Samsung UN55C6300 55-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LED HDTV (Black)

Review by Peter for Samsung UN55C6300 55-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LED HDTV (Black)
Rating:
In considering what TV to buy my parents, I had the apparent choice between buying an led LCD or a plasma. I opted to get the led, but you wouldn’t really be wrong to go the other route. My parents just wanted any TV that was bigger than 50 inches while I, being somewhat of a techy, needed to find the best TV over 50 inches. Well, here you have what I would call the third best TV over 50 inches (the 8500 and 8000 models being better) at the time of this review. This is the first of Samsung’s new line of lcds to come out this year, and it narrowly beats out last years 6 and 7 series TVs by offering a better contrast ratio (4,000,000-1 vs. 3,000,000-1) for virtually the same price point. Otherwise, it’s pretty much identical after reviewing the specs. Newer is better though in this case also because of the firmware upgrades and other fine improvements in engineering and technology.

The TV was delivered about 5 days after I purchased it through Amazon, and it took about 15 minutes to set up. Out of the box the thing looks incredible. It’s as thin as a blackberry! Some assembly was required with a phillips head and about 10 screws to attach the tv to the stand, but it was only 4 steps total and added to the suspense. After plugging in literally two cords (the hd component cables and the power cord) you are up and running. When the picture came on it was CRYSTAL clear. It puts every other TV I’ve seen to shame. You can go to Best Buy and do a side by side comparison and you won’t find anything better. Forget about the plasma, this is the way to go. I could describe in more detail how great the picture is, but suffice to say it’s flawless from movies to news to sports. Even if this is not your first HDTV, you will notice a big difference. I bought a 32″ 240 mhz set in Decemeber and this tv is in another league. The LED side panel illumination works well, and there is very little adjustment of the settings necessary to achieve true to life picture quality.

“True to life” will be understood in a new way when you buy this TV. The longer it has been since your last TV purchase, the more breathtaking this advancement in technology will be. Regardless, this will be a TV that will have a useful life for years (longer than a plasma) and will always look amazing. That being said, I would get the warranty (2 years) for an extra 170 or so.

Note: I chose lcd over plasma because lcds are noiseless and don’t have the risk of picture burn-in. The 58′ plasma I was looking at is the same price. This TV is better than plasmas priced less at the time of the review. If price is the main concern, I might do an in store side by side comparison with cheaper plasmas to see if the difference to you is worth the money.

Review by Island girl for Samsung UN55C6300 55-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LED HDTV (Black)
Rating:
We have had this tv for 2 months and it just doesn’t seem like it could possibly be any better. The colors are so true and there is so much depth that it actually seems 3D at times. When you play a Blu Ray the colors pop even more and you really feel like you are part of the picture or scene. I have done a double take at times because it appears so life like! We love this tv and are so happy when we get a chance to relax and watch it (not often enough!). Wall hook up was a breeze and it has enough HDMI inputs to make it even easier. I wouldn’t recommend the Samsung Blu Ray player though if you are running everything thru a receiver. Samsung’s “Any net” gets confused about what you are trying to do. Or at least the Universal remote doesn’t recognize that the tv is in control of the Blu Ray player. (Or maybe it’s me who gets confused on what it is trying to do!) Anyway, I can’t imagine any other tv delivering a better picture than this one. You will enjoy it immensely!

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Review by M. Leingang for Samsung UN55C6300 55-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LED HDTV (Black)
Rating:
I went to a local electronics store to buy a 46″ LCD to replace the Samsung 46″ LCD I just broke and ended coming home with this. F ry s had it on sale for 1 5 0 0, so we decided to spend the extra 6 0 0 to buy this. I was torn about not buying the Samsung TV with the Internet functions (Netflix, Pandora, etc..) but we have the PS3, which makes up for it. We had to decide between the Samsung Models LN46C630, LN46C650, UN46C6300, UN46C6500, and this model UN55C6300. They were priced and 8 7 9, 1 0 3 9, 1 3 2 9, 1 4 9 9, and 1 4 9 9. We were only looking at Samsung because we have had only good experiences with Samsung until I accidently hit the LCD :(( (Crack!!) Long story short we walked out with the 55″

