Samsung Launches 8500 Series LED-Backlit LCD HDTVs
| Author | Hugo Jobling |
| Published | 30th Jul 2009 |
I think it's safe to say we're past the point where contrast ratio measurements mean anything to any of us. Take Samsung's 8500 series of LED-backlit LCD HDTVs which have a claimed 7,000,000:1 contrast ratio - that's more contrast than the OLED sets we're promised are still coming!

The 8500-series is available in either 46in or 55in (measuring just 1.6in thick) with, it should surely go without saying, 1,920 x 1,080 pixel panels. Despite having claimed with the 8000-series (see: the UE46B8000 that edge-lighting was as good as direct lighting the latter method is employed this time around - with local dimming employed to hit that impressive contrast ratio claim.
Staying on the image front, Samsung as adorned the 8500-series' panels with a 2ms response time and 200Hz processing powered by Samsung's Auto Motion Plus technology, with a number of tweaks available for users to adjust judder and motion blur should they so desire.
Four HDMI ports, a Component input and an optical audio input are featured catering for a decent number of external sources. Both wired and wireless network connectivity is present in the 8500-series, and the TVs are DLNA compliant, though two USB ports are also present if network-playback of media is unviable. Yahoo! widgets can use the network connections to enable access to services such as Flikr, weather reports, news feeds and - sigh - Twitter.
No UK pricing as yet, but the 8500-series should launch in August and given the previous range's cost, £2,000-odd and up doesn't seem like an unsafe guess this generation.
Link:
Press release.
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chiandme said on 31st July 2009
sthair said on 31st July 2009
@Chris - well, I am happy to have TR's "best perceived" as as starting point. I trawled the AVForums threads and definitely found people's suggestions very help... more
FreQ said on 1st August 2009
They have a video review of a Samsung LED TV on av forums:
http://www.avforums.com/reviews/Samsung-UE40B6000VW-LED-LCD-TV-Review.html
Apparently, the LED'... more
Chris said on 3rd August 2009
@sthair: Gleaning from other people's experiences with the settings is always useful, of course, but that's not what I was referring to. I was just saying that *calibrati... more
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I'm considering getting the B8000 when it comes down a bit in price, I will probably make a purchase in the next few months. Although perhaps the 8500 will be worth waiting fo... more