As requested here is my review of the UE55F8000 that I purchased recently, it's been a little while coming due to the rebooting issue I had with it and now I've had a little while to get used to it now seems the perfect time to give you the pros and cons so far. Just hope it doesn't become an essay so hope you enjoy an honest review from an owner.
It seems only fair to start with initial impressions after opening the box and it's very pleasing to see two black boxes packaged with the tv that contain all the leads, remotes and paperwork in one and two pairs of battery powered active 3D specs in the other that doubles up nicely as a storage box for the specs as they don't fold at the arm like others and in this respect the magnetic catch is a bounus and means it stores nicely under the coffee table.
The stand seems very large and spans the width of the box so those not wall mounting will need to be careful when measuring up to make sure it fits on your rack or stand but it seems solid and stylish. Build quality seems well up to scratch for a £2500 tv and it is solid and well made with a quality feel, the back panel may not be of metal construction but high quality glossy plastics are used and there is no give or squeeking to further reinforce the impression of quality. Connections are extensive and most are pleasingly downward firing making for a neat connection when wall mounting and only USB and one optical and HDMI port can be found to the side under the cover which comes away to reveal all the connections.
Another nice touch are covers for all the back panel connections including the CAM slot and power lead along with that for the connections, OK so you won't ever look at them but it all adds to the quality feel and real thought seems to have gone into these areas. It's also worth mentioning that power lead because early on Samsung lose points for providing perhaps the most stingy lead length I have ever seen...it's just 80cm long and is about as much use as a chocolate cutlery. I doubt it would even reach if you have it on your stand and is simply pathetic meaning I had to buy a new lead to wall mount the tv so something to consider.
I won't list all the connections here but it's nice to have 4 HDMI ports, 3 downward facing and one on the side just above those 3, along with those you get all the usual connections with some such as scart requiring the use of the supplied adaptor. Once on the wall the TV is certainly stylish with a bezel that might as well not be there and a really nice aluminium strip running around the outside edge of the tv and a small glowing badge on the bottom edge (that can be switched off if you don't like it lighting up). It's worth saying that unlike a lot of TVs in this price bracket this isn't a one sheet effect where the TV looks like one sheet of glass, the bezel sticks out at most 2-3mm.
Right now to the most important bit...what's it like switched on? I don't know where to start so let's start with set up, it's a quick and almost painless affair to get it up and running apart from the myriad of agreements you have to accept and of course to get the most out of it the TV needs to connect to your internet at home via the built in wi-fi or wired connection and it's quicker to use the standard remote than the slicker smaller touchpad remote here.
Oh yeah those remotes...well the smaller, slicker and more stylish remote is a nice surprise in that it's nice and small and feels like a quality bit of kit and doubles as a mic for voice control (I will get to that later) whilst the other remote feels cheap and nasty in comparison but for some tasks it's quicker to use this remote as the touchpad one is short on buttons meaning even getting into the menus can be more drawn out than it needs to be but both remotes work well and are quick to respond.
Right now down to picture quality and once out of the box it's obvious the picture needs tweaking and after a quick blast through my AVS HD 709 disc things look far better but it's worth mentioning that the colour pallette favours a slight blue tint which needs dialling out but thankfully there are more than enough options to do this with full colour and white balance options and even a 10 point white balance option. I know my picture needs further calibration and this will be done in few weeks time with a professional calibration but it's easy to get a great picture straight away.
I won't mention all the options in the menus but it's safe to say all the bases are covered with some useful inclusions but most of it is worth turning off in my experience and once this is done and the picture calibrated my initial impression was WOW. Anyone who knows me on here knows I go straight to The Dark Knight opening in iMax shots as a test disc and straight away it's insane amounts of detail that strike you, this isn't artificial detail either as sharpness is dialled back to zero after calibration, the textures of the Jokers suit and the masks all the gang are wearing are striking with scuffs and lines on the masks I've never seen before and even things like fabrics in clothes and the glass on buildings seem extremely detailed.
