What Hi Fi Sound and Vision
16 JUL 2009
Samsung UE46B8000
Looks, spec, performance... this Samsung is a splendidly realised product that deserves full consideration
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Measuring 117cm diagonally across the screen but less than 3cm in depth, the Samsung UE46B8000 is proportioned like a 46in credit card.
It's packing tuners, processing and inputs in that skinny frame, too – those who wish to wall-hang the 8000 can balance the fact that the screen will require multiple connections be run to it against the fact that Samsung's single-screw bracket increases overall depth by just 1.5cm.
It's stylistically similar to the well-received UE40B7020 and its derivatives, with which it shares the bulk of its specification while adding 200Hz motion processing.
Quite aside from its simple visual allure, the UE46B8000 is logical and straightforward to set up (despite a rather vague navigation wheel on the remote) and, even more importantly, looks a treat from all sources.
Pictures from either the analogue or digital tuners are stable and poised beyond even Samsung's generally high standards.
Colours are natural and balanced, whites clean and contrasts controlled, black tones (after some considerable backlight manipulation) agreeably deep and detailed. Motion, too, is handled well – within the limitations of the broadcast.
Excellent DVD upscaling
The Samsung does an equally good job upscaling DVDs, certainly outpacing any Blu-ray player performing the same job, and the pictures it delivers from a Blu-ray disc are downright impressive.
Detail levels are prodigious, edges are drawn smoothly and skin-tones and -textures convince. If you've set the screen up just so, it'll serve up composed, believable Blu-ray pictures all day long.
The Samsung's also blessed with a 'Game' mode that virtually negates the input lag so detested by Xbox and PlayStation fanciers – there's no doubt it impacts just slightly on the Samsung's otherwise-assured motion handling, but it's a happy trade-off nonetheless.
Caveats are remarkably few. The Samsung, which backlights its screen using LEDs arrayed around the edge of the screen and diffused into the centre, can betray their position when backlighting is set to '6' or above (on the scale of 0-10) in very dark scenes.
But setting the backlight below '6' soothes the problem without impacting on contrast in any meaningful way (when the screen is idling, of course, the backlights aren't lit and so the 8000 stays very dark indeed).
Effective 200Hz motion processing
And we found the much-vaunted 200Hz motion processing works extremely effectively when set to 'clear' – all of the other settings make motion seem, to a lesser or greater extent, rather unnatural.
Sound is even more compromised than the flatscreen norm – hardly surprising when you consider the physical constraints of the chassis but a shortcoming all the same.
The answer to the question of whether it's a better screen than any of the late, lamented Pioneer Kuro plasma range (which, it's become increasingly apparent, are the flatscreens by which all other mainstream screens must be judged) is a qualified 'no'.
It's not quite as detailed, not quite as stable. But compared to the current crop, it's a match for anything available at an even remotely similar price. In terms of high-definition motion handling, black-tone levels and insight, upscaling, and TV reception, the 8000 is spectacularly well realised.
See all our Samsung TV reviews