Samsung HU9000 vs. HU8500 - High-end curved and flatscreen UHD TVs face off!

The year of 4K

The war between plasma and LCD is over, and LCD has won. While you might still be able to pick up one of the last great 1080p plasma sets somewhere (quick, before they run out!), LCD (or rather, LED-backlit LCD) is your only choice if you’re shopping for a TV with 4K resolution.

Versus last year, buying a 4K TV today makes more sense. For one, most of the newer models have HDMI 2.0 inputs, which means they support 4K up to 60/50 frames per second. A wider range of screen sizes is now available as well, and prices are dipping (though still not quite at a level suitable for mainstream consumption).

Of course, the lack of 4K content is one of the often cited reasons against 4K TVs. In the U.S., Sony sells a US$700 media player that stores and plays 4K movies and TV shows downloaded from the company’s Video Unlimited 4K service, but it only works with Sony’s 4K TVs; and here in Singapore, Samsung has an external hard drive preloaded with a few 4K movies and documentaries, and which - you guessed it - only works with Samsung’s 4K TVs. Surely, if 4K content is hard to come by in the U.S. (at least providers there like Amazon, Comcast, and Fox have announced plans to deliver 4K video), you can imagine how much worse it’s for us here (Netflix 4K streaming aside).

On another related note, while we’re glad to see more affordable 4K TVs, be reminded that this is because manufacturers are churning out 4K TVs with smaller screen sizes, such as Samsung’s HU7000 series, which starts at 40 inches. In our experience, buying a 4K TV below 65 inches to play 1080p content is a waste of money; you’re better off buying a 1080p set of the same size. Assuming you’ve 4K content, buying a small 4K TV doesn’t make a lot of sense either, since you’ve to sit very close to it to notice the improvement.

Introducing the Samsung HU9000 & HU8500

With that out of the way, it’s time to dive into this review, which actually covers two 4K TVs, the Samsung HU9000 and HU8500. The HU9000 comes in 55, 65, and 78-inch screen sizes, but are otherwise identical in specs. The same goes for the HU8500, which comes in 48, 55, and 65-inch screen sizes. For this review, we’ve hurled in the 65-inch model of each series.

Although the HU9000 and HU8500 differ very little in specs (more on that later), they’re worlds apart in the looks department. You see, the HU9000 is a curved 4K TV, whereas the HU8500 is your regular flatscreen 4K TV. While not the sole reason, the HU9000’s curved panel is without doubt the biggest contributor to the S$1,500 price difference between the two TVs. The UA65HU9000K is currently priced at S$7,999; the UA65HU8500K S$6,499. Expensive, yes, but both are now quite a bit cheaper than when they first launched.

The more important question is: Is the HU9000 worth the premium?

Design

HU9000

We've talked about Samsung's case for a curved TV in a prior article; but to reiterate, the HU9000 is marketed as the world’s first curved 4K TV, and the panel has a curvature of 4,200R (that is, the curve of a circle with a radius of 4,200mm). While this number sounds big, the curve is actually pretty slight, so much so that it still fits in the same box that its same-size flatscreen sibling comes in.

According to Samsung, 4,200mm is chosen because the resulting curvature works well with the average TV viewing distance, which is about 3 to 4m. But let’s be clear upfront: at that distance and especially when seated in the sweet spot down the center, we found the HU9000 as immersive as the non-curved HU8500. It’s really more of a size factor than anything else. It goes without saying that the curvature is more noticeable from the sides; and if you were to ask Samsung (or any other curved TV maker), off-center viewing is one area that a curved TV fares better than a flatscreen TV. We’ll check out if that’s really the case further down this review.

To best recreate the floating TV illusion, we suggest wall-mounting the HU9000, which can be done with standard VESA brackets or Samsung’s very own WMN450M mini wall mount. For putting on the TV rack, the silver brushed metal stand, which sports a matching curve, is thin, unobtrusive, and inconspicuous.

In short, the HU9000 is really a stunning looking piece of kit, even when the screen is off.

