What Hi-Fi? Verdict
Not quite the state of the art, but a feat of engineering nonetheless
Pros
- +
Slim and desirable
- +
lengthy specification
- +
punchy, vibrant pictures from all sources
Cons
- -
Never gets fully to grips with motion
- -
mediocre sound
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In purely aesthetic terms, the Samsung UE55D8000 takes some beating. Forget, briefly, its full-fat specification (Freeview HD and Freesat tuners, 3D with glasses included, Smart TV online functionality, Skype) and just look at it.
Somehow Samsung has squeezed LED backlighting behind a bezel less than 5mm deep, and this on a screen of less than 3cm depth. It’s proportioned like a gigantic credit card.
High-def satellite TV pictures are vibrant, with decent detail levels, natural skin-tones and convincing contrasts. Switch to some upscaled DVD content and the news is similar, any slight softness mitigated by smooth edges and nice black-tone detail.
Fanatical detail levels
Displaying a (2D) Blu-ray of Hereafter, the Samsung steps up its detail retrieval
to fanatical levels, gives punchy contrasts with clean, bright white tones and describes textures well.
And in 3D (improved in terms of crosstalk and stability over Samsung’s 2010 offerings) it’s impressively immersive, delivering ample depth of field and proving solid even off-axis.
Motion is vexatious from any source though, each of the D8000’s settings establishing its own particular shortcoming even as it clears up that of the previous preset. And sound, unsurprisingly given the cabinet dimensions, is on the weedy side.
But there’s no doubt that this is an attractive large TV, and for some folk that
will be more than enough.
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