Official Samsung UNxxES8000 Owner's Thread - Page 56

There is no maybe. David has been heavily biased towards plasmas for going back years now. I've actually had some correspondence with him about this in the past (years ago). This isn't any real surprise, as there are many people that are biased towards plasmas and have legitimate reasons for it. However, it's annoying when that bias creeps into reviews as opposed to buying preference. Allowing your bias to dictate what you buy is fine. Allowing it to dictate how objective you are in analyzing the product is not. The absolute vast majority of biased reviews tend to play up the picture quality of plasma technology under the context of ONLY peak viewing conditions and only play up the drawbacks of LCD technology under ALL viewing conditions...as it suits their needs. They never talk about the drawbacks of plasma technology, nor do they ever consider picture quality across a wide array of viewing conditions.

Anyway, it's been a long time since I posted in the display forums. I stopped looking here a couple years ago (got tired of arguing with people who only notice the drawbacks of TVs they own and don't realize there are drawbacks to other TVs as well) and haven't been in the market for a new TV since the XBR4 came out. I may be purchasing this unit (55") soon. Starting to get a bit excited actually. I'm just beginning to do some light reading to see if any other TV can match this one. My favorite part about this TV is that it will have the same footprint (height and width) as my old 46XBR4 even though it is a 55" vs 46".

I had Samsung 60es8000 for a month and fell in love with it. It gets better with time. Then came the cnet reviews and the VT50 was rated very high. I exchanged the es8000 for vt50 ( I don't know why). I should NEVER have done that. One of the worst decisions. I am exchanging it again for my 60 inch es8000. What an amazing tv the es8000 series is! Learned it the hard way. The 3D on vt50 is not worthy of being described a 3D. I watched 'the ultimate wave tahiti' and kept changing the modes for I thought i was still watching it in 2D while it was showing in 3D( where is the depth Vt50). The only pluses are the deep blacks and colors which the samsung gives too but comes with flashlight and bleed( which eventually reduces). The video processing is bad on vt50. How in the world can CNET give es8000 three stars but give the D8000 ( the previous model) 4 stars . People like me follow these reviews and make decisions based on them. According to CNET "Samsung cannot justify its cost". How ridiculous. The 60es8000 costs $500 less than vt50 and comes with voice and gesture and more apps and a beautiful stand, the best 3D and a magnificent picture. The plasma vt50 that I had flickered slightly when the screen went white. Is that normal?
I am open to try all brands and any type of tv as long as it performs. For some reason I feel the Samsung es8000 model is unfairly bombarded with a barrage of negative comments.
I have begun to realize that purchase of an HDTV is a very personal thing and can't be solely based on the cursory reviews especially on CNET. The review is not even detailed as I realized it later now while reading it again. Have you guys tested the 3D on es8000? It is out of this world. In addition to testing blurays it is also essential to judge a tv's performance while playing online movies on netflix and also HD cable channel. The VT50 was nowhere as good as the es8000 in these areas. The colors come out only during bluray movies.I have had both these Tvs set to the calibrated settings. The VT50 sure had jaw-dropping colors at night which were enhanced by deep blacks. However, despite the THX bright room mode the brightness and the sharpness fail to go beyond a certain threshold restricting the vt50 to a dark room only. On the other hand the Samsung 60es8000 was set to backlight 7 with dynamic contrast 'ON' and the blacks to 'Darker'. The result was outstanding for an LED TV. I have to admit that while watching ' How to train your dragon' on the VT50 the colors mesmerised me and almost fell in love with it . But it is only in dark and the next day I found myself falling out of love when I started seeing the flickers in the white lettering and clouds. I guess it all depends on weighing the pros and cons of both these technologies. For someone who has not owned a plasma before but is an ardent movie buff it was a shock to have a good LED replaced by a plasma despite knowing that it is going to be different in brightness and other areas. If I had a separate room only for movie watching with curtains drawn and always dark maybe then I would consider VT50. Otherwise Samsung es8000 has been a great TV for bluray movies and cable alike and is a very interesting tv to own. You never get bored of it. I was already bored with Vt50 in a few days. Watched Psycho(1960) on both tvs . It was more exciting on the LED. The shock of the shower scene in particular is enhanced by an LED while the Honk kong skyscraper scene from 'The Dark Knight' is slightly effective on VT50.
I can't wait to get my Samsung 60es8000!
Edited by Deepsung - 7/16/12 at 1:19pm

