[The News Bot]

Reviewed by Phil Hinton
The UE40B6000 is a frustrating product that is likely to split opinions over its picture attributes. On the one hand its design looks stunning, the thinness of the screen is sublime and the SD picture processing is first class. On the other, it fails to produce accurate images, (even after calibration), and it’s auto dimming with gamma shifts just causes more issues than it solves. I have never been so enthralled, yet so utterly disappointed with a display product so far in my reviewing career. It will find many new homes and sell very well, of that I have no doubt. But for me and based on testing, retesting and watching hours of material, the B6000 is just too much of a compromise to recommend it to anyone looking for accurate image quality. And that’s an outcome we could have done without, because as a TV and technology statement, it should have been so much better.
Read the full review...

[Phil Hinton]

Video review also available within the main review, or here at AVForums.tv video or in HD on You Tube.

[gorman]

Thanks for the review, as usual very professional. As I feared, LCD technology still is not for me, and maybe never will...

Looking forward to the LG plasma review but wanted to ask: is Samsung gonna give you the chance to review one of their new plasmas as well?

Cheers!

[Mumid]

Good review mate. Auto dimming is a shocking feature, I really wish Samsung would stop forcing it on us! Really weird that even when calibrated the final image still does not appear to be accurate. Perhaps the TV has a different colour response at given light levels.

[Phil Hinton]

Originally Posted by Mumid

Good review mate. Auto dimming is a shocking feature, I really wish Samsung would stop forcing it on us! Really weird that even when calibrated the final image still does not appear to be accurate. Perhaps the TV has a different colour response at given light levels.

That's what appears to be happening, the energy of the backlight seems compromised and cannot display the right spectrum or intensity of colour. Strange and frustrating, but as it is basically the first attempt at this technology, we hope things improve down the line.

[mlaun]

Phil,

thanx for the great review. I do have a Question regarding your Calibratrion of the Primaries and Secondaries (CMS Work). Which Meter did you use? On avsforums.com there is/was a lot of discussion as to the necessary accuracy needed for LED based sets due to the narrow Spectral spikes that LED's produce. AFAIK a Spectro of at least 5nm resolution is needed for CMS work when the spectral spread of a primary drops below 35-40 nm. Could this be aggravating the inconsistancies of visual vs. measured results?? I have an eye-one pro and have got mixed results measuring LED's.


Mark

[Sneak]

Originally Posted by Phil Hinton

That's what appears to be happening, the energy of the backlight seems compromised and cannot display the right spectrum or intensity of colour. Strange and frustrating, but as it is basically the first attempt at this technology, we hope things improve down the line.

Do you think any of these flaws could be fixed or improved with a firmware update?

Excellent review.

I don't know whether anyone else has seen but there is a Firmware update for this TV and the B7020 on the Samsung site.

http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/d...d&menu2=detail

http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/d...&menu=download

[Phil Hinton]

Mlaun,

Thanks for your thoughts. As this was the first display I have reviewed with this new technology, I did do quite a bit of reading up - not like me I am more a hands on type. I did find some interesting white papers looking at the differences and possible pit falls. I use an i1Pro with Calman Pro. I am happy that so far the results with the i1pro during a number of runs was within acceptable parameters for our review and calibration puposes. My conclusions at this moment in time are that the spectral energy of these LED backlights, in this review sample, is different to 'normal' LCD CCFL emissions. It may be that with further investigation we find a workflow that allows us to say for certain if this is going to be the case for all LED light sources. It is certainly a subject that our review team and our technical advisors will have to look at further and see if there needs to be a change to workflows to allow for any identified spectral differences that might affect our calibration results. However at this particular juncture and looking at results some of the other pros and tech guys have obtained with the i1Pro, I am happy with it being accurate for LED measurement.

For this particular review, I am happy that we had a consistant set of results, bearing in mind the potential pit falls with the LED technology that I had found from my research. It is always great to get some feedback and thoughts from our readers so thank you for raising this one.

[Phil Hinton]

Originally Posted by Sneak

Do you think any of these flaws could be fixed or improved with a firmware update?

Excellent review.