A good example of that detail is when the window is blown out at the beginning with every shard of glass drawn crisply and sharply and then there is the colours the set is capable of which seem extremely natural and realistic once that blue tint is dialled out and the red tint from my previous HX853 is not present making skin tones lovely and subtle in comparison and realistic. Nothing seems overblown like previous Samsung TVs I have seen and gives images a lovely filmic quality that draw you into The Dark Knight.
Black levels are superb and can reach down to the inky blacks I came to expect from my previous Sony HX853, infact at times it seems it goes a little too black and that can mean you lose the very last bit of black detail but it must be said that until the TV has been calibrated correctly that could simply be down to settings needing adjusting but it does seem this TV can reach further down the scale than my old one, I will of course report back after calibration about this.
Contrast is as you would expect from an LED TV in that it's strong, clean and punchy but it can go side by side effortlessly with those strong inky blacks with no bleed through giving the picture real punch when needed. The backlight seems rather strong though and I found anything above 9 (the scale goes to 20) seemed too strong but of course every environment is different but I settled on 7 as the ideal level.
Motion is handled super smoothly and the real test comes with the opening shot from The Dark Knight where the camera pans towards the building which the two bank robbers fire a line out of, the shot is lovely and smooth with no artifacts or stutter which really impressed me, turning the motion control on (which I only done for this test) obviously lead to the picture getting even smoother but it's un-natural in feel and a bit soap opera like. However when you use the custom setting you are given free reign to adjust all the parameters of motion plus and by keeping Blur Reduction and Judder Reduction to 3 or under provided far better results.
The Samsung motion tech can't quite get to the more natural effect that Sony TVs are capable of but then neither can any manufacturers motion tech it would seem and anyway you should really leave it off as motion is so smooth it's just not required unless you like the effect but it can introduce some artifacts when complex patterns are on screen. It does a nice job with the football though and keeps a tight grip on the ball and the action, the same was true of F1 and both looked lovely and crisp in HD.
Which brings me to the tuner in the TV nicely...Freeview is an enjoyable experience in SD and blocking and noise is kept to a minimum with even Dave remaining watchable so the tuner is quite strong and with HD the leap is as you would want it to be with the increased detail and definition made the most of with plenty of image pop with the natural colour pallette and motion really helping to keep the image more than watchable. The F8000 really does make the most of HD sources.
There is no sign of brightness fluctuations or indeed any DSE which my HX853 did suffer with and the picture is always crystal clear no matter what is going on on screen, the TV has a uniform backlight with no patches or blobs and no sign of bleed or torch effect.
3D images are far better than on my old Sony though and you get plenty of image pop and a brighter screen than I've experienced before with the glasses nice and light on your nose and comfortable over long periods but they don't block out any peripharal light which could be distracting to some but I quite like it. And unlike Sony who for some reason shut you out of some picture adjustments in 3D the F8000 let's you adjust all parameters.
The 3D picture is really nice and involving and after a bit of calibration an initial very slight hint of backlight bleed to the left hand side of the screen is a thing of the past (backlight is set to max as default in 3D) and we are back to lovely inky blacks and a unifrom screen. It's obvious that my upcoming professional calibration will make 3D far better as I'm struggling to calibrate it accurately on my own but motion is still lovely and smooth and the TV has no issues in keeping up with fast moving images and complex patterns in 3D and keeps crosstalk to an absolute minimum with only very occasional instances.
Right back to those remotes and the mic included in the touchpad remote for voice control...in general it works quite well and after the latest update seems to have really improved but it's still a gimmick and isn't really needed, it makes getting to some things easier I suppose but it introduces more issues than it's worth in all honesty. There are far too many times that the TV thinks you have said something when you haven't even pressed the mic button on the remote and will either bring up a menu or change channel all by itself which is not acceptable and I leave it turned off to avoid all this.
The gesture controls are just the same too. Yes they work but with the TV wall mounted you have to stand up for the TV to recognise you and even then gestures are limited to moving a cursor and making a fist to confirm an action, all of which is quicker with the remote. Again when left on there are instances when the TV thinks it has picked up movement when you are just sitting watching a movie or talking with friends and brings up the cursor, changes channels or brings up a menu so again I leave it off and the camera in it's down position.
