The Samsung UE46B8000 is a 46-inch, 1080p LCD TV with LED edge lights and a host of superb extra features. At around £1,800, though, it's not an especially cheap TV. The question is: is this set worth the money?
LED edge lighting
With LCD TVs, there are two different backlight technologies in use. The first, and by far the most common, is known as cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) backlighting. CCFL backlighting technology essentially comprises of a series of fluorescent tubes that run behind the LCD panel itself. This is a popular system because it's inexpensive, tried and tested, and has a long life span.
The second and newer method of backlighting uses LEDs to illuminate the LCD panel. These LEDs are placed behind the panel and can be dimmed selectively to increase the contrast ratio of the TV. The problem is, loads of LEDs are needed and TVs using this technology generally cost a bomb.
Now, however, a sort of compromise has arrived. Known as LED edge lighting, it works in exactly the way you'd think from the name. Around the edge of the TV are LEDs. Their light is diffused across the back of the panel, using a clever, proprietary system. This method works very well indeed, and it's an interesting technology to watch in the years ahead while we wait for OLED to arrive.
Styling
Because LED edge lighting is a more compact method of illuminating an LCD screen, it enables manufacturers to slim down their screens to the point where they have a profile of virtually nothing. There are pictures in the National Gallery that have deeper frames than the UE46B8000, and that makes it ideal for wall mounting.
Of course, nothing in this world is free -- the wall mount for this TV is a fairly expensive optional extra, but it's designed to wow everyone who sees it. You'll have to decide if that's important to you. We really like the supplied table-top stand, and don't see any real reason to bother wall mounting this delightful-looking TV.
Connectivity
Because of the TV's diminutive proportions, there isn't room on the back for every kind of socket known to humanity. To overcome this, Samsung has used an arrangement of breakout cables to make a Scart connector fit into the space taken by a 3.5mm headphone jack. It's all very clever, but it gives us some minor quality concerns. It's also much more untidy that most other TV systems, which might be an issue for people who want to mount this set on the wall. That said, we prefer everything to be built into the TV, rather than having to use a media box to get our video in.
You do get full-sized sockets for HDMI and VGA though, which means Blu-ray players, games consoles and computers can all be accommodated without any problem. The inclusion of four HDMI inputs seems generous enough, and, with switcher boxes costing a minimal amount these days, if you do run out of sockets, it's not the end of the world. There's also an optical digital output too, for connecting the TV to your home-cinema system.
A pair of USB sockets is included as well. Samsung expects that most people will want to use one for a Wi-Fi dongle and the other for a USB hard drive or memory stick. The TV can easily cope with video, images and music in this way, and the whole system works very well indeed.
Media support
As with Samsung's B7000 range, the UE46B8000 can play a variety of video formats. MPEG-4, MPEG-2 and MPEG-1 are all catered for. You can also play back DivX and Xvid files, and MKV container support is included too. We played back 1080p video with no problem, but we should point out that audio codec support is rather lacking. For example, the UE46B8000 can't decode DTS audio, and Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA are out of the question.
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bawtry 15 September 2012
Good: Fantastic Picture
Bad: Internet a bit clunky
Comment: I can get BBC player but I cannot get ITVplayer as it requires a download of Adobe Flash Player 10.2 , or google/cloud. The TV does not accept downloads.
Raz888 23 March 2010
Good: Picture looked great in store playing HD promotional TV
Bad: Too Many things to list here, auto dimming, very poor sound, cloudy edges
Comment: Thought this new side lit LED was the way to go but its a marmite TV you will love it or hate it. Love is thin screen and sleek looks. or
When I had to live with it I found it unbearable, I am probably quite fussy being an former AV technician (not TV and that was a few years ago). First of all the sound is not bad its terrible, or at least very poor, but to make things worse no ear phone jack socket which could easily be connected to another source, NO phono output (that I could find) so forget connecting it to an amp unless you have an optical input on your music source.
The TV is sluggish to change channels but not terrible, My 9 series Samsung local dimming Tv is slightly slower than this.
Its the autodimming which is the problem I find with these side lit TVs, It appears to me that unlike my 956 Samsung (46inch) which can independently switch off individual LED/LCDs within the panel, using side lit technology means the whole panel has to dim to give you nice dark blacks? I tried to set the TV up so I can get the blacks nice and black but still retaining detail in the shadows, all looks fine until the panel dims and the blacks lose detail so look like a black blob. I understand its not possible to switch the auto dimming off? ( i couldnt see how to) as without the auto dimming it probably cant achieve black blacks? But this problem creates an issue with highlights too, set the tv up with bright highlights but retaining detail in the highlghts and when the Tv dims these no longer look correct? well not to me..
I also found that to get good blacks you need to lower the black dark setting to 3 or lower, however its then very difficult to get detail in the shadows, however lighten the setting up to 6 or 7 and then the blacks look grey and I notice clouding on the edges of the screen which I assume is from the bright LEDs trying to imput light from around the edges? there is also a very slight blueish glow around the edges of the screen which I can only assume is created from these side LEDs? Dont get me wrong this blueish glow is not really noticable in normal use, you need to get close to see this, within a metre or so and have the backlight turned up.
So my real problem is being unable to set up this Tv so its just how I like it, basically due to autodimming> perhaps someone will tell me how to switch this off? I dont think its possible but could be wrong.
I found it very difficult to just watch eg an Football match as watching the team in white when the panel brightens up, means the detail in the shorts is lost and is burnt out, Furthermore the green pitch looks too green and false? Yet when the image is a close up of average colours and the players the picture is very good.
Yes it has some good points, standard Def Tv through is DTV is very good, Much better than my panasonic 32inch Lcd, although certainly not as good as using a freesat Foxsat Humax connected with HDMI to the Samsung 9 series . So far I have found using the Humax and local dimming Samsung to be very good indeed, infact at times I am unsure whether I am watching HD or not, altho this does vary on the program being transmitted and channel (they can vary quite alot) Friends USA NTSC source not great , usually soft, yet BBC4 etc very good indeed, much of standard (UK Pal produced) ITV and Channel 4 the same. The Humax appears able to process an image from standard def Freesat better than any TV I have tried, although I have only tried around half a dozen TVs, I also own a Samsung plasma and Sony LCD. None of these are better using inbuilt tuners than the Humax (in my experience) although I would note maybe this could be due to me being in a weak Freeview area? However I am not in a weak freeview area so ruling that out.
My suggestion to anyone buying the backlight LED TV such as this, is to buy it from a company where you can return it if you dont like it. If you watch SD tv its got a decent tuner, The auto dimming may
manuelcabral 8 March 2010
Good: DESIGN
Bad: ALL THE REST
Comment: AS NO ONE BUYS A TV TO LOOK AK THE DESIGN, CHOOSE ANOTHER BRAND IF YOU WANT TO WATCH TV. DON'T EVER GET AN EDGE-LED SAMSUNG.
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