Christmas is just around the corner but people seem to be approaching this year’s traditional buying season with a bit more apprehension than usual. Global finances are in the shitter, debt is rising and long term savings have tumbled. A gradual erosion of buying power has led to some interesting market segregation though. On one hand some are either delaying or ditching plans for large cost purchases in order to conserve money where they can but many are actually following a different mantra. For them, the focus seems to be upon spending more now in order to buy quality rather than settle for a product they’ll want to replace in short order. This could be why HDTV makers have reported a massive jump in sales of $1000+ sets while the lower end products have been experiencing relatively poor retail movement.
With the economics lesson out of the way, we can see why Samsung has been so excited about their UN55D8000 LED TV. Though 2011 may not have been a year of new technologies or radical forward steps in the HDTV world, the 3D market has matured, LED lighting has taken over from traditional LCD CCFL technology and the “smart”, connected TV is really starting to make some waves. The D8000 takes advantage of every one of these and wraps them up into a neat, clean and well designed package which is pretty much a given considering this is considered Samsung’s flagship TV for 2011.
As with most other HDTVs these days, the D8000 has a fair bit of marketing mumbo jumbo attached to it. There is the Smart TV aspect which integrates a full top to bottom online experience alongside your typical viewing experience. We also get a “Clear Motion Rate” of 960 which is just another way of Samsung saying normal consumers are too disconnected to understand fully what refresh rate is (yeah, right) so they just use a mostly meaningless but good looking figure. Other items like Micro Dimming Plus for deeper contrast built in WiFi and an ultra wide colour gamut will have a much greater effect on how you perceive the D8000.
Flagship status, supposedly class leading picture quality, a relatively large 55” screen size and a feature list longer than our arm does of course translate into one hell of an investment. Just how much? Between $2200 and $2500 USD or if you’re north of the border a whopping $2900. This may be far above the price range of Joe six packs but due to its huge cost, we’re expecting some great things out of the D8000. Actually, Samsung’s new trendsetter may just be the TV you ask your wife for if you’ve done the chores for the last decade or so.
With the economics lesson out of the way, we can see why Samsung has been so excited about their UN55D8000 LED TV. Though 2011 may not have been a year of new technologies or radical forward steps in the HDTV world, the 3D market has matured, LED lighting has taken over from traditional LCD CCFL technology and the “smart”, connected TV is really starting to make some waves. The D8000 takes advantage of every one of these and wraps them up into a neat, clean and well designed package which is pretty much a given considering this is considered Samsung’s flagship TV for 2011.
As with most other HDTVs these days, the D8000 has a fair bit of marketing mumbo jumbo attached to it. There is the Smart TV aspect which integrates a full top to bottom online experience alongside your typical viewing experience. We also get a “Clear Motion Rate” of 960 which is just another way of Samsung saying normal consumers are too disconnected to understand fully what refresh rate is (yeah, right) so they just use a mostly meaningless but good looking figure. Other items like Micro Dimming Plus for deeper contrast built in WiFi and an ultra wide colour gamut will have a much greater effect on how you perceive the D8000.
Flagship status, supposedly class leading picture quality, a relatively large 55” screen size and a feature list longer than our arm does of course translate into one hell of an investment. Just how much? Between $2200 and $2500 USD or if you’re north of the border a whopping $2900. This may be far above the price range of Joe six packs but due to its huge cost, we’re expecting some great things out of the D8000. Actually, Samsung’s new trendsetter may just be the TV you ask your wife for if you’ve done the chores for the last decade or so.
