Samsung UN55HU8550 55-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz 3D Smart LED HDTV..
Buy Samsung UN55HU8550 55-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz 3D Smart LED HDTV By SamsungMost helpful customer reviews
114 of 118 people found the following review helpful.
Samsung Second Generation 4k UHD - I Am Weak - I Had To Buy
By Carter H
This is the best picture quality of any TV I have had. It is a 4K TV and even though there isn't any 4K content yet without getting movie on a hard drive and paying out the nose. This Samsung upscales the content up and it looks pretty darn great. Noticeably sharper then others that I looked at. The sound is also very good. There are plenty of smart features and internet hookup without having any external devices like Roku, Apple TV. Upconverts any source inputted. Samsungs latest backlighting technology.
I bought the TV for the picture quality not really for the 3D. Most of the smart features are just extra pluses.
It does a decent job of upscaling the HD content, but remember it is trying to upscale from HD to near 4K and the information is just not there for it to do real 4K. It, for the lack of better terms, makes a guess on what 4K should be. That withstanding it does guess well, and will offer a better picture than standard HD, just not UHD so expect that. Samsung isn't talking about what the specs are for the up scaling at the time of this review.
Pros:
1. Excellent color and sharpness. Also controls to can easily adjust the picture to any way you wish (moe color saturation, less saturation, sharpness, brightness, etc) Lots of smart features I am still learning.
2. Excellent sound upgrade from standard HD Samsungs. For the price it should have good sound huh.
3. Watching Lord Of The Rings On This Will Make You Cry
4. 3D works great and comes with four sets of glasses.
Cons:
1. Dialog box pops up telling you that you can use voice controls. This is very distracting and I don't need the a dialog box on the TV to pop up to tell me this. Its in the instructions booklet. It doesn't happen very often- but it is annoying. You can disable this but it takes some time to dig through the screens until you are there.
2. Heavier than standard HD versions of Samsungs, like the 8000. Good info for those mounting on wall.
3. No Content to justify early adopter purchase price.
4. Friends watching Lord Of The Rings (Also crying picture is so good) begain plotting to take "Precious" from us.
There is just nothing to watch right now and the prices of these 4K sets are going to drop at least another 500 just like when the HD sets came on the scene. Plus the 4k technology will most likely get better when they decide just how the content is going to be implemented. On the upside Samsung uses what they call a Hub or One Connect box so if content inputs get better you can just replace the hub box instead of kicking yourself that you have to get a new set.
I tried the Netflix 4K streaming and it's a mixed bag at this stage. Some of the nature documentaries look like 4K and some look more like 1080P.
The UHD dvd players are coming so if you have this Samsung you will be ready from day one. I think even the xbox is going to offer 4k content when connected. Does have a superior picture than non UHD tv's. Its just gonna cost ya a little more brother. I had to have it. I couldnt wait. My current tv died on me and I had to do something. The only thing I could rationalize, being addicted to great new technology, was to go into debt to feed my habit. I am so ashamed at my weakness.
In all seriousness:
My suggestion is if you must have the latest 4k tech then here it is. Much better than Sony especially with their no customer service. The LG's do look good, just not this good.
UPDATE 4-25-2014
Ok there has been a big controversy on whether this model comes with a one connect box or not. You get a different story everywhere. Found a Samsung training representative who spent two hours educating me on every 4k tv on earth and what was what. One Connect; 2013 version of this model had the external One Connect box. 2014 version of this model has internal One Connect with no external box. When One Connect technology is updated you can get the external box and it overrides the internal to keep everything cutting edge. He said samsung is supporting One Connect for a guaranteed four years to guard against your tv becoming obsolete. I asked him about the 1080p to 4k upscaling. He said yes it does a good job at kicking up standard HD better than Sony or LG, but if you want to see something great, get a 4K bluray player, then he drug me around to show what it could do. It was very impressive. He shared a story about the 9000 which requires an external One Connect box to opperate as all the technology is in the box and the tv is basically a monitor, said stores all over the place are misplacing the boxes when they move a tv and have all these dead big screens everywhere.This TV is a keeper.
