Samsung PN59D8000 REVIEW # BEST PRICE

Samsung PN59D8000 After years of dragging feet, this TV made me JUMP to HD.
...although I should thank Amazon Warehouse for first sending me a busted-up 50" version of last year's C8000 or I may never have experienced the awesomeness of the 59" D8000!

The great (and exhaustive) information at AVSFourm lead me to this beauty, which I purchased from BuyDig due to Amazon Warehouse hanging me up on a C8000 replacement, and then Amazon taking forever to get the new 2011 Samsungs into inventory and listed for sale. I've got mine paired up with a Samsung BD-D6700 3D Blu-ray Player using AmazonBasics High Speed HDMI Cable. I wall mounted the set with a Sanus Vlt14-B1 Super-Slim Tilt Mount bracket. I'm using Samsung's SSG-3100GB 3D Glasses that came as part of the Shrek/Megamind 3D Starter Kit, which was included as a promotional item with this set.

Regarding picture quality:
- Simply outstanding. Crisp definition. True colors that aren't overly bright or artificial. Inky black blacks.
- No ghosting or shadows. Great with fast action and camera panning. Haven't tried video games.
- No sign of jutter or film effect; the high refresh rate makes any motion smooth and realistic, especially noticeable in-store when comparing this side-by-side with a lower refresh TV.
- Not so hot as a PC monitor with respect to reading tiny text.

If you're worried about the size possibly being too big:
- I thought I was pushing my luck after my wife commented that the broken 50" C8000 that showed up at our front door (but was never mounted) looked "too big." And I'll admit, this 59" TV is huge, but once we sat back to enjoy it, I don't know how we suffered (*cough, cough*) with out 32" Trinitron tube for the past 14 years.
- With whatever up-convert happens between our DVD player and the TV itself, standard definition movies still look fine on this set. No, they're not as amazingly crystal clear as high-def Blu-ray content, but they're not at all blocky as I had expected.
- You will want to take advantage of any HD cable, satellite or over-the-air broadcasts you might have available. Standard definition television picture quality will make you crazy after knowing the cleanliness of HD. (In our case, we're sticking with Comcast's most basic service but added their converter box, and are paying them about $28 per month.)
- The VESA mounting pattern on the back is 800mm x 600mm, the largest size the Sanus mount I linked to supports. It's probably worth checking that whatever mount you select is compatible with this pattern.

3D movies on this set are simply outstanding. So far, I've only got the Shrek discs that came with Samsung's starter kit to view, though I've got a couple more on the way. The big screen gives a really perceptible depth effect when viewed from my normal sitting position approximately 10 feet away. But we have a wide room and even from viewing angles of 45° the effect is still present with only very minor drop-offs in color and brightness (the picture noticeably dims once the 3D glasses are powered on, especially when the room is bright).

3D setup and playback is a cinch -- the sync signal is bluetooth, so each pair of glasses needs to be paired the first time used. Pairing involves nothing more than turning the glasses on, and since the bluetooth signal is bi-directional, the television recognizes when the glasses are activated and provides a brief pop-up indication in the lower left corner saying so.

After that initial setup, inserting a 3D disk and pressing play is all that's required to get the show going. The TV even automatically powers on and switches to the correct input when I power up my Samsung player and insert a disk.

During the day I've watched my movies with the bright overhead lights on, and daylight lighting the room through two large windows. The anti-reflective coating on the screen is excellent! There's no apparent glare, and the brightness of the screen even at the factory setting (if I recall correctly, it's initially set at brightness level 48) is more than enough overcome this ambient light, without washing out the deep, dark black levels. (The 3D glasses reflect lighted surfaces located directly behind my head; in this case a darker room is preferred lest I need to fashion side-shades for the glasses.) In a dark room, the picture is simply jaw-dropping.

Even the built-in speakers of this set do an adequate job of getting the sound out. Fine in a pinch, but I think you'll agree it's no match for amping the audio through an AV receiver to external speakers (in our case, a Denon AVR-3311CI which supports HDMI 1.4a and 3D pass-through.)

Samsung's QWERTY remote is really a huge leap forward from a standard numeric remote, but is slow and slightly awkward in use. The two-sided remote resembles a conventional numbers-only device on one side, beaming our traditional infrared signals. The keyboard side takes advantage of the D8000's bluetooth, and is therefore only compatible with the television, and not the Samsung DVD player, nor any other device. The keyboard side of the remote even has a usable thumb sensor -- sort of like a track pad on a Blackberry or a thumb control on a laptop keyboard -- allowing easy cursor navigation of the built-in web browser and applications.

