Samsung RU8000 Review: This Non-QLED Is As Good As QLED
Although there is no doubt of the premium experience of Samsung’s Quantum-Dot ‘QLED,’ but it also comes with a premium price tag.
So it’s great to find that even when you step down to a non-QLED models like the RU8000, Samsung will mix both picture quality and a superb smart panel. Their colored filters develop regular light configurations and are therefore far more economical by less destructive backlight systems.
Nonetheless, the problem is, can it balance value and efficiency reasonably well to justify its existence or does it interrupt the quality and output stools?
Price
The Samsung RU8000 is the mid-range 2019 topper of Samsung and comes in five sizes with 75 inch, 65 inch, 55 inch and 49 inch display. A gigantic edition of 82 inch is only available in the USA.
For the 49 inch UN49RU8000 the price starts at $599.99, whereas the 82 inch UN82RU8000 is only about $1,000 extra ($1,799 to be accurate). In the meantime, you have the Samsung UN55RU8000 in $649, Samsung UN65RU8000 in $899, and Samsung UN75RU8000 for $1,299.
You can still choose between 65, 55 and 49 inch models in the UK for Samsung RU8000, which cost you at £749, £599 or £549 respectively. In the States you’ll have less choices than in the EU.
Next, but not least, there’s three RU8000 models for Australia, which cost AU$1,599, AU$2,299 and AU$4,699 for 55”, 54”, and 82” inch respectively.
Design
The RU8000 is not especially sexy according to Samsung specifications, the panel design looks and feels very light-weight when you set it up. The feet of its screen is also flare-free. And as they blend in to the lower left and right corners of the Screen, you’ll need a nice big table or chair to place your television on.
The good news, it’s not as thin round as some today’s LCDs or, especially, OLED TVs, but certainly it’s not a “price fatty.” And while its lingerie may not be particularly solid, it is at least rather small, which means you are not much distracted from the all-important images of the RU8000.
The 55-inch 55RU8000 holds four HDMIs, both able to handle 4K and HDR, which are amazing for its cost. There are a number of USBs for digital functions, and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity are included. Remember that there is no hard headphone link when you plan to use headphones using the RU8000, instead you’ll need two Bluetooth headphones.
Model TL;DR: It’s a little sleek and lightweight and rests on two of the simplest feet that we saw. However, it is decently fashionable around its backs and borders and has four handy HDMI connections.
Smart TV
The Samsung RU8000 is fitted with the same intelligent Eden 2.0 platform, built in Tizen.
It allows you to create a fast, space-saving home screen with a streamlined set of connections along the bottom of the screen. Sometimes, if the app you have chosen from the base deck supports, an upper layer of direct content link appears.
To hold your favorites at the top, you can quickly rearrange the current order of the icons. Samsung Bixby Voice Control lets you put the remote search terms and operating commands. Amazon Alexa may also be used, but it’s just if you have an outside Alexa player.
Samsung’s intuitive platform supports a very large list of apps. Chile (promising 8k content) and Apple TV devices link up to regular Smart TV sessions such as Hulu, Facebook, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Rakuten and all of UK’s main terrestrial network apps. The Apple TV+ subscription and the Apple ‘iTunes’ movie and TV show collection are eligible.
Where available, all the content in any video app is played in 4K and HDR. While Samsung is still unable to support Dolby Vision, HDR playback covers only HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG formats.
Freeview Play, which is the only feature that lacks, meaning, while all the main broadcasters are available for UK channels, you can’t see them all under the convenient “Umbrella” interface of Freeview Play.
The smart design of the Samsung RU8000 only has a Quad Core Processor behind it instead of some of Samsung’s flagship TVs with the most powerful engines. Nevertheless, during our experiments it performed decently and stably.
Smart TV TL;DR: Samsung’s new intelligent network pinpoints huge amount of content with limited screen real estate.
Sound
On the audio level, the RU8000 is almost average. The sound is quite clear and revealing and during noisy action scenes, it doesn’t sound too frail. The sound is pulled away very effectively from the screen, which allows it to spread sound all across the room than you usually hear with such affordable TVs.
Vocals appear to be clear and smooth, and it is a blessing that while the Samsung RU8000 bodywork is rather fragile, it is not interrupted by rattling or humming.
On the downside, the bass doesn’t have much depth or presence and the performance tends to remain rather flat, not open for high moments, nor take a subtler tone for quieter scenes.
Audio TL;DR: The sound of the RU8000 will not excite you much, but it also won’t disappoint you.
Final Verdict
By looking at the details, it could be supposed that the Samsung RU8000 cannot justify its position between Samsung’s clever and more vibrant QLED TVs and the stern performance of the spectacular Samsung RU7470 sequence.
