Samsung’s new Quantum Dot LED technology is impressive - easily beating any other LCD TV panel for black, white, sRGB gamut and clarity and with ultra-thin bezels, it looks great too.
iTWire conducted a through review of the new Samsung 65”, 4K SUHD, HDR, curved, Series 9, KS9500. How do you do a TV review? Easy – you are locked up with a range of 4K, UHD, HDR Blu-ray content (mostly disaster and action movies), a never-ending supply of snacks and the obligatory alcohol, in a swanky five-star hotel where you emerge the next morning with square eyes and in desperate need of strong coffee and the hair of the dog.
It all starts innocently enough – you critically appraise free to air quality (1080p, 720p), Netflix 4K and other HD 1080p quality, upscale some 480, 720 and 1080 content, then settle in for an amazing immersive experience with my cult favourite 4K, HDR Kingsmen movie that even Rotten Tomatoes rates at 84% saying “Stylish, subversive, and above all fun, Kingsman: The Secret Service finds director Matthew Vaughn sending up the spy genre with gleeful abandon.”
Sorry got sidetracked - this is about the TV and Samsung’s new equally good, 4K Ultra, UBD-K8500 Blu-ray player that works seamlessly with it.
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I want to get the elephant in the room out in the open – my predilection for OLED screens does both cause me dissonance and desire. Dissonance as Quantum Dot looks damned good and desire because at A$6,299 the price is pretty good in comparison to LG’s amazing curved 4K, 65EG960T OLED at $8,999. I would love to see these side-by-side before proclaiming one over the other. So no more mention of OLED unless relevant.
Models, models and more pretty models
The KS9500 is a Series 9 and comes in 55” for $4,299 and 65” for $6,299. It is better than a Series 8, 7, 6 or 5 that are currently available at leading retailers. It is one step below the KS9800, but that is an unfair comparison with an 88”, full array backlit screen.
In fact, there are 27 Samsung models on their shelves with 55”, 4K UHD Series 6 starting at $2,199, Series 8 SUHD at $3,599 and Series 9 SUHD at $3,999. If you are not careful, you will be confused, but as Samsung are wont to do, there is something for everyone and their budget.
Rather than spending aeons going over those various model specifications lets concentrate on the curvaceous 65” KS9500.
Size/weight and mounting
It is very sleek all round. It has almost no bezels. But it sits on a curved and deep stand needing a massive 404.6mm clearance from front to back – yes it will fit on most TV sideboards. The TV itself is only 109.1mm deep and can be wall, 400 x 400 VESA, mounted. It weighs 28.8kg with the stand. If wall mounted, you need to house the Samsung One Connect box out of sight.
Quantum Dot – class leading
This is not just clever marketing jargon – it is new technology that offers up to 64 times more colour and 2.8 times more brightness over a Series 7 or below.
Quantum Dot works by interposing ultra-thin screens with quantum dot nanocrystals of different sizes. When the white (blue) light from the TV’s edge lit LEDs passes through these nanocrystals, it polarises them into shining different (RG) primary colours based on their specific size. The result is deeper, more varied and richer colour space coverage (98%).
It offers Precision Black that almost eliminates light wash from its LCD shutter and neighbouring pixels. It also has an Ultra Black filter for reduced glare and reflection.
It does not produce pure black like OLED (where the pixels are off), but it’s the best black of any LCD I have seen.
HDR - so much more detail
HDR (High Dynamic Range) content means it has additional information encoded in the data stream that can display more vibrant, true to life colours and fill in details that would be lost in the shadows or bright light. There is a huge different between switching HDR on and off – the latter is like viewing through sunglasses. Definitely buy an HDR device for the viewing experience.
The Curve
I keep saying the jury is out on this but at the right viewing distance – say around 3 metres the 4200R (radius) gentle concave curve does seem to focus the eyes on the action and becomes less than obvious.
I know that iTWire readers want more than an opinion here so here are empirical facts.
- Aesthetics: Curved looks great sitting on a TV sideboard but funny if wall mounted
- Immersive: No evidence of more “immersiveness” (being drawn into the picture) over a flat except a feeling that at 2-3 metres from the screen it is perhaps easier to see the entire screen. If you have limited viewing space from chair to TV flat is better
- Viewing angle: Lab tests show that a 55-65” curved screen has a smaller viewing angle than a flat – the ideal angle is up to 65° on either side from the middle. Off angle/axis viewing can change colours so chair placement is more critical than flat
- Depth and Dimensionality: Curved appears to show more depth in 2D images
- Distortion: The bow-tie effect (curvature of straight lines) is not evident on this screen when sitting 3 metres away
- Reflection: While its more about the screen finish – gloss to matte – this appears to have less side and rear reflection. But the reality is that all TVs need correct placement without strong light sources in the room.
- Colour, gamut: There is no difference between a flat or curved similar quality screen
- Hype: It is all about marketing hype and product differentiation
OK, I will strongly consider curved unless there is too much of a price difference over the same specified flat screen.
Samsung Tizen TV OS – very appy
An operating system should not make so much of a difference - whether it is Android, Tizen or something else. This is a good OS, and it makes it easier to use and does more.
This new version of Tizen with Smart Hub has been improved for better usability, intuitive functionality and a layout that is clean and easy to move around in when looking for apps, content from all sources and other functions.
It has clients for Netflix, Stan, Presto, YouTube, Spotify, Skype, Facebook, Twitter, and FreeViewPlus channels like iView. It has a range of apps and games and offers web browsing. Samsung’s app marketplace is fairly comprehensive – you can do so much more - because it has the lion’s share of smart TV sales and for this reason alone you should avoid no-name operating systems.
