| To clarify this is my tv and not just basing this review | | | | good as a plasma, but unless you are sitting at an |
| on time spent in a store navigation. This TV has been | | | | angle that will probably not worry too much about this. I |
| difficult to find and the only place I found that he had in | | | | think this is more of a personal preference ... certainly |
| stock was my local Best Buy with a Magnolia section. | | | | the best picture is right in the middle of the screen, but I |
| Design: Samsung is known for their elegant design and | | | | do not think that sits to the right or left makes the |
| this TV is no exception. Samsung says it has a touch | | | | picture a few meters dramatically different. Maybe a |
| of charcoal, but really I have not noticed any color of | | | | video-phil noticing, but my wife does not notice and |
| the bezel. And 'black and goes to clear the outer edge. | | | | never said a thing. |
| He sits on a metal support with a clear neck holding | | | | Reflection: Be aware that this is NOT a matte screen |
| the TV. In the lower half of the television below where | | | | is a reflective screen. If you have Windows in front of |
| it says Samsung is a blue light that can be turned off. I | | | | the TV so make sure you have curtains or blinds to |
| noticed the light blinking ever so slightly when a | | | | block the light enough to not disturb her. I do not think it |
| command is sent from the remote control being used. | | | | is more reflective than other Samsung TV, but from |
| The TV is very thin. Only 1.6 "is more fat to the point. | | | | an opaque screen before this was a big change for |
| This is amazing considering this TV unit is a fully backlit | | | | me. |
| with LED local dimming. Truly surprising and a design | | | | Widgets: the TV is equipped with Internet connectivity |
| that will have your friends jealous. | | | | for Yahoo Widgets, YouTube, Twitter, Sports USA |
| Image Quality: This is the best looking LCD TV made | | | | Today and many others. You can buy a wireless USB |
| today. I saw many other LCD televisions including the | | | | stick Samsung to connect wirelessly to a TV network |
| XBR8 Sony and Samsung A950 last year and this is | | | | or you can connect an Ethernet cable directly into the |
| the best work I've seen. In terms of image quality The | | | | back of the TV. I have an ethernet cable connected |
| XBR8 is closer but not quite up to par with 8500. | | | | directly to the back. First, the widgets do not load |
| Realistically, if you had one of these sets in the house | | | | quickly. I do not know why, but even with a direct |
| would look spectacular. The blacks on the 8500 so | | | | cable to the Internet TV that still do not load quickly. No |
| dark it approaches the level of blacks in the best | | | | idea why but slooow. Slow enough for me to be |
| plasma TV. In a dark room I could not tell where the | | | | bothered and do not use them much. It's strange |
| TV screen bezel is finished and started because the | | | | because when I went to VI widget Tube and watched |
| screen was so dark. The colors are excellent and can | | | | a video Played quickly and was regular. Hopefully |
| be modified many ways to your liking. I like how | | | | Samsung will have a software upgrade to allow the |
| "Natural for everyday use and how to" Movie to | | | | widgets to load faster. At this moment I would say |
| watch Blu-ray. 240Hz The update is nice, but the best | | | | that it is just a novelty. If they can decrease load times |
| thing is that you can control independently and Blue | | | | and add additional applications, such as Facebook, then |
| settings Judder. Raising the 240Hz tends to produce | | | | I think this has potential. But people are not buying this |
| what some call "work" effect soap, but this can easily | | | | TV because of the widgets, they're buying for the |
| be removed tweaking. There is also a game mode | | | | image. |
| that I use when I play on my PS3. | | | | In general I think this is a great TV. And 'costly, yes. |
| One interesting thing I discovered is that the movie | | | | Has the best picture of any LCD available, yes. If you |
| mode with Warm 2 setting is set on nearly a right | | | | have money it is a great TV. I use a Harmony One |
| view to setting out of the box. I say this because I | | | | remote and works perfectly with this TV. PS3 games |
| have a calibration Spears & Munsil Blu-ray and | | | | and Blu-ray movies look incredible. The only quibble I |
| when I went to the TV through the calibration process | | | | have with TV is the reflectivity of the screen and that |
| using the Movie mode on warm 2 I literally just had to | | | | is a consequence of my room setup than the TV itself. |
| change a single setting of one or two points. I have | | | | If I'm watching football in HD, a PS3 game, watching a |
| seen many people simply turning back and forth | | | | Blu-ray movies or watching the office I was blown |
| between natural and Movie mode, depending on what | | | | away by the picture this TV can provide. |
| you are watching, and not worry about calibrating the | | | | UPDATE: |
| tv looks great pretty much out of the box. | | | | I wanted to clarify something that seems to be a bit 'of |
| I also remember that the standard definition looks good | | | | confusion. I refer to this as a LCD TV that is. Samsung |
| on this TV. Is not it as good as HD, but it is perfectly | | | | refers to this as a TV LED. In essence, this TV uses |
| acceptable in my view. | | | | an LCD panel (so it is an LCD TV), but use LED |
| Sound: Having a profile that I think I expected the | | | | backlighting (as opposed to traditional CCFL backlight). |
| sound horrible. Surprisingly it was quite acceptable. | | | | Samsung had a marketing success with the term |
| While I would recommend a surround sound system | | | | "LED TV," but in reality it is still an LCD TV but use |
| I've never felt like the TV speakers were so bad. My | | | | LED backlighting purposes. I just wanted to make sure |
| wife never said anything and I'm never watching a TV | | | | nobody is confused when Samsung refers to it as a |
| show and thought, "Oh, the smell of the sound." I would | | | | TV LED LCD screen and wonder .... in a way they are |
| say that this is media that is ok for me considering the | | | | both right, but this can be confusing for the consumer. |
| small amount of Samsung had space to work on. | | | | Also wanted to comment that I have now had this TV |
| While audio-philes might not like the TV speakers and | | | | for almost 5 months and has performed admirably. I |
| audio I think a lot of people would be absolutely fine | | | | had an event that some people had called "Crop |
| with it. | | | | Circles", but this was remedied with a firmware update |
| Viewing angle: I sit on 9 'and 10' away from the screen | | | | so no problem since. Overall I'm still blown away by this |
| and have not noticed real problems with viewing angle. | | | | TV every day. Whether it's watching the Super Bowl, |
| Of course not LCD LEDs have a viewing angle as | | | | the Olympics or lost this TV is spectacular. |