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Samsung Series 9 LED LCD: Second Gen LED sets - review and discuss

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lcd led samsung
33K views 71 replies 27 participants last post by  TXRX 
#1 · (Edited)
Samsung Canada has announced the successor to the its 81 Series of LED LCD HDTV's, with the Series 9 LED LCD HDTV.

The 2008 flagship Series 9 features 1080p resolution, LED SmartLighting, Auto Motion Plus 120Hz technologies and Touch of Colour design with a patterned bezel and charcoal grey accent.

The Series 9 LED LCD also features Samsung's InfoLink RSS service, WiseLink Pro and DLNA technology.

The sets come equipped with four (1 side, 3 rear) HDMI-CEC inputs to control the latest home theatre products using a single remote.

The HDTVs will be available in September in 46 and 55-inch size for $3,999.99 and $5,999.99 respectively.

Pricing Update: Samsung contacted me today and said the televisions will be offered at an MSRP of $3,999.99 and $4,999.99.
 
#62 ·
Where? I went to Visions last week and all they said all they had left were demos. Was yours new in box? Make sure to check the build date as any before oct. 2008 had black crush issues that could only be fixed with a newer version motherboard and firmware.
 
#69 ·
a950 compared to 81 series

Just thought I would post some impressions of the a950 vs. the 81 (my old set, 4681) now that I have spent a few weeks with the a950.

First off, the a950 was much easier to get the picture to the way I like it. Movie and warm 2 right off the bat was very close to what I achieved with the 81. It only took some minor tweaking in the reds and blues in the white balance section to better what I laboured for with the 81. The dark details are a bit stronger with the a950, but not hugely so. There are less blooming artifacts and the "black" bars on 2.35 movies are a touch darker than the 81 whiah makes them REALLY, REALLY dark now. The a950 has a little more punch and black levels are a bit stronger as well due to the lessening of the blooming artifacts. It would have been great if they could have somehow got the top and bottom rows of the dimming zones to line up with the 2.35 bars and shut off completely when watching a 2.35 movie.

Second, LED motion plus. To my eyes, this feature had a much more dramatic impact with the 81 than the a950. I would gather this is because the a950 has a faster response/120 hz panel and the 81 is a slower response/60hz panel. I tested this out with Call of Duty 4 and COD:WAW and found no difference with it on or off with the a950, where on the 81 it cleaned up motion blur immensely and nearly rivalled the de-blurring of the a950. The one feature I really like about this on the a950 is that you can adjust the backlight where on the 81 you could not. Not a big deal with the 81 as you could boost or decrease light output with the dynamic contrast or energy saving feature, but a little more user friendly as you don't have to scour the menu's in order to decrease/increase light output.

Third, AutoMotion Plus. Don't like it. Too much of a fake look which really detracts from the viewing experience, and that's all I really have to say about that.

Fourth, Gaming lag. The 81 series has an advantage in this department. I don't play games such as rock band or guitar hero so my test for this is Super Mario Bros. via the virtual console on the Wii. My first real experience with gaming lag came from when I switched from My Panny 34" crt hdtv. Obviously there was none with the Panny, but there was with the Samsung 4665 I picked up after that. It was noticeable that Mario was not as responsive on the 4665, even with game mode enabled. Then came the 4681 and it was very close to what the Panny had achieved, game mode on or off. I would gather there was minimal lag, but not perceptible to me. Then the a950. A little worse but acceptable. Game mode actually really helps with this but at the cost of picture quality, and you cannot adjust many of the settings other than a few in the picture options menu. So as I'm too much of a competitive bastard, game mode goes on so I don't get slaughtered in COD/Killzone/GT5.

Lastly (for now), 24 fps handling. Obviously there is a huge advantage with the a950 over the 81 here as the a950 is 120hz and the 81 is 60hz. Very nice to look at as there is no 3:2 pulldown that has to be done as with the 60 hz panels. Judder is virtually eliminated with only the odd hiccup.

Overall, the a950 is a better set, but the 81 series is actually not too far behind in my opinion. If I had found a 57 or 5281 instead of the 4681, I don't think the 55a950 would be sitting on my stand right now as the biggest reason for the purchase was the size increase. But alas, I guess I will have to suffer the greatness of the 55a950:D.
 
#70 ·
950 Firmware Updates

I understand that UK versions received a firmware update a while ago. Has anyone heard of something for us? The GUI for file serving (DLNE) off my network is pretty sad. I actually prefer my Xbox with Xbox Media Center inspite of the 720p limitation. Maybe if enough enquire they'll provide something?
 
#71 ·
Not happy. The DLNA PC Share Manager software is not compatible with Windows 7 and they have no plans to provide an update. $4000 SRP TV "Priceless!"
 
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