Samsung UN55ES8000 LED LCD HDTV Review

Performance

As one might expect, we went into testing the Samsung UN55ES8000 with a touch of apprehension. The TV does motion control, has a built-in camera and microphones, functions with voice commands, has two remote controls, etc. In other words, it's got a lot of fancy extra features that are useful, yes, but ultimately would not be wanted on a TV that couldn't do what TVs do best: show us content with accurate color, contrast, and smoothness.

So we were pleased to discover during our testing process that this TV is, simply, good. It's got a surprisingly deep black level, and a strong peak brightness, giving it a sizable and impressive maximum contrast ratio. On top of that, it only had minor color temperature errors, and tested with an accurate color gamut. To top if off, smooth color curves mean all of the colors of the rainbow are going to get equal weighting and credence.

It's clearly a feature-heavy model, and is marketed as such. When we met with some of Samsung's engineers, they cautioned us that learning to properly use the voice and motion commands was going to take a little time--it's not a constant stream of data like with an infrared remote. Yet they voiced no worry concerning the TV's core performance, and from the look of it, for good reason.

For its $3799 MSRP, a lot of what you're paying for is extra features. But it's good to know there's a strong TV underneath the apps, voice commands, and microphones.