Official Samsung UN75ES9000 Thread

I am also interested to know whether it is essentially just the 8000 with a 75 inch screen or whether it has material differences or improvements. If it is the same, or substantially the same, it would seem that it would have to be discounted substantially to sell give that the 65 is now selling for around $3600.

I was talking to someone and heard the 9000 series is supposed to be OLED is this an OLED TV? Thank you for answering.

Is it worth getting this TV if a 75 OLED could be around next year?

Are you serious? They've been boasting of OLED for over three years straight at CES and we have ZERO in HT sizing and even the weenie ones (under 40") were priced in the stratosphere costing about the price of a 70" Sharp Panel. They brag on every CES about this Tech but NOTHING ever debuts in a HT size that matters. Prices may have dropped so low on existing tech that OLED simply may not be consumer affordable even though it's always been touted as inexpensive to produce but I guess thats a lie otherwise they'd be in the market and priced accordingly but they are not.

is this panel Edge or back (direct) LED?
If it's Edge, why MSRP is twice of Sharp 80"? What tech is used there?

tnx

I've heard conflicting information on whether or not it actually is Full Array or just software based. The last time I heard, it's not full array like the Sony HX929 but I would really like to get more clarification on this because I'm thinking about buying one.

So I was browsing on Best Buys website and the 75ES9000 is showing up and says "Coming Soon." That's great because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to find one of these to demo in a store. Hopefully they'll have them in stock soon.

Great. Thanks for the info.

Btw, did you get to see this in person? If so, I would love to hear your impressions and whether or not the price tag is justified. The main things I'm interested in hearing are viewing angle, black levels and whether or not there's light bleeding or clouding. Thanks!

Well it is not in stock, but available for pre order. Does anyone know if Samsung will take the 9000 series down to smaller screen sizes ?

I saw in person at the unveiling, talked to the Samsung reps.

It is certainly edge lit LCD (I don't think it is possible to fit an active matrix in the depth of this TV). They did not allow 3D glasses, so I did not see the 3D performance. I was able to compare it to the Sharp 90" (which was just a few feet away), and the Elite 70" (also a few feet away). I also had about an hour of one-on-one time with it and the rep - not because I'm special... just because I was early and they were setting it up.

I should also note, though the Sharp (90" and Elite 70") were in areas more suitable for viewing, the ES9000 was in a large atrium with poor lighting conditions (at best).

Also FYI, I have the (last of the breed), Pioneer Kuro 60" Plasma... so that's kind of my reference.

Impressions...

It is gorgeous aesthetically. The box itself, I found to be the best looking TV I've ever seen. The small bezel, the large screen gave it the appearance of a piece of art just floating in front of the wall... especially when on. When off, I have the same issue I have with ALL big screen TVs, they are big and black and ugly, and this one is no exception.

Interface...

Gestures
Couldn't get the gesture system to work... we did the setup and I even waived my hands... no joy. But I'm a whole house control system kind of guy anyway, so gesturing at my TV is reserved for the kind of things I don't do in front of my kids. That said, my son was having a blast playing with the XBox Kinect setup they kindly provided. So, good example of working and non-working gesture systems side by side. Maybe you can get to work, but I didn't see it working with me, or with the other's later in the event.

Voice
They didn't let me play with that earlier in the day (when it was quiet), and unsurprisingly it didn't working in the very noisy environment later during the event. There were signs of hope, when they were demoing the web browser (which I would NEVER use), and in between 4 "please repeat" messages, it nailed the 5th sentence perfectly. So, I'm thinking ambient noise was the issue. I personally use a TiVo for TV, so the whole "Watch CNBC" wouldn't have helped... so again, not very interesting.

Apps
Tried to play Angry Birds... which I still don't get the appeal of... so I gave my turn to my son, who got frustrated and quit. But it was really pretty dramatic on the huge screen. Have to remember to hook it up via Apple TV onto my current TV when I get home. Anyway, seems to be not quite as useable as the XBox/Kinect, but again, there was alot going on in the room... so... oh, who cares... LOL. I guess I just would never do any of this on my TV. They did show an Amazon Instant Video app... as well as Netflix, and a couple others... I also get the idea of maybe having a stock ticker or something to get instant quick access to data... so...

Picture Quality...