Welcome back! I just purchased a Samsung 55" 7100 last week, it is very similar in size to the ES8000 and like you being able to put a 55" (48.5x28x1-3/8) in almost the same footprint as my Panasonic 46" S1 (44.6x28.5x3.5x3.7) was a big factor in my choice also with my tv wall mounted the ultra thin style is a bonus. It looks super on the wall vs the 3.7" thick plasma and the picture looks great to me.

@Deepsung,

I've been playing with 3D the last few days on my ES7500 and I agree that it looks amazing - way better than it looked on the plasmas I tried before this set. Very little crosstalk - barely noticeable when there is any, and most of the time it's virtually absent. Excellent depth and incredible sharpness in 3D also. I'm having a strange issue right now with SBS 3D when played from one of my media players but I believe I have it narrowed down to the media player's fault, since it doesn't happen with the tv's built-in media player, my blu-ray player, or my WDTV Live. I posted about it over on the Micca EP950 thread and I'm hoping to find out what could be causing it.

I'm still trying to tweak my settings in 3D mode though - it appears overly bright actually - and whites seem quite blown out. I'm going to have to use my AVS test disc I think to try and bring the brightness and contrast back to a reasonable setting - right now the 3D mode has the same settings as 2D mode, but it is much brighter in 3D mode at the same settings.

Has anyone who ordered the 65 incher received their TV yet? If so, could ya post how the uniformity and flash lighting are on the larger model. I'll be getting my 65 on Friday. I'm excited, but I'd just like to hear what I'll be getting into with the larger panel. From what I understand the 65D8000 panels of last year were worse than the smaller ones? Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Can you take a pic of the back of the panel? I get mine on the 24th but would like to plan out the cutouts in the wall where its going. Measurements from the top VESA holes to the top of the panel would be sweet, and the connection panel from edge tv and bottom of tv. Thanks in advance.
Edited by Op's Guy - 7/16/12 at 8:23pm

No prob...I'll take a few pics to post on here. I'm just hoping the panel looks good.

it will. Don't sweat it. I'm not.

Thanks man...it's hard to ease your mind when you read these damn forums...but once you start it's hard to stop...it's like crack for the OCD in me...

Hi guy,
Does Micro Dimming technology actually improve viewing angle and screen uniformity?

Samsung Micro Dimming technology is actually software video processing - there are no changes to LED brightness - hence no actual dimming.
Since the back light is constant there are no changes (for better or worse) in screen uniformity and no changes in viewing angle.

I haven't found any information describing the exact technique used in particular by Samsung for their "micro dimming".
However my best guess is that the video processing sacrifices source accuracy in order to increase effective contrast.

For example:

A light blue pillow on a dark blue sheet. Instead of faithfully reproducing the colours of the pillow and sheet but making the pillow a slightly lighter shade of blue and the sheet a slightly darker blue in the region where meet I've effectively increased the contrast. If done correctly with a gradient to smooth the colour back to its reference the colour changes should be imperceptible to the viewer.

so is this a dynamic contrast feature or is it something more advanced that affects things like gamma?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKa6R8MMQ0g


Above is a Micro-dimming demo.

Any set in torch mode can enable this demo, check it out in store.

Micro-Dimming this year on sets 7500 above is NOT limited to contrast.

