HDTVs

[Aslanna]

Warrantys/insurance are the biggest profit margins for many companies for a reason. Skip that shit. $475? Fuck, that's 1/2 the cash for a new set right there.

They're also pretty reasonable for prices on them, I think the most I've ever payed for a warranty was less than half what they're asking you for.

I imagine it's based on the price of the TV. So no, $475 isn't 1/2 the cost for a comparable replacement. 1/5 is closer to the mark since it was, and still seems to be, $2500.

I'll probably pass on purchasing it as it is still a decent chunk of money and I really don't use it all that much as when I first got it as I've mostly caught up on TV programs and haven't felt like doing much console gaming lately.

[Aslanna]

Now that I live in a house with no connected walls I finally got around to procuring a new receiver. As I've been spending too much money lately I decided to go with a more modestly priced receiver for now. I went with the Sony STR-DN1060 since it has fairly decent reviews. No Dolby Atmos, apparently, but as I have no idea what that is I doubt I will miss it! Too soon to give impressions since I've only had it set up a couple hours but being able to AirPlay podcasts to it is nice.

Next time I'll be going with a Pioneer Elite!

[Winnow]

I got one of the fancy 2015 samsungs (not fake 120hz, but i have it disabled anyways). Its real nice, has quantum butthole dots or whatever, its NOT OLED level. Never will be, because its not OLED. So get that out of your mind.

It plays all the codecs I've thrown at it, so no issue there (just like my older samsung plasma)...MKV's are the big one, as that's a common compression format as you know, and its not supported by majority of TV's.

Bought my TV around thanksgiving, after the 2016's were announced, and the 2015's went on discount. So did the same as you plan to do.

Nothing, I repeat, nothing, can compare to OLED, except plasma, and no one makes those anymore. OLED is just like plasma, a whole 'nother level above LCD. LCD is such a joke, and should have been put to bed years ago. But its what we are stuck with, since LG is the only OLED supplier still. Others keep talking about, or ditching it and bringing it back (samsung), its just getting old. There's no price competition to bring that crap down.

Anyways, I bought when I did because I wanted a bigger TV. Nothing more to it. Wasn't worth "waiting" for OLED, as I figured by the time I'm done with this TV, maybe just maybe OLED will be the standard. Doubt it, as LCD just piles on the profits for these companies, as its just so cheap to manufacturer now.

My only regret is that samsung doesn't make a full array backlit TV anymore, or at a reasonable price, so you're stuck with just Vizio for that. So if the Vizio's had better decoding/etc, their TV's would be a whole lot nicer. I know they have a high end line now, but I've never seen one. I believe its priced completely unreasonably, which just makes you buy the OLED from LG at that point.

Phew, that's a lot. Sorry, I'm pretty passionate about AV.

After a ton of research I bought a Samsung UN55KS8000 and it has an "OMG" amazing picture. I got it for $1,179 which is already a great price for this TV but it will be on sale for 979 at Costco the next two weeks and Best Buy Black Friday is you need one of the best TVs out there.

I considered 65" but I'm using as desktop monitor and 55 is the max IMO if you're within 3-4 feet of the screen.

The bezel is almost non existent on the top and sides.

I know OLED has the best blacks but the blacks on this TV are ridiculously good compared to any other LCD I've owned. I was watching some HDR Youtube 4K videos and the black bars top/bottom were inky black. When the screen goes completely black it's like I'm staring into the abyss. OLED may be better but not sure I care too much.

Some randoms comments about it:

4K

4K is awesome. Anyone that tells you it's not worth getting a 4K TV right now must be looking at crappy ones. I played some 1080P movies and they look fantastic. As long as your 4K tv upscales well which this one does. I've played a few different games at 2560x1440 res and have had not trouble with performance using a 980ti card.