HU8500

In short, design-wise, the HU8500 is the flat version of the HU9000. Cosmetic differences compared to the HU9000 include a slightly thinner matte black bezel (8mm vs. 10mm; or 9.5mm vs. 13mm if you measure all the way to the side trim), a silver brushed metal finish for the trim (vs. glossy chrome on the HU9000), and a more plasticky rear cover. The non-swivel stand is given the same brushed metal treatment just like the HU9000’s stand, but minus the arc, of course.

One Connect box (a.k.a. UHD Evolution Kit)

The HU9000 comes with this longish One Connect box, which strange as it might sound, houses the brains of the TV, and all the input/output ports. This clever implementation basically means that you can perform hardware and software upgrades to the TV down the road without having to throw out the TV entirely.

However, for the HU8500, all the hardware components are housed within its chassis, with the I/Os at the rear. The back does sport a One Connect jack, so upgrades can be done by connecting to future One Connect boxes.

Out of the box, both TVs support the latest standards, including HEVC, HDMI 2.0, MHL 3.0, and HDCP 2.2.

TV Accessory Kit

HU9000

Packed together with the HU9000 is another black gift box-style case that neatly holds the user manuals, power cord, Samsung’s latest smart TV remote control (Samsung calls it Smart Control), two pairs of active 3D glasses, an IR extender cable (if you want to use the remote to control other equipment that rely on IR commands), as well as component and composite AV cables (which plug into the One Connect box, obviously). There’s even a piece of cleaning cloth, and some plastic adapters that are only used if you’re wall-mounting the TV.

HU8500

By contrast, the brown box that’s the HU8500’s TV accessory kit looks and feels less premium, and packs fewer items. We’ve the usual user manuals, power cord, the same Smart Control, two pairs of 3D glasses, and an IR extender cable.

2014 Smart Control

Connected via Bluetooth (so line of sight isn’t required), the silver color (with a black brushed metal-like faceplate) Smart Control remote that both the HU9000 and HU8500 come with sports an elongated oval design, with a slight curve for a better fit in the hand.

For navigation, the highlight this time round is a new button console with four direction keys and a touchpad in the center. Unlike a notebook’s trackpad, you don’t scrub the Smart Control’s touchpad to move the cursor. Instead, the motion control system kicks in the moment you place a finger on the touchpad, and the cursor moves when you move the Smart Control - you know, like a wand. Naturally, not all menus support the touchpad, which is why we still have the four arrow keys. In addition, the touchpad is handy for scrolling webpages, and doubles up as an Enter button (when you press it).

Being a small remote also means that some keys have to be omitted. While dedicated media transport keys (rewind, play, pause, fast-forward) are still around, you won’t see any number keys. For entering digits and other commands not found on the Smart Control, you’ve to turn to the standard remote or onscreen virtual remote, which is activated by pressing the Keypad button on the Smart Control.

Features

Needless to say, both the HU9000 and HU8500 come with the latest and greatest smart TV features Samsung has to offer. There are differences, of course. For example, the HU9000 has the advantage of a built-in pop-up camera, which is used during Skype video calling, and for camera-related smart TV features, like face recognition and motion control.

The less obvious differences are found under the hoods of the TV or One Connect box. For a start, the HU9000’s curved panel has a Clear Motion Rate of 1,200, while the HU8500’s flat panel is rated at 1,000. Despite that difference, both panels have the same 100Hz panel (or 120Hz if you use 60Hz-based AC), which is pretty much high enough to prevent motion blur.

The curved HU9000 also enjoys Samsung’s most advanced Micro Dimming Ultimate tech, a hardware plus software-based local dimming method for the edge-lit LED LCD. In a nutshell, hundreds of zones are used in the process to enhance the picture’s contrast, color, and sharpness. The HU8500 (as well as the HU7000) uses UHD Dimming, a new local dimming method designed for Samsung’s 2014 4K UHD TVs. Samsung doesn’t give exact numbers, but it’s perhaps safe to see UHD Dimming as the 4K equivalent of the software-based Micro Dimming Pro, which we so often see in Samsung’s full HD models. The primary difference is that it uses fewer zones than Micro Dimming Ultimate.

