Samsung UN55ES6800 Review

55" 1080p 3D LED Back Lit HDTV Smart TV

by Jack Burden, Reviewer

Replacing the 2011 55UN6400 6 series LED television is the 55 inch UN55ES6800 with edge lit LED backlighting, a thin screen depth at just 2 inches and 3D compatibility. The UN55ES6800 also includes Samsung's full Internet suite with the Smart Hub. It has a fantastic picture from HD signals and struggles a bit with standard definition signals due to the overpowering backlights. Colors can get a bit overwhelmed by the brightness from the backlight. It also continues with 240Hz processing power in the refresh rate. The TrueMotionPlus and AutoMotionPLus features are always worth thoroughly testing.

Picture Quality

Micro Dimming

Though it does not apply to as many zones in the screen as the Micro Dimming Ultimate from the highest end Samsung LEDs, the micro dimming technology in the 55" Samsung UN55ES6800 works by localizing parts of the screen for more or less LED backlighting. It is a significant upgrade feature from last years 6000 series TVs and this years lower "6000" lines of LEDs from Samsung. It works well to help eliminate screen uniformity issues.

480 Clear Motion

The UN55ES6800 has the 480Hz Clear Motion rate equivalent processing (from a 240hz screen) which helps considerably with fast motion processing and motion blur. The true Hz rate of the panel is 240Hz but the Clear Motion feature upgrades the 240Hz through the above mentioned local dimming process to give you an "effective" frame rate of 480.

Clear Coat Screen

Continuing from 2011 is the excellent clear coat screen technology that this LED TV contains is one of our favorites for 2012. It appreciably increases depth perception and black levels and contrast while allowing whites to really peak out. The more advanced Samsung LEDs like this one also do a great job in trapping incoming light from surrounding room light. Brightness is also exceptional and a strong point with this series.

Color

Color performance in the UN55ES6800 is very good as long as you keep the backlight setting on a moderate 70% level. Many viewers like this look as evidenced by network broadcasts craking up the saturation. This can be dialed back in calibration if you prefer more realistic colors so fans of either look can be satisfied by the ES6800.

Back Light

The back light on the UN55ES6800 is extremely powerful, at full power the backlight can wash out colors and cause some noticeable screen uniformity issues, both of these issues can be cured by dialing the back light back a bit and we recommend doing just that

Side Angle Viewing

Though we have not yet measured the point at which contrast begins to decrease from side angles on the UN55ES6800, our preliminary viewing suggests that it will be about 40 degrees off center, which is much better than 2011 models. Edge lit LED TVs typically have difficulty with this picture quality element. Only plasma TVs have no problem with it.

In this shot the rich colors of the ES6800 show well in the sunset.

Black Levels

Blacks on the ES6800 are dark and inky, Samsung has been improving the black performance on its LED televisions each year and the 2012 models are slightly improved over the 2011 models. Most of the improvement is in dark shadow detail where the older models suffered some in dark scenes.

3D TV Viewing

3D performance has improved again in the 2012 Samsung 3D LED televisions. Samsung has stuck with active 3D on all of its 3D TVs, both LED and plasma while some of their competitors have gone to passive 3D. Samsung's new 3D glasses are lighter and more comfortable this year which was a complaint heard about the bulkier glasses that were included with older active 3D Samsung televisions.

Smart TV

Samsung's Smart Hub returns again this year, the interface is user friendly and the remote has buttons on it for quick access to some of the more popular features. Streaming video is available from major providers like Netflix, Amazon Video-On-Demand, Hulu, VuDu and more. There is also access to the Samsung App store which will be instantly familiar to smartphone users who use a marketplace to search and download apps on their phone. There are apps for news, weather, sports and even games you can play on your television. Many of the apps are free though some run anywhere from $.99 to $9.99

Dual Core Processor

There is a dual core processor included in this model but only for signal processing and Smart TV, it does not include the new Smart TV interaction feature, nor a front facing camera.

Appearance

The ES6800 line has a 1.2" acrylic bezel over black. The edge sticks out a little further than the black edge to give a clear modern look. The depth of the TV is 1.5."

Quick Specs

• 55" Diagonal Screen
• 1080p Full HD

Specifications

• Screen Size: 55"
• Aspect ratio: 16:9, 1920 x 1080p
• Inputs: 4 HDMI v.1.4 (best audio/video connection) / 3 USB 2.0 / PC input / component video / composite video / component audio / optical digital audio / PC audio
• Audio enhancement: Dolby Digital Plus / SRS TheatreSound HD
• Built-in speakers: 10W x 2
• Mounting options: swivel pedestal stand / wall-mountable
• Built-in Wi-Fi
• DLNA compatible
• Samsung SmartTV apps, media hub
• ConnectShare USB
• Skype on Samsung TV
• Ultra Clear Panel
• Wide Color Enhancer Plus
• Eco Sensor
• AutoMotion Plus 120Hz with Clear Motion Rate