Samsung un55c8000 or similar deals?

Hello all

My first post but I was just wondering if anyone knew of any good deals going on for 55" LED or Plasma's right now. I've done a lot of research and think the Samsung un55c8000 is what I want but I am open for suggestions. I love this site and have found a lot of great deals from it. Anything you can find to help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Quote from slickmase : Hello all My first post but I was just wondering if anyone knew of any good deals going on for 55" LED or Plasma's right now. I've done a lot of research and think the Samsung un55c8000 is what I want but I am open for suggestions. I love this site and have found a lot of great deals from it. Anything you can find to help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Not sure what price you are getting on the Samsung.

Buy.com has this Toshiba REGZA 55" 240Hz 1080p Widescreen 3D LED-Backlit LCD HD Television (model 55WX800U), for $1,449.99 with free shipping.

1920x1080 (1080p)
240Hz refresh rate
Edge-lit LED backlight
7,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio
Built-in wireless connectivity
Ethernet and USB 2.0 ports
Four HDMI inputs with VGA, component, and other video inputs

http://www.buy.com/pr/product.asp...16601998&&

I found the Samsung at All TV Mall here: http://alltvmall.com/un55c8000 for $1825 shipped. Seems like a pretty good deal compared to other offers that I have found for this set. I checked it out in a store and really like the picture, etc. However, I am open to suggestions. That Toshiba looks like a pretty nice deal as well. Is there a big difference between 7,000,000:1 vs. the 8,000,000:1 on the dynamic contrast ratio of the Samsung? Thanks for posting !

Quote from slickmase : I found the Samsung at All TV Mall here: http://alltvmall.com/un55c8000 for $1825 shipped. Seems like a pretty good deal compared to other offers that I have found for this set. I checked it out in a store and really like the picture, etc. However, I am open to suggestions. That Toshiba looks like a pretty nice deal as well. Is there a big difference between 7,000,000:1 vs. the 8,000,000:1 on the dynamic contrast ratio of the Samsung? Thanks for posting !

Consider this article when discussing contrast ratios:

http://www.practical-home-theater...ratio.html

Wow that is quite the article. I understand what it's saying. The feature-set on the Regza and Samsung appear to be nearly identical. I have looked at more TV's in the past few days then people. I just can't seem to decide what I want. Thank you for posting this additional thought though. I was not looking into Toshiba's as I wasn't finding a lot of interest on the Internet in them. Seems to be dominated by Samsung/Panasonic/LG

I purchased the UN55C8000 from amazon last week and i'm now returning it. The TV is gorgeous and the 3d is great but when you watch something against a completely black background there are horrible gray clouds in the corners, specially visible if you set your brightness in the mid 40's which is the way I like it.

I'm now about to order a Sony KDL-55NX810 from us appliance ($1735) but I'll try and have amazon pricematch it first. I saw it at best buy on display and the blacks were definitely better.

Good luck with your purchase.

I am into UN46C8000 TV with 3D bundle for less than $1500
Bestbuy had this for superbowl with 3DTV,3dKit,Bluerayplayer+Wireless stick - kicking myself for not grabbing them.

For TV alone I can go for $1100.

Any idea when do we get deals on TVs similar to Thanksgiving and Superbowl.?

Quote from manostb : I am into UN46C8000 TV with 3D bundle for less than $1500 Bestbuy had this for superbowl with 3DTV,3dKit,Bluerayplayer+Wireless stick - kicking myself for not grabbing them. For TV alone I can go for $1100. Any idea when do we get deals on TVs similar to Thanksgiving and Superbowl.?

I strongly advice against the Samsung C8000 for the reasons I already explained. I still have the TV right here with me. They're picking it up on Friday. I can post pics if you like.