On to the Review:

Before purchasing this TV, please consider your room size. We are about 10ft away from the TV and this is about as close as you want to be. There is a big difference between a 46″ and 55″

The setup was easy. The size of the box makes it difficult for one person to carry it but the TV is light enough for one person to lift it. The first step is to attach the back plate to the base with 5 screws, next it is suggested to use two people to put the TV on the base. I was able to do this step by myself. It has tabs that latch in and 5 screws to attach the TV to the base.

All 4 HDMI Ports are located on the side, so may need to use the cable management system that comes with the TV. There is also a component video connection. There is no COMPOSITE video connector, which is a slight con for me because I need to buy a new connector for our WII. So if must have a composite connector on your TV then this TV is not for you. I did not dock the TV any stars for this because I could have looked closer… Besides composite to old school and I do not mind buying the component cable

The TV powers up fairly quick and noticeably faster than our 550 model I killed..

The clarity of this TV is amazing, the colors really pop out and are well defined. It is almost like the people on the screen are in the room with you. I thought Blu Rays were unbelievable on our 46″ LCD, it is trippy watching them on the 55″ screen. Talk about seeing the pores on people’s faces. Maybe it is a little too good of a picture 😀 (I know, no such thing) There is defintely some reflection from the TV but not enough to bother us.

The sound is on par with our previous Samsung, which not great for audiophile people but more than enough then we need for our family.

Because it is a LED LCD it is thin. It is a little over 1″ thick. Not as thin as the 9000 series but I do not have that kind of money laying around 🙂

I highly recommend this TV for anyone with a room larger enough to accomidate it. I am not having any buyers remorse. If anyone has any questions please post a comment and I will try to answer them.

7/18/2010 Update – Just a quick 2 month update. The TV continues to amaze and the Blu-Ray are just insane on this TV. I see the electronics store has 6500 model for 200 more than we paid for this

Review by Brad Brockmeyer for Samsung UN55C6300 55-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LED HDTV (Black)
Rating:
Watch Video Here: I bought the UN55C6300 and am extremely pleased with the picture quality. However right out of the box I noticed that the lips were not in sync, and also that the display was skipping frames very often.

I have a DVD player, Blu-ray player, and a Satellite HD Receiver (Dish Network) All hooked up, and all sources have the same problems. I’ve tried the HDMI input, Coaxial, Component, and Composite inputs. All result in laggy video and out of sync audio.

If I use the HDMI cable and the tv speakers, the audio is in sync. However with any external audio receiver it becomes evident right away that the video lags the audio by a lot (at least 120ms). Even if I turn “Game mode” on, the video still lags, just not as bad.

Even if I upgrade to an audio receiver that has a delay function to try to sync the two, that would not help because the time between the audio and video delay seems to vary a lot. In other words, without changing anything, the audio and video will go closer to in sync and further from in sync throughout the day. This is a very frustrating problem. My BluRay Player has a built in delay function, but it maxes out at 120ms. When I have it at that setting, the lip sync problem is significantly improved, however the video STILL lags the audio very noticeably!

The choppy video appears significantly when the “Auto motion plus” feature is enabled. The strange thing is that even if turn this setting on to “Custom” and turn both the blur reduction and the judder reduction to zero, it will still skip frames regularly. With the Auto Motion Plus turned off it will still skip frames, just very infrequently.

The video I posted demonstrates the choppy video problem. You can see at the beginning of the video that the panning looks smooth. Then I turn on the “Auto Motion Plus” on the TV, and play the same exact segment again. This time you notice that the video looks much more clear during the panning, however it is extremely choppy. Every second it “Skips frames”.