It is the way this particular technology works. There is no such thing as a perfect display, but the search goes on. LED is actually a very promising technology and although we will see some examples that are not quite as accurate as they could be, I am hoping that as the tech is refined it does offer some real benefits. Owners of the B6000 or the other edge LEDs are early adopters and will find a lot that they like about them. Most will also accept the slight flaws for the other attributes these products offer. Obviously again we look for lots of issues that other review sources gloss over, or just don't bother looking at and with objective data like ours, you learn as we do how new technologies perform and improve hopefully.
Thanks for you comments.

[jasjenl]

Hi Phil,

how do you feel that the image quality of these edge LED sets compares to the previous local dimming LED backlit Samsung models? Is the edge LED lineup worse in every way or are there also any advantages compared to last year's lineup in terms of picture quality?

[mark.cup]

Hi Phil I dont suppose you will be getting a Samsung PS58B850 plasma for a review when they become available

[jasgg]

Originally Posted by jasjenl

Hi Phil,

how do you feel that the image quality of these edge LED sets compares to the previous local dimming LED backlit Samsung models? Is the edge LED lineup worse in every way or are there also any advantages compared to last year's lineup in terms of picture quality?

Hello, I do have one 40B6000 and I also whish to know this.

Regards.

[Phil Hinton]

Originally Posted by jasgg

Hello, I do have one 40B6000 and I also whish to know this.

Regards.

I didn't review the previous sets so I cannot give you a qualified opinion with that question. However, my entire thoughts on the B6000 are in the review and here. Thanks for reading.

[jasgg]

Originally Posted by Phil Hinton

I didn't review the previous sets so I cannot give you a qualified opinion with that question. However, my entire thoughts on the B6000 are in the review and here. Thanks for reading.

Thanks for your answer.

So, can I ask this; - regarding picture quality for watching HD sources, I would be better served with this new model or go for an plasma G10?

[David Mackenzie]

The Panasonic G10 is seriously hard to beat for the price. Not only is it a great TV on its own account, but it also brings Plasma's inherent advantages to the table (excellent natural contrast and high motion resolution).

[5to1]

Originally Posted by David Mackenzie

The Panasonic G10 is seriously hard to beat for the price. Not only is it a great TV on its own account, but it also brings Plasma's inherent advantages to the table (excellent natural contrast and high motion resolution).

True, but my GF seems to have her heart set on this now (well the 7020, to be exact).

Aesthetically, I can't argue, there's nothing else that makes a statement like this set right now.

Picture wise, the scaling was excellent and motion seemed ok. And instore you can't see the variable backlighting effects described in the review.

This is why I think this set will do well when it comes down in price a bit. Under the heavy instore lighting, this set really does standout, literally making everything else seem pale in comparison.

How happy people will be when they get it home is another matter. But I suspect most will be happy enough. It takes some major flaws for most people to question their purchase at this price. Most will simply justify to themselves they made the right decision (especially after all the WOW comments they get when their friends and family first see it).

[galliofly]

I just registered to clear this up.The review was fundamentally flawed here's why.You cannot accurately calibrate this screen with auto dimming set to OFF.In this mode the screen is permanently dimmed crushing blacks tinting whites and distorting colours and will noticeably fluctuate in darker scenes.If the reviewer had set auto dimming to the LOW setting he would notice the picture immediately brighten up revealing more detail.Whites would be white and colours fixed he could then set the black level without crushing shadow detail and any fluctuations would be rare and/or vertually imperceptable.Iam confident that using this method Phil would have achieved dramatically better results.The auto dimming feature is certainly counter intuative but in the interests of fairness i think this screen deserves a retest.Thanks for your time.

[5to1]

Originally Posted by galliofly

I just registered to clear this up.The review was fundamentally flawed here's why.You cannot accurately calibrate this screen with auto dimming set to OFF.In this mode the screen is permanently dimmed crushing blacks tinting whites and distorting colours and will noticeably fluctuate in darker scenes.If the reviewer had set auto dimming to the LOW setting he would notice the picture immediately brighten up revealing more detail.Whites would be white and colours fixed he could then set the black level without crushing shadow detail and any fluctuations would be rare and/or vertually imperceptable.Iam confident that using this method Phil would have achieved dramatically better results.The auto dimming feature is certainly counter intuative but in the interests of fairness i think this screen deserves a retest.Thanks for your time.

