Samsung UE55C8000 3D TV : 3D Ready?

Is Samsung’s 55-inch-er good enough to make you embrace 3D tech?

Leading the pack of first-gen 3D TVs invading your local Comet is this 55-inch Samsung LED TV that’s packed full of features – and we’re not just talking about its active shutter 3D technology. It’s has outstanding 2D picture quality. built-in Freeview services. It’s much more than just a one-gimmick set.

3D capability may supposedly be this year’s hot feature, but with so little content currently available you’ll spend most of your time watching regular 2D telly and movies. Thankfully the UE55C8000 deliver superb image quality, with rich color reproduction, sharp detail and excellent contrast than makes the best of even the most mundane 2D fare.

The LED backlights are edge-mounted and help produce deep black and bright whites, while smooth motion processing prevents motion judder. Skin tones can tend to look a little unnatural though, and adjusting the setting doesn’t help much.

At the 23.9mm deep without the stand, the UE55C8000 is one of the thinnest 55-inchers we’ve seen. Despite its svelte look it packs decent sound from the two 15W speakers and an impressive amount of connectivity, with four HDMI 1.4 socket as well as a choice of analogue inputs. There’s also DLNA for streaming media content over your home network and selection of web-connected widgets including iPlayer, Picasa and Youtube.

The best way to think of the UE55C8000 is as a great TV that also happens to display 3D content. However, at £3,000 you’re paying somewhat of a premium of it.

With your active shutter glasses at the ready-one set’s included, extras cost around £150 a pop- you hook up a 3D Blu-ray player and insert a Blu-ray disk -  Monsters vs Aliens comes bundled with this TV.

Active shutter tech means you get full 1080 pixel resolution and convincing 3D effect. There’s the odd instance of “crossover” where you can see ghostly outline of the second image. but overall the 3D is exemplary.

Think Of The 8000 as Top Quality TV That Also Happens to Play 3D Content

While you wait for more 3D content to become available, the UE55C8000 can also convert 2D source to 3D. In most cases it doesn’t have much  of an impact, with pictures looking flat, but occasionally it provides extra depth. racing games work particularly well.

The UE55C8000 is easy to set up, with the battery-powered specs requiring just one button press to sync with the 200Hz screen. In the past we’ve had issues with the glasses popping out sync, but there’s hardly any sign of that here.

All told, the UE55C8000 is an excellent TV, pretty much guaranteed to impress both you and the Joneses. ideally wait for the inevitable price drop rather than diving straight in though.

Specifications

• Screen Type - LCD with LED edge lighting
• Resolution - 1920×1080 with 24p
• Refresh Rate - 1.6ms
• Tuners – Freeview HD
• Connections - 4x HDMI 1.4, PC, component, composite, optical out, headphones, 2x USB, ethernet, Wi-Fi via optical dongle (£50)
• Online – Internet@TV including Lovefilm, BBC iPlayer, Twitter, youtube, Skype
• Audio – 2x 15W, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Pulse
• Size/Weight - 1282x772x23.9mm /22kg