Another strange thing about the choppy video problem is that the frequency of frame skipping changes with what show/movie is playing. For example, LOST in HD would skip frames every two seconds, driving us nuts and forcing us to shut off the “Auto Motion Plus”. However Spiderman 3 on the same channel also in HD showed hardly any frame skipping at all. Blu-rays allowed me to have the auto motion plus setting on pretty high, but it would still randomly skip frames throughout each film.

I know one of the responses I’m going to get will be just turn the auto motion off, but this setting does a spectacular job and was one of my main motivations for upgrading to a Samsung TV in the first place. Even with the frame skipping you can see that the picture is so much clearer during panning and overall, and it is such a shame to have to turn it off.

The best way to describe what I am seeing is that it is like I am watching TV on my computer, and my computer’s processor can’t keep up, and therefore the video skips a bunch of frames every so often. This makes watching anything a lot less “fluid” and distracts me from getting “sucked in” to what I’m watching.

I called Samsung and they said they’ve never heard of either of these problems. This gave me hope that I just have a bad TV. So they sent a technician out, and he replaced the processor and the power supply. No cigar, same exact problems after he leaves. So I exchanged the TV for another brand new one, take it home, and same exact problems. Looks like that’s the way this TV is supposed to perform.

Another thing that really irks me is that they combined the component and composite inputs. This means I have to choose one or the other two hook up; I don’t get both. That means if I want to use my VCR, I have to disconnect the component input from my DVD or Blu-ray player.

Between the audio and video always out of sync with my external speakers, and the fact that I can’t use the “Auto Motion Plus” feature that looks so amazing but does not work properly, I am at a loss as to what to do. My wife is distracted by these issues, and shes not a picky person at all. Do I hang on to this and pray for a firmware update that will magically fix either or both of these problems, or do I take it back and try for another brand? I’m thinkin’ its going back.

Review by F. Fernandez for Samsung UN55C8000 55-Inch 1080p 240 Hz 3D LED HDTV
Rating:
First off I want to be clear about the kind of review this is intended to be. I am not a profession TV rater. I am not a videophile. I am a regular Joe and I am reviewing this for the regular Joe who is thinking about spending more than usual on a good quality television. During the next few months, I’m sure you can find a more professional review from the usual places… But for now, this is my impressions.

CORNER LIGHT: After reading many reviews on last years B8000 and this year’s C7000, I was worried about the light that emits from the corners. I’ve seen displays of last year’s B8000 and this year’s C7000 and have VERY easily seen what people are talking about. I took a big gamble in purchasing this TV before I read if people were having issues with this C8000. So let me say… After watching this TV for about 5 hours per day for 3 days… I have NOT seen the light coming from the edges as seen on other sets. And believe me I’ve been looking. I tried to find it watching the HD feed on Time Warner Cable, Blu-ray’s from the PS3, Blu-Ray’s from the Samsung 3D Blu-Ray player, watching at night, during the day… Nothing. I just do not see it!

LOOKS: This TV looks just amazing. It has a VERY dark black screen. It looks as beautiful turned off as it does on. I was nervous about the brush metal look, but it actually looks very nice and compliments the new chromed four-legged stand.

PICTURE: The picture clarity looks incredible. It’s as if I’m discovering HD for the first time. This set replaces a Samsung DLP set, so of course this is a vast improvement. Having said that, I have a newer plasma in the bedroom and this set looks much better than that. As with all new LED sets with 240 Hz, there is a bit of the Spanish Soap Opera/Home Video look to it. Some people really like this, some people don’t. I really like it. For those of you that don’t, you can always turn this feature down or off. To me this makes the picture look very clear and it makes it stand out from the other sets.