HDR

Not sure if it was HDR or how great this TV handles colors, but wow. I look a my 46" 1080 Samsung sitting next to my new 4K and not even close. One "knock" against this TV is that it doesn't have Dolby Vision. I don't think that's going to matter. Scorpio and PS4 Pro use HDR 10 which Samsung has (HDR 1000)

As a PC monitor

Couple things

-make sure both video card is outputting RGB Full and your TV input is set for RGB Full.
-Windows text scaling defaults to 300% and looks like crap. Make sure you set scaling back to 100% if using as a monitor.

4K screen is basically four 1080P screens on one screen. After initial configuration (I had to go buy an HDMI 2.0 cable since none of my HDMI cables could handle the higher resolution), redid windows truetype to my liking. The text is crystal clear at native 3840x2160 resolution. So much space to work with.



Best way to imagine it is four 1920x1080 screens on one screen because that's exactly what it is.

Everything on this TV has looked outstanding. Movies/Games/Pictures/Applications etc. I can't get over the detail I was missing especially in dark scenes.

Note for Samsung TVs and maybe other brands: Make sure you turn Eco Mode off (Auto Dimming). I kept setting my backlight and it looked great but after I saved my settings the picture was dark again...Samson Eco Mode detects the light in your room and attempts to adjust the picture brightness. Fuck that. It doesn't work well. Way too dark most of the time.

You can turn off the Samsung logo light that's on the front of the TV in settings.

The internal apps for Netflix and Amazon work well and show HDR 4K.

This TV recognizes HDR content no matter what the source (PC included) and works with Xbox One S and PS4 Pro HDR.



I also like the breakout box for all of your inputs. I hate screwing around behind my TV. There's a 9' cable that attached to the TV from this box so it can be well out of the way and/or easily accessed for HDMI/USB/TOS/Cable etc.

I was lucky. No light leakage, no dead pixels, etc. No screen uniformity issues etc.

It's a good option for PC gaming. Low input lag even with HDR active.




If you're shopping for a TV, the two weeks before Black Friday is the best time to get one. I should have waited one more week but this TV is so good, I'm not going to hassle returning/buying for 200.00 less since it doesn't seem to have any picture flaws. 1179 s already deeply discounted from it's 1799 original store price.

This is a nice in depth review/breakdown of the Samsung KS8000:

http://uk.rtings.com/tv/reviews/samsung/ks8000

I'd recommend that site no matter what TV you're thinking about.

Beside the LG OLED TV, this TV has been rated the best TV by many separate reviewers. This site does a great job of breaking down the +/- of TVs:

http://uk.rtings.com/tv/reviews/by-size/55-inch/best

"You don't know what you're missing" is a phrase thrown out more than it should be but it applies here. Movies/Games etc all looked really nice on my 46" 1080P Samsung. After finally doing serious research and going with a premium 4K TV, there's no way I could go back.

[Winnow]

Just a quick note. Best Buy lowered their price on the UN55KS8000 to 999 today. I was able to have them price match their own lower price with no hassle via online chat. Amazon also has the TV for 997 now:

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-UN55KS80 ... B01C5TFLSE

Quite happy with that. I'm thinking of adding a second 55KS8000 at that price.

[Kluden]

Cool, glad you like it. But hey, for the money, its great! Looks like, just like with my model (JS8500), the same issue is its weakness...edge lit. Blooming and darkened brights on dark screens. Its the price that Samsung just isn't willing to pay to fix it (full array back lighting). its the same with my TV. So I hear you on the rest of the positives. The picture IS amazing. But OLED is still better. But like you, I'm forced to not care because OLED is just not accessible to the affordable folks.

[Winnow]

The picture IS amazing. But OLED is still better. But like you, I'm forced to not care because OLED is just not accessible to the affordable folks.

I'll get an OLED in a year or two and move this one over as a secondary monitor but the very minor differences between this TV and OLED aren't bothering me. For the blacks, everything looks pure black to me so it would only be the reduced blooming (which isn't something I consciously notice and don't look for it) would be the main advantage to OLED.

The brightness of the KS8xxx series is pretty crazy. I have my backlight down to 4 and I think it goes to 20 max.