The HU9000 also has a few extra enhancements that its flatscreen sibling doesn’t possess. Examples are the PurColor tech for more accurate color and detail reproductions; and Auto Depth Enhancer, which analyzes regions of images and automatically adjust contrast for a greater sense of depth and 3D-ness. To be more specific, the latter is reserved for curved TVs only, as we also see it on the H8000, Samsung’s curved 1080p TV. Both the HU9000 and HU8500 come with a quad-core processor to do a lot of the heavy lifting, but because the former’s processor is faster, it earns a ‘Quad Core+’ sticker.

Just in case you’re wondering, yes, both the HU9000 and HU8500 sold here have a built-in DVB-T2/C tuner.

Multi-Link Screen, Soccer mode, new Smart Hub, and apps

A prominently marketed user-facing feature in Samsung’s 2014 4K and 1080p TVs (the higher-end ones, like the H8000 and H7000) is Multi-Link Screen, a ‘contextual multitasking’ mode that lets you split the screen real estate, so you can do things like having live TV on one half of the screen and contextual search results on the Web browser, relevant YouTube video content, or a compatible app up on the other half at the same time.

If you’re into football, Samsung has improved its Soccer Mode with more picture and audio tweaks. According to the company, you get “more vivid green fields and stadium color, and a more powerful multi-surround sound”. Extras like Zoom-in and PVR (Personal Video Recorder) enable enlargement of a selected area on the screen and game highlight captures respectively (for free-to-air channels only).

Samsung has been tweaking its Smart Hub interface every year, and this year, there’s a new Multimedia panel that combines the previous Photo, Video, Music, and Social panels. Compared to LG’s new WebOS interface, Samsung’s Smart Hub can still be a bit intimidating, especially for non-advanced users.

Performance

Remember we’ve two 4K TVs here, the curved HU9000 and the flat HU8500. For 4K test content, we used Samsung’s UHD Video Pack, Netflix, as well as various clips we’ve amassed through time, which we stored on a hard drive and played through the PC. Some 1080p and 480p (yes, standard-definition) content were used too for upscaling tests.

Menu settings

Both TVs actually looked pretty good using the Standard picture mode. That said, we calibrated the TVs in our dim lab using the Movie preset as the starting point. In most cases, you’ll want to decrease the Backlight setting; we found anywhere between 5 and 8 to be best for our room. We kept to Warm2 for the Color Tone setting on both sets, and tweaked any excess color cast accordingly.

For white balance adjustment, you can either use a 2-point system or a 10-point system. Maybe we were lucky, but we didn’t need to dive into the 10-point system unless we want to achieve crazy-low delta errors. Similarly, the Auto option for the Color Space setting should work well for most people. Sure, if you’ve in possession of professional calibration equipment and software (e.g., the SpectraCal CalMAN 5), you can engage the Custom option and improve colors further through the TVs’ excellent RGBCMY-based color management system.

For the Smart LED setting (which controls the local dimming), we kept to the Standard setting. We also engaged the Custom option for the Motion Plus setting, and turned on LED Clear Motion because we found it to have a positive effect on motion blur. If you notice flicker with this setting, we recommend playing with the Blur Reduction and Judder Reduction controls (try dialing in 7 and 0 respectively).

4K performance

Let us reiterate that any advantage in resolution 4K TVs have over 1080p sets is only visible if you sit close enough. But how close is close? According to Samsung, the average household viewing distance is 3 to 4m. We started off with this distance, and quickly found that it’s simply too far, even though the TVs in question here have seemingly large 65-inch screens. Take note though, when we say “too far”, we don’t mean the picture doesn’t look good; rather, what we’re saying is that at 3 to 4m, you aren’t likely going to notice any difference between either Samsung 4K TVs and a 1080p set of the same size.

Of course, logically speaking, the biggest improvement can be had when you sit at a distance where your nose literally touches the screen; but no one can watch a TV like that. In the HardwareZone AV lab, we (or rather, this reviewer who has 20/20 vision) found the sweetest spot to be around 1.5m (and this is the distance most of the viewing tests were done), but even that is too close for comfort for most people. If you were to ask us what’s the furthest distance you can place your sofa from a 65-inch 4K TV, we’ll say 2.5m.