3D: Along with this TV I purchased the Samsung 3D Bluray player so I can get the 3D startup kit for free. Turning the 3D feature on and connecting the glasses was easy. The intro to Monsters v. Aliens was very cool. The opening scene in outer space looked incredible. The ball tied to a paddle part was funny and kinda made me jump a little. I haven’t spent too much time with 3D but I did notice that there were some scenes in the movie that had a double image while wearing the glasses. It doesn’t happen a lot, but it is noticeable. You can see this right away during the church scene at the beginning of the movie. It was a little annoying. I’m hoping that this is the kind of stuff that gets ironed out with a firmwear update, or as more content is released, they learn to fix it.

OnlineTV: This is also a very new area for me. I never understood the need for me to want apps on my TV… But its actually kina cool. I’ve tried a few apps but my favorite by far is the Pandora app. I’m a big fan of Pandora and this app I actually like better on my TV than online or the iPhone. The only thing I hate is that Samsung did not have Wifi built in. I think pricing this set at the $3000+ mark should be enough to include it with the set and not require me to drop another $80 for the USB adapter. I just hardwired it, but that’s another wire I don’t like dealing with.

USB: I wanted to mention that this set allows you to connect a USB external hard drive and play music, photo’s and movies directly from the HDD. I have a Western Digital 320GB Passport filled with movies and music, and I was able to navigate the files structure in the drive using the remote quite easily. And it played all the files formats I threw at it.

Pros:

No corner light!!!

Very dark screen.

Very clear picture

Pandora Samsung App

3D was surprisingly fun

USB external HDD capable

and… NO CORNER LIGHT!

Cons:

Slight double images on 3D.

Wifi requires an $80 USB adaptor.

Overall I am very satisfied with the UN55C8000. Even with the few CONS, this set to this average Joe is a definite 5 star! As I spend more time with the set, I’ll be sure to update this review if I find something worth mentioning.

Please feel free to ask me questions and I’ll try my best to answer them. I know how nerve wrecking buying a big ticket item such as this is… So I would be glad to help as much as I can.

Review by Chris Boylan for Samsung UN55C8000 55-Inch 1080p 240 Hz 3D LED HDTV
Rating:
Samsung’s UN55C8000 LED TV (LED backlit LCD) represents a good first step in full HD 3D technology, but it’s definitely not without its flaws.

Drawbacks:

* High price

* Problems handling 24 frame/second material (movies)

* Mixed results with upconversion of standard def material to HD

* Some crosstalk on native and upconverted 3D content

* Some lighting uniformity issues (compared to best plasma and local-dimming sets)

Pros:

* Nice black levels and shadow detail for a super-thin (under 1-inch) edge-lit LED set

* Bright, accurate colors

* Energy efficient

* Excellent 3D effect with native 3D content

* Decent 3D upconversion of 2D content (varies based on content)

* Extremely robust selection of IPTV content (web-based widgets, audio and video streaming)

As for price, yes this is one of the first full HD 3D TVs on the market, so you can expect to pay a premium, but $3500 (list) is a lot to pay for a 55-inch TV. Panasonic’s comparably sized and featured 54-inch 3D VT25 plasma lists for $500 less. Even Samsung’s own 3D-capable 46-inch LCD set (standard CCFL backlighting), the LN46C750 sells for about half the price of this LED-lit model. At $1799 list, the 46-inch 3D LCD is only slightly more expensive than comparably sized, comparably featured 2D models.

For SD upconversion, the C8000 does well with the standard “jaggies” tests and 2:3 cadence detection in its “Auto 1” mode, but it falls apart with mixed content (video titles on a film background), creating combing/tearing artifacts on the screen unless you go out of your way to change the mode setting to “Auto 2” mode. A good video processor should be able to accomodate both types of content without the user having to go deep into the set-up menus.