However, try as they might, the remote + SmartTV web apps still leave a bit to be desired when compared to a PC interface. For instance, sites like Hulu and NBC won't play Flash video (which I was aware of prior to purchase). So instead, I connect my laptop via Siig's USB to HDmi adapter to watch broadcast TV shows, and will switch to a PC with a HDMI-out video card sometime in the future.

The television's Netflix capabilities are solid. My one gripe is that once I locate and begin watching a movie, but then pause it and return to finish it on a different day, it has taken me quite a bit of searching to re-find it. But once I do, it resumes where I left off, and all of the expected pause, fast forward and rewind functions work as expected. However, once inside the Netflix app, I'm locked out of accessing the television's menu, so I lose the ability to adjust picture (and audio, if using the TV speakers).

There are a number of redundant SmartTV features between the television and my Samsung DVD player, and if it were truly "smart," might it not somehow combine these Samsung web apps so that I'm only dealing with one Netflix, one YouTube, one browser, etc.? Because it sure would be nice to use the QWERTY remote on everything, including Pandora, which (I believe) isn't available as an application on the television. As it is, each application has its own login process, with the Netflix process being quite different from Pandora or YouTube, for instance.

The YouTube app needs improvement. It doesn't make use of the remote's QWERTY keypad, and instead requires the user to use the cursor buttons to scroll around the on-screen virtual keyboard to conduct a video search. Instead, I use the TV's built-in web browser to access YouTube, which works pretty well, even in full-screen mode.

The most desirable part of the Facebook app would be the photo viewer, which for some inexplicable reason won't take advantage of the full screen size -- even for photos that were uploaded at full resolution. This makes showing off baby and vacation pictures a bit of a yawner. The photos tend to be small and a little washed out, though easy to navigate between albums. The rest of the Facebook application is cumbersome to navigate, read and update, and never seems to fully load.

One last comment, regarding some criticism I've read regarding the television's silver bezel: it really isn't a stand-out issue. In a dark room, you'll never see it. In a lighted room, it doesn't pop out to me like it does in the product shots shown here and on other sites. It really is a flat finish that doesn't reflect back a whole lot of light, it blends nicely with the glass overlay, and isn't something I'm ever conscious of.

Samsung has put together a really nice television here at an attractive price, packed with lots of features and a stunning picture. I simply can't imagine anything to complain about and enthusiastically recommend anyone looking to check one of these out at a local electronics store to be wowed by its brilliance.

Samsung PN59D8000 Excellent picture, good features. Happy owner.
Pros: Very, very good picture. Black colors are very dark, inky for my first time. 24fps, 1080P full HD is what it does best. 3D is better than what I was expecting. Apps are cool and launch pretty quickly. Off angle viewing is good, better than my older LCD.

Cons: Pricey. Qwerty keyboard remote is funky, a little awkward. Browser needs improvement. 3D requires glasses, wish they didn't. Plasma uses more power than LCD.

Summary: I have owned my PN59D8000 for about two weeks now. So far it's been excellent to good. First the excellent; the picture. This is what it's all about to me. What's the point of getting a new TV if it doesn't produce a great picture. The PN59D8000 makes a great picture. I'm no Cnet David Katzmaier, I haven't seen hundreds of TV's, but I do know what I like when I see it and I think this TV makes a very good, to great picture. I really enjoy watching a good, well made, high visual content movie in full 1080P HD, 24fps. I have watched standard def, 1080 I/P HD and high def 3D. The standard def is good, better than my older 52" A650 Samsung LCD in several ways, but no matter how you cut it, it's still standard def. The HD picture is what it's all about, it's excellent, with blacks so dark and inky, the best I've seen so far. The contrast and detail is excellent. Very smooth transitions, panning. 3D is cool, different, awkward. At first, I tried watching some ESPN 3D NBA (Directv) during the daytime in a well lit room & I really noticed the flashing, pulsing of the 3D glass lenses off screen of the TV from the sides. To me this was a little nauseating, but during night or with the curtains closed in a dark or darker room, the effect was very good and comfortable. The 3D depth and detail was excellent, better than what I was expecting actually. I now wish that there would be more good 3D content available, kind of limited. The Good; the browser and qwerty keyboard is a little bit of a let down, but still good. I have a Home Theater PC with a hand held qwerty remote, at first I thought that setup was only OK, but compared to the Samsung qwerty remote/browser, the Windows 7/IE9/Firefox browser is really much better. Who would have thought. The Samsung browser is good, to get online and putz around, but the remote needs a touch-pad/trackball big time. The Samsung commercial showing the couple just breezing through web pages is a little unreal to me. Maybe with more practice and understanding I could be more proficient. Your mileage may vary. The Samsung apps are cool and launch quickly. Netflix pops up quickly and plays smoothly. Wired Ethernet here. 5 star picture. 1/2 a star ding for the browser/remote. 4 1/2 stars overall. The other TV's that I was considering were the new upcoming 2011 Panasonic plasma's. The 2010 Panasonic VT model plasma are very good as well, but at this moment the 2011 VT model is not out yet and the 60" VT appear to be too expensive for my budget. So there it is, a LCD owner converting to Plasma, because of the picture, because of the picture. Enjoy.

