Samsung UN46B8500 46-Inch 1080p 240 Hz LED HDTV Review

February 9, 2010 by admin
Filed under HDTV Reviews

PICTURE

In terms of video quality, this TV is awesome. I can’t imagine how the picture could be much better.

There are some minor picture quality issues with off-angle viewing (as the CNET review states), but I think CNET exaggerates the severity — it’s only noticeable to me if I’m far off center.

I haven’t yet noticed any blooming effects.

Setting the “judder reduction” to 10 introduces some distortion at times, but a setting of 6 smoothes out motion well without noticeable distortion.However, this varies a bit with different source material.When viewing video files via DLNA that have a lower frame rate, the judder reduction setting can sometimes make things worse.But this is easy to turn off/on by source.

The color level seemed slightly off initially, even with CNET’s recommended settings.For example, sometimes a blue sky would look slightly purple (i.e., too much red).But this was easily adjusted in the picture settings.

AUDIO

Unfortunately, digital audio output from the TV does not pass through multi-channel audio from HDMI inputs.You need to run extra digital audio cables from your DVD player and other components to your AV receiver if you’d like Dolby Digital or DTS sound.

ENERGY

I measured the electricity usage at 110-115 watts (energy saving mode at “auto”, volume off, picture adjusted per CNET recommendation).Setting energy saving mode to auto doesn’t seem to hurt the picture quality at all.

This is very energy efficient — it uses less power than my old 32″ CRT TV.I’m amazed at how little heat I can feel coming from the back of the set.

REMOTE

If you have a universal learning remote, it will not be able to learn from the RF remote that comes with this TV (i.e., since standard remotes are IR rather than RF).However, I called Samsung and they sent me a compatible IR remote, free of charge.With that remote, I was able to program my universal learning remote.Ask for remote BN59-00851A.

BUILD QUALITY

One small build quality issue that I encountered: the plastic at the base of my TV extended a bit too far, making it impossible to fit it into the stand.I had to carve away some of the plastic in the slots of the stand just to get it to fit, which made me a bit uneasy.But other than that, the build quality is fine.

MEDIA FEATURES

Viewing video files via DLNA works well, for the file types that are supported.Although I’ve encountered many files that the TV doesn’t play for one reason or another (see below), the ones that it does play work well.I regularly stream 1080p video files from my PC, and the picture looks perfect (with wired Ethernet).

The TV has a variety of Internet and media features.But unfortunately there are lots of quality issues such as:

1. When playing video files through USB, DLNA, or Internet features, most TV controls are disabled.While you can adjust basic picture settings, you can’t choose 16:9 or 4:3 aspect ratios.In playing NTSC video (i.e., any video that came from standard def TV, DVD, home movies) from USB or DLNA, the aspect ratio is *always wrong*: 16:9 video is always squeezed too thin and 4:3 video is always stretched too fat.

2. The TV does not decode DTS audio for video files played through USB or DLNA.While I wouldn’t necessarily expect this of a TV, I would have hoped that it would just pass through the audio stream to the digital audio output for an AV receiver to decode.It does pass through Dolby Digital from video files (but not from HDMI) to the digital audio output, but it does not pass DTS.Many HD video files have DTS, but unfortunately I can’t play any of these on this TV.

3. There is no fast forward, rewind, or chapter advance when playing video clips or movies.This is true of playing YouTube videos as well.Although there is a “skip” feature where you can jump in increments (e.g., 10 seconds), this is only available for some video files (most don’t support this, in my experience).

4. As the CNET review stated, the Yahoo widgets are extremely slow to start.Note that this has nothing to do with your Internet speed, since I have a 25 Mbit Internet service with wired Ethernet to the TV and it’s still painfully slow.I have an HD TiVo with a lot of the same features as the Yahoo widgets, and that is far more enjoyable to use.But the one area where the Yahoo widgets outperformed TiVo was YouTube — the Yahoo YouTube widget can play HD video clips as HD but TiVo plays them as SD.

5. For some reason, the DLNA file management user interface is a bit different from the USB file management UI.You can work with hierarchical folders with the USB capability, but not DLNA.All video files from your PC are presented as a flat (large) horizontal list, and it’s awkward to navigate if you have more than a few files.Both the USB and DLNA UIs are kind of clunky, but DLNA is worse than the USB.

I assume that these problems exist with all Samsung TVs with the Media 2.0 feature.Perhaps these problems will be fixed in a future software update (I have the 11/09 version). If so, I’ll post an update. But I would have preferred a (cheaper) TV that didn’t have any of these features to a (more expensive) TV that provided these features poorly. I’ll probably end up getting a Popcorn Hour or similar device for these features, rather than using the features built into the TV.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Samsung UN46B8500 46-Inch 1080p 240 Hz LED HDTV

Product Description:
Picture performance, advanced connectivity, and an eco-friendly and stunning design come together to form Samsung LED TV 8500. For the image connoisseur, our highest 240Hz motion blur reduction technology, our highest 7,000,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio that displays incredibly deep blacks and pristine whites, and enriched color processing deliver outstanding video. Samsung Internet@TV has web TV widgets from Yahoo, Flicker, Ebay and others to entertain, inform and connect you to specially designed web content right on your LED TV. This Ultra Slim 1.6″ depth set is the ideal complement for your room and your life.innovative digital technology. Powerful LED technology offers the most impressive contrast and color you have ever seen on a 55-inch screen; innovative 240Hz technology renders four times the frames per second compared to standard HDTVs, for motion that’s truly lifelike and smooth. A pre-loaded Content Library puts countless hours of information and entertainment at your fingertips. The Medi@2.0 feature brings online content – such as video, stocks, photo sharing and more – straight to your HDTV, with downloadable, customizable widgets that are easily controlled via the remote. The Ultra Slim Design is only 1.2 inches deep, and that’s including the tuner! Another visual highlight is the striking Touch of Color accented bezel. And with the photo frame wall mount, you can bring the elegant brilliance of this inches from the wall – in virtually any room. And with the same passion we have for delivering groundbreaking HD excitement and style, Samsung is dedicated to preserving the environment with LED TVs, through reduced power consumption (up to 40% savings versus 2008 Samsung conventional LCD TVs) and eco-friendly manufacturing techniques.