Welcome to my pre-review blog for the Samsung UN65KS9800 quantum-dot FALD LED-lit LCD UHDTV. The purpose of this blog is to make the review process more transparent and democratic. It’s about more than just providing a window into the review process. I seek suggestions and dialog, especially from early adopters who own this TV. I’m willing to try any settings and examine any scene from the ultra HD Blu-rays (that I possess) plus streaming services and report on what I see. The reviews that emerge from this process will benefit from crowd-sourced knowledge, which is what AVS Forum is all about.
The past few years have been interesting (to say the least) when it comes to technological progress and flat-panel displays. Resolutions took a huge leap upward with UHD, displays became impossibly thin, prices dropped dramatically, FALD LED made a comeback, OLED introduced perfect blacks, curved screens became a thing, plasma disappeared forever, and 3D fell by the wayside. Now, HDR (high dynamic range) with WCG (wide color gamut) video is here. When combined with appropriate HDR UHD source material such as Ultra HD Blu-ray, the promise of modern TVs is that they can exceed the image quality that is typically found in commercial cinemas.
Begin blog
This week, two large boxes arrived and are currently sitting in the middle of my kitchen, waiting to be unpacked. One box contained Samsung’s 2016 flagship TV, the KS9800, in a 65-inch screen size. The other holds the company’s flagship soundbar, the HW-K950 with 5.1.4-channel Dolby Atmos. Add to that a UBD-K8500 Ultra HD Blu-ray player (which I already had) and together the 3 devices create a state of the art all-Samsung viewing experience.
KS9800 UHDTV and HW-K950 Dolby Atmos soundbar waiting to be unpacked.
Ordinarily, I would review a TV, a soundbar, and a Ultra HD Blu-ray player separately, and that’s still the plan. However, it makes sense to blog about a complete system such as this because smart features have evolved to the point where there’s an expectation of intuitive interoperability. The evolution of smart features have become a notable differentiator between TV brands. For example, Samsung eschewed the traditional remote control with its myriad buttons for a much simpler design that nonetheless adapts to (and controls) attached source devices and also provides voice search.
The new smart TV user experience is quite evolved over what I’m used to from years past. Indeed, the degree to which the new gear is plug-and-play begs the question whether Samsung has effectively eliminated the need for custom installation and programming. Can the KS9800 deliver a seamless user experience that is ergonomic and intuitive? I can’t yet answer that. For the first couple of weeks with the system, I plan to use it as most consumers would, with factory settings. Once I get past 300 hours I’ll get into measurements and calibration.
That’s all for the moment. Today is all about getting the TV plus soundbar system up and running.
07/15 update
The KS9800 is up and running. I was able to unpack and assemble it on my own but I strongly recommend asking someone to help unless you are used to unpacking Tvs on a regular basis.
Attaching the base.
It works!
First impression is that it’s gorgeous, and even with BT.709 color the purity of fully-saturated primaries is pure eye candy. I love the extra brightness and its resistance to reflections compliments its bright room-friendly design. But crucially, unless a room is totally blacked out, the added brightness is a benefit. Even at night, under standard indoor residential lighting. I’m using a PC equipped with a GTX980 video card to feed it UHD/4K and computer graphics are smartphone-sharp. Looking forward to some quality time with Need for Speed and GTA 5 in 4K.
07/17 Update
One of the coolest things I’ve ever done with the TV is to apply HDR settings to this KS9800 (backlight turned all the way up, smart LED set to high, native color space) and render RAW images in Photoshop using the Adobe RGB color space and 16-bit color processing. The end result, despite being 8-bit, looks astonishing. Even though it’s hacked HDR I can’t get over what a sense or realism having that capacity for extreme specular highlights creates. Furthermore, the extra well-behaved ultra-deep shadows held their subtle detail, so that images looked real. I’m going to have to invite people to see what I am talking about for themselves, I will post some photos that are processed for BT.709 viewing along with versions optimized for what this sort of hacked-HDR type of viewing.