Check this deal. It's the Sony NX810. It's the same Sony I just bought but 46 inch instead of 55.

http://slickdeals.net/forums/show...&t=2710411

If the extra $100 is a problem for your budget. Here's a deal for the HX800. A very close model to the NX810 with incredible blacks and it's $1050 after coupon which is a great price :

http://slickdeals.net/forums/show...&t=2709973

Tx Bigmac for reply with links ..

I found Samsung's color has more contrast than Sony
Havn't seen a dark/black screen in comparison.
This makes me a cat on the wall....

Quote from TheBigmac : I purchased the UN55C8000 from amazon last week and i'm now returning it. The TV is gorgeous and the 3d is great but when you watch something against a completely black background there are horrible gray clouds in the corners, specially visible if you set your brightness in the mid 40's which is the way I like it. I'm now about to order a Sony KDL-55NX810 from us appliance ($1735) but I'll try and have amazon pricematch it first. I saw it at best buy on display and the blacks were definitely better. Good luck with your purchase.

Make SURE you have Amazon SEND you confirmation of the price-match via email BEFORE you buy it. ESPECIALLY from US Appliance. I did this too and Amazon tried to back out of the price-match but I had all the emails. When I showed them the emails, they did the price-match.

Quote from slipgate : Make SURE you have Amazon SEND you confirmation of the price-match via email BEFORE you buy it. ESPECIALLY from US Appliance. I did this too and Amazon tried to back out of the price-match but I had all the emails. When I showed them the emails, they did the price-match.

Thanks for the tip. I did this Yesterday actually. I wasn't before purchase thou. But after. I made sure to complete the purchase on my computer while I had the large item department lady on the phone with me, and I asked her to stay on the phone wile I placed the order in my computer. As soon as I got the confirmation screen, I had her send me the email confirming the price match and she complied.

They're refunding me $304 which I'm using to buy myself a spanking brand new 3D compatible HDMI receiver.

Quote from TheBigmac : I purchased the UN55C8000 from amazon last week and i'm now returning it. The TV is gorgeous and the 3d is great but when you watch something against a completely black background there are horrible gray clouds in the corners, specially visible if you set your brightness in the mid 40's which is the way I like it. I'm now about to order a Sony KDL-55NX810 from us appliance ($1735) but I'll try and have amazon pricematch it first. I saw it at best buy on display and the blacks were definitely better. Good luck with your purchase.

What picture mode are you using, and what is your backlight setting? The only really accurate picture mode is movie mode, and your backlight should be comfortably below 10 in the dark. If you crank your backlight too high in dim/dark conditions, you will likely get lighter blacks, more flashlighting/clouding, and be using more energy to boot. If you still have very visible flashlighting in the corners with your backlight around 7, then I would swap it out for another.

Are you watching from straight on or way off-axis? The sides of the TV will tend to look lighter than the middle of the screen if you are sitting off axis--one of the downsides of these LCD panels.

Finally, what was the ambient light like when you viewed the NX810? If the room was really bright, the blacks will look very deep, just like on the C8000. I really don't think the blacks are really any deeper on the NX810 than on the C8000, and plenty of NX810's can have flashlighting in the corners as well.

If you get a C8000 that has bad flashlighting clouding, that doesn't ameliorate over time as the panel ages, then you should swap it out for another. Plenty of folks (like me) have gotten 55C8000's that don't have a problem with flashlighting/clouding.

Anyway, the NX810 is another great choice as well. I prefer the HX909, but it maxes out at 52 inches which doesn't do me any good.

Quote from DocuMaker : What picture mode are you using, and what is your backlight setting? The only really accurate picture mode is movie mode, and your backlight should be comfortably below 10 in the dark. If you crank your backlight too high in dim/dark conditions, you will likely get lighter blacks, more flashlighting/clouding, and be using more energy to boot. If you still have very visible flashlighting in the corners with your backlight around 7, then I would swap it out for another. Are you watching from straight on or way off-axis? The sides of the TV will tend to look lighter than the middle of the screen if you are sitting off axis--one of the downsides of these LCD panels.

