Samsung UN55F6800 Review (UN55F6800AF)

55 Inch edge lit LED TV 1080p, Smart TV, 3D Window Design

by , Senior Editor

Samsung UN60F6800The UN55F6800 is a surprising LED from Samsung. It's the 4th tier model and is not a direct replacement for any model from last year although the UN55ES6580 would be the closest. The front facing camera is optional, but it has micro dimming capability and is the only offering from Samsung in 2013 to offer what they call the “Window Design.” While this design is very similar to the .2” wide bezel designs on the F7100 and F7500 series it is a little thinner, and has a “branch style” stand rather than the half moon arc of the F7500 or the quadrapod stand on the F7100. It is only available in 3 sizes a this point.

More on the UN55F6800
UN55F6800 Specifications

Picture Quality

Micro Dimming

Though it does not apply to as many zones in the screen as the top end models, this feature works by localizing parts of the screen for more or less LED backlighting. It is a significant upgrade and works well to help eliminate screen uniformity issues and does a good job in that area.

Samsung UN60F6800
The F6800 is capable of great image clarity as shown here. Contrast has the help of micro dimming to achieve dark blacks and bright whites all in the same shot

600 Clear Motion

The UN55F6800 has the 600Hz Clear Motion rate equivalent processing (from a 240hz screen) which is designed to help 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 600 in the F6800.

Side Viewing Angle Quality

As with any LED/LCD TV your viewing angles are going to suffer somewhat. The F6800 is not worse than others in this area, in fact it may be better but contrast/saturation diminished by around 20% at 25 to 30 degrees off center. Stay front and center for the best results from this TV.

Samsung UN60F6800
This shot shows off realistic color rendition. Color can be a touch oversaturated when it comes to LCD/LED TVs, it seems to be a bit more restrained here. Contrast is also displayed nicely

3D Viewing

Active 3D viewing on the UN55F6800 is consistently good. With 3D content we did not note any crosstalk. There is also no blurring in the bottom corners of the picture. The 3D glasses not only perform well but are the most comfortable land light in the active 3D market. Staying front and center is even more important with 3D on the F6800. Side angle 3D viewing works to diminish contrast and colors fade.

2D to 3D Conversion (from all resolutions)

This advanced feature is included on the F6800 and the converted content actually looks respectable in 3D. The small 3D button on the bottom right of the remote accesses this control with one press of a button. There is some slight crosstalk and the 3D effects are more subtle than with a 3D movie, but it's a feature that works much better than expected. It's best used in a dark room just like the normal 3D function. It will add some spark to those old standard definition DVDs and the conversion feature can be used from our picture settings or from the Standard picture mode setting.

Smart TV Smart Hub with Web Connected Apps

Samsung is very proud of the vast array of Apps they are now providing and the Samsung UN55F6800 has access to them all. There are over 1600 Apps – most of them small and priced between .99 and $9.99 but many are offered for free. Aside from that the usual premium channels options are also incuded. There is a new Search All feature to allow you to find videos via Apps or other connected devices as well. Social media hookups like Facebook and Twitter are of course present.

Samsung UN60F6800
On the Apps page you will find all of your downloaded apps, like the ones listed below. Samsung has also implemented lots of recommendation features this year. On the top of the screen you see some recommended apps

The following 3 Apps are Samsung proprietary and do add some value if they would just load quicker. The dual core processor in the UN55F6800 should help the speed some.

Family Story: Samsung wants this to be a prominent App for you and even includes a dedicated button on the remote control for it. It basically allows you to input photos, and videos from Samsung tablets, smartphones to play on the TV. Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Fitness VOD App: Videos of workouts such as the “Sexy Chair Workout.” That one is pretty good, Great for dancers. There is a pretty wide assortment including light weights and yoga. But load times are painfully slow. Some of the Apps in the Fitness section are for sale, while some are free from Exercise TV. The instructions is pretty good. Rating 3.5 out of 5.

Explore 3D: A selection of free Samsung licensed 3D content. There are many categories of 3D content here including, kids, sports, documentaries, music videos. It's a much better selection than other manufacturers. Rating 4 out of 5.

Overall, Samsung still has far and away the best Internet Apps selection with categories, Videos, Most Popular, games, sports, lifestyle, information, education. There is much better free content than the other brands out there and the paid Apps are better and more reasonably priced as well. The Premium Apps such as the movie services, sports and music are also top notch.

Appearance/Design

Design is one of the key feature of the UN55F6800 with the “window design” which is accentuated by the almost imperceptible branch style stand feet and super thin .2” bezel frame. The color of the frame is a matte silver finish. To me it doesn't look better or worse really than the F7100, F7500 or F8000 series. All have the super thin almost non-existent bezel frame and are great looking.

Samsung UN60F6800
This is the "window" design. The name must come from the thin glass frame that protrudes from the screen. It's a very unique look. The branch style stand is very unintrusive and complements the floating image look

Audio Quality

Audio quality on this TV is not bad considering the super thin depth of the TV. Sound quality is around a 7 on a 10 point scale.



Robert Wiley Having reviewed and written about Television Technology for over 10 years, Wiley never tires of researching the newest qualitative trends related to the technology. Most people do not get excited about possibilities behind the latest video engine...Wiley does. Read more about Robert

 



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