Samsung UN55D8000 3D LED HDTV Review

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Jeremy's Rating:

The Samsung UN55D8000 is a vast improvement over last year’s UN55C8000. It is clearly one of the best 3D HDTV in its category. Ever since the first 3D HDTV was introduced, many of the top manufacturers wanted to prove that they can do 3D right while offering other nice features for the price.

These manufacturers really need to offer a good experience because 3D displays in general are more expensive and the prices for non-3D displays are dropping.

This is why Samsung crams so many features into a large 55-inch display like the Samsung UN55D8000.

Look & Feel

Samsung is known for making unique designs for their displays and the UN55D8000 shows that it can impress in the living room. The first thing I noticed when I saw the UN55D8000 is how thin it is. It is only 1.2-inch thick – yes, just over an inch. This is great news for those who like to mount the TV set on the wall.

The panel is surrounded by a very thin bezel (0.5″) as if the TV has no frame, which is quite unique. Apparently this “virtually edgeless” design is a big selling point for Samsung. Just be careful when you set up the TV not to touch the display as there is not much edge to hold on to.

The touch buttons are now located on the side and are colored! A welcomed change. These buttons are so much easier to see compared to the older Samsung models with black bezels. You can’t see the buttons on those unless you are standing like 2 inches away. (What were they thinking?)

The stand is “X” style and chrome colored. Overall it looks contemporary and I like it better than the older, more traditional, black style Samsung’s. It also blends in fairly well with the other home theater components.

The UN55D8000 comes with a cool remote control. On the one side it looks just like a standard remote but flipping it over it has a Qwerty keyboard and a small touch screen on the other side. Now you can fully take advantage of its Smart TV features and full browser capability. The small touch screen can duplicate what’s showing on the TV, or let you watch a different input or app. This feature is something you don’t find on the step-down model UN55D7000 – whose remote doesn’t have the touch screen.

Connecting To Other Equipments

Remote Control with Qwerty Keyboard

All the connectors are located on the back. There are 4 HDMI ports, 2 USB ports, and connectors for 1 set of HD component terminals, and 2 sets of composite A/V jacks. However, to save space Samsung has used mini jacks for some ports and supplied you with adapters to hook up with standard cables.

There is a D-sub port for connecting UN55D8000 to your PC’s video output. For Internet connection, use the Ethernet port, or the built-in wireless LAN.

Since some of the ports/connectors on the UN55D8000 are non-standard, make sure you don’t lose the included adapters or you won’t be able to hook up the external equipments.

If you are like me, you want to make sure you can connect the UN55D8000 to all your AV equipments before buying the set. I’ve included the connection diagrams below. Just click on each thumbnail image to zoom in.

Picture Quality

The picture quality of the UN55D8000 is excellent. The 1920×1080 full HD images are as sharp, crisp, and life-like as they can be. The display is LED backlit which means several things. First, the blacks and whites are much deeper thanks to the very high 15,000,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio.

The UN55D8000 uses edge-lit local dimming (“Micro Dimming Plus” in Samsung’s term) technology meaning the backlight can dim different sections of the screen. The benefits are higher contrast ratios, deeper blacks, as well as energy savings. It’s also part of the reason why the UN55D8000 is so thin.

One problem with local dimming in the past is that lighting uniformity is a common problem especially for larger display sizes. For example, many people have complained about hot blotching spots on older Samsung’s like the UN55B8500. Even the last year model UN55C8000 (using “Precision Dimming”) didn’t quite measure up, either.

However, I have not observed such issues on the UN55D8000 I reviewed and have not heard it reported by other customers. The Micro Dimming Plus has built-in hardware that allows for adjustments of the LED independently, which gives better control over the backlighting. This is another advantage the UN55D8000 has over the step-down model UN55D7000, which has Micro Dimming that uses software for LED control instead of the Micro Dimming Plus. It seems that Samsung has made significant improvement in this area.

The other nice thing about LED backlit displays like the UN55D8000 is how friendly it is with the environment. Compared to the models released before 2010, the UN55D8000 should consume 50% less energy which results to better savings. It surpasses the Energy Star 4.0 requirements too. Benefits to you – lower electricity bills & more money in your pocket.

