Samsung UN60D8000

3D Effect & Experience

Let’s get this straight, before we start. We don’t really like 3D. Even at its best it hurts your eyes and your brain. It’s expensive and the content choices are terrible.

There, now that that’s out of the way, we can examine the Samsung UN60D8000 in the context of other 3D TVs. We were impressed, for the most part, with how much progress Samsung made since last year’s first-generation models. The flickering has been reduced and there’s significantly less crosstalk to ruin the illusion (more on that towards the bottom of this page).

We like that when you put the Samsung UN60D8000 in 3D mode, you don’t lose all your calibration settings. The color gamut is shifted to accommodate the tint in the glasses, but that’s expected and necessary. While in 3D mode, you have access to nearly every processing feature that you would in 2D mode, including the motion smoothing, color, and contrast controls.

Even better, Samsung gives you something to watch. If you dig around in the streaming content choices, there’s a whole channel for 3D content. Granted, it’s not exactly the Netflix of 3D (the Newport Jazz Festival was by far the most interesting free content we could find), but it’s a start.

3D Black & White

Like all the 3D TVs we’ve reviewed so far, the contrast ratio is among the performance aspects that are most heavily affected. Those 3D glasses are tinted, which is equivalent to wearing sunglasses while you watch TV. As a result, the contrast ratio goes from 5966:1 in 2D mode all the way down to 2595:1 in 3D mode. That’s better than some we’ve seen, but it’s still a major reduction.

3D Color

The color temperature consistency took a hit when in 3D mode. As you can see in the chart below, it starts off cool in the shadows, then quickly warms. At least it’s consistent for the majority of the range after that.

The color curves came through relatively unscathed in 3D mode, at least compared to a lot of TVs we’ve seen. Sure, there are some noticeable hiccups, especially in the blue channel. Expect those areas to appear as color banding on the screen. All in all, though, it’s not bad.

In 3D mode, the Samsung UN60D8000 showed some desaturation in the blues, but the red and green points were largely unaffected. The white point, those “E’s” in the middle, were the worst off. In 3D mode, the whites appears far more green than they should.

3D Crosstalk

A 3D signal works by sending two identical images, slightly off-set, to your eyes, each layer intended for a specific eye. Crosstalk is what happens when part of an image intended for one eye bleeds into the other, usually appearing as a ghostly shadow. We can measure crosstalk with precision to see which color combinations cause the TV the biggest problems. As usual, white on black – the highest contrast – created the most crosstalk. Other color combos that typically cause problems were less of an issue with the Samsung UN60D8000. Well done, Samsung.

3D Glasses

For most markets, the Samsung UN60D8000 ships with a Blu-Ray starter pack that includes two pairs of glasses and five 3D Blu-Ray movies. The included glasses are the cheaper SSG-3100GBs.

If you’re too cool for those clunky things, you can upgrade to the SSG-3700CRs. They offer no performance benefit, but are lighter and feature a rechargeable battery. The cheaper glasses have a non-rechargeable button battery.

NOTE: Our 3D HDTV testing is under development, which is why these sections have no scores. You caught us mid-rubric. We can collect data and share it with you, but the results in this section have no bearing on the overall score of the television. For more about how we score, read our How We Test article.

Other Models in the UNxxD8000 Series
For more information on other models in this series, check our Series Comparison Page.
Samsung UN46D8000 46 in.	Samsung UN55D8000 55 in.	Samsung UN65D8000 65 in.