2.0 out of 5 stars Randomly and Spontaneously Reverts to "Store Demo" Mode at Inopportune Times, June 19, 2011
By
Mikkel "mikkel04" (Cleveland Hts, Ohio United States) -
This review is from: Samsung UN46C8000 46-Inch 1080p 3D 240 Hz LED HDTV (Electronics)
This is an excellent TV in many respects. But having spent over $2000 for a top of the line television, I expect things to be pretty near flawless and, well, they aren't. While the contrast is good for an LCD TV, there is noticeable light bleeding from the top and bottom of the screen. Additionally, it has relatively poor compatibility with universal remotes. But what has been REALLY ANNOYING is that, once in a while (i.e. a couple times a month), the TV will automatically revert to "Store Demo" mode, which resets all of the system settings and is frustratingly difficult to get out of (I spent 30 mintues chatting with a Samsung CSR before fixing the problem the first time). Often the remote becomes unresponsive and requires actually physically unplugging the television before the problem can be resolved. If I had spent $400-700 on this TV, I'd be more willing to roll with the punches. But this is bush-league for a $2000+ TV, and I expect better from Samsung. 5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic viewing, June 17, 2011
By
JHP (Texas) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Samsung UN46C8000 46-Inch 1080p 3D 240 Hz LED HDTV (Electronics)
We researched this tv set and watched for good pricing. Finally we ordered 2 for our home. They arrived in a few days in perfect condition and were very easy to install. We are thrilled with these tv's and feel we purchased the best ones available! 5.0 out of 5 stars Breathtaking 2D Picture Quality, June 11, 2011
This review is from: Samsung UN46C8000 46-Inch 1080p 3D 240 Hz LED HDTV (Electronics)
It's rather ironic that when I finally did buy a high def flat screen TV that I would end up with this TV: a 3D, glossy set. Honestly, I could not care less about 3D in the home. I think it's a fad. I think it's annoying to have to wear glasses, and I think it's even more annoying that you can't change your focus while watching 3D content--i.e. if the scene is filmed to bring the foreground in focus, you can't take a quick look at the background (and vice versa). So, when I first experienced this TV at a local store, it was set up as a 3D demo, and I wasn't very impressed. Yes, it was nifty, but it wasn't for me. Well, about a month ago, I was killing time and wandered into the same store and was looking around at the various HDTV's. I keep up on the state of things in the HDTV world, and check out the stores periodically just in case there is some really good deal. And I was walking along, and, WOW! this set just really appealed to me. Why? Well, it was no longer the latest and greatest 3D Samsung and so had been taken off 3D demo and relegated to the area shared by all the other LCD sets. And, also . . . and this is very important . . . one or more of the sales people liked this set and knew how to adjust it, and they did NOT have it in the STUPID "demo" mode where it is freaking MAXED out in contrast and brightness and has the highest "smart LED" setting and all that. (The maxed out mode is called "Dynamic" in the picture settings, by the way.) No. They had it set to "Movie" mode. And, OMG! What a picture! And it was an incredible deal. Really really good because it was last years model and was a demo, already opened item. I talked myself out of it that day. Didn't need it. Shouldn't really spend the money right then. Etc. But, I kept thinking about it and went back the next day and marveled once again at the incredible picture. I also LOVED that the bezel is bushed stainless steel (or has that look, anyway). Some people hate this. I love it. YMMV. I also loved that it was .9 inches thick and only 50 pounds or so. I did not love the glossy screen, and was worried about reflections in my living room, but even so, I also noted that this TV could really crank out the backlight brightness. Didn't buy it that day either. But I couldn't stop feeling that this was THE set for me, and that I would regret it if I didn't buy it.
