Samsung UN46C8000

Internet Features (7.00)

In just the few short months since we published the Samsung UN55C7000 review, the streaming content programmers have clearly been busy. What was once a smattering of games and scant video features has been transformed into a formidable set of online offerings. You can now pull video from Netflix, Blockbuster, and Vudu, along with music from Pandora and photos from Picasa. While Sony has a much longer list of ‘channels,’ what Samsung offers here should cover a big chunk of content that people actually want. The complete list of features can be seen here, with comparisons to competitors.

The ‘Samsung Apps’ store is clearly still a thing in progress. Right now, it includes pretty much everything you see on the screen below, which is all auto-installed when you run the first firmware upgrade. The only additional apps right now are some crummy games.

With the very recent announcement of Google TV, the stakes for having great internet features just went up about a hundred fold. It will be interesting to see if Samsung stays with its proprietary system or jumps on the Google horse, as Sony has agreed to do.

Local Media Playback (14.00)

The Samsung UN46C8000 can play back photo through either of its USB ports, either with a thumb drive or a hard drive. The interface still has that one annoying intermediary step where you first have to choose the media type – photos, music, or video – then you choose the file. Why can’t it work like every computer in the world, where you open a folder, then see all your files, regardless of file type?

Well, you can’t. What you do get here is a little thumbnail of all your photos. There are also lot of options for controlling slide shows, including transition styles, speed, background music, and more.

The music and video clip playback on the Samsung UN46C8000 is also very simple. You can create playlists, and adjust sound and picture quality on the fly. Believe it or not, some TVs do not allow you to make any menu changes with these features.

Other Media (2.00)

The Samsung UN46C8000, along with other 2010 Samsung HDTVs, has a feature called ‘AllShare’ that connects with certain Samsung mobile phones. Unfortunately, we can’t test this right now.

Other Models in the UNxxC8000 Series
For more information on other models in this series, check our Series Comparison Page.
Samsung UN55C8000 55 in.