It allows app purchases from the TV via a Samsung Account.
The remote – perhaps too simple
The remote is elegant with a so few buttons that it looks very simple to operate. It, however, takes some mastering. However, it does have voice recognition (that worked about 60% of the time), Play/Pause, and a rotary wheel and home key. I think it is a classic case of letting design triumph over function but to its defence, it did all that was asked – display a menu on the TV and allow for navigation.
Although not tested I am assured that it works with Logitech Harmony remotes and a range of apps on a smartphone or tablet.
You can also plug in a Logitech USB Unifying dongle for a keyboard and trackpad like its excellent K830 or run it via Bluetooth or just use a USB keyboard.
PS – I understand that it comes with two remotes – the minimalist one for everyday use and a more traditional multi-button one for set-up.
Sound – good but not great
What I did marvel at is the wide range of choice in colour setups (Dynamic, Standard, Natural and Movie with all manner of fine adjustments) and sound types (including an equaliser) – allowing me to customise settings to my preferences.
It has Dolby Digital, DTS codec and 4.1 channel, down and front firing, 60W total RMS speakers. Physical speakers are 2 x 20W (mid/tweeter) and 2 x 10W (woofer).
It is good, certainly enough for a lounge room and simulated 4.1 is effective. But it is no substitute for physical front, centre, and rear speakers and a thumping woofer. If you are spending this much, you can probably afford a good speaker/AV setup.
It has Bluetooth LE headphone support and will interoperate with any modern AV home Theatre amplifier or Sound Bar via the ARC HDMI port.
As a TV
It has a single DVB-T tuner supporting HbbTV 1.5 (FreeViewPlus). I would have liked to see a dual tuner that would allow viewing of one channel and recording of another – no big deal as you can always plug in an HDMI FreeViewPlus Tuner like Teac’s HBBTS1 that at A$189 gives this great Personal video recorder capability.
The electronic program guide is fine and allows for scheduled viewing and recording to a USB or external disk. Recording also allows for the pause feature (time shift) while you take a toilet break but the remote does not seem to allow for fast forward through advertisements – that is where a keyboard may come in handy.
I used a Microsoft Surface Pro 4 with its mini DisplayPort to HDMI connector to view a range of content including an old 480i mono “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea”, a 576p Star Trek, and some 720 and 1080p MPEG-4 content.
Its upscaling engine works well with HD content and delivers great results with 720p and 480p video sources. All looked distinctly better with more dynamic range and colour saturation. I liked the special viewing modes like Sports Mode that can be customised for a selected sports type. Refresh is nominally 120MHz.
The manual
There is an embedded e-manual or a 128 page one online here.
I did not need to read either, but it is nice to know they are there.
Ports
It has an external One Connect box that connects to the TV with a proprietary cable.
It has
- 4 x HDMI (one ARC)
- 3 x USB (1 x 1A, 2 x 500mA)
- 1 x AV Component Y/Pb/Pr
- 1 x Composite AV
- 1 x Digital audio optical out
- Ethernet and Wi-Fi AC (and Smart View Mirror of Android devices)
Samsung 4K, Ultra HD, HDR, UBD-K8500 Blu-ray player
The HDR player worked well, was very quick to load, and almost automatically. At $599 it is not cheap, but it is good quality, and I understand the first 4K to market.
While it is backwards compatible with HD disks and lower resolution TVs it is in its element with SUHD, HDR TVs. You can use it to get 4K streams from Netflix et al.
It has a nice curved look, a traditional remote control that covers the TV volume, and a HDMI 2.0a connector for the TV, HDMI connector for Audio only, Gigabit LAN and digital optical out.
Price
RRP is A$6299 but at the time of writing JB Hi-Fi have it at $4,498 and the 4K Blu-ray player at $298 as a bundle. That makes this irresistible value for money.
Conclusion
I went to JB Hi-Fi to view its massive range of TVs and try to define if the picture quality offered by the KS9500 was so superior. It is. But the conundrum is that not everyone has the budget so here are my recommendations.
First that if you have the living room space 65” is superior to 55”. The curved screen is better if you can design your seating around it – front on, 3 metres away, and limit viewing from side chairs. If not, then the equally spectacular KS9000 is the flat version of this.
If you have $6K to splash on a 65” 4K, SUHD, HDR TV, then you will have read every word here and be convinced that this is a good investment. It is because it has some of the best display specifications for an edge-lit display - HDR, rich and realistic colours, great contrast brightness, and motion control, no “jaggies”. It’s a great day-to-day TV that looks something special. I Would negotiate with JB for a home theatre deal, and you would still have change.
If you have $3-4K, then any of the Samsung Series 6 or 7 UHD and SUHD TVs are great and share much of the technology. I concluded from my viewing at JBs these offer a pretty good picture for the price.
If you are impoverished then go to Aldi or JB and buy the biggest, cheapest, HD, Chinese brand like TCL, HiSense or Changhong you can, because you will marvel at how cheaply you got a new, big telly and dissonance will kick in saying you could not notice the difference between it and one costing nearly six times more.
And if you are a videophile then you won’t be interested in anything except the best OLED.
On the downside it does not have 3D – no big deal. It is an edge-lit screen (not full array local dimming like the more expensive, 88” KS9800) and the quality VA panel means you need to sit more “front on” to get the best colour and contrast.
If you are interested in reading more, there is a dry technical overview here.