I’m running the TV as a computer monitor now, with an NVIDIA GTX980 providing 60p UHD resolution. I’m not using PC mode so that I have full access to all the color controls of the KS9800. At 2160/60p the latency is quite low for casual use, I have yet to try gaming on it. What I have done is put full-field 100% red up on screen, and I was rewarded with a rich and pure rendition of the color the likes of which I have not experienced in TVs I reviewed in the past. This is no surprise since one of the main qualities of quantum dots is their ability to convert shorter wavelength light (blue light) into specific longer wavelengths like pure red and pure green. The exact color the dots convert light to depends on the physical size of the quantum dots and can be tightly controlled. The result is the white light used in a quantum dot FALD LCD contains a lot of pure red and pure green (the LEDs are blue), which allows these TVs to reproduce these colors at high levels—perfect for HDR with WCG.
So… let’s talk about the curve. It’s my first time reviewing a curved-screen TV. At first it was a bit disconcerting, but I must admit that when I sat at what I’d consider an optimal viewing distance (about 7 feet from the TV). The curve was a non factor within the context of how I watch TVs. Indeed, when I was watching TV or movie, I didn’t any curve at all. My mind appeared to compensate for subtle distortion in my peripheral vision. Given that FALD LCDs with VA panels basically demand that you sit within an optimal zone that is roughly the with the couch, I’ve determined the curve is not really a distraction. Having said that, I’d love to see all manufacturers offer parity between curved and flat screens when it comes to both sizes and feature sets.
A quick note on the remote, even though it’s minimalist I’m really liking the way you can navigate quickly and precisely with the D-pad, or choose to use voice control. Either way, it’s one of the more pleasing ways to navigate a TV I’ve encountered.
The remote is simple, intuitive, and features effective voice control that includes search.
07/18 Update
I’m installing the HW-K950 soundbar now. The wireless connection was automatic and immediate, everything worked right out of the box.
At 48″, it’s the second-widest soundbar I’ve reviewed after the 62-inch GoldenEar SuperCinema 3D Array XL . It’s so wide, it barely fits on my TV stand. The HW-K950 feels solidly built, unlike quite a few soundbars I’ve seen. Even the satellite speakers have a decent weight to them, and the kit comes with one of the larger wireless subs I’ve seen included in such a system.
I just sent some sine waves to the sub using REW (Room EQ Wizard) and it was producing solid, clean bass down to about 32 Hz—far deeper than I expected. The crossover is a bit high for totally avoiding localization—it’s around 120 Hz. Therefore, I’m keeping the sub up front and near the soundbar, which allows it to blend with the soundstage quite seamlessly.
Later today, I’ll measure the individual channels of the soundbar system and optimize the levels. In coming days I’ll begin comparing the HW-K950 to an AVR-based Atmos system, but my first subjective impression is it is one of the most immersive and capable soundbars I’ve heard.
07/20 Update
I got the whole rig working today. There was zero drama, the setup was super-simple and mostly involved connecting the three devices with two HDMI cables. The TV remote recognized the Soundbar, which in turn provided control over basic play functions on the Blu-ray player—true plug and play.
The device chain I’m using for initial tests is Ultra HD Blu-ray player to Soundbar to TV. Tonight I’ll watch a full movie, I’m deciding between Chappie or X-Men: Days of Future Past, on Ultra HD Blu-ray.
Out of curiosity, I played brief clips from several Ultra HD Blu-ray movies (The Martian, Exodus, Kingsmen, Mad Max) and based on what I saw, I am already excited for how a whole movie will look.
Aside from the entrancing HDR image, what I find amazing is I enjoyed the sound from the HW-K950 soundbar—it’s really good. I’ll get into critical listening (of a soundbar!) tomorrow.
07/21 Update
Last night was fun. I went with Chappie for my inaugural viewing of an entire HDR Ultra HD Blu-ray movie (with Dolby Atmos!). The aesthetic of HDR mastering is surprisingly different, and in many scenes added a 3D-like “pop” to the cinematography that’s typically missing from BT.709 content, and yet overall scenes looked darker. For the most part, the KS9800 produced inky blacks that are as deep as I need ’em to ever be. However, I did notice the FALD algorithm being flummoxed by a couple of dark scenes.