"Micro Dimming Ultimate
By maximizing the contrast between lights and darks, Samsung's Micro Dimming technology displays a picture that is as true-to-life as possible. Our innovative technology scans zones across the image and adjusts brightness to deliver deeper dark tones and brighter whites. It also eliminates the "halo" effect and image distortion that can happen with diffused lights. The Ultimate version of this technology optimizes the quality to new heights by scanning 2x the number of zones in the image. The result is a crystal-clear picture with realistic, vivid detail and accurate color reproduction."

http://www.samsung.com/us/video/tvs/UN55ES8000FXZA-features

Still not sure how this is different from ordinary dynamic contrast features. If it's not limited to adjusting contrast only, what else does it adjust?

Watch the video, he goes into detail.

Is this a picture setting/option you can disable or enable in the user menu or is it built into the firmware and can't be disabled?

I ask because such a feature could mess with calibration (if you cannot disable it while calibrating).

From the video, it says it alters contrast, color, and sharpness dynamically in 500+ zones. Not sure what it means by sharpness. Maybe frame interpolation or does it mean edge enhancement?

While I fully agree that the tech can make the picture look better, the context of this was asking if it improved the (poor) viewing angle and uniformity.

not likely, unless it helps reduce washout as you move away from center (since apparent contrast ratio is higher with the feature active)

I don't think it can help with uniformity, since the LEDs themselves don't do any local dimming.

I know it!!! Me too!!! I just can't quit you ...

Couple of questions for those that have a wall mounted 55" or 60".

My 65" comes in next Tuesday and i want everything to go smoothly with my installation. Everywhere I've read the bolts that come with any given mount are either to long or to short or wrong thread pitch.

First, does anyone know the specs on the M8 bolts? Length, threads etc.... A call into Samsung today verified VESA 400x400 mm and the hole depth on the back panel of the tv at 15mm. I know I will have to put spacers in since the hole area is recessed. Thanks in advance, Mike

I have posted in this thread the thinnest wall mount that is out.
It came with the correct bolts, I had to add 2 washers behind them to get them to tighten up.

Thanks already seen it.

The tv will come with unique plastic spacers to fill the concave holes flush for wall mounting. I recomend having several lengths of bolts and some washers available to fine tune the fit. I thought I had that covered but still ended up in Home Depot mid install to get the correct length, a few bucks spent earlier would have saved me the trip.

What's in the box?

•60" LED-LCD TV (with pedestal stand attached)
•5' AC power cord
•Wireless remote control (AA59-00637A)
•Smart Touch Controller (RMCTPE1)
•IR Blaster
•(VG-IRB2000)
•2 "AAA" batteries
•6 "AA" batteries
•4 Pair of 3D glasses (SSG-3050GB)
•4 CR2025 3V lithium batteries
•AV adapter cable (with a male AV 3.5mm minijack connector on one end a female composite/stereo RCA connectors on other end)
•Self-adhesive wire clamp
•4 Wall-mount inserts
•Cleaning Cloth
•User Manual
•Quick Setup Guide
•Stand Assembly Instructions
•Smart Touch Control/IR Blaster Guide
•3D Active Glasses User Guide
•Guide for Eco Solution
•Warning! Important Safety Instructions
•Limited Warranty Sheet
•"Stop/Samsung Support" note
Edited by Ticmxman - 7/17/12 at 2:05pm

Yeah, I know that (I've read the reviews) but I wonder if special considerations need to be taken when calibrating with a meter/software to get a good result. I should probably ask this question in the display calibration forum, since I'm sure some pros have calibrated the ES8000 by now.

Perfect! Thanks for the info. Mike

I thought they were looking at the 6500 vs 8000, as the 6500 does not have any form of micro-dimming.

I don't really know if the jump from the 7100 (Standard dimming) to 7500 (Pro dimming) is worth it considering they have the same amount of zones. I don't think sharpness and color enhancements are going to do that much to the picture quality compared to the benefit of the contrast ratio due to dimming which would be the same on the 7100 and 7500. Basically I would go 8000 or 7100.