Samsung 55” LED LCD Series 8

Samsung 55” LED LCD Series 8

$10,000 can buy you a lot, or a little – depending on what you’re buying.  But when it comes to TV’s, $10,000 is most definitely a lot in most people’s book.

The other day I got the opportunity to watch FreeviewHD, HD Sky and a Blueray movie on the new Samsung 55” LED LCD Series 8. With the price tag of this model you would expect it to be an all round amazing TV, on which is does not fail. The question I really found myself asking, was just HOW amazing is it, and if it is worth forking out probably double compared to a similar sized non LED backlit screen?

High Definition / Resolution

This High-Def TV has everything you would have come to expect of any decent large screen TV of late, sporting the HD Standard 1080p/i and of course the lesser but still impressive 720p. What does this mean for you? 1080/720 is the max amount of lines that the given display can show, vertically. The general rule of thumb is: 42” screen size and below, 720p is fine for most people – however above 42” you would most definitely want the 1080p resolution. Below 42”, the average person is going to find it extremely hard to tell the difference between the two definitions, not to say that put side by side you couldn’t, but the difference at that size is minimal.

Picture

Samsung work to the concept of the 3 C’s of picture: contrast, colour and clarity. Being a backlit LED LCD, colour and contrast are superb, and clarity comes through a mixture of the definition mentioned above, and Samsungs own 200Hz Motion Plus claims to eliminate edge blur – jargon and numbers aside, the end result creates a vibrant, clear and beautiful image throughout FreeviewHD, Sky and Blueray’s.

The TV itself

The enclosure of this TV is breathtaking in itself. At the time of writing the Samsung 55” LED LCD Series 8 is the thinnest LED screen in the world with a FreeviewHD tuner built in. Measuring in at only 30mm thick, it makes my so called flat screen at home look as chunky as CRT TV’s did when LCD came out. A glowing blue light at the front bottom of the screen indicates when your remote commands are being received –even this simple task is made beautiful.

Power

Power saving – new LED LCD screens are up to 40% more energy efficient over similar sized LCD screens. Frankly if you can afford to buy this TV, I imagine the only advantage you will see in this is saving the environment that little bit more, over cutting down on your power bill!

Internet @TV

This screen now features direct internet access. Having only limited time I did not explore this area too much – however as expected, what I did see was well done. Youtube was easy to access and videos played nicely. Having this sort of access to Youtube, regular internet could come in handy; however I can’t see it replacing internet access from a normal computer any time soon.

Final Thoughts

If you feel you deserve a top of the line TV, and have the money to spare – this is the TV for you. However if you’re asking yourself if you can really afford it, you would be far better off spending half the price and still getting an amazing HD TV – of the same size.  Don’t get me wrong, this is an amazing TV and I would love to have one in my lounge any day - but if money isn’t unlimited, then having a TV half the price sitting in your lounge is going to seem near on as good.

There is no doubt LED will slowly creep into the everyday market, and with that the prices will drop, just the same as the prices slowly but surely crept down on LCD TV’s. So if money is an object (and lets face it, for 99% of people it is) then waiting, or going for something not quite as big, or non LED will still look great – this Samsung 55” LED LCD Series 8 is just that little bit better than great.

8/10 

This would be 10/10 if it wasn’t for its price point; however this is just a matter of time.