3D pop up can be adjusted on a sliding scale of 1 to 10. Just about every video game looked great in 3D.

I am not sure if TV this compatible with NVIDIA's 3D technolgy, but if it is, you may be able to play your PC games in REAL 3D by connecting your computer! I'll update this when I find out more.

I have not tested the real 3D yet because I have not received the 3D player yet and PS3 has still not updated its firmware to play real 3D. But I will update this after testing it.

The downsides to this TV are as follows (I admit these are nitpicky complaints):
- Several people have complained that this set does not display 24p properly. I have tried to the best of my ability to verify this, however, with the effects turned off (or set on "clear"), the TV looks to me that it is displaying 24p just fine. Since I cannot find fault, I'm assuming most viewers are not going to notice anything so I cannot dock any stars in rating.
- the special features are hard to locate - good luck finding how to adjust settings on the 3D pop up level!
- the 240hz smoothing feature, when active, ends up making the picture look so smooth that action movies resemble home video movies (also described as Spanish Soap Opra effect). On the one hand it's great to have no flicker or choppiness, but it makes Hollywood movies look very low budget for some reason, despite all the new details that can be seen. The only kind of movies that look good with the full 240fps smoothing are computer animated movies like "UP", and documentaries like "Planet Earth". The smoothness really works well for movies like this, the mountain scenes felt like actually being there, and made me dizzy! I didn't have that effect when I had originally watched it in 24p a couple years back. In fact I remember thinking back then how nice the mountain scenes would have looked if not for all the "judder/choppiness" of 24p. For all other movies I keep the setting on "Clear" which brings back the cinematic 24p picture judder. As annoying as the choppiness is, it sure brings back the Hollywood Magic.
- The illuminated "SAMSUNG" logo that is directly under the TV picture is annoying since I like to watch movies at night, however, I later found out this can be turned off in the settings.
- The TV isn't as sturdy feeling as my previous flat screen. Because its so thin, it tends to wobble in its base if tapped, and it just gives me that uncomfortable "unsturdy" feeling. This is not a big deal though, I don't think it will fall and you can always choose to mount it to the wall.
- The flat remote control is cool to look at, but difficult to operate since you can't "feel" your way around the keys. However, you shouldn't have to use the remote much since most of us use the cable box remote anyways.

My final verdict: Buy this TV if you are REALLY excited about 3D as I am, I don't think you will be disappointed. Don't upgrade just for picture quality. last years 240hz models look just as good, and some reviews say last years look even better.

20April UPDATE: I have finally tested the Monsters VS Aliens 3D movie. The 3D was in fact first rate in most scenes of the movie (even better than theater 3D, but NOT better than IMAX 3D). The fact that this was the very first 3D blu-ray movie is obvious because there is occational ghosting present in some scenes (double images). While many critics have quickly chosen to complain about this, I see another point of view. There were just too many perfect 3D effect scenes in all types of enviornments for me to believe that the ghosting is inevitable. I think the occasional Ghosting effects were due to this title being rushed out the door with the release of Sumsungs new 3D TV lines. I don't think there will be any issues with removing the ghosting from future titles when more time is given to master the 3D content. Color me impressed and glad I made this purchase!

A. Ahmed |
Date: 2010-05-09

I bought this TV after much agonizing over whether to just buy a new LCD tv or the latest generation 3D LEDs, and can say after 2 weeks of ownership that I definitely made the correct choice. This TV is awesome, whether you are buying it for the 3D or just for a great TV.

A quick run down of the TVs main features:

Design - This TV is super thin at 0.9 inches. OK, so not insanely thin as the 2010 flagship 9000 model at 0.3 inches, but then its less than half the price and design wise looks exactly the same. I have it hung on a wall using the Samsung low profile mount, and it really does look like a picture hanging from the wall. The silver framing is sleek, and if you use one of the internet apps like Picasso you can have photos play on a slideshow to really make it look like a painting. With the wall mount, it protrudes only 1.5 inches - quite stunning. If you don't mount, the supplied stand is very sophisticated too.

Picture - This set is replacing a 4 yr old Sony LCD HDTV, so for me, the difference is amazing. Superb sharpness, contract and colors. The 240Hz creates an amazing picture, too good almost for some types of show creating what some call an artificial feel to what you are watching, but its all down to personal preference, and settings can be altered when needed. For me, it's like watching through a window and I love it. Black levels and edge lighting are perfectly good for me - I have it in a well lit room and elevated above a fireplace and picture remains excellent throughout.

Internet apps - I was not expecting to use these much, but they actually work really well. I love the AP ticker, and AccuWeather, Yahoo and YouTube are also frequently used. Best of all is that this TV has introduced me to Netflix, where the convenience of just clicking a button on my TV remote makes watching streaming movies and TV shows even easier than watching my DVR.

3D - Amazing that this technology can be brought into the home. Not much in the way of native 3D content yet (but what these is is amazing), but the TV will convert 2D to 3D and does this pretty well, especially if you up the 3D depth levels. As you might expect, this works best in a darkened room, with HD signal and action packed scenes. I watched The Dark Knight on the conversion process and was thoroughly impressed.

Overall, I am truly impressed with the TV which packs in stunning picture and technology along with the best design aesthetics. Also, you can't go wrong buying through Amazon, I got for 20% off list, free shipping and no tax, and delivery service is superb.

bokonon |
Date: 2010-06-11

I bought this to replace my 60" Sony A2000, which had suffered an optical block failure. Although I thought the A2000 was great (before it died), the Samsung C8000 beats it in every way imaginable. Most impressive is the black level--once you dial in good settings, blacks are *black*, while contrast and picture detail are retained. (Even out of the box, the picture quality is great, but once a few key adjustments are made, it's simply stunning.)

Another nice touch is the 240Hz "custom" option, which allows you to separate motion blur reduction from dejudder. By cranking up motion blur reduction to 9 or 10, and by leaving dejudder at 0 or 1, the C8000 will produce very smooth, plasma-like motion, while avoiding the "soap-opera" effect that many LCD TVs' 120Hz/240Hz solutions produce.

Finally, a word about Amazon customer service. As much as I loved my TV, when I removed the protective film, I found an unsightly dent in the bezel. I contacted Amazon, and they immediately offered to send a new one and pickup the old one, with no return shipping charge to me. It's great to see when a retailer matches a high-quality product with high-quality customer service.