Samsung UN55C9000 LED 3D TV

The Samsung UN55C9000 3D TV is currently Samsung’s premium 55 inch flat panel TV. With an ultra-slim profile, a sleek and sophisticated styling, and all the bells and whistles from Samsung included, this 3D TV is vying for a spot as the best 3D TV in the market. Read on to learn about the features and performance of the TV and see how it compares with other top tier 3D TVs from other manufacturers.

Screen Size and Appearance

This drop dead gorgeous TV uses conventional LCD technology in conjunction with Samsung’s new LED edge lit backlighting system. LED Backlighting enables manufacturers to push the limits of flatscreen thickness as is evident with this 3D TV. The UN55C9000’s screen is an astonishing 0.28 inches deep, making it slimmer than a pencil! This TV is sure to turn heads in your living room with its beautiful brushed metal look and ultra-thin LED backlit panel. To achieve this ultra-slim look, Samsung had to offload a majority of the onboard circuitry and the TV tuner outside the actual panel. These components will instead be part of the TV’s base pedestal, so expect the pedestal to be a bit bulky. All in all, this 3D TV certainly does justice to its premium price tag  in the looks and aesthetics department.

Display Technology

Features and Benefits

The UN55C9000 features a 240Hz LCD panel capable of full 1080p display. This enhanced refresh rate has three distinct advantages over lower end LCD TVs.

1. The higher refresh rate is better for viewing 3D content with Samsung’s active shutter glasses. This is because each eye will perceive a refresh rate of 120Hz since active shutter 3D systems halve the effective frame rate of the TV. This will lead to a smoother 3D experience with absolutely no flicker. Read more about active shutter systems in our 3D TV technology guide.
2. A 240Hz display enables smooth judder free playback of movies which are shot at 24 frames per second. They are able to do so via 10:10 pull down. To explain it simply, since the refresh rate (240Hz) is a direct multiple of the video frame rate (24fps – 24×10=240), the frames from the video can sync perfectly with the LCD TV refresh rate, thus providing very smooth, judder free playback.
3. The high refresh rate on the UN55C9000 also offers a better viewing experience for high speed video content such as sports and action movies. The higher refresh rate helps reduce motion blur and ghosting issues thus providing a smoother and more enjoyable TV viewing experience.

Drawbacks – Things to watch out for

The edge lit technology might give rise to slightly uneven backlighting across the whole screen. This is a small sacrifice you have to make when going for a panel with as slim a profile as the UN55C9000. However, this should not be an issue unless you prefer to view movies in the dark. Once this TV is released, it should become more apparent whether this will actually be an issue.

Another concern is a halo effect that has been reported by some viewers at CES 2010 when viewing 3D content. It could of course be teething issues with a new technology and there is a good chance that Samsung will fix these sort of issues before sending their final TV models into production.

3D Technology

As mentioned before, Samsung has adopted Active shutter based 3D technology. Given that this technology is the more robust and backward compatible technology when it comes to LCD and Plasma panels, this seems to be the right choice. The 120Hz refresh rate per eye will allow for an immersive and smooth 3D viewing experience. In addition, the 1080p display will enable HD enjoyment of 3D content on the UN55C9000.

Additionally, this TV set features Samsung’s proprietary 3D upconversion technology that enables it to upconvert regular 2D content into 3D material. How well this works still remains to be seen. This artificial 3D content will never look as real and natural as true 3D content, but it does seem quite promising, especially for certain types of content that it is best suited for.

Format

The Samsung UN55C9000 is capable of displaying true 1080p content. Thus this panel has a resolution of 1920 x 1080. Given that all HD content is currently either at 720p, 1080i or 1080p, the native 1080p display of the UN55C9000 will make it compatible with all HD and 3D content. Although 1080p is no longer the highest resolution since Toshiba’s recent announced of their Cell 3D TV at CES 2010 with a native resolution of 3840 x 2160 (4K), this is nothing to be alarmed of as there is practically zero interest or push from video content producers to move to resolutions over 1080p.

Viewing Angle

While Samsung hasn’t released any numbers yet, the UN55C9000 viewing angle should be on par with other top of the line LCD TVs. The expected viewing angle is around 50 degrees, but we will update this section once the relevant information is made available.

Media, Internet and other Connectivity

The Samsung UN55C9000 features ‘WiFi HD’ which runs on 802.11n. In addition, you can connect the TV to the internet via a regular Ethernet port. If you’re wondering why you would like to hook up your TV to the internet, the answer is Samsung’s “internet@TV” streaming capabilities. The jury is still out on this as it was pretty widely panned in their models last year. Hopefully Samsung will have incorporated major changes to improve this feature.

Additionally, Samsung is also going to provide an iPhone-esque App Store which will allow your 3D TV to stream movies and images from Netflix, Youtube, Flickr, Picasa as well as a host of other news and media content providers.

The UN55C9000 also features USB 2.0 connectivity allowing you to play videos, view slideshows or listen to music with ease. You can also directly connect your digital cameras and MP3 players to the TV for easy access to your pictures and music via your television.

Remote

The remote of the UN55C9000 is truly revolutionary and redefines the functionality and utility of a TV remote control. The remote looks a lot like an iPhone (a good thing) with a very sleek and sexy appearance. The remote uses capacitive touch screen technology just like all the smart phones out there, and also provides haptic feedback to user input. It copies the iPhone in another respect – The presence of a single button, much like the iPhone home button.

The neatest feature of the remote is its ability to connect with the UN55C9000 over WiFi and stream television content directly on the remote. Why is this cool? Well, for one, you can preview and browse other channels without changing or affecting the TV display. The remote is rated for use up to 30 feet away from the television display, a handy feature if you’re working on something in a room next to the TV.

Conclusion

The Samsung UN55C9000 is one of the premium 3D TVs that will be released in 2010. From our early impressions and the TV specifications, it looks like a great TV for consumers who are looking for a premium 3D TV with a “WOW” factor. It has some really neat features like the touch screen remote and internet apps. Finally, the 1080p 240Hz LED backlit LCD panel promises an excellent viewing experience for consumers, whether it be 2D or 3D content. Stay tuned for more details!