Whilst we are on the subject of negative points there is a slight issue I picked up a little while back...at the bottom of the screen there is a very slight "crease" for the want of a better word. It's about 5mm thick and not always visible and takes the form of a band that is brighter than the rest of the screen, it's really hard to describe and in all honesty it's very rare you even notice it but it's certainly there and is worth mentioning. Either the latest firmware update (1106) or continued use has eased it considerably but from new it was certainly more prominent but it doesn't ever bother me or spoil my enjoyment of the TV but it may be worth looking out for if you are considering buying.
There's no point me going through the Smart TV offerings other than to say they are extensive and that the TV will learn your viewing habbits and recommend content to watch and that it's all laid out cleanly and colourfully to make navigation a breeze, apps include all the free to view TV catch up services and some handy other stuff. Streaming over DLNA is stable and smooth and the TV can cope with most formats, even MKV which is great and it never stuttered or threw it's toys out the pram when I streamed anything from my NAS drive...not sure I need my WD TV Live now as it goes.
This has gone on for far too long now despite trying to keep it short so to sum up despite an initial rebooting issue that I now know was caused by the Viera Link on my bluray player I'm extremely happy with the 55F8000 and it's a clear step up from my Sony 46HX853 in every regard, yes it's not flawless and motion and voice controls remain a gimmick with which to sell the TV at best but as a TV it's great and serves up extremely detailed highly enjoyable images and for my needs it suits me brilliantly. I can see why WHF gave it 4 stars but to me that seems a bit harsh, when you compare it to the Philips 8008 the two are so close it's hard to call it and the one I auditioned recently had some really bad backlight patches and uniformity issues which would lose it a star for me.
Of course next to the Panasonic GT60 and VT65 it's easier to call as the plasmas are capable of deeper more detailed blacks and are capable of an even more film like image but I must say I'm looking forward to how much improvement I get once my F8000 is properly calibrated but to anyone considering this TV I would say it's simply a great all rounder that's capable of producing fantastic images and I highly recommend it as it only misses out on greatness due to those plasmas but as an LED TV I'm struggling to find fault and I'm very fussy with Tvs as most of the people on here can confirm.
I hope that didn't go on for too long and that some of you find it useful :cheers:
It seems only fair to start with initial impressions after opening the box and it's very pleasing to see two black boxes packaged with the tv that contain all the leads, remotes and paperwork in one and two pairs of battery powered active 3D specs in the other that doubles up nicely as a storage box for the specs as they don't fold at the arm like others and in this respect the magnetic catch is a bounus and means it stores nicely under the coffee table.
The stand seems very large and spans the width of the box so those not wall mounting will need to be careful when measuring up to make sure it fits on your rack or stand but it seems solid and stylish. Build quality seems well up to scratch for a £2500 tv and it is solid and well made with a quality feel, the back panel may not be of metal construction but high quality glossy plastics are used and there is no give or squeeking to further reinforce the impression of quality. Connections are extensive and most are pleasingly downward firing making for a neat connection when wall mounting and only USB and one optical and HDMI port can be found to the side under the cover which comes away to reveal all the connections.
Another nice touch are covers for all the back panel connections including the CAM slot and power lead along with that for the connections, OK so you won't ever look at them but it all adds to the quality feel and real thought seems to have gone into these areas. It's also worth mentioning that power lead because early on Samsung lose points for providing perhaps the most stingy lead length I have ever seen...it's just 80cm long and is about as much use as a chocolate cutlery. I doubt it would even reach if you have it on your stand and is simply pathetic meaning I had to buy a new lead to wall mount the tv so something to consider.
I won't list all the connections here but it's nice to have 4 HDMI ports, 3 downward facing and one on the side just above those 3, along with those you get all the usual connections with some such as scart requiring the use of the supplied adaptor. Once on the wall the TV is certainly stylish with a bezel that might as well not be there and a really nice aluminium strip running around the outside edge of the tv and a small glowing badge on the bottom edge (that can be switched off if you don't like it lighting up). It's worth saying that unlike a lot of TVs in this price bracket this isn't a one sheet effect where the TV looks like one sheet of glass, the bezel sticks out at most 2-3mm.