Glad I went with 55" instead of 65". I've gotten used to the massive amount of info/windows I can have up on one screen. You can have three full sized browser windows open side by side with double the vertical length (which is super handy for things like forums etc so you don't have to scroll as much)

Only thing I am getting used to is when I drag a window over to one of my 1080P screens, it's usually too big to fit. I need to find a firefox window resizer add-on button that reduces window to 1920x1080.

After several days, I haven't seen any dead pixels. Had one of two scares but they were specs of dust that wiped away!

[Kluden]

Oh yeah, I know what you mean on the dead pixels on these 4k tvs/monitors. The pixels are so fucken small, just a spec of dust makes them look like a stuck pixel on red/white/whatever. Had the same fears.

So that's the good news, at my viewing distance, even if there are dead pixels, I'll never know...so there's that comfort!

[Chidoro]

Finally upgrading our TV after about 11 years. My wife was starting to have a hard time reading the screen to choose a program so we bit the bullet (we really don't watch that much tv). The 150 pound old Sony KV-30HS420 is being replaced with an LG 55UH8500. Funny, my wife saw the OLED55E6P and asked if that was going to be our TV as she was blown away. I told her that I could be if she was willing to spend 2.5k. She actually considered it . Can't wait for it to be delivered next Monday

[Kluden]

I do like the LG ips panels. They pop pretty darn well. I'm sure you will enjoy!

[Winnow]

Finally upgrading our TV after about 11 years. My wife was starting to have a hard time reading the screen to choose a program so we bit the bullet (we really don't watch that much tv). The 150 pound old Sony KV-30HS420 is being replaced with an LG 55UH8500. Funny, my wife saw the OLED55E6P and asked if that was going to be our TV as she was blown away. I told her that I could be if she was willing to spend 2.5k. She actually considered it . Can't wait for it to be delivered next Monday

Nice. It received a decent review on that site I had linked:

http://uk.rtings.com/tv/reviews/lg/uh8500

[Kluden]

Saw your samsung at costco this weekend, and the 9000 series ones. They do look fantastic. Good choice, I would say, and that's based on shitty costco feeds. For me, center stand is a must have, so I would have had to go with the 9000 series this year....or that LG above. I hate that a lot of the companies are mainly two side end stands nowadays. My TV stand is not that wide, with my 65" sammy, the center stand is 0.5" from each end of the 38" wide stand. It just fit.

[Winnow]

Saw your samsung at costco this weekend, and the 9000 series ones. They do look fantastic. Good choice, I would say, and that's based on shitty costco feeds. For me, center stand is a must have, so I would have had to go with the 9000 series this year....or that LG above. I hate that a lot of the companies are mainly two side end stands nowadays. My TV stand is not that wide, with my 65" sammy, the center stand is 0.5" from each end of the 38" wide stand. It just fit.

Saw mine or Chidoro's? (Edit: assume mine since his has center stand) I know Costco had the 8000 series as KS800D vs KS8000 which is exact same model but renamed to avoid price matching. (brushed metal legs vs chrome legs)

I'm OK with the wide stand for my primary but it would be a problem if I decide to add a second one. The 60 and 65 versions have two placements for the legs so they can be a little closer to the center but I'd prefer a center stand. Since I'm using the 55" as a monitor and have a very large desk, it fits nicely at the back of my desk. My 46" TVs beside the 55" sit on podiums though.

Still very happy with the kS8000. I was playing Overwatch this weekend for their free trial (which I ended up buying the Origin Edition last night on sale for 34.99 because I had fun) and it's so nice on this screen. Big thumbs up for gaming on the Samsung KS8000. So far it's handled everything I've thrown at it at 2560x1440 upscaled.

[Kluden]

Yours, as I said "samsung", Chidoro bought an LG!

I haven't tried mine as a PC monitor yet. May do that, but the hard drive hook up is so simple to just copy files to for watching downloads. And I don't game on it. But I may try after reading your glowing review of doing it!