The soundbar lived up to my initial positive impressions. What it does for its price and simplicity and comparative compactness (versus an AVR-based system) puts it in rarefied territory, in terms of bass response and clarity and output. It’s the least-expensive and least-complicated way I know of to get a 5.1.4 Atmos system up and running, and it renders the format properly. No measurements today, but that’s coming soon—as well as impressions of playing music through it.
07/26 Update
It’s been a few days but I’m back. In the interregnum, something curious occurred. I saw Star Trek Beyond in IMAX 3D over the weekend and left the screening unimpressed by the image quality.
Why didn’t I love the 3D presentation? One major reason was that it was too dim. The last movie I saw in a commercial theater was Deadpool, at a Dolby Cinema featuring Dolby Vision HDR and Atmos sound. That experience raised the bar. When it comes to image quality in a commercial movie theater, it’s the best I’ve seen. Moreover, watching Ultra HD Blu-ray titles with HDR on the KS9800 also elevated my expectations of how sharp and clear a movie should look. While one is a theater and the other is a TV, what the two “better than 3D” experiences have in common is HDR.
Now that I’m used to what HDR’s high peak luminance combined with deep blacks (if not OLED deep) does for image quality (it too creates the illusion of depth), dim SDR 3D doesn’t cut it anymore.
Also, today is day 11 of running the TV 24/7, which means the TV has 250+ hours on it already. Now, I’m almost ready to put a meter on it and explore SDR plus HDR calibration.
07/27 update
Tomorrow is the 300-hour point when it comes to running-in the TV. I’m currently using the KS9800 as a huge monitor, and I’m blasting some Datsik through the HW-K950. Aeon music visualizations rendered in 4K look quite amazing, and with HDR+ mode active on the TV (which applies a contrast and color-enhancing algorithm to SDR content) some scenes are astonishing. Often, Aeon’s abstract graphics take on a 3D look thanks to the rich colors, deep blacks, and intense highlights the TV is capable of. An Nvidia GTX980 video card ensures the UHD resolution graphics are smooth as silk.
The soundbar is rocking it tonight. Playing Datsik, I have the volume maxed out, which is giving me 95 dB (C-weighted, fast averaging) at my seat. That’s measured 7-8 feet away from the soundbar, in a 11-foot by 30-foot room (there’s an open kitchen behind the TV room). I appreciate that the entire volume range to the soundbar is usable without compromising fidelity due to distorted sound.
07/30 update
I have yet to begin the calibration process, but I have had the opportunity to watch several complete movies in HDR on Ultra HD Blu-ray. My immediate interest is in investigating and resolving inconsistencies in the operation of the FALD (full array local dimming) algorithm. 98% of what I see on screen when watching HDR movies looks stunning. However, certain scenes (typically dark ones that have several bright spots in the frame) trigger distracting fluctuations in the backlight. It strikes me as something that could potentially be solved through a firmware update. As a result, I am currently documenting those scenes as they come up and plan to send a note to engineers at Samsung.
Getting ready to measure and calibrate the KS9800 with CalMAN 5.7 and Colorimetry Research meters.
That’s not to say I’m going to wait to start calibrating. BT.709 content playback has thus far has been free of any glitches, so I plan to see how close to HD Blu-ray perfection I can get with the KS9800.
By the way, I know I might sound like a broken record at this point, but the HW-K950 is a stunning soundbar system. From movies to music to political speeches, it’s clarity as well as its capacity to create dynamic, full-range sound continue to blow me away. Is it as good as my AVR-based system? No. Does it come close enough to a decent subwoofer/satellite/AVR system that the vast majority of people would be completely content with the fidelity it offers? Yes. Is it better than a typical home theater in a box system? Most definitely… much better.
The main weaknesses the same as with all soundbars, the front soundstage is a bit narrow due to the fixed width of the device. However, with Atmos soundtracks. The surround and elevation channels do a great job of expanding the soundstage so that envelops the listener.
More updates soon…
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