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Just got tv upgrade from samsung because my b8000 was having the clouding/flashlight effect plus corner lighting not any more with the c8000. I immediately upgraded firmware and now a great television awaits dont be fooled by other reviews this is great if you can find a deal I only paid $1800 great price for 3D tv!!!!!
Rating: 4 / 5

By R. Nolberto on Apr 30, 2010

I have been watching this TV for about two weeks and I have been disappointed at all. I was concern about the TV being an LED screen but it’s amazing. Is the best investment I have ever done. Love it
Rating: 5 / 5

By Jose M. Hernandez on Apr 30, 2010

Got my UN55C8000 Last week Thursday, to replace my LN52A650. I have no Issues with my tv. The Black level are great, the motion handling is very good. I’ve watched 4 Blueray movies on it so far.Played some God of War 3. I’ve yet to see the lights in the corner/top like what some other’s have said. No clouding at all. The color is very good. Compared to my old LN52A650, This led tv is a stunner. The only compaints I have are 1 wifi not built in and 2 it’s not 480htz.
Rating: 5 / 5

By R. Henry on Apr 30, 2010

I just got this TV yesterday & thus far i LOVE it!!! I have it hooked up through Monster 1000hd Ultimate High Speed HDMI cable (15.8 Gbps) oh & i have Fios. It looks like i am looking through a window, its AMAZING! I watched a DVD ( i also got the Samsung BD-C6900 1080p 3D Blu-ray Disc Player) & it also looked AMAZING! I have another flat screen that i bought a few years ago, a Pink 32″ SONY Bravia KDL-32S3000/P. The picture on the Samsung is significantly better! I have yet to try out the 3D. so i will have to get back about that. I mean it is Ridiculously expensive for what it is. But its pretty great. As people have mentioned there is a bit of “juttering” which is slight & doesnt happen frequently & does not affect the volume, so it doesnt bother me. If it affected the volume it would drive me insane. So if not for the slight juttering & price i would have given 5 stars.
Rating: 4 / 5

By Kim on Apr 30, 2010

While the C8000 is technically not Samsung’s flagship television for 2010, — that honor belongs to the 1/3 inch deep C9000 that costs $6,000 — it does represent Samsung’s best foot forward as far as picture performance is concerned. With this fact in mind, I simply must say that it is a major disappointment. The longer I have it, the more problems I find with it. I have become more and more upset and frustrated with it by the day. I actually originally rated it identically to my rating of the C7000, but after having it for almost two weeks now, I must lower my rating. It is just a lot more disappointing and aggravating than my C7000 was. Granted, this could be because I didn’t have high expectations for the C7000, but I didn’t find as many problems with it either. I will say upfront that it does outperform the C7000 in a few respects, but not by enough to ignore all of the additional flaws; especially when you consider the fact that it costs more and it is supposed to handily outperform the C7000 in every regard. Furthermore, it has far more problems with it’s video processing and handling of 720p/1080i HD content than the C7000. Therefore, I simply could not give the C8000 more than 2 stars. I will start out by giving a quick outline of the flaws and strengths. The flaws: Video Processing that is defective by design, a black level that is not up to par, poor screen uniformity and viewing angle. The strengths: The design – If you like brushed titanium that has a distinctly silver look, as well as chrome, you will love the design. I’m sure it will be a little too ostentatious for some, but will suit others very well. I don’t love the design, but I won’t deny that it is uniquely aesthetically pleasant. Overall, putting personal feelings aside, I think one would have to concede that the design is ultimately a rousing success. The features – The feature set speaks for itself, and holds it’s own against the features of the high majority of other television. The Remote – The remote is gorgeous and is as showy as the television itself. None of these aspects bring down the rating of this television. It is the picture performance and a lot of defects that really bring down the score.

Black level: The level of black achieved by the C8000 is relatively dark, but still has to be considered a disappointment. The black level is just not as deep or realistic as one might expect on a television of this level. Samsung has been touting the precision dimming feature of this set since the very first specs for it were released a few months ago. They made it sound like this precision dimming would allow this set to achieve a level of black that rivaled any full array local dimming LED LCD or Plasma. Well, I’m sorry, it just didn’t happen. The precision dimming feature definitely doesn’t work like it should. The black level on this television is relatively deep, but nowhere near what it should be. Basically it’s somewhere in between most edge-lit led sets and full array local dimming sets or high end plasma’s. It’s definitely not what I think we all believed it would be, and it definitely doesn’t hold up to what Samsung stated could be achieved with it’s precision dimming feature. Considering the price of this television, and the fact that it is Samsung’s best effort at excellence for 2010, the black level is definitely not up to par. Due to the fact that the black level is not what it could or should be, shadow delineation is only about average. You will not find details in shadows like you will on a television with a better overall black level. Shadow detail is decent, it’s just not what you may have experienced on a television capable of achieving a deeper, more realistic shade of black.