You can also use the Game Mode to improve the look of dark areas even further while you play your favorite video games. Many other displays coming from competing manufacturers have a mode like this too, but this Game Mode feature provides sound quality enhancements as well.

The 240 Hz Clear Motion Rate is a decent upgrade for those that are used to the 120 Hz technologies. This basically eliminates any possible blurs that are normally created by fast moving onscreen sequences. Action movies and sports simply look great especially when the 3D mode is activated. Even video games can benefit from this.

Watching 3D

The UN55D8000 has the Full HD 3D logo which highlights its capability of rendering 3D content coming from broadcast sources and special Blu-ray titles that have 3D features. You need to have the Samsung 3D Active Glasses to enjoy this experience. Since these glasses need to sync up with the TV set, make sure that you get the glasses made by Samsung otherwise they will not work.

The nice thing about UN55D8000 is that it includes 2 pairs of 3D glasses and that saves you $300. This is another feature that does not come with UN55D7000.

There is still not a whole lot of 3D content available right now but it’s catching up fast. I tried it on my favorite movie – Avatar and it’s just amazing. Images literally jump out of the screen – looks even better than in the theater.

Amazon.com is currently running a promotion that when you buy Samsung UN55D8000, you get Samsung SSG-P3100M Megamind 3D Starter Kit for free.

It has 2 pairs of Active Glasses and the first three Shrek movies remastered in 3D, plus a voucher for Shrek Forever After and Megamind Blu-ray 3D disc. The starter kit is $400 by itself so this is a pretty good deal. And with the 2 pairs of 3D glasses already included with UN55D8000, you now have total of 4 pairs so the whole family can enjoy 3D content together.

Don’t forget you will need a 3D Blu-ray disc player for those 3D Blu-ray movies.

You can also watch 2D content in 3D by activating the 2D -> 3D mode. It did give the images more depth from I can see but some content seems to work better than others. Of course it’s still no comparison to the real 3D content.

Eco Light Sensor

The UN55D8000 has a built-in light sensor that detects the ambient lighting. It increases the brightness of the screen automatically when the TV is in a well-lit room and reduces it when the environment is dim. This helps reduce eyestrain and save energy.

Smart TV

You can use the Samsung App platform to access content from many popular sites including YouTube, Flickr, Yahoo!, eBay, and Facebook. Every site and service is represented by an app widget so you shouldn’t have a hard time looking for the site that you wish to access. Some of these services like Amazon Video On Demand let you use your subscriptions to stream movies directly for quick watching.

You can download additional apps at Samsung App Store. Some of them are free; others are not. Just another way for Samsung to make a few more bucks off you.

In addition, the UN55D8000 has a full browser that makes it stand out from other Internet-ready TV’s. You can also engage in Skype conversations if you have the Skype camera kit (not included). Even when you are not using the Internet, you can always check out the various pre-loaded content where you can find cooking recipes and fitness exercises.

Another benefit of hooking up your Samsung TV to the network is the availability of the AllShare feature. This feature lets you stream content from other devices in the network such as computers, home media servers and other DLNA-enabled digital devices. You can connect to several devices at once and if you have the Samsung LinkStick adapter, you can do it wirelessly as well.

Built-in User Manual

With sophisticated TV like UN55D8000, there is bound to be a learning curve. But if you think you need to carry the user manual with you, don’t worry. From the E-Manual button on the remote control, you can access the entire manual on screen. The E-manual is also interactive so you can try out the instructions and toggle between the instruction and the corresponding OSD menu.

Bottom Line

The price tag may seem unsettling but remember this is a high-end 3D HDTV that is 55-inches and the Internet features are pretty advanced too. You will notice the savings once you realize how environmentally friendly this display is. Perhaps the best thing is that prices are constantly dropping so you may find better deals in online stores.

Where To Buy

Amazon.com currently has the best price for the Samsung UN55D8000 with free shipping and with the free Start Kit promotion, you really can’t beat it. For large purchase like this TV, I won’t even consider buying it from other online stores. Amazon has the best customer service and great reputation. You won’t have to worry about returns or other issues.