The C8000’s 3D feature is both a pro and a con. On native 3D content, such as the “Monster Vs. Aliens” on Blu-ray 3D as well as some test patterns we had on a USB stick, the set’s illusion of depth and dimensionality is impressive — as good if not better than the 3D effect seen in most theaters. And we found that it maintained the 3D effect even from 25 feet away and from well off-axis (watching TV from the side of the room, instead of directly in front of it). Yes, there are times when you can get some crosstalk (left eye image visible by the right eye, which leads to ghosting), but this is fairly sporadic and generally isn’t so obtrusive as to minimize one’s enjoyment of the movie. Samsung added a setting in the 1016.0 firmware that allows you to adjust the 3D mode to minimize crosstalk and this does help, though even with the feature enabled, there can still be some crosstalk at times. Also, Samsung offers a real-time 2D to 3D conversion feature which is more effective than we expected and can give you some additional depth and 3D qualities on existing content. It’s particularly effective on vector-based animation and games, but even on theatrical titles such as “Star Trek” and “Avatar” on 2D Blu-ray Disc, certain scenes do take on a pleasant (though mild) sense of depth.

Back in 2D mode, we did notice one unexpected issue with the C8000’s handling of 24p content (24 frames/second) from standard Blu-ray Discs. Previous Samsung models had the ability to apply motion interpolation (Samsung’s “Auto Motion Plus” feature) for video-based content independently from film content. The separate settings for “Judder Reduction” (film) and “Blur Reduction” (video) worked independently. This allows the user to apply motion interpolation to video sources, like live sports and concert videos, minimizing screen blur and smooting out the motion, while still presenting movies in a native 24p mode that preserves that “filmic feel” that many movie-lovers prefer. In the C8000 model, even with Judder Reduction OFF (set to 0) in “Custom” mode, there is still some motion interpolation going on, which causes movies to look a little more like video (called by some the “soap opera effect”). Hopefully this is a problem that can be fixed via firmware but as of the time of this review, that is not yet available. [update: this issue has been confirmed by Samsung QA and engineering]

As an edge-lit set, there are also some issues with picture uniformity. When you’re lighting up an entire set with just a string of LED lights along the edges, there’s only so far that a diffusor panel can go to get a nice uniform backlight. Samsung has improved this over last year’s edge-lit models, through the use of a technique called “Precision Dimming.” With Precision Dimming, areas of the lighting assembly can be turned off or dimmed independently of other areas. So instead of having one big bright backlight, with only the LCD shutters to provide darkness, the TV can selectively dim parts of the screen (like the top and bottom letterbox areas of 2.35:1 and 2.4:1 movies). This leads to less hot-spotting around the edges, and better overall black levels. It’s not quite as effective as full local dimming with a “full array” LED backlight, but it’s better than having no local dimming technology. Combined with the 2010 improvements in the LCD panel itself, the uniformity and black level performance of the new sets is getting closer to a plasma or full array LED/LCD set with local dimming. Next year, they’ll probably get even better.

Color reproduction of the C8000 is excellent, with saturation near the performance of the best plasmas (and this color and grey scale accuracy holds up even in the dimmer 3D mode), so no real complaints there, but the colors don’t quite “pop” as much as they do on local dimming LED and plasma sets as the level of the blacks is not quite as deep as those other technologies.

In terms of the internet streaming and IPTV content, again, no complaints here: with VUDU, Blockbuster VOD, Netflix streaming, Pandora internet radio, and Yahoo widgets, etc., as well as DLNA compatibility, the C8000 TV brings a wealth of content to your TV from your home network and from the internet at large. One might imagine that over time these services will also be helpful in providing native 3D content which for now is extremely hard to come by.

Overall, there is a lot to like about the C8000, but it does suffer from a few first generation issues. If the high price and relatively minor issues with 2D upconversion and occasional 3D crosstalk don’t worry you too much, then it’s definitely worth a look. But there’s also something to be said for waiting to see what they come up with next year when more content is available and some of these early issues have been worked out. It’s also possible that some of these issues may be improved with firmware updates, so early adopters may still benefit from enhancements as time goes on.

Our complete review of the UN55C8000 is available on Big Picture big Sound (dot com).