So I went back the day after that and bought it. And let me tell you, after I tweaked the Movie settings a bit, I was just BLOWN AWAY by how awesome the picture was. I am very, very happy with the picture quality of this TV. I continue to marvel at it even a month later. The one minor downside in this area is that the viewing angles aren't the best, as has been noted in professional reviews. However, the thing is that it depends on what you mean by good viewing angles! If what you want is a totally stable picture which shows absolutely NO change as you change your viewing angle, then, yes, this set has about a 45 degree range. However, if you want to know over what range you still get a really good picture, that number is more like 90 degrees--i.e. you can be off axis by as much as 45 degrees and still have a picture which is every bit as good as perfectly on axis--or at least this has been my experience, and I just double checked it a minute ago. The differences between reviewers may have a lot to do with how high the backlight is set. The higher it is set, the less you will notice differences as you move across the viewing angles. I still wish it were better in terms of viewing angle, but in practice, I never have ANY issues in this area, and our seating ranges as much as 45 degrees off axis. The other thing that is mentioned in at least one professional review is that you "can't turn off" the smart LED / precision dimming--that even when you set the setting to "off" that this feature is still active to some degree. Well, I think they must have changed the firmware since then such that OFF really does mean OFF. My Oppo BPD-83 Blu-Ray player has a screen saver where the word "Oppo" bounces around on a black screen, and it is perfect for seeing just how much the smart LED is dimming down the backlight in columns of the screen without any bright pixels. (This is what precision dimming does, by the way, and it does it top to bottom entirely, instead of, like the B8500, completely locally, around the bright object. I think they changed this in order to avoid the "halo effect"; of course, now you have the "waterfall effect" LOL! I suspect that is preferable, however.) And, when I turn OFF the smart LED, I don't see any difference from the blacks around the "Oppo" and the blacks elsewhere. Personally, I find the smart LED to be a plus, in moderation. I have mine set to standard, and yes, during credits or the screen saver, I do notice the waterfall effect, but during any actual scene, I never notice any artifacts from it and find that it improves the picture somewhat. But, really, turn the thing completely off if you want--the picture will still be freaking incredible. The people at Samsung may think that they need to crank everything up into "Dynamic" in order to WOW! and impress people in the store, but for me, the opposite is true. I'm not impressed with stupidly vivid and unrealistic colors and contrasts. Not at all. If you DO like this, then this set will blow you away. Just don't use the settings I'm going to list below. Put it in standard or dynamic mode and play with the settings--there are a lot of settings to play with!
Anyway, the point is, that I have yet to see any other LCD HDTV with a picture I like better than this Samsung. It is, quite simply, breathtaking. I love it.
Now . . . the internet applications stuff in this set leave a LOT to be desired. I was NOT impressed. Streaming Netflix to the TV made me fill slightly ill due to the camcorder effect. And I could not find any way to fix this in the settings, although I must admit that I didn't try very hard, because the internet stuff was glitchy as hell and seemed to destabilize the entire firmware! I swear, the TV started acting up in all sorts of ways the second I hooked it up to the internet. It would turn on, the picture would come on, and then it would turn completely off, and turn on again before it was happy, finally--and all this without me even thinking about pressing the internet button! And turning on the internet was the same way. I would turn it on, select Netflix, and it would start loading, and then crash out and I'd have to do it again. Finally, I was like, screw this. Not worth it. Perhaps streaming video from Amazon would have worked better. I don't know. Maybe some day I'll try it again, but I doubt it.
I mounted my set to the wall using the Samsung WMN1000B Fixed Low-Profile Wall Mount for Select Samsung 40-Inch to 55-Inch Displays and it is AWESOME. I balked at the price at first, but then figured that I would pay it, but as luck would have it, it went on sale the very day I bought this set, so that was great. The mount is literally a picture frame mount. Two discs mount to the wall and then you attach two discs with a metal cable between them to the back of your Samsung, and two other discs at the lower left and right, and then you pick the set up and hang it on the wall exactly like a picture frame. It is the COOLEST THING EVER, I have to tell you! LOL! Is the mount set up overpriced? Yeah, probably. Is it worth it anyway? Yeah, I think so.
OK. Here are the settings that I have found are best for the most natural and faithful picture. I arrived at these both by trial and error, and by using a Spears and Munsil calibration Blu-Ray disc and the very helpful RGB modes in Advanced Settings. The backlight setting is something I adjust depending on whether it is day or night, hence the range of numbers. Here they are:
Mode: Movie
Backlight: 13-20
Contrast: 95
Brightness: 42
Sharpness: 0
Color: 48
Tint: G50/R50
Eco Solution: Off/Off/Off
Auto Adjustment: N/A (grayed out)
Screen: N/A
Advanced Settings
Black Tone: Off
Dynamic Contrast: Off
Gamma: 0
Expert Pattern: Off
RGB Only Mode: Off
Color Space: Auto
White Balance: 25/25/25/25/25/25
10p White Balance: Off
Flesh Tone: Off
Edge Enhancement: Off
xvYcc: N/A
LED Motion Plus: Cinema
Picture Options
Color Tone: Warm2
Size: 16:9
Digital Noise Filter: Off
MPEG Noise Filter: Off
HDMI Black Level: N/A (Low)
Film Mode: N/A (Off)
Auto Motion Plus: Off
Auto Protection Timer: 2 hours
Smart LED: Standard
So, in short, I can highly recommend this set. I would definitely buy it for the price that Amazon is currently selling it for. It has a few downsides, but for me the 2D picture quality more than makes up for these. Oh, and one more thing: if you ever encounter some strange problems--like the set not wanting to turn off, or turning itself on, or whatever--then try holding down the "EXIT" button on the remote for about 10 seconds until it asks you if you want to reset all settings to factory defaults. This will reset the firmware, and seems to be a good idea after upgrading the firmware, since doing this wipes out your settings anyway (so, yes, write them down!)