To cut the long story short, when paired with 4K sources, there’s no question that both the HU9000 and HU8500 offer truckloads of details. Clearly, whatever separates the two can’t be found in the resolution/detail department.

A word on the HU9000’s curved screen

Now, if you’re wondering if the HU9000’s curved screen made any difference, the short answer is: Yes, but it’s probably not significant enough for most people.

First of all, with the lights turned down, and especially if you’re engrossed in whatever you’re watching, the HU9000’s slight curvature shouldn’t jump out at you. Everything should just blend naturally into the background. Even with the room lights turned up, it was at the back of our mind 10 minutes into World War Z. Sure, at 1.5m away, we noticed the warp and the sides seemed to look slightly bigger than the center more often than if we were to sit 3m away, but we got used to it and forgot about it soon enough. In addition, versus the flat HU8500, we didn’t find the HU9000 any more immersive. In fact, a few in the HardwareZone team said that they felt the HU9000 looked smaller than the HU8500.

If anything, the concaved HU9000 did reduce reflections from ambient light sources (we purposely put a couple of studio lights around the TVs) to give a less washed-out image than the HU8500. In short, if reflections on your current flatscreen TV are bothering you, the HU9000 may help. That said, perhaps the more pragmatic (and cheaper) workaround is to remove the offending light source, reposition the TV, or draw the curtains.

HD & SD performances

For our 1080p tests, we used the Blu-ray versions of Skyfall and The Dark Knight, which were played on a Samsung Blu-ray player. For SD, we roped in the DVD version of The Bourne Supremacy.

In a nutshell, both 4K TVs upscaled the aforementioned material very well. In our opinion, the Blu-ray release of Skyfall is of reference-level quality, and the Samsung TVs have really done justice to the picture’s razor-sharp details. Case in point: The close-up where Bond was about to get shaved had this reviewer rubbing his own chin instinctively because it looked so real.

Then again, you don’t need a 4K TV to experience this; a 65-inch 1080p set from Samsung’s 2013 lineup will also ace this test.

Audio

We give props to Samsung for building in very decent speakers on both the HU9000 and HU8500. Of course, the many multi-directional audio moments in Star Trek Into Darkness are best appreciated with external surround speakers, but the small front-firing ones shoved into the TVs’ cabinets didn’t do a poor job either. Both TVs incorporate a Dolby MS11 multi-stream decoder that supports decoding of many of today’s popular audio formats, and Samsung’s own DNSe+ processing tech.

Black levels, colors, motion, and other matters

For a couple of years now, Samsung’s top-end LED-backlit LCD TVs had excellent backlight control and screen uniformity, and these are repeated here once again. Despite its curved screen, we didn’t notice any out of the norm uniformity issue (or severe dirty screen effect) on the HU9000. If anything, it’d be that the flat HU8500 looked ever slightly more uniform, but that was with a gray test pattern that no average user in the right mind should be staring at.

Black levels on both TVs are equally impressive too, as far as LED LCD TVs are concerned. During low Average Picture Level (APL) scenes (that is, scenes with lots of dark elements) in The Dark Knight and World War Z, the HU9000 went a touch darker than the HU8500, and we credit that to the hardware component used by the curved TV’s Micro Dimming Ultimate local dimming method. Backlight transitions, while still present on both TVs, were few and far between.

Viewed from the sweet spot, both TVs exhibited extremely broad contrast. We noticed a dip in contrast and saturation during off-axis viewing, but we reckon most people won’t even notice it.

Let us just stress again that the HU9000 and HU8500 rendered colors beautifully, be it 4K or Blu-ray content. The Blu-ray release of Planet Earth has always been this reviewer’s go-to material whenever he wanted to show off a TV, and the Samsung 4K TVs didn’t disappoint, showcasing the deep blue skies, lush green foliage, and skintones of the wildlife convincingly.

The TVs also exhibited very good motion clarity, no thanks to effective black frame insertion implementation (use ‘Custom’ for the Auto Motion Plus setting, and enable the LED Clear Motion setting in the menu). Brightness remained high even with LED Clear Motion turned on (which is good for daytime viewing), and we hardly noticed any flicker with normal content. Another piece of good news is that we didn’t encounter any judder for 1080p24 2D material.