Review by Plastic Chef America for Samsung UN55C8000 55-Inch 1080p 240 Hz 3D LED HDTV
Rating:
Let me start by saying that I do own this TV, and it is replacing the c7000 model. About a month ago I walked into a local retailer and asked when the 3D sets were coming out, to my surprise they had just received the first shipment of C7000 3D ready sets from Samsung. After spending about a half an hour checking out the TV, and asking a lot of questions I decided to take the plunge and purchase the TV, 3D Blu-Ray player, and starter kit. My intentions were not to buy a new set that day, but it was getting to be time to upgrade anyway so I wanted to have something with some “wow factor” for a while. A friend and I loaded up the set and got the connections made, cracked a couple of beers and checked out my new investment. There were mixed reactions to say the least. Once the novelty of the 3D wears off you can be really critical of that model. Huge amount of “crosstalk” on the picture, and cloudy bright spots with “flashlighting” in the bottom two corners. Very disappointing. I went back to the store to look at the display model again and did not see a fraction of the issues that my set was showing. The salesperson said that the Panasonic Plasma should be coming in any day and they expected it to be light years ahead of the Samsung in picture quality, black level, no crosstalk, etc.

After a week or so I went in to see the Panasonic that was now also on display only to see the same issues with crosstalk in 3D. The 2D experience on the Panasonic was quite good but at the time the only size available was 50″, and I was replacing a 62″ set and really didn’t want to make that drastic of a change. So on bright pictures the Samsung was absolutely stunning! In a dark room while watching a dark movie the picture was just unacceptable for a TV in this price range. At this point I figured that I would return the TV, and wait for one of the larger Panasonic’s to hit the stores.

Then I saw that the C8000 was being released earlier than expected, and had new technology called Pinpoint Dimming. After doing quite a bit of reading reviews, and others’ experience with the Samsung locally dimmed set’s I decided to give Samsung another chance before going to Plasma. Amazon had the TV for sale before my local retailer so I placed the order and crossed my fingers that I would not be returning two new TV’s instead of one. Well let me wrap this up by saying that I am sooooo glad that I made this choice! The C8000 is absolutely stunning in aesthetic quality, and is the best picture quality I have probably ever seen! Dare I say it is even better than the 8500 from last year that gets such great reviews. There is no flashlighting, the black levels are completely pitch black, and as another reviewer already stated, once you get the picture dialed in the way you like it there really is no comparison. Everyone that sees the TV in my house has to stop and watch for a while, in fact, the downside to owning it is that I can’t get people to go home!

Now with that being said, there are some minor observations that would be different in a perfect world. If you put this set in a large room and watch it from a large angle you will lose some of the black levels, and for the price it really should have wifi built in. Also, in the menu’s it seems that some settings should be grouped together under the headings, so you have to jump around in the menu’s a bit to get your set dialed in, but this is typically not something you will be doing all the time. Other than that I really can’t see a problem with it. When considering the C7000 or C8000 do yourself a favor and choose the latter. Even if this set was hundreds of dollars more it would be worth it. This one will be hard to beat.

UPDATE: After having the TV for about a week it started having some technical issues like switching sources randomly, and changing the picture settings for no reason. Samsung tech support was very good and we thought initially the problems were being caused by the Logitech remote I use, however after increased tech issues the TV had to be returned. Being that the picture quality is so exceptional on this set I have already replaced it with another one of the same model purchased at retail (for much less money actually) and am keeping my fingers crossed that this one does not have any technical issues. I am leaving my review at five stars simply because every so often you can get a bum product, or something could have happened during shipping, but have to say that Samsung, and Amazon have been really great about taking care of me on this, and the picture quality really is very good. Reading the other reviews I am surprised that anyone would not give this a five star rating. When replacing my C8000 I checked out one of the last B8500’s still available, and side by side I have to say that not only me, but most people in the store were more impressed with the C8000. By the way, I have owned several products that C-net gave very high ratings that I had no success with, and vice versa, so I really think it comes down to your own expectations on a purchase like this.