Samsung UN75ES9000 Review

The UN75ES9000 includes Samsung's new Micro Dimming Ultimate which is a feature to describe edge lit local dimming. This creates a more detailed picture by brightening areas of the screen with light. The effects are tremendous and make a more colorful 3 dimensional image even from 2D programming. I was very impressed by the side angle viewing quality this year as opposed to previous years and even with an extremely vivid image displayed on the screen I could not detect any screen backlight uniformity issues with this TV. Samsung makes this happen by separating the picture into hundreds of parts and pieces and changing the amount of backlighting from the LEDs. The technology also helps eliminate and reduce any "halo" effect that might have been there before.

Color

Colors are plenty bright but are somewhat muted from time to time – depending on content. Certainly with 1080p broadcast programming they will be super vivid. This is a great time to test our calibration settings for this model or its predecessor (either should work). You will see a marked improvement in realism with these color calibrations.

This is Samsung's top of the line for 2012, the 75 inch UN75ES9000. The massive edge lit LED has tons of extra features including a cool new remote which includes a QWERTY keyboard and Google's new TV search function. 3D viewing is excellent with no visible crosstalk, blurring in the edges or 3D screen uniformity issues. It's also got that very cool styling and super thin screen depth. We wish Samsung could inlude more than 1 or 2 pair of the active shutter 3D glasses. Samsung has been working hard on their Smart Hub Smart TV offering for 2012 with more Apps and full search. Brightness on this TV is extreme and so is contrast. We absolutely love the contrast and black level. Watch out for washing out your colors with too much Brightness. Keep this setting set to moderate.

Back Light

Background light in scene images from the sun or other sources present an excellent contrast in the UN55ES8000 due to the great light throughput caused by the LED backlighting combined with Samsung's newer LCD panel overlays. This is also assisted by the clear coat screen. One of the side benefits of this is incredible picture quality in older 480p type signals (standard definition TV or DVD). In some scenes you would think you were watching a 720p high definition signal.

Contrast

Samsung's UND8000 series from last year included some of the best contrast ratio levels we experienced all year. Depending on the sensitivity of the light meter, contrast for this TV will be at the very top range. This Samsung TV is also be a top performer in brightness levels. We measure peak brightness from a quick review at CES, the UN65ES8000 has just as strong a performance. In torch mode (peak brightness) whites measure over 100 footlamberts.

3D Viewing Quality

3D Viewing Quality has improved drastically on this years and last years Samsung offerings. Samsung uses active shutter glasses in it's 3D offerings and continues to espouse that technology. Samsung has one of the widest arrays of 3D glasses available with the introduction of the (SSG-3300GR) model 3D glasses. The new 3D glasses are light and comfortable. The ES8000's active 3D display has great depth, detail and none of the crosstalk and bottom edge blurring that it once had. I've also noticed a marked decrease in eye strain/fatigue due to watching 3D on this TV and others like it. The only negative we have recently noted is some glare from the inside lenses of the glasses from surrounding room lights. Other than turning off the lights, I have not figured out a way around this problem.

This shot shows the fine detail the ES8000 is capable of.

Appearance

The striking appearance of the Samsung UN75ES9000 is characterized by a "window" effect with a .2" bezel frame design which increases visible screen area without increasing the size of the overall TV dimensions. The depth is around .5" as well so super slim. These features are similar to the successful D8000 from 2012. The color of the barely noticeable frame is silver chrome. The accompanying metal stand with this TV is U-shaped and is matte finish on the tops while the edges are a shiny chrome. It will stand out as a modern design in any case and is designed to complement the TV.

Optional Mount: Samsung offers an optional wall mount to help keep the TV as tight as possible to the wall.

Smart Evolution Kit

This new for 2013 feature allows owners to upgrade their TVs features, content and performance cush as the Smart Interaction features. Smart content as the company calls it can be upgraded. The kit will be available for sale starting early 2013 and the 75ES9000 is eligible.

Samsung's Smart Hub menu for 2012. The top left box shows your current programming

Smart TV

With an entire new set of services, Samsung's Smart TVs allow the family a rich variety of options for their home viewing pleasure. Not only can families enjoy their TV shows and Blu-Ray movies, but they can view personal photos, organize their to-do lists, and manage their exercise regimens—all through the TV. There's no worry of this innovative technology fading into obscurity, either; with a Smart Evolution feature, the TV uploads the newest features each year through a kit.

Samsung's line of Smart LED TVs, such as the UN75ES9000 LED, features dual-core processors that allow for multi-tasking. Now users can pull up multiple apps at a time without having to exit out of any of them. Searching for movies and apps, browsing the web, and chatting with friends and family becomes easier with the Smart TV's improved speed and versatility. Parents can easily monitor their kids' movie and TV experience—and children won't mind because Samsung offers plenty of kid-friendly entertainment. The Media Hub app, one of Samsung's most successful programs, will expand in 2012, allowing users to access multiple web pages and apps at a time in a clean, well-organized interface.

Along with the other Smart TV features, you get Google TVs new search function and also Samsung's Social TV feature which allows you to see facebook activity, Twitter feeds and other social media platforms on a side bar.

Angry Birds App:There is a new Angry Birds App being introduced with this TV. Can you imagine playing Angry Birds on a TV this gorgeous and 90” of it? About as radical as we get in the early 20teens I'm afraid.

Mtv Music Meter: Lists of musician/bands trending on the Internet. 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 allows you to input photos, and videos from Samsung tablets, smartphones to play on the TV. Fitness VOD App - Videos of workouts such as the “Sexy Chair Workout.” MLB.tv - Major League baseball.

Explore 3D: A selection of free Samsung licensed 3D content. There are many categories of 3D content here including, kids, sports, documentaries, music videos that are generally around 20-30 minutes in length.

Smart Interaction

Perhaps the greatest and most unbelievable feature on this TV is the facial recognition and voice and hand control in the ES8000. "Control" may be a strong word to use for the feature, but you can certainly turn the TV on just by saying, "Hi TV." Also, waving your hand in front of the ES8000 while it's running will prompt it to display menu control choices near the bottom of the screen. The tab choices are transparent so it does not interfere too much with the content you are watching on-screen. Controlling the on screen pointer with your hand motion, going to the control option you want, then closing your hand will tell the TV to open that option. The facial recognition part of the equation allows the TV to know which settings to set the TV to when you arrive to watch it and turn it on. See that little bulge atop the TV. All this is enabled by the small built in front facing camera located there.

Although all these features are cool and avant-garde we have found them slow and trying to use. It's a good attempt by Samsung to provide something new, but as it stands now without lots of improvement will probably not be used much.

WiFi and Web Browser

Built in Wifi is included in the ES9000 and allows for easy connection to the Internet to enable the Smart TV Internet TV options. A full web browser allows full access to the Internet, which is very useful for searching today's wide selection of online free television programming or gaming. We'll await thorough testing to see if use of the web browser is any fast than it is with the other Samsung's on the market for 2012. We liked the QWERTY remote from 2011 better.

Web Browser

A full web browser allows full access to the Internet, which is very useful for searching today's wide selection of online free television programming or gaming.

Value

The UN75ES9000 is not light on the budget at just south of $10,000 (at least they throw in 4 pairs of 3D glasses – value $120?). We expect this model to sell for a premium in price with the only other 80” TVs on the market – the Sharp LC-80LE844U which is somewhere north of $5000 at the moment. That's primarily because the far superior picture quality in the ES9000 – not necessarily because of the Smart Interaction features. Price-wise the UN75ES9000 will start out competing price-wise with the Sharp LC-90LE745U 90” that was just introduced.