5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful great TV, June 2, 2011
Amazon Verified Purchase
This review is from: Samsung UN46C8000 46-Inch 1080p 3D 240 Hz LED HDTV (Electronics)
I had the C8000 series for a week and found a C7000 series for 800 less and it was Christmas,so..... I loved the UN46C8000 trim,performance.There were only minor differences to drop to the C7000 series.There is a power meter on the remote to give you an idea of how much juice you're burning that I like.The picture couldn't be any clearer.All the Internet TV functions worked flawlessly.It's light,very green (Eco-Green) Very sharp looking TV with optional lit up Samsung letters on the bottom of the TV,which made it more unique.If I had to choose and it came to a minimal price difference,I'd absolutely pick this set. I think it's the best TV I've ever used.Very compatible with all home theater equipment. Great TV
5.0 out of 5 stars Spectacular, with some minor flaws, May 31, 2011
By
K. Hess (New York, USA) -
Amazon Verified Purchase
This review is from: Samsung UN46C8000 46-Inch 1080p 3D 240 Hz LED HDTV (Electronics)
This television is every bit as beautiful as you would expect, and then some. The picture is stunning, and its worth the money. The biggest issue for me is that the ARC (Audio Return Channel), for external sources such as a cable box, only outputs 2.1 stereo to my 5.1 speaker setup instead of the full 5.1 channels. This is a software/firmware issue with the TV that Samsung has deliberately created, I suspect for copy protection reasons. When using the TV for Netflix though, it does output the full 5.1 channels over the ARC, so I know it's not a hardware issue. For most people this probably won't be much of an issue, but if you intend on using the ARC feature this could get annoying.
Also, I wanted to use Ethernet over HDMI, a feature which HDMI 1.4 supports. This TV supports HDMI 1.4 so in theory it should support Ethernet over HDMI, but I could not find any documentation or support on the issue. It seems as if the TV doesn't support it. Again, pretty minor.
3.0 out of 5 stars Don't understand all the hype, March 31, 2011
This review is from: Samsung UN46C8000 46-Inch 1080p 3D 240 Hz LED HDTV (Electronics)
Got this TV and returned it to HHGregg after 2 days. Picture was mediocre, colors were very washed out, blacks were grey, whites were bland, sound was absolutely terrible (although for this kind of TV you should invest in surround sound). Really wanted to like this TV, but was just so unimpressed. Spent many hours working on calibration, trying to convince myself the picture was good, trying different mediums. I finally got rid of it when I realized how poor my Xbox 360 looked on this TV.
Did I have a lemon? Who knows. That's HHGregg's problem now.
If you're going to get a Plasma, get a Panasonic. Let Samsung stick to LED/LCDs.
Instead of this TV, I got the Vizio XVT3D474SV backlit LED, 480hz, and LOVE IT. Best 2D picture out there for under $2,000.
5.0 out of 5 stars TV as it should be!!, March 19, 2011
By
Jude -
This review is from: Samsung UN46C8000 46-Inch 1080p 3D 240 Hz LED HDTV (Electronics)
This TV is stunning!!!!!. It's now last year's model, but I liked it better than the 2011 TVs. I bought a Samsung BlueRay player to go with it and together they are just incredible. The picture is so real its like being in the room with the actors. While I saw the model set up and working in the store, I was nervous it would not be the same at home, but it was. I got the Geek squad to set it up and it was great. I did learn one thing. Because I wanted to setup Netflicks through the wirless router to stream movies through the Blueray player, I was unhappy that I was having all kind of problems just trying to watch the movie until I learned that I needed a decent, more powerful router!! The one I had just couldn't do it. I'm not a technical person at all, but I fould this router issue was a big deal.
5.0 out of 5 stars Welcome to "Live" HD TV, March 11, 2011
Amazon Verified Purchase
This review is from: Samsung UN46C8000 46-Inch 1080p 3D 240 Hz LED HDTV (Electronics)
This LED TV is over the top. The setup of thie TV is a snap, remember all your cables need the supplied, yes supplied, adapters to fit the extra small connections. The Internet USB N adapter was simple and easy to setup. If you can get your laptop on WiFi, its just as easy. Now for the picture. When watching HD videos, Netflix, or BluRay, the images look like live video. My kids and I saw this for the first time at a Sony Store while visiting Chicago. We figured it was something they were over processing for store display. Nope, its the 240 mhz panel speed. When its connected to a PS3 the PS3 said, oh we need to adjust for your 3D tv, and pop, unbelieveable quality. This amazing quality of picture is without 3D, its the 240 mhz of the LCD LED panel that makes the difference.
I was planning on purchasing the lower 7000 Samsung LED, based upon reviews. Ordered the 8000 and I am very satisfied. The experience was based upon older Samsung LCD 1080p, 60 mhz which was best of class when purchased. This new 8000 is best price on web, best quality (better than Sony's I saw) and typical over the top quality of Samsung. Buy this panel, you will enjoy it from the first HD movie you play. Best of class, Best of price, own one for your family room!