Regarding 3D, both TVs continue to use an active 3D system, and each TV packs two pairs of SSG-5100GB active-shutter 3D glasses. We found 3D image brightness level to be good (put another way, still not as bright as passive 3D on LG’s sets), and the slight crosstalk didn’t ruin the viewing experience.

Last but not least, both TVs are decent gaming displays (giant screens, great colors - what’s there not to like?), but first-person shooter or sports gamers might be annoyed by the input lag. Switching to Game or PC mode reduces the latency somewhat, but that may still not be enough for hardcore gamers. Those who only play Angry Birds-type of games can safely ignore this paragraph.

Deliberately great

We aren’t going to mince our words: Samsung’s flagship 4K TV for 2014, the HU9000 is the 4K TV to beat at the moment. The design is gorgeous, the feature set is comprehensive (the smart TV features, the 3D features, the connectivity features - Samsung is good at ticking spec and feature checkboxes, and it shows here once again), and its easy upgradeability makes it a future-proof investment.

Of course, a TV is for watching video or film content, and the HU9000 (we tested the UA65HU9000KXXS running software version 1151, by the way) doesn’t disappoint. While it doesn’t quite reached the deep space blacks we so lust for in a plasma or OLED display, where edge-lit LED LCD TVs are concerned, Samsung has arguably the best pseudo-local dimming implementation in the industry. What this means is that you get very good black levels and very good screen uniformity. Truth be told, backlight inconsistency can’t be totally eliminated on edge-lit LED LCD TVs, it’s just that Samsung has done the best job thus far in reducing it.

With regard to colors, the HU9000 easily qualifies as a reference display. If you’ve the means, with the help of the TV’s excellent color management system, it’s able to hit the Rec. 709 HDTV specs (sorry, folks waiting for Rec. 2020) and a gamma of 2.4 effortlessly. (Else, just leave the Color Space setting to Auto.) In other words, this is one accurate display.

It goes without saying too that the UHD TV packs more than a truckload of details, though to fully appreciate it, you need to have high quality 4K content (not easy) and to sit close enough to the screen (not easy too). Thankfully, the TV has a top-notch upscaler for HD content.

Now, when we started with this review, we had doubts about the HU9000’s curved display. Some are cleared, but some still remain. While it lends a hand during off-angle viewing and reduces nasty reflections, these simply aren’t must-haves for most people. For the latter benefit, we reckon most people would be more than willing to tackle the light source than to pay a premium for the curved screen.

That said, to assume that the S$1,500 in price difference between the HU9000 and HU8500 (the one we tested was the UA65HU8500KXXS, running software version 2151) all goes to the former’s curved display isn’t entirely correct either. We lament the fact that in order to elevate the HU9000 to the flagship status, Samsung has chosen to dumb down the HU8500 slightly. Case in point: the Quad Core+ processor, Micro Dimming Ultimate, and Cinema Black (components and features that contribute directly to image quality) are all reserved for the HU9000. So for those who want the best of the best in Samsung’s 2014 lineup, the HU9000 is the only choice (curved screen be dammed). The good news is, the flat HU8500 is just as good 95% of the time.

To reiterate, the HU9000 curved UHD TV is available in 55, 65, and 78-inch screen sizes, and they’re priced at S$6,999, S$7,999, and S$15,999 respectively. The HU8500 flatscreen UHD TV is available in 48, 55 and 65-inch sizes, and they’re priced at S$2,999, S$4,499, and S$6,499 respectively. To throw another spanner in the works, Samsung now also has a HU8700, which in a nutshell, is the curved version of the HU8500. It’s available in 55 and 65-inch screen sizes, and they’re priced at S$4,999 and S$6,999 respectively.

At the moment, the UHD Video Pack comes free if you buy a 55-inch HU9000, 55-inch HU8700, or 55-inch or 48-inch HU8500. Anything bigger than 55 inches will instead land you a Samsung M7 wireless audio multi-room speaker and a WAM250 connect hub that pairs with the M7 and other Samsung wireless audio multi-room speakers that you may have around the house.

	Click here for detailed results break-down
	Click here for detailed results break-down

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