Samsung Crystal
Tu-8000 series
Go further with your Smart TV with next-generation apps, super easy control and a host of enhancements that elevate the TV viewing experience.
Bixby Voice
Google Assist
Alexa Voice
honest review
Today we are going to talk about Samsung TU8000 here in HeadQuarterTv. We’ll be looking at the design, input lag, picture quality, motion, sound and then we are going to give you an overall opinion if this TV is worth the price or not. (Amazon Price: €550 for a 55 Inch). The price changes for higher inches. There are Amazon affiliate links on this page. Do use them as it gives you the best deal at the check out and it helps us to grow even more.
Design
The design of TU8000 looks slightly more premium than last year’s RU8000 except the legs which are different. The boarders of this TV are very thin and are thinner than RU8000. This wide-set legs can support the TV really good and like most other Samsung TVs they attach pretty securely without the need for screws which is convenient. The controls of the TV are very similar to most recent Samsung TVs and consists of only one button below the Samsung logo in the bottom middle of the screen. This button can be used as “Power”, “Volume control” and “Source Input selection” so you have to rely on different series of short and long presses to activate different commands. The TV looks very nice and thin from the sides and it sits close to the wall while mounted which is pretty good.
There are 2 HDMI ports facing sideways and 1 facing straight back giving you a total of 3 HDMI ports. On the sideways facing panel you also have your tuner input and 2 USB ports. facing backwards you have 1 HDM as mentioned before, Digital Optical Audio out, ethernet port and UNLIKE many newer TVs, Samsung included composite inputs this year so you can plug in older devices which is very handy
Inputs and Outputs:
All your inputs will be behind the TV, some facing sideways and some facing straight back. Unlike last years RU8000 when all the inputs where facing sideways which made it easier to get to them while mounted on the wall.
For managing your cables better, Samsung included clips for the feet so you can rout all the cables in one place.
Picture Quality:
Contrast Ratio:
Contrast ratio is the relative brightness of white versus dark areas in a scene. It’s generally considered one of the most important aspects of picture quality as a high contrast ratio helps dark scenes to appear with more detailed without details getting lost in the gray. The TU8000 doesn’t have Samsung’s new Dual LED technology to help its contrast. That being said the native contrast ratio of this TV is actually excellent (6421 : 1)and is improved over last year’s RU8000. This helps it’s black uniformity really well, making this TV a great choice for watching movies in a dark room.
Local Dimming:
Unfortunately the TU8000 doesn’t have the local dimming to further improve the perceived contrast of real scenes which doesn’t surprise anyone as RU8000 didn’t have it either. Samsung seems to be reserving this feature only for higher-end TVs.
Gray Uniformity:
A bad gray uniformity can result in distracting areas known as dirty screen affect which is specially noticeable while watching sports or playing video games. This is one aspect where this TV (TU8000) performs significantly worst than last years RU8000 but nothing too serious. The left and right edges of the screen are noticeably darker and there is some visible dirty screen at the center which will likely be distracting during sports.
Viewing Angles:
Moving on to viewing angles. Having good viewing angles helps keep the image accurate when viewing from different angles. This can be important if you are watching the TV with a lot of people or your sofa or coach is positioned on the sides of the TV. This TV is like most other TVs and its pretty normal slightly better than RU8000 as it start losing brightness at 34 degrees and the black levels rise at about 19 degrees. This could be an issue if you have a massive living room and want to see the screen from another angle and not just in front of it as the TV screen will get darker. If your TV is in a bright room, good reflection handling is important to cut the mount of glare. The TU8000 is about typical of most mid-range TVs. It’s semi-gloss finish helps diffuse reflection a bit across the screen though overall it’s only decent and it might struggle in well-lit moderately room.
Motion:
All sizes of TU8000 have got a 60Hz panel. First off for motions is response time and this is the average time it takes for the TV to transition from one color to the next. The TU8000 has a great response time. 80% response time is 5.2ms and 100% response time is around 17.5ms which is better than some of the TVs in this price range to be honest but obviously there are better options with higher price tag. To help reduce the motion blur, this TV has an optional black frame insertion feature in the settings menu which can be helpful sometimes or you might not even notice it that much as it’s already pretty decent. The flicker of the backlight can also be adjusted for those who want a more clear image. This can be enabled easily by selecting “LED Clear Motion” settings in movie mode. This results in a clearer image with less persistence blur.
Input Lag (one of the fewest downsides of this TV):
When using this TV in game mode, it reduces the input lag on the TV and for most signals it’s under 10ms which is close to theoretical minimum at 60Hz. This is actually an improvement of last year’s RU8000 and it’s great for fast pace games as it feels really responsive. Now unfortunately as I mentioned before, this year’s model only has a 60Hz panel so it can’t display a 120Hz in game mode which is a bit disappointing.
Smart Features:
Like all Samsung smart TVs, the TU8000 uses Samsung’s own Tizen OS, although the 2020 version has a slightly simpler interface with no animations and also a new “Dark Mode” instead of the white background. With this mode its just easier for the eyes to see the main menu better without being too bright at late nights. This TV also have features like “Bixby Voice”, “Google Assist” and “Alexa Voice” so it allows you to work with whatever you are more comfortable with.
The Remote:
The remote is just as same as all the other 8000 series of the past few years and its handy and straight-forward to use. It still includes the quick launch buttons that Samsung included on RU8000 remote which allows you to quickly open “Netflix”, “Amazon Prime” and “Samsung TV Plus”.
Sound:
You were probably wondering how does the speakers sound? Well the speakers have a decent frequency response and they can get fairly loud but as is expected, they’re lacking in bass. For better and more clearer sound experience, it’s always best to go with a dedicated speaker system or even a sound bar.
Overall you could probably tell this was a really long review about a pretty decent price TV and that is because there is so much about it and we think this could easily be top 5 best cheap smart TV comparing to other TVs these days. It also have it’s downsides as we mentioned and if you weren’t sure about rather buying or skipping this TV, I hope this review helped you out. There are links on top and bottom of this page if you are interested in purchasing this TV make sure you use them it would be much appreciated. These are Amazon affiliate links and will help you get the best deal out of this product and it will also help us to run this website and grow even more. Make sure you check out our CONTACT US page if you had any questions in mind. Thank you and have a great day!