Well again, the viewing area was an atrium, so I can't commit to a perfect review... but after the sun went down, it became a little easier to distinguish the good and bad. They were showing Harry Potter and Avatar most of the evening. The Harry Potter showed pretty nice grey shading and what appeared to be a pretty evenly lit screen. They didn't put up a white screen so it was a little hard to check for uniform lighting, but I plan on checking back after they move the TV to a more suitable location. That said, there were lots of dark scenes which displayed really nicely - lots of dark robes that showed the good shading, et. al. I'm not a huge Harry Potter fan, so I'm not familiar with the media, but I was suitably impressed. Avatar was bright a vivid with crazy color - and yes, it was most likely because they were showing it on the vivid mode. I was able to get them to switch it to "Movie" which is a bit better, and the colors toned down nicely. I am a fan of Avatar, and remind those that aren't that there are alot of close ups in between all the computer generated stuff (which always looks harsh and overly edgy IMHO). Anyway, hair was incredibly detailed and smooth. You could trace single hairs down the screen with no jaggies at all. I was enjoying my discovery of this greatly until the Samsung rep went crazy pointing it out. Anyway, it was pretty impressive. The closeups of the lead guy (forgive me for not knowing his name), especially when he is unshaven, were likewise simply perfect to my eye. Great skin tone, perfect picture.

Anyway, I'm one of those people that believes technically best is not always the thing that every person will appreciate the most. I love electrostatic speakers though I'm well aware they blow in the "bass" department. I'm fortunate enough to be able to afford electrostatic speakers for my vocals and a nice set of Thiels for my R&R. So, I could see this being a great TV regardless of how it stacks up in the technical department (no matrix), it really looked that good.

The screen looked great in the horrible lighting of the atrium - an impressive feat. The screen looked good at bad angles (from the side), but showed some dimming when you changed viewing angle from standing to sitting - not a lot - but enough that I would want to center the screen based on your sitting position.

Worth noting was the screen looked overly "sharp" playing Avatar in Vivid mode. The close up head popped "too much" to be just super good contrast. It could easily have been artifacts between the film and special effect background, but something that was "not right" to me.

When things dimmed, and they put the TV in Movie mode, I rechecked the scene in Avatar that looked too sharp, and it softened up nicely, looking much more like what I was accustomed to.

Oh, and the black levels were outstanding. IMHO, as good as any... but it would be hard to say as good as the Elite, because, again, it was in an atrium and I just couldn't say that with confidence. But it certainly didn't give the impression it wasn't as good as the Elite - if you know what I mean.

Well... that's all I can think of saying.

FWIW, I think the Sharp 90" is awful. To those conspiracy people out there, I've seen it on more than one occasion, so no, they didn't screw it up for this event to make the Samsung look good - LOL. I really don't like it.

The Sharp Elite 70" is gorgeous. I can't flaw it for anything, other than the bigger, uglier box it sits in (required for matrix lighting) and the oppressive price.

I do worry this 75" is the height of big screen tech for now. With OLED coming along, I have a feeling the manufacturers are going to use those to prop up the price of the high end TVs and we're going to be choosing from 75" 20k OLED or garbage like the 90" sharp. I think this is the niche middle product that will likely not be improved upon, save incremental updates. I hope I'm wrong here...

Oh, I know someone that bought one the night of the event. He paid 8k with a $200 mount thrown in... so that brings in closer to the Elite in terms of pricing. Probably better deals in terms of pricing available in the future, but for now, that should give you something to aim at. Also, I'm aware they discount the Elite 70" quite a bit. I'm holding out for a "theater room" audition.

Oh yeah, I'm sure this is an optical illusion of sorts, but have a 60" plasma at home, I was never impressed with the size of the "Elite." That is to say, after seeing it several times, I always figured it wasn't that much bigger than my TV to consider upgrading. But there is something about the 75" that made it seem "BIG." I'm not sure if it is the small bezel or what, but it just had that feel to it. See it in person and you'll know what I mean.

Anyway, one man's opinion, hope this helps someone out there...

Best,
Edited by BigRed - 8/13/12 at 9:59am

There currently exists a 55" 9000 series Samsung, but the rep told me it does not have the same tech package (picture quality) as the 75." This makes sense as the OLED that Samsung is putting out will be a 55"... and if they were to say the 9000 series 55" LED is the same picture quality as the LED 75"... then they'll be in trouble when they release the OLED 55" (which will likely blow it away in terms of well - if you buy into the hype - everything)... they will just be indirectly dissing their flagship 75 TV. Something I'm sure they'll be happy to do when they can actually produce 75" OLED panels on an assembly line. But, they will not be saying that now.

So, I wouldn't expect a straight answer from anyone on this... LOL.
Edited by BigRed - 8/13/12 at 10:03am

Thanks for your feedback - nice job. I believe the size issue has more to do with the 70" being in a store - they rarely appear large in that setting but if you were to place a 70" Elite next to your 60" Kuro the difference is pretty dramatic within your home. Also. caution with in-store Black judgements especially in an Atrium - I own last years 60D8000 and I auditioned it repeatedly in the store and the blacks looked great but in my home with the lights out they are a fraud with terrible uniformity. Technically I don't see how an edge lit of that size could ever match the black levels in the dark of a Local Dimmed panel with all the zones. I'm awaiting a second generation of Elite 70" and hoping for a price restructuring by Sharp. Tempted by 75" but it would have to prove it's BLACKS first with lights out and have a price under $7K. Thanks for the info.