Color Accuracy: There’s no need to say a lot here. The color accuracy, as well as the overall saturation of colors in any viewing environment is essentially flawless. I really can’t take points off here. The color accuracy and the way the colors are displayed on this television regardless of which picture mode is being used, is absolutely stunning.

Video Processing/Motion Resolution: The C8000 definitely loses some points here. It’s really quite sad because Samsung had absolutely perfected this feature on many of their previous high end sets. It seems like they just tried to do too much with this feature on the C8000. When I say that, I mean that there are just too many different adjustable settings that affect the video processing/motion resolution, and it seems this might be what caused some problems. There are 3 different adjustable settings that affect video processing and motion resolution. 240hz Auto Motion Plus, Smart LED, and LED motion plus. I believe that defect within the video processing must be blamed on Samsung trying to do too much with this aspect of the television. The biggest flaw I found is that this television is utterly incapable of properly handling 1080/24p content. As I watched my first blu-ray on this television, — which happened to be Sherlock Holmes — every time the camera panned over something, I kept thinking that it looked funny. I definitely wasn’t seeing the innate judder of film. It looked synthetically smooth. Nothing like what I am used to from televisions that handle this content appropriately. Therefore, I used 2 different calibration discs with test patterns, and popped in several films that I know to have distinct camera panning scenes. My fears were confirmed, no matter which settings you use, or how you adjust the Auto Motion Plus 240 Hz feature, 24fps content cannot be properly handled by this television. This television also has a problem processing 1080i/60hz and 720p/60hz signals, which will cause stuttering/hitching, as well as very short pauses with sudden jerky movements. This means that you have to continue adjusting the Auto Motion Plus and/or LED Motion Plus features for every different program you watch on cable or satellite until you find a setting that works with that particular signal. It is extremely annoying, and entirely unacceptable on a television such as this.

Standard Definition Programming/HD programming via Satellite or Cable broadcast at 1080i or 720p: This aspect represents another huge misstep on the part of the C8000. The television absolutely cannot de-interlace 1080i content to display it properly. (I confirmed this with two different test patterns) It also seemed to have a lot of trouble converting standard def 480 signals. This means that all broadcast HD programming as well as standard def programming — while still looking excellent — loses some quality in the finer details. The main images being displayed — such as an actor’s face during a close up — still look outstanding, but details in the background look quite poor. A lot of people won’t even notice this type of thing, so it’s not a huge issue. I just feel that a television of this caliber should never have a problem with something as simple as this. I will however reiterate that most viewers won’t notice or care about this, so I don’t deduct much for it at all.

3D Television/3D blu-ray viewing: The C8000 has to be awarded some major bonus points here (Albeit with one huge caveat). I must admit, viewing a 3D blu-ray on this television — especially with the newest firmware, which allows customization and adjustment of the 3D level — is wildly impressive. I couldn’t stop thinking about what a technological marvel this is. The 2D to 3D conversion feature — while nowhere near as impressive as actually viewing native 3D content — is pretty remarkable. Overall, the 3D aspect of this television is definitely it’s biggest strength. However, I must talk about something that has to be considered a huge problem with the 3D feature. When you engage 3D, the television automatically adjusts the backlight, contrast level, and brightness of the television, while also changing the picture mode. This is understandable because wearing the active shutter 3D glasses really dims the picture. The key problem is that when the backlight, contrast level, and brightness are elevated on this television, the screen becomes a dark grey sky completely full of clouds. Light begins to shine in from multiple areas of the panel. It looks atrocious. It is very distracting, and really takes away from the 3D viewing experience. If you manually adjust the settings to lower contrast, backlight, and brightness, or switch to a dimmer picture mode, it absolutely ruins 3D viewing on this television. It’s a lose-lose situation. To fully enjoy 3D viewing, the settings affecting brightness and contrast must be elevated, but that causes light to leak in. Lower these settings, and the television is too dim to give you an immersive 3D experience.

Taken as a whole, the C8000 is a good television (Albeit one with a lot of flaws and problems). Good is not a word that one wishes to use to describe highly expensive, flagship — as far as video quality goes — television that represents a company’s best effort at picture performance for an entire year. The C8000 is better than the C7000, but not enough better to warrant a higher star rating or a higher cost. This is especially true when you consider the fact that the C7000 was never intended to be anything other than Samsung’s cheapest 3D TV and did not have half the hype surrounding it or create half the expectations that the C8000 did. The precision dimming feature is essentially a gimmick, and doesn’t allow the television to achieve a shade of black that is much better than other edge-lit led sets. To cap off the review, I will say that I am extremely thwarted by this television. I have already initiated a return, and I will be highly anticipating the LX900 and HX900 from Sony, the LE 9500 from LG, as well as the PNC8000 plasma with real black filter for bright room/daytime viewing. After owning and returning both the C7000 and C8000, I have given up on Samsung LED LCD sets for 2010.

Update: The following questions were posed to me in the comments section –

- Are the black levels good?

- Is there blooming?