I have discovered that the UN55C8000 uses a clever trick when it comes to displaying blacks. In situations where the picture is supposed to be completely black, the TV pretty much shuts all picture off and makes you think you're seeing the blackest of blacks. But in the scenes where some parts of the picture are supposed to be black and some aren't, that's where the TV literally shows you it's true colors (pun totally intended) and fails miserably.

I just entered all the settings you mentioned in the UN55C8000. Backlight around 7, movie mode etc. Brightness in the mid 40s.

Take a look at the attached pictures. The fist one, It took it at the beginning of The Lord of the Rings, (which I have discovered is one of the best scenes to put a TV and its blacks through its paces). You can see how there is no uniformity and pretty much you can tell every single spot where the tv lighting is coming from. The center is darker than the corners and the The clouding is horrible.

The second picture is definitely my favorite. And this scene, is definitely the holy grail when it comes to REALLY putting a TV and its blacks through its paces. In that regard, the scene is even better than the opening of The Lord of The Rings. It's the TV series breaking bad, season 3 episode 3. At 12 minutes you will see a scene where a cop enters a house and it's talking to blond woman. Much to the UN55C8000's chagrin, the color in the cop uniform and the particular lighting conditions of the scene are the perfect recipe to bring the TV down to it's knees. The whole room in the scene is bright, but the color in the cop's uniform is BLAAAACK. The precise tone of black that is Kriptonite for the UN55C8000 on a bright scene. Look at the lower left corner of the screen, from 12:29 through 12:35 in the video. (The most painful 6 seconds of HD this set has probably ever experienced). For those of you who don't have this video on their DVRs or who can't rent it, I took picture number 2. (Using your settings DocuMaker. Movie mode, Backlight 7). This was the stroke that broke the camel's back. I put up with the mediocre blacks on the 3 Lord of The Rings movies, and I told myself: "It's just the opening" or "It's just the credits". But when I was watching breaking bad and that scene occured, I immediately got off my chair and called Amazon for a return. Now It turns out I have to pretend that the uniforms of the Albuquerque Police Department are black and yellow just because your set is thin, slick and has nice bright scenes? I don't think so Samsung. As much of a fan of yours as I have been all these years, I think we need to see other people.

As a side note I will tell you than independently of your personal preferences when it comes to brightness and backlight intensity, a good TV set should give you a uniform picture all across the screen, regardless of whether your settings are bright or dark.

A set that can only produce a uniform picture in the darkest of settings it's simply using said settings to mask its shortcomings.

I know there is a chance my set was just simply a bad set, but the list of users with horror stories on different online forums encountering clouding issues given the proper conditions of this TV set just keeps growing and growing. (Which makes you think whether the users who don't encounter these issues got truly impeccable sets or it's just they have yet to encounter a scene like the ones I posted in the pictures above).

It might just be a bad batch of TVs but I don't want to keep playing trial and error so instead of exchanging for the same model, I went with the Sony NX810. Just for fun, Once I receive the NX810 on Friday or Saturday, I'll post pics of the same scenes.

Cheers.

I had two 55C8000's and neither looked anything like those pics. Your first picture is taken off-axis, from below the TV, and it appears very close up. If you walk up to an LCD/LED very close and at an extreme angle, it is going to look washed out--just happens to be one of the shortcomings of LCD tech. But if you stand back at a reasonable viewing distance, and then at eye level, it shouldn't glow like that.

You do have the micro-dimming turned on, right? I forget what it's called in the picture menu. I know there is an LED motion plus, which controls the backlight scanning, and also some other kind of LED dimming--it's confusing because they have similar names. Anyway, you need to turn the dimming feature on to control the flashlighting and clouding. If I recall correctly, there is off, low, standard, and high setting.

Of course there will be clouding and flashlighting if you turn the precision dimming feature off. It's just like turning off local-dimming on a full array locally-dimmed LED. It aint pretty without the dimming on.