SPECIFICSTIONS:
Glossy screen, black bezel and cabinet, silver T-Shape stand
The Tuner receives over-the-air HDTV broadcasts (Seperate HDTV antenna required)
QAM cable TV tuner
RVU-compatible (for DIRECTV) -- DIRECTV subscribers with the Genie Whole-Home HD DVR can watch live broadcast and stored content on this TV without an additional receiver
Ultra High Definition TV with 4K screen resolution (3840 x 2160 pixels)
HEVC for compatibility with streamed 4K content from sources like Netflix®
TV Displays 3D images when you wear Samsung's active 3D glasses (4 pairs of glasses are included)
2D-to-3D conversion adds 3D-like depth to non-3D video sources
LED edge backlight with Precision Black hardware-based local dimming and UHD Dimming software-based dimming for superb contrast and black levels
Clear Motion Rate 1200 blur reduction 240Hz refresh rate plus backlight scanning
UHD video upscaling seamlessly upconverts SD and HD content
Internet-ready Smart TV
Supports up to 5.1-channel audio with streaming movie services like Netflix and Vudu(tm) (audio quality depends on your connection speed)
Built-in Wi-Fi to link to a wireless network
Quad-core processor for seamless web browsing and app multitasking
Quad Screen splits the TV screen into four quadrants so you can watch live TV, video clips, and the web all at once
AllShare video and music streaming from a DLNA-compatible Windows PC
MHL-compatible HDMI input for viewing photos/videos from a compatible smartphone on the TV's screen
2-way screen mirroring -- send content wirelessly from device-to-TV or TV-to-device with compatible smartphones and tablets
Built-in stereo speakers (10 watts x 2 plus 20 watts for woofers)
Comes with two remotes: a touchpad remote with built-in microphone for voice control, plus a standard illuminated button-based IR remote
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful.
You get what you pay for!
By BROMER
After seeing this in person at the local Best Buy, I decided to take the plunge and bring home the 65" UN65HU8550 on 04/16/14. Setting up the TV was easy, although two people were needed to lift this beast onto the stand. The setup menu was easy to navigate, and the system update only took 7 minutes over wifi.
The picture has got to be the best I've seen! I'm not an A/V diehard, but I know when a picture looks vibrant and I can spot the issues. I ran my own personal non-scientific tests using Disney's Planes on a Sony BDP-S590 blu-ray player and the picture was fantastic. The level of detail was second to none, and there was no motion blur to speak of. During the scene where Dusty is flying in the thunderstorm at night, the black levels were the best I've seen on an LED tv--they looked like they would on a top-level plasma. The picture showed no light bleed or clouding during the lightning strikes, and the detail stayed crisp throughout. Test #1 passed with flying colors.
I then tested the 3D with the previously mentioned blu-ray player using Star Trek: Into Darkness 3D. The tv comes with four sets of active 3D glasses. Again, setup was a breeze as it literally took pressing one button to pair the glasses with the tv. Watching Star Trek, I ran the scene where the Enterprise is battling with the Dreadnought in outer space. Overall the 3D was impressive. Some level of detail was lost on background objects in most scenes (as is expected when watching 3D), but the detail on objects that were the main focus of the scene were above & beyond better than I expected. You could literally count the hairs on Captain Kirk's head, in 3D no less! Again the black levels were fantastic and colors seem true to life. 4K was not tested as there is virtually no content out there yet.
Pros: The picture quality is a huge plus on this TV. Oddly enough, the embedded speakers weren't half bad for the short time I had them on (not too "tinny" with decent mids and highs). Of course, if you're spending this much on a tv, you probably have a halfway decent sound system to run it through and won't use the speakers anyway (I know I won't be using them).
Cons: The TV does not come with a One Connect box. All the online literature makes it look like it has one, but what it is really saying is that it is compatible with the One Connect for upgrades in the future. The owner's manual confirms this. Also, there is no camera for the gesture control--it is also sold separately. By no means are these deal breakers, just trying to clear up those items.
Overall, if you spend the money on this thing, you'll be impressed.
22 of 28 people found the following review helpful.
Awesome TV you will love it but set it up!
By FALCON
I am not affiliated with Samsung or CNET.