- What about the flashlight effect?

- Does the screen get washed out if its across from a window?

- Are regular 2D blurays and standart TV pretty to the eye?

I promised that I would go in and update my review to give very basic answers to these questions. Please read through the comments section for additional detailed information regarding this television.

- Are the black levels good?

Yes. The level of black achieved by this television is very good. One key point to remember is that the black level is very good while viewing the television from direct center, but starts to turn grey and somewhat bluish as you move further away from a center viewpoint. Now, ask yourself this question. Do you think that the level of black achieved by a manufacturer’s very best effort at picture performance in any of their televisions should be very good or something better than that? Again, this television represents the highest quality picture performance you will get from Samsung in 2010. Do you think the black level should be better than very good? I definitely do. I think that paying close to $3,000 for a television should get you a black level that is absolutely superb. Especially considering that the television you paid that much for is the best one that company made that entire year. The black level of this television basically matches the black level of other edge-lit led — B8000, B7000, C7000, etc. — sets. In most viewing environments, it is identical. In a completely darkened room, it is barely deeper. Some people won’t even be able to tell that it is barely better. Wouldn’t you agree that this is not what the precision dimming feature was intended for. Samsung stated that the precision dimming feature would allow this television to achieve a level of black that matched any full array local dimming television without exhibiting blooming. Well, it didn’t do this.

- Is there blooming?

Blooming on this television is very rare. You will see it exhibit some faint blooming occasionally, but only in extremely dark scenes in which something very bright is also present. Think of a scene in which 90% of it is darkened, but there is a bright light present. A good example would be some of the Rorshach scenes in Watchmen. The blooming is greatly improved upon as compared to the full array local dimming sets, but you will still barely see it from time to time. The precision dimming feature did it’s job regarding blooming. Now, if only it could have done it’s job regarding black level, and eliminating light shining through the panel.

- What about the flashlight effect?

As I originally stated in my review, it is highly present during the viewing of 3D content. I suppose I should have elaborated and mentioned that if you elevate any of the picture settings that affect the brightness of this television, the flashlight effect will become extremely noticeable and distracting. You will be able to see it using “Dynamic” picture mode, or if you raise any of the contrast, brightness, or backlight settings in “Standard” picture mode. When viewing 3D content, the television automatically elevates these particular settings and light really begins to shine in from the corners as well as everywhere on the panel. If viewing this television in “Standard” mode, regardless of viewing environment, without raising any of these settings, the flashlight effect will be practically invisible. If viewing this television using “Movie” mode, in a completely darkened room, the flashlight effect will be entirely non-existent.

- Does the screen get washed out if it’s across from a window?

If you were viewing a film with a lot of dark scenes — think Harry Potter or something similar — the picture wouldn’t necessarily get washed out, but the reflections would create a great difficulty in viewing this type of content. If you are watching lively bright content such as sporting events or animated films, or if you are watching a television show or blu-ray that is full of brightened scenes, the picture will still look gorgeous. It would not be washed out or difficult to view for any reason at all. Overall screen uniformity is about what you would expect for an LCD television. The picture looks best from direct center in the sweet spot, and gets worse as you move further to the left or right, or if you are looking at it from higher than the television. Basically, the viewing angle is quite poor, but not more so than the viewing angle of other comparable televisions. You definitely experience some color loss, and blacks turn bluish grey, but this happens on every LCD. This issue is especially noticeable on edge lit LED LCD’s.

- Are 2D blu-ray’s and standard TV pretty to the eye?

I believe I addressed this pretty well in my original review but I will try to be more basic in answering this question. 2D blu-ray’s look great. They look about exactly like they would look on any very good television, which is to say exceptional. There are many televisions that will display a blu-ray film just as well as this television does. In most viewing environments, — especially brightly lit rooms and daytime viewing — watching a blu-ray on this television will look just like watching one on most other edge-lit led sets and really good traditional lcd sets. Therefore, viewing a blu-ray on this television in a bright room will still give you a much better image than any plasma television would. However, in a completely darkened room, blu-ray’s will still look great, but the image will not hold it’s own against led lcd televisions with better black levels and a lot of plasma’s. Standard television programming and high def television programming will look great — with the exception of the video processing errors — to all but the pickiest viewers.

I really hope this helps. I am not satisfied with this television at all, and I believe that a lot of people that purchase it will feel the same way. You are just not getting what you pay for when you buy this TV. Samsung stated that this television would be superb, and I was expecting excellence. It is definitely not superb, and a lot of televisions that cost much less will give you the same picture quality (only without the 3D feature). If you absolutely must have 3D right now, plasma is not an option for you, and you can’t wait for a better television from Sony or LG, it’s not the worst decision you could make. However, you will have paid close to $3,000 for simply a very good TV. If you can wait, and would rather spend $3,000 on an outstanding TV, there will definitely be much better televisions released within the next few months.

Rating: 2 / 5

By A. Leetham on May 1, 2010