At $10,000 for 55 inches of LED backlit LCD screen, the Samsung Series 9 LED isn’t exactly affordable. In fact, you could even say it’s the polar opposite of affordable. But it’s not meant to be – It’s evident that every aspect of this screen, from the features to the stainless steel bezel, is designed to shout out “luxury”.
The screen itself is just 7.98mm thick – which is mind blowing when seen up close. Of course, there are no connections in that thin body, with Samsung instead placing all the connections in the stand (which also doubles as the wall mount.
On top of the LED backlighting and super-slim profile, the Series 9 includes all the current buzzwords – 3D, IPTV and DLNA media streaming.
But the coolest aspect of this television is the remote control – which connects to the TV over Wi-Fi and features a touchscreen control to navigate through all your inputs and channels. Oh, and watch whatever’s playing on your TV on the remote’s screen (or a different channel). You can control other HDMI-CEC devices as well using the remote making it almost-universal.
[Samsung]
Crispy
Monday, July 19, 2010 at 9:56 AMIt looks sweet, but I hope it doesn’t have “Touch” buttons like the rest of them!!
matt
Monday, July 19, 2010 at 10:30 AMlol, typical of tv manufactures these days… any chance of word on the QUALITY of the PICTURE?
I saw a 42″ Panasonic neo-plasma on the weekend. its the first TV I’ve seen that has really made me want to upgrade my 3 year old sony X series. seemed to suffer alot less from the “crt style peripheral flickering” that I notice in most plasmas, basically, I think it was less effected by ambient light. this and other things resulted in a very smooth picture from a motion sense. and of course the contrast and color was amazing. cheap too. I think, especially if you were looking for 3D, you would be crazy not to go with the Panasonic option after seeing that.
Nick Broughall
Monday, July 19, 2010 at 10:55 AMMatt – I saw the picture on Friday afternoon and it seemed decent enough, but with no control over the source material and the settings all on Dynamic for the function, it may not have been an accurate representation of what you’ll get in the home, so I decided not to comment on it…
matt
Monday, July 19, 2010 at 1:46 PMlol yeah, wasn’t questioning your reporting of it, rather the strange priorities of the TV companies with their promotional material. not just here, but everywhere these days.. I don’t know about everyone else, but for me, a TV is something you are gonna have for a while, peripheral features come and go, but the image quality is something that you will have to put up with for years, thats why it seems weird to me that the TV manufactures seem to be more focused on added extras, like DLNA ect.
especially if you’re rich. any of these added extras can be cobbled together yourself (buy a universal remote, buy a media server) but superior image quality, thats something you can’t cobble together yourself, hence would truly separate you from the rest.
you know, its usually the budget end that comes with lots of functionality (like tvs with the vcrs built in ect) as you climb the socio-economic ladder, it becomes less about convergence (and the value that brings) and more about taking the core functionality of the product to the extreme.
Simon Reidy
Monday, July 19, 2010 at 4:52 PMFor once I find myself wholeheartedly agreeing with you matt! (that is if you’re the same matt that hates Apple with a passion? :).
Picture quality is everything and picture quality is not something I equate with Samsung. I haven’t seen Panasonic’s new range of plasmas yet, but from what I hear the VT25 is the best screen ever. Not only in terms of black levels, processing and colour reproduction, but their implementation of 3D sounds like the best by a long shot. I own a 50″ Panasonic PZ800A 1080p panel and it’s the best TV I’ve ever owned. I’m still amazed by the picture quality of Blu-Rays every time I put one on.
I also just can’t equate a silver panel with “premium”. I was hoping that horrible colour trend had been phased out for good as black has made a big comeback lately. I want to be immersed by the picture of a panel when the lights are out, not distracted by reflections from a chrome bezel.
matt
Monday, July 19, 2010 at 11:52 PMexactly, the favorite ‘new feature’ of the 2nd gen bravia X series I got was that it now came in Black instead of silver! soo much better when in, the dark, the bezel just disappears.
I can kinda understand it here though. when it comes to styling, a pitch black TV can kinda stick out like a saw thumb in a brightly colored living room. if you take what I said before, styling is another core aspect of a TV to some.
so I guess this TV is kinda meant for the rich casual user, rather than the “A/V connoisseur”, they want a stylish mantle piece with a fancy remote they can show of to their friends… I can understand that, and its not like it will be a slouch when it comes to performance, it IS still a samsung LED, which have been admirable, if not up there with the best plasmas.
just not the TV I’d spend 10k on. even if I had 10k to throw around. just kinda miffed that the kinda TV I’d spend 10k on are becoming fewer and farther between. can’t even go to Sony for some crazy technical extravaganza anymore. maybe its just the LCD guys, maybe they have just given up on ever competing purely on the “image quality” field with plasma, knowing that the “A/V connoisseur” is going to go that rout no matter what.
so, I suppose at least we have Panasonic. :)
glennc
Monday, July 19, 2010 at 12:32 PMunfortunately it is LCD
MANDY
Monday, July 19, 2010 at 12:45 PMI bet it looses its signal strength when you touch it with all that metal, quick do a recall its flawed… oh sorry wrong thread :) LOL
attila
Monday, July 19, 2010 at 1:44 PMI am pretty sure that the remote (which is awesome) is also compatible with some of their other higher end TV’s – it just doesn’t ship with them standard.
Unless they have two touchscreen remotes kicking around, which I doubt.
Chris Rigg
Monday, July 19, 2010 at 4:08 PMStill gotta watch the same shit on it anyway, no point in going high end.
Paul
Monday, July 19, 2010 at 10:49 PMI paid $5k for my tv and 6 months later they are about $2k … So I will look forward to buying one of these expensive 55″ tvs with it’s external mini tv remote for about $4k in 6 mths.