Right now to the most important bit...what's it like switched on? I don't know where to start so let's start with set up, it's a quick and almost painless affair to get it up and running apart from the myriad of agreements you have to accept and of course to get the most out of it the TV needs to connect to your internet at home via the built in wi-fi or wired connection and it's quicker to use the standard remote than the slicker smaller touchpad remote here.
Oh yeah those remotes...well the smaller, slicker and more stylish remote is a nice surprise in that it's nice and small and feels like a quality bit of kit and doubles as a mic for voice control (I will get to that later) whilst the other remote feels cheap and nasty in comparison but for some tasks it's quicker to use this remote as the touchpad one is short on buttons meaning even getting into the menus can be more drawn out than it needs to be but both remotes work well and are quick to respond.
Right now down to picture quality and once out of the box it's obvious the picture needs tweaking and after a quick blast through my AVS HD 709 disc things look far better but it's worth mentioning that the colour pallette favours a slight blue tint which needs dialling out but thankfully there are more than enough options to do this with full colour and white balance options and even a 10 point white balance option. I know my picture needs further calibration and this will be done in few weeks time with a professional calibration but it's easy to get a great picture straight away.
I won't mention all the options in the menus but it's safe to say all the bases are covered with some useful inclusions but most of it is worth turning off in my experience and once this is done and the picture calibrated my initial impression was WOW. Anyone who knows me on here knows I go straight to The Dark Knight opening in iMax shots as a test disc and straight away it's insane amounts of detail that strike you, this isn't artificial detail either as sharpness is dialled back to zero after calibration, the textures of the Jokers suit and the masks all the gang are wearing are striking with scuffs and lines on the masks I've never seen before and even things like fabrics in clothes and the glass on buildings seem extremely detailed.
A good example of that detail is when the window is blown out at the beginning with every shard of glass drawn crisply and sharply and then there is the colours the set is capable of which seem extremely natural and realistic once that blue tint is dialled out and the red tint from my previous HX853 is not present making skin tones lovely and subtle in comparison and realistic. Nothing seems overblown like previous Samsung TVs I have seen and gives images a lovely filmic quality that draw you into The Dark Knight.
Black levels are superb and can reach down to the inky blacks I came to expect from my previous Sony HX853, infact at times it seems it goes a little too black and that can mean you lose the very last bit of black detail but it must be said that until the TV has been calibrated correctly that could simply be down to settings needing adjusting but it does seem this TV can reach further down the scale than my old one, I will of course report back after calibration about this.
Contrast is as you would expect from an LED TV in that it's strong, clean and punchy but it can go side by side effortlessly with those strong inky blacks with no bleed through giving the picture real punch when needed. The backlight seems rather strong though and I found anything above 9 (the scale goes to 20) seemed too strong but of course every environment is different but I settled on 7 as the ideal level.
Motion is handled super smoothly and the real test comes with the opening shot from The Dark Knight where the camera pans towards the building which the two bank robbers fire a line out of, the shot is lovely and smooth with no artifacts or stutter which really impressed me, turning the motion control on (which I only done for this test) obviously lead to the picture getting even smoother but it's un-natural in feel and a bit soap opera like. However when you use the custom setting you are given free reign to adjust all the parameters of motion plus and by keeping Blur Reduction and Judder Reduction to 3 or under provided far better results.
The Samsung motion tech can't quite get to the more natural effect that Sony TVs are capable of but then neither can any manufacturers motion tech it would seem and anyway you should really leave it off as motion is so smooth it's just not required unless you like the effect but it can introduce some artifacts when complex patterns are on screen. It does a nice job with the football though and keeps a tight grip on the ball and the action, the same was true of F1 and both looked lovely and crisp in HD.
Which brings me to the tuner in the TV nicely...Freeview is an enjoyable experience in SD and blocking and noise is kept to a minimum with even Dave remaining watchable so the tuner is quite strong and with HD the leap is as you would want it to be with the increased detail and definition made the most of with plenty of image pop with the natural colour pallette and motion really helping to keep the image more than watchable. The F8000 really does make the most of HD sources.