[Side Note: I believe Samsung should provide free 2014 One connect boxes to F9000 owners because of the H265 codec and HDMI 2.0 as a gesture of good faith toward early adopters.]
This review will help you get the most out of your HU8550.
I am posting here because some people badmouthed and down rated the Samsung F9000 because they did not know how to use it. I do not want the same thing to happen to this excellent TV. I have last year's top-of-the-line F9000 4K model which is virtually the exact same TV as this, released just over 5 months earlier.
I cannot believe how absolutely amazing the picture is. It's colors explode, it's blacks are black, it's whites are white, flesh tones are real, and all of it is super sharp. With newscasts or interviews, people look like they're sitting right in front of you. Aerial shots of cities will blow you away. You cannot ask for a better picture. And that's not just my opinion, read all of the professional reviews. Every single one of them love this TV.
Do not worry about 4K content not being available. This TV upscales. Go to Samsung .com and check the US news section. I quote it in the comments section. The upscaling works fantastic with anything in HD (1080P). It also works with SD material but not as well. I can honestly tell you that I do not want a sharper picture than this. You can see every facial feature including eyelashes. Blu Rays and 4K YouTube's will make you cry.
Any person giving this TV anything less than five stars reveals their own foolishness, or they got a weird factory defect. BUT you have to set it up, and if you are a newbie to electronics you have three options.
1. Learn how to set it up and enjoy i. It is very easy.(I will help you in this post).
2. If you're too lazy, don't buy a piece of high-quality electronic equipment like this. You don't deserve it.
3. Pay someone to calibrate it for you. Actually that's a waste of money because in 20 minutes you can do it yourself with this post. You can make this TV look anyway you want it to look. Which is why comparisons in stores is superfluous unless you make all settings equal.
Out of the box the picture looks disappointing , that's Samsung's fault, although most manufacturers do the same thing for the stores. When I first turned on this TV it looked like a soap opera or documentary. I knew this was not right.
The first thing you have to do is go to the System menu and find the Eco-Solution Submenu and turn OFF the accursed eco-saving feature and eco-sensor. I already printed the professional review I read on CNET for the F9000. They have some people there that are among the best in the industry. A professional named Katzmaier uses $30,000 worth of equipment to calibrate these TVs. Don't know if I can post links here, so search for CNET's HDTV picture settings forum forUN65f9000 or HU8550-a bit early for this as of this date.
However, there's one problem with their settings. They calibrate their TVs in a dark room. Therefore their brightness levels are way too low. They acknowledge this, but it is a necessary starting point and equalizer for the different models. No problem, use Samsung's default settings for your Backlight, under the Movie setting(12). It worked great with gamma at +1. The first thing you want to do is set it to Movie mode. Play with other modes later.
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The settings I'm about to list are based on Katzmaier's (get them and print them out) with some tweaks of my own. I went between his and the defaults, that's safe. If you set your TV to these, you will love the picture. If not, tweak it for yourself somewhere between his settings and the defaults.
It is very easy, so don't freak out. If you can turn your volume control up and down you can change your settings. The settings have a combined effect, so do not just do one area.
How to set a fantastic picture and remove Motion blur:
Picture menu - I use all Samsung's defaults for Movie mode with a slight color tweak
mode: Movie - the most important change.
backlight: 12 - CNET's setting of 7 is way too low unless you are in a dark room. We use lamps at my house. Backlight is the main brightness control
contrast: 95 -
brightness: 45 - leave this alone
sharpness: 20 - CNET setting of 0 Is Way too low, especially for a 4K TV
color: 52 0r 53 - a slight tweak over 50 that will give you more of a richer plasma TV quality
tint: 50/50 - leave this alone
I discovered the real trick for getting the correct lighting level for your room is to work with gamma and backlight, not brightness. Samsung's default is 45 for all modes, and it's right.
Advanced settings submenu
dynamic contrast: off
flesh tone: zero
RGB only mode: off
color space: custom - there is a submenu for this below.
White balance: see below.
10 P white balance: - you don't need to mess with this.
Gamma: +1 this is an important setting and affects the entire picture, not just contrast.
