Samsung UN60D8000

Black Level (9.11)

The Samsung UN60D8000 produced an impressive, though not earth-shattering, 0.06 cd/m² in our black level tests. As you can see in the chart below, that’s a little better than the Sony EX729, another LCD television. Neither, however, were nearly as dark as the two plasma TVs, the Samsung PNxxD8000 and the Panasonic VT30. This test truly shows the difference between a good plasma and a good LCD. More on how we test black level.

Read Reviews of Comparison Products
Samsung PN59D8000	Sony Bravia KDL-46HX729	Panasonic Viera TC-P55VT30

Peak Brightness (8.93)

The Samsung UN60D8000 had no problem hitting those bright whites, peaking at 357.93 cd/m². That’s just as bright as the Sony. A quick look at the chart below shows how far behind plasmas lag in producing a decent white. More on how we test peak brightness.

Contrast (9.59)

The Samsung UN60D8000’s contrast ratio was clocked at 5966:1, according to our tests. That’s a fairly impressive performance and bears some explanation as to how we think it was done. Like most LED-backlit and LED-edgelit LCDs, the UN60D8000 uses local dimming, which means that the lighting elements in one part of the screen can be dimmed while another is fully illuminated. It’s all based on screen content. A white wall should be displayed as brightly as possible, but those spooky shadows should be as dark as possible, all in the same shot. Samsung’s website claims that they don’t use local dimming but rather “Micro Dimming,” which seems to have exactly the same effect.

Our tests indicated that the auto-dimming (local dimming or whole-screen dimming, it’s difficult to tell) worked effectively. It clearly gave it an advantage in our tests and showed no adverse effects in the Tunnel Contrast and White Falloff tests (see below). However, an all-black screen resulted in the entire backlighting array shutting off, exactly as if you’d turned the power off. This was particularly distracting in any fade-to-black scenarios. Even for the briefest all-black shots, boom… the screen shuts off. We kept scrambling to see if we’d accidentally sat on the remote control’s power button. There doesn’t seem to be any way to turn this off. There are, however, settings on the TV to amplify the dynamic contrast even further. More on how we test contrast.

Tunnel Contrast (9.34)

The Samsung UN60D8000 has no problem maintaining a consistent black level, even if it’s only a little black square surrounded by bright whites. More on how we test tunnel contrast.

White Falloff (8.84)

Likewise, the Samsung UN60D8000 has little trouble maintaining a consistent peak white. We noticed just the slightest drop-off if the screen had a tiny, 5% white window, surrounded by 95% black. More on how we test white falloff.

Uniformity (7.25)

Like many LED-lit LCD displays, the Samsung UN60D8000 has some uniformity issues. These ultra-thin TVs just won’t deliver the same, even illumination as a traditional CCFL-backlit or a plasma TV. That’s the cost of such style and elegance in the the design. On an all-white screen, you’ll see a few dimmer spots. On a mostly-black screen, there’s a lot of obvious blotching. This may or may not prove distracting, depending on how picky you are. On an all-black screen, as we mentioned above, the TV essentially shuts off. More on how we test white falloff.

Greyscale Gamma (7.35)

The Samsung UN60D8000 does a good job transitioning from black to white within the greyscale. Let’s look at the chart below. There are a lot of little bumps on the left portion of it. This area represents the shadow details. From these results we know that the Samsung UN60D8000 is going to have a lot of banding in the shadows. Once it hits the mid-point, though, things smooth out.

We’re also looking at the slope of the curve. An ideal curve is between 2.1 and 2.2. This TV’s curve measured 2.64, which is a bit steeper than ideal, but still good. Overall, Samsung UN60D8000 gave a good performance . More on how we test greyscale gamma.

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.