Is the screen on this unit glossy or matte?

TIA

Will Amazon sell this tv?

From which panel manufacturer is the panel itself?

Samsung manufactures their own panels and if they rebadge anything it's typically in the smallish low profit panels <40" sizes.

It's highly unlikely to be matte. However, though you could say it's glossy it's not truly glossy like a plasma which can be MIRROR like glossy 24/7 whereas the only time I see reflections are during totally black scenes on a sunny day but the Panny Plasma I owned I could see reflections on it 24/7. So while one may call it glossy it's not glossy reflective like many plasma's. While I haven't seen it in person nearly all high end Samsungs the last several years have not had an Matte surface. I'd call it Glossy non-reflective about 90% of the time on my top end panel from last year and unlikely Samsung will change that formula.

@westa6969

i´ve never seen a samsung TV over 55" with a panel made by samsung. In the 60+ inches TV´s there was (always?) panels from manufacturers like sharp and AUO.


Sry my english is not perfect

Not that MSRP dictates what the street price is
BUT

are they kidding at this MSRP with an Edge lit TV ....at this price I expected a full array

The last full array they made was legendary

I cant imagine with a few years of technology they could have easily bettered the B8500 from 2009



Warren

Hey everyone. I was a recent owner of the Samsung UN65ES800. I had it for a few weeks and then took it back, mainly due to the limited viewing angles. Everything else, was great. I had almost no banding or flashlighting and 0 clouding. The blacks looked black until you moved over a couple seats and the overall clarity and sharpness was mind blowing. I have to admit though that I purchased a 70" Sharp Elite to see what all the hype was about and all I can say is........ I've already returned it. I'm not dogging the TV whatsoever. I think it has an amazing picture and the black levels are insanely black. I can't tell you how much better than the Samsung just because the blacks on the samsung were truly black until I sat off angle. The Sharp Elite definitely had problems of it's own that I saw as well. Mainly pulsing in the picture and limited viewing angle like the Samsung.

So here I sit, once again, with my Samsung 61" DLP in my mancave. I called and spoke with a gentleman at the Audio Video Store in Los Angeles, CA because they're currently the only retail store to have a Samsung UN75es9000 on display. I've called and talked with the same person three different times to get his opinion on the TV. Keep in mind, I told him from the get go that I would not be purchasing a TV from their store and he had no reason to sell me on it. I would ask him certain questions and he would test for me and call me back later. He was very nice and helpful and went the extra mile for me. They held an event at his store's location a few weeks back and he was the one who hosted it and I trust his opinion.

He said the blacks are as deep if not better than the elite. The viewing angle is much improved over the ES8000 and Elite. He never noticed before how the black levels and colors would wash out like they do as he goes to the side of the TV. Once I asked him to check for it, he said he could see the Elite wash out and the Samsung stay the same. The only time he saw a difference was when he went to an extreme viewing angle on either side of the TV. I was sooooo glad to hear that. He said the picture on this TV has to be seen in person to be believed. He checked the TV after the store closed and he could turn all the lights out. Played a blu-ray movie with letterbox bars and saw absolutely no light bleed from the corners. I was stoked to hear that.

After saying all this, I purchased this TV online today and should have it late next week. Can't wait to see it in person, but I'm still nervous about trusting someone's opinion other than my own. Luckily, the website I purchased from offers a 60 day money back guarantee. I would only be out $100 for return shipping. I'll keep you guys posted.

PS - It's a shame they didn't use this same technology in the ES8000 Series. I guess it's another way for them to justify the steep price tag on the 9000.

Edit - Just found this review a couple minutes ago. Sounds promising but not sure how valid this source really is. You can read it here: http://www.blitzreview.com/tv/samsung-un75es9000.html

That's quite a big purchase to make based off of a salesman's opinion on the phone....I hope it works out for you. I can't imagine what would make the viewing angle that much better on the ES9K, unless Samsung makes 75" PLS panels now. The main problem I have is, it isn't exactly easy to see flashlighting/banding imperfections on a showroom floor as these anomalies rarely show up under bright lighting or under casual viewing. I look forward to your report though!

You're telling me. LOL. I put all my faith into what this guy was telling me as well as what I've been reading on the internet. I hope I don't regret this purchase.

I'm not expecting plasma like viewing angles, I just don't want to see such an enourmous drop in picture quality by moving over two spaces on my couch. Luckily, the gentleman I spoke with said he tested the flashlighting after store hours when he could turn the lights out in the showroom. I'll know in a couple weeks and keep you guys posted on my findings. BTW, the website I purchased from offers a 60 day return policy so worst case scenario, I'm out $100 to ship it back. I'm hoping my long tv search will be done once I get this TV.