Samsung - 65" Class - LED - NU8000 Series - 2160p - Smart - 4K UHD TV with HDR

Let's just go with the pros and cons. The pros outweigh the cons, thus the 4 star rating, but I do have a lot to talk about in the cons section. Pros: **Picture quality - It's is among the best out there, and the reason I bought this TV. I use the calibration settings from RTINGS for the NU8000, with the exception