Have you tested this yourself or is this based on visual observation?

[jasgg]

Auto dimming?

Where do you set it to off???

You referring to dynamic contrast probably.

[galliofly]

Yes I'm referring to dynamic contrast. I have owned the b7000 since launch and as i said setting this to LOW is vital as a basis for calibration.But don't take my word for it ask someone to test this on the dedicated thread in the LCD forum for confirmation or better yet go to a store ask for the remote and test it yourself.This really is a top screen once you understand its quirks.Good luck

[Whisler]

I went to see this TV in action this afternoon at my local Curry's. I was mortified to not see this Dimming issue that is so evident in the review. Up until I read the review I was hell-bent on getting this, then the review shattered all dreams but OMG it looks amazing. It has a Blu-Ray demo disc spinning of various movies, I watched for about 25 mins and I didn't see any affect of the outer edge dimming when the scenes changed. Seriously thinking on getting this now, it looks absolutely stunning. Could it be the review model was well I guess dodgy? Because I really tried to see the defects described in the review but I just couldn't see them.

[David Mackenzie]

You'd be hard-pressed to notice the effects in a brightly lit store. In dimmer home conditions, there's a good chance you would.

Re dodgy review models: very, very unlikely. The dimming would be controlled by software, which usually works properly or not at all.

[jaynlisa]

Phil, nice review, but I have to say, based on my experience with the US version of this unit (Samsung UN55B6000), I must disagree with your evaluation of SD picture quality and processing. In fact, I'm returning mine to the store because of this issue alone.

I'm comparing it side-by-side with my 5 year old, 56-inch Hitachi rear-projection TV, and the Hitachi blows the Samsung away in SD picture quality. The picture is very blurry and pixelated on all of the SD channels, and Samsung hasn't seen fit to provide a variable (smart) stretch mode on this TV which is unbelieveable in 2009. Hitachi, Sharp, and Sony and others have had this for years, but not so with the Samsung. But even when watching it in regular 4:3 (with black bars), the Samsung isn't even close to the old, outdated Hitachi (even though the Hitachi has a slightly bigger screen, and so has more work to do).

I'm really disappointed in this aspect of the Samsung, and quite surprised that it is so poor.

[Whisler]

Originally Posted by David Mackenzie

You'd be hard-pressed to notice the effects in a brightly lit store. In dimmer home conditions, there's a good chance you would.

Re dodgy review models: very, very unlikely. The dimming would be controlled by software, which usually works properly or not at all.

Thank you David, didn't think of the lighting (A pretty silly mistake lol) in that case a Panasonic TX-P50V10 it be

[5to1]

Originally Posted by David Mackenzie

You'd be hard-pressed to notice the effects in a brightly lit store. In dimmer home conditions, there's a good chance you would.

Thats what I'd expected, having had my arm twisted by the Girlfriend to get the 46B7020 over the PannyG/V series. Literally had my finger on the return button for days waiting for it to rear its ugly head.

Suprisingly the only time i've noticed it is when you'd want/expect too, i.e credits on a black background, or during fadeouts between scenes. I have mine set to low as per the advice from a previous poster, so not sure if that makes any difference.

However, if she hadn't managed to get a huge discount, I would have held firm and gone for the Pannys. Really couldn't justify paying more for a 46" over a 50" Panny, purely for aesthetics.

[yuffyuff]

When you say huge discount what sort of discount are you talking about?
TIA
yuffyuff

[5to1]

Originally Posted by yuffyuff

when you say huge discount what sort of discount are you talking about?
Tia
yuffyuff

35%

[Greg]

Originally Posted by 5to1

35%

Is this staff discount I take it?

[5to1]

Originally Posted by Greg

Is this staff discount I take it?

No, a retailer sent her a discount code which she tried to use for the TV and it worked. They hadn't meant for it to be applicable to electricals, but it had already been delivered before they realised and corrected the mistake.

So unfortunately it won't work for anyone else, she was just fortunate.

[wess74]

It seems that the auto dimming can be turned off via the service menu, at least you can on the U.S. models. I cant help thinking that this would give a much more stable calibration. Is there any way you can check this out and update your review with your findings?

All the best.