Expert pattern: off
motion lighting: off
black enhancer: off
Color Space Submenu
I recommend keeping everything at default rather than using the ones from CNET. However, I do not like the cold picture of LEDs as compared to plasma or my old Pioneer elite 98 which had the best picture ever in its day and even for today except for sharpness. Therefore I change the blue setting to this:
blue: red 2, green 2, blue 46. Not drastic changes over 0, 0, 50 but it's warmer.
And change the yellow setting to have less blue than the CNET setting
yellow: red 50, green 50, blue 6 (Katzmaier had blue at 14)
White Balance - use all of the Katzmaier's settings: 25, 24, 22, 23, 24, 26
Picture Option Submenu -
color tone: warm 2 - important, this also gets rid of the cold blue LED effect
digital clean view: off
MPEG noise filter: off
film mode: auto one
auto motion plus: custom. Make sure you change it to custom.
Smart LED: high
Auto Motion Plus Submenu. Numerous sources recommend these to remove motion blur.
blur reduction: 10
judder reduction: 0 yes, zero
LED clear motion: - not much visible difference either way. Leave it on if you increased backlight to the default.
System Menu. As already mentioned go to the eco-solution submenu and shut off energy-saving and eco-sensors. They will knock your picture into dismal oblivion at will.
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Complaint Section
1. Samsung - Stop defeating your own purpose with the horrible original settings
2. People do not want the ridiculous hand controls that only work half the time at best, or the worthless voice controls the get activated by the TV program you're watching. Thanks for the great picture though, stick with what matters.
3. Your privacy policy stinks. I want to be able to mirror my TV to my tablet and cell phone without doing your lousy Samsung All Share that makes me agree to privacy policies that promise you you have NO privacy, and sit a Samsung representative in your living room every time I watch the TV. NO Thanks.
*** In all fairness to Samsung, the Smart View app in the Android Play store (probably Apple too)does let you wirelessly stream content from the TV to your device (phone tablet,...)and use it as a remote. To wirelessly have content from the phone go to the TV, use the Source button at the top center of the remote and go to Mirror, then go to your settings menu on the phone and activate screen mirroring. You do not have to register with Samsung for these features.
Why you should get this TV
1. Best picture of any TV on the market. I sometimes pause the TV just to look at it.
2. It is future proof. Because it is 4K, the screen is capable of outstanding resolution for a long time to come. There's another great benefit - the Evolution kit. This TV write up by Samsung and thus Amazon is unclear. It has the evolution Kit but NOT the One connect box. To get it, you have to get the HU9000 model which costs more money, and has a useless curvature feature which is only on the 9000 model. However, the write up infers One-connect future upgrades. My guess is that they will upgrade this unit and all 4K units with one One-connect for all, but see below.
3. It really looks elegant.
What about this new 2014 8550 compared to last years 4K F9000?
Hurry and get the F 9000 before they sell out. Amazon's price and service are both good and you save around $500. The picture, CPU, memory, everything will be the same as the F9000 which is only six months older, and clear motion rate is the same. Its true. HDTVvs.com has a comparison and the main difference is the smart hub software. You can save $500.00 and get a 4K blu-Ray with the diff.
However, F9000 has two advantages. The One-connect box is a seperate unit that houses the CPU, memory, main board, firmware, and smart TV software. This is better than the evolution kit in the HU8550 because the connectors are also replaceable, and heat is kept separate from the screen. A true One connect box is still on the H9000If you know anything about computers or electronics, you know that the CPU, memory, and motherboard generate the most heat. The one connect box separates from the screen itself and you have less cable clutter as well. Mine is a few feet under the screen. The One-connect box is a genius idea that Samsung should employ for all of its TVs, and so should every other manufacturer of high-end TVs. The 8550 is "One connect ready" for future updates but for now its evolution kit is on the TV.
Although the 8550 model does do 4 screens, this is not with 4 channels, but 4 different inputs. Which isn't really needed. Updates to Smart hub are superfluous compared to the F9000.
Another thing. The base is nowhere near as stable or as cool looking as the arch base on the F9000.
Bottom line: If you can still get the F9000 do so, but both TVs are spectacular; I mean literally amazing. Be sure to set it up right and anyone you show this TV to will pick up their jaw off the floor. You will love the picture and the features. You will also save big time over the HU9000 with its gimmick curved screen.
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