There is no sign of brightness fluctuations or indeed any DSE which my HX853 did suffer with and the picture is always crystal clear no matter what is going on on screen, the TV has a uniform backlight with no patches or blobs and no sign of bleed or torch effect.
3D images are far better than on my old Sony though and you get plenty of image pop and a brighter screen than I've experienced before with the glasses nice and light on your nose and comfortable over long periods but they don't block out any peripharal light which could be distracting to some but I quite like it. And unlike Sony who for some reason shut you out of some picture adjustments in 3D the F8000 let's you adjust all parameters.
The 3D picture is really nice and involving and after a bit of calibration an initial very slight hint of backlight bleed to the left hand side of the screen is a thing of the past (backlight is set to max as default in 3D) and we are back to lovely inky blacks and a unifrom screen. It's obvious that my upcoming professional calibration will make 3D far better as I'm struggling to calibrate it accurately on my own but motion is still lovely and smooth and the TV has no issues in keeping up with fast moving images and complex patterns in 3D and keeps crosstalk to an absolute minimum with only very occasional instances.
Right back to those remotes and the mic included in the touchpad remote for voice control...in general it works quite well and after the latest update seems to have really improved but it's still a gimmick and isn't really needed, it makes getting to some things easier I suppose but it introduces more issues than it's worth in all honesty. There are far too many times that the TV thinks you have said something when you haven't even pressed the mic button on the remote and will either bring up a menu or change channel all by itself which is not acceptable and I leave it turned off to avoid all this.
The gesture controls are just the same too. Yes they work but with the TV wall mounted you have to stand up for the TV to recognise you and even then gestures are limited to moving a cursor and making a fist to confirm an action, all of which is quicker with the remote. Again when left on there are instances when the TV thinks it has picked up movement when you are just sitting watching a movie or talking with friends and brings up the cursor, changes channels or brings up a menu so again I leave it off and the camera in it's down position.
Whilst we are on the subject of negative points there is a slight issue I picked up a little while back...at the bottom of the screen there is a very slight "crease" for the want of a better word. It's about 5mm thick and not always visible and takes the form of a band that is brighter than the rest of the screen, it's really hard to describe and in all honesty it's very rare you even notice it but it's certainly there and is worth mentioning. Either the latest firmware update (1106) or continued use has eased it considerably but from new it was certainly more prominent but it doesn't ever bother me or spoil my enjoyment of the TV but it may be worth looking out for if you are considering buying.
There's no point me going through the Smart TV offerings other than to say they are extensive and that the TV will learn your viewing habbits and recommend content to watch and that it's all laid out cleanly and colourfully to make navigation a breeze, apps include all the free to view TV catch up services and some handy other stuff. Streaming over DLNA is stable and smooth and the TV can cope with most formats, even MKV which is great and it never stuttered or threw it's toys out the pram when I streamed anything from my NAS drive...not sure I need my WD TV Live now as it goes.
This has gone on for far too long now despite trying to keep it short so to sum up despite an initial rebooting issue that I now know was caused by the Viera Link on my bluray player I'm extremely happy with the 55F8000 and it's a clear step up from my Sony 46HX853 in every regard, yes it's not flawless and motion and voice controls remain a gimmick with which to sell the TV at best but as a TV it's great and serves up extremely detailed highly enjoyable images and for my needs it suits me brilliantly. I can see why WHF gave it 4 stars but to me that seems a bit harsh, when you compare it to the Philips 8008 the two are so close it's hard to call it and the one I auditioned recently had some really bad backlight patches and uniformity issues which would lose it a star for me.
Of course next to the Panasonic GT60 and VT65 it's easier to call as the plasmas are capable of deeper more detailed blacks and are capable of an even more film like image but I must say I'm looking forward to how much improvement I get once my F8000 is properly calibrated but to anyone considering this TV I would say it's simply a great all rounder that's capable of producing fantastic images and I highly recommend it as it only misses out on greatness due to those plasmas but as an LED TV I'm struggling to find fault and I'm very fussy with Tvs as most of the people on here can confirm.
I hope that didn't go on for too long and that some of you find it useful :cheers:
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