While this TV has truly brilliant video playback, it's not perfect. But it's still much better than any other TV we've used, and the media features are so beautifully integrated that it's a pleasure to use. As you would imagine, photos and music are both catered for too. We listened to MP3s and looked at JPEG photo slideshows with no trouble, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
Freeview picture quality
One of the biggest surprises with the UE46B8000 is its charming Freeview picture. This TV handled our lunchtime viewing -- Neighbours and Home and Away on Five, with a smattering of The Jeremy Kyle Show over on ITV2 -- with significant poise.
The Australian soap operas are both produced in high definition, and generally look pretty good on Freeview. The UE46B8000 certainly does a magnificent job of presenting a crisp, clean image with plenty of detail. The Jeremy Kyle Show, with its bright blue set and vivid fake tans looked impressive. ITV2 isn't known for its high bit rate, so for the TV to cope with this channel is an impressive feat.
The only problem we had with this TV was when we switched over to Virgin 1 for an episode of Star Trek: Voyager. We noticed that, because this show is often quite dimly lit, the backlight would appear to pulse slightly, as it struggled to set its brightness level to suit the material. This is very distracting and distinctly undesirable. We didn't, however, have any real problem with it on other material, so we're not going to suggest that this is a huge issue.
HD picture quality
Blu-ray movies on this TV look simply stunning. The true skill of this set really becomes apparent with the opening scenes of Casino Royale, when the initial grainy black and white scene swiftly becomes a bright, animated title sequence. The UE46B8000 handles both brilliantly.
With this film, the detail on faces, scenery and clothes is superb, on-screen text looks as sharp as a pin, and, during the title sequence, the colour and crispness of the animation is truly jaw-dropping. With the colour scenes, the TV manages to portray a realism and life-like quality that we find utterly wonderful.
Audio ability
The built-in speakers are Samsung's usual downward-firing, hidden affairs. It's not a bad system for normal TV viewing, but watching action films or anything that requires more than one sort of sound to be produced at once is unlikely to sound great. If you're spending this much on a TV, you'd be wise to pony up for some external speakers and an AV receiver to complement it.
Hertz arms race
It seems to be almost required now that manufacturers rush to make the TV with the most hertz possible. This year's magic number is 200. Please, we urge you, do not be fooled by this idiotic bluster and blatant nonsense.
200Hz and even 100Hz picture modes simply cannot create information that isn't there. With the UE46B8000, turning on the 200Hz mode with a Blu-ray playing turns the on-screen picture into something that, for the most part, is much smoother than film, but to such an artificial degree that it's painful to watch.
The real problem, however, is the abysmal artefacting that this mode introduces. It's very hard to describe how it destroys the picture, but, when engaged, the 200Hz mode creates blocks of distortion around fast-moving objects. It's a picture-quality travesty, and we object to it on every possible level. If you really hate the film look that's inevitable with, erm, films, then you can use the 'clear' mode, but it's very subtle, and won't give you that pseudo-video look of the higher settings.
Unusual remote
The remote supplied with the UE46B8000 is rather different to other TV controllers. Instead of relying on infrared to control your TV, it uses radio frequencies. The advantage of using radio frequencies to change channel or turn the volume up is that you don't need to have the remote pointed at the TV to do it. In fact, as long as you're in RF range of the TV, you can be in a different room and still control the TV. That's handy for some people, but it's a pain if you use a universal remote control that doesn't have RF capabilities.
Android App 
RSS Feeds 
iPhone App 
Newsletters
User reviews5
Add your review
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.
gilberto 6 January 2010
Good: Design... picture when watching during day time
Bad: Clouding issues which Samsung says come with TV
Comment: Bad experience with Samsung on this TV. (UE46B8000) Had clouding and backlighting issues off center screen and asked samsung to fix TV. Panel was replaced on first repair but problem was still there. After 2nd repair had same issue. Samsung repair center called before 3rd repair to say clouding is expected on LED TV's and TV was working fine.... problem was my expectation that TV should be perfect (you would hope so paying 1700 for a TV). Did not even come for 3rd repair because could not repair clouding issue and just sent report to Samsung CS. Samsung CS said no replacement was necessary as TV was working fine as reported by repair center. Samsung CS said clouding is normal and expected on such TVs. Totally unacceptable behaviour from Samsung CS, basically ask me to "live with it" because clouding/backlight bleeding is acceptable (even though I explained I cannot see picture where clouding exist). My clouding is not at corners but in just off center.
Word of advice - 1) Test TV with Bluray player in dark environment as soon as out of the box. 2) If you notice clouding - return TV to retailer, do not go for warranty because Samsung CS cannot fix it and will ask you to live with it.
I am still trying to get TV replaced.
See all 5 user reviews