Samsung PN59D8000 Excellent Networked HDTV
I just up-graded my older DLP rear-projection HDTVs to new flat screens. I chose the PN59D8000 plasma for my main TV due to its superior 3D performance compared to LED LCDs. I've lived with it for about a month, so can't comment on long-term reliability, but my previous Samsung LCD & DLP HDTVs had no problems over several years.

The picture on this TV is amazing - easily among the best that I have seen among all other plasmas. Blacks are very black and the color can quickly be adjusted from fairly intense (dynamic) to muted (movie) by the standard pre-sets. As usual, there are multiple picture adjustments that can tailor the picture to one's exact preference.

The 3D image is very good, with no ghosting and with very good depth. Samsung moved this year to Bluetooth shutter glasses and this makes a world of difference. My previous experience with IR shutter glasses from several manufacturers required that one not move around much (or even look around the room). Now I can wander into the kitchen for popcorn and still be seamlessly in synch when I return to the TV.

Sound is OK and includes a pseudo-surround sound setting, but I run sound output run through my home theater receiver, so I can't really comment.

The PN59D8000 is among Samsung's net-enabled "Smart TVs" which gives you access to a lot of apps as well as a net browser. I have the TV connected via ethernet, so I can't comment on the quality of the wireless access, but the ethernet connection works very well for most apps. Any problems with connectivity appear to be due to Comcast (since any problems seem to be shared with my computer). The QWERTY side of the remote works as advertised, but does take a little getting used to. **** An important note: For the initial pairing process for the remote, make sure that you hold the remote directly in front of the TV (as in 5" or so) or it will fail to pair properly. Once paired, however, it works all over the room. My only complaint is that the browser seems vvvveeeerrrryyy slow.

Finally, Samsung has moved to an "e-manual" (even including a specific button on the remote labeled "E-MANUAL") rather than including a detailed paper manual. A major advantage is that it is easily searchable (as contrasted with the poor and inadequate index seen in most paper manuals) and can be constantly updated if accessed over the net. Given all of the potential adjustments and inter-connectivity options, an e-manual makes sense but I am sure there will be those that miss a 200-page paper manual to clutter up their coffee table.

Samsung PN59D8000 LED vs Plasma
It has been a long journey, but I have finally found my TV. I do not claim to be a TV expert. This review is strictly my personal opinion. I started with the Samsung UN55D8000 LED, which is the Flagship model for Samsung's 2011 LED line up. I tried it for 3 weeks, the picture quality is the absolute best you will see for 2011. The UN55d8000 has the best colors and the razor thin bezel creates a fantastic 3d image. However, if you enjoy fast frames the LED is not for you. Samsung touts the "Motion Plus" feature, but the feature just connects old frames, with new; nothing in between. If your not a big sports fan, get the LED for sure. The PS3 with game mode on is absolutely amazing. COD black ops was a whole new experience with 3d. The regular HD picture was perfect... Then I would turn on sports center and feel terrible about my LED purchase. Again, if your not a sports fan, or only watch sports occasionally and have the money, do yourself a favor and get the best picture on the market with the UN55D8000. You should be eligible for 4 3d glasses if you buy the UN55D8000. You receive 2 as part of a promotion, and 2 from a mail in rebate.

Now, onto the pn59d8000. The colors are almost as good as the UN55d8000 LED. I think with some fine tuning I can get the colors closer to LED quality. The 600 HZ with 25,000,000 : 1 contrast creates a smooth, colorful, dark picture. You get 2 3d glasses as part of a promotion. This TV might not produce the colors that the LED does, but the fact is, I can only look at so many plants and flowers until the game comes on and I say to my wife " alright... the game is on...?!?!?!?". Then its lights, camera, action. This plasma outperforms in every aspect when judging precise fast movements when watching sports. Catching something the first time before the ref's do is always a good time. PS3 games are a little darker than the LED but when game mode is "on" its almost perfect. The 3d was not as breathtaking as the LED with Blu ray movies. But with PS3 games in 3d, games were as good if not better with the pn59.

Pros pn59: Smooth picture, great colors, fantastic performance all around.

Cons pn59: Colors do not pop like a LED.

Summary: All in all as a hole in a hole. It really depends on what you want out of your TV. I know that is not very helpful but that's really what it boils down to. Until someone makes a 600 hz LED. I will be using Plasma. I love watching sports and occasionally playing video games. So for me, plasma is the only way to go.

Samsung PN59D8000FF First Tv.
Before this TV I owned a samsung PN63C8000 plasma. It was stolen. Well, I moved and was immediately in the market for another, but didn't like the ghosting issues with the PN63 and of most of the other 3d TV offerings of 2010. I decided to wait a few months for the 2011s. When I first heard of the new samsung D8000 LED I really loved the design, but checked it out in stores, read some reviews, and had some second thoughts. I really wanted to love the d8000 LED because I didn't want to worry about any burn-in issues that plasmas can potentially suffer. I never had any such issues with the PN63, but I did go through a pretty lengthy 200 hour break-in period. I decided that burn-in was pretty much a non-issue and so jumped aboard the plasma bandwagon again. I had not seen any demos of the new TVs 3d quality, so I was bit leery of buying a new one with the same issues. I figured I would just return it if that was the case. I've not yet tried all the 3D material I have on hand (movies, games), but what I have checked out has been impressive. Where is the crosstalk/ghosting that was so obvious to me on the PN63? From what I can tell so far, its pretty much gone, and what teensy-weensy bit I do see is hardly noticeable. Its really amazing how much better the 3D quality is on this TV. Maybe its the new bluetooth glasses having better sync with the TV. I'm not sure. I still have some movies and a game or two to check out in 3D, and I hate to upset owners of the previous generation, but so far it beats the previous gen by a long shot, imho. Standard 2D 1080p looks simply amazing on its own, so you wouldn't have to be a 3D fan to love this TV, but if you are I don't think there's any better 3D TV on the market right now.

Update 5/12/2011: Played the new Motorstorm Apocalypse and saw ghosting that was as bad as on my previous TV. I mean bigtime obvious. This seems strange to me as I don't seem to notice ghosting on Wipeout HD. Contrast is a big factor so maybe Motorstorm just has more of this. Will have to take another look at Wipeout. So far other material does look better though, as far as ghosting, than the previous TV.

Additional things that kinda bug me about having a plasma: Some video sources will not allow you to change the side bars from black to grey to prevent burn-in, e.g. Netflix, HD stations broadcasting 4:3 content, Blu-ray player video (PS3, insert your blu-ray player here). I love old movies and programming, and hate grey side bars. I'm in a dillema now about whether to get an LED. Will continue to update this review...

TV was returned. I will wait for a next gen passive LED TV.

Samsung PN59D8000FF Very Impressed so far.
I am very pleased with the D8000 59" Samsung TV. I am shocked at how the picture looks. Simply amazing. I am a little concerned about the querty keyboard have not had much time to play with it yet nor the 3D but I saw it with avatar at Best Buy and it was also amazing. Buy this tv if you like a amazing picture so far its wowed all my friends and family. Samsung PN59D8000 59-Inch 1080p 600Hz 3D Plasma HDTV has it all

Samsung PN59D8000FFXZA Excellent picture quality in 2D and 3D
Tris is my first Samsung and also my first plasma. I was a Sony captive customer since 2003 and during that time I had 2 CRT HD and 3 rear proyection HD all from Sony. Thanks to the reviews on Amazon and CNET I decided to make a change and try Samsung and plasma and so far this has been a great decision. I'm so happy with the picture quality, the colors look so accurate and natural. The connectivity is superb including the capacity for Internet browsing. It has a beautiful design. My only complain is that the set and screen generates a lot of heat. I have my tv in a small room and although I use to seat 10 feet from the TV I feel the heat even with the A/C turned on. Apart from this issue I fully recommend this TV

Samsung PN59D8000FFXZA IS BEST PLASMA
Purchased from Pauls TV and had excellent delivery and set up.
This replaced a 4 year old Samsung 58" plasma. As an EE the specifications for plasma TVs are superior to any of the other types of displays. My long term experiance with Samsung has been excellent. I like all the latest gadgets and this new 8000 has Smart TV and a picture with excellent contrast, speed and sharpness. WiFi hook up was clean and easy and set up Web sites and E-mail . Net flix Streaming is very good. Did not use the speakers so can't comment about the audio. Used the optics link from the TV to my ONKYO A/V for the audio because the ONKYO did not work well with the video. To hook up to the video went direct to the TV from the Blu-Ray player and the satellite for best results.

Samsung PN59D8000 Best Price
Set the date and time of delivery thru the internet, was set for 8am to 12 noon, they arrived at 9am and open up the box for me so that I could go thru the inspection process, everything appeared normal with the set, they were gone by no later than 9:15am...after getting set setup and going thru calibrations that were from Mr. K from cnet, this set is just beautiful, has the deepest blacks and life like colors, my only problem with this is the qwerty on the remote, paired with the set the first thing as instructed to do, then after doing a software update it no longer paired with the set and cannot get it to pair at all...not really a big problem for the remote portion works fine...but would like it to work sense it is part the of the whole package...will be in contact with Samsung about this....cannot comment about audio, send audio thru processor...would highly recommend this set...

Samsung PN59D8000 Best Price, Works Great.
Have had this new Samsung for 30 days and am very pleased. Picture quality is tops. Had some worry about picture quality in a well lit room, but has not been a problem. Viewing angle is so much better than lcd, almost 180 degrees. Sound is ok, but needs enhancement which I have done with a BA sound bar and sub. Smart tv is easy to set up and very easy to work with.
Price through Amazon was the best I could find.

Samsung PN59D8000 Best Buy, Great Tv.
After doing alot of research between this and the comparable Panasonic plasma, decided on Samsung. I couldn't be happier! The picture quality is stunning and lives up to Samsung's reputation with the blackest "blacks" and a rich full color with nothing really overly saturated. Have watched a few pre-season NFL games in high def and I am one happy sports fan. None of the fast-motion blurring of quality problems with the lower herz LCDs. Pristine NFL experience! The sound quality is "average", but I run everything through my home theater system anyways. I highly recommend using the fiber optic sound cable to your system though.

Considering picture quality, I did tweak some of the settings for my personal taste. Overall, setup was easy and fairly simple. It recognized my wireless router quickly. The setup for that was simple and once I entered the security info, that was it. It did take about 20 minutes to download the latest updates for the TV itself.

It's easy to access all of the various inputs on the back. The swivel stand it came with works pretty well for this.

I also love the dual remote control that has a full QWERTY interface on the back. Very convenient! Everything lights up when you use it so you can see everything in a dimly lit environment. The remote really worked well with my fat fingers...easy to use and pretty intuitive.

The one thing that impressed me was the anti-glare. I'll put this TV up against ANY LED/LCD out there in this regard. I still prefer to black out the windows for prime movie enjoyment, but at other times, I've never noticed glare from any lights, in particular the lamp beside my recliner.

Overall, I really cannot find anything I'd complain about on the TV. Some people have mentioned the SmartTV menu navigation on Samsung, but I didn't find it all difficult or cumbersome to use. I'm using several different apps including Pandora.

For the price however, it would be nice if Samsung included at least two pair of 3D glasses with purchase since it is a 3D TV. A bit silly to have to buy those separately. The 3D picture quality though is pretty good with the two movies I've watched on it. The glasses though themselves are abit of a pain as they reflect some ambient light on the inside....annoying. These are the cheaper Samsung glasses. I am researching to see if the higher-end glasses eliminate this. In the meantime, I'm trying to engineer a solution with the current pair I have.

Overall, I am highly pleased with my purchase and highly recommend this TV.

Samsung PN59D8000 Best Buy, AWESOME TV!!!
Great TV the clarity is exceptional. WIFI set up was easy......I did not read the directions and had no problem. Looks great and the HD and 2D are very nice. Price was just right and still have not seen a better price as of yet.

Samsung PN59D8000 REVIEW # BEST PRICE

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Samsung PN59D8000 REVIEWS

SALE @>> Samsung PN59D8000 59-Inch 1080p 600Hz 3D Plasma HDTV (Black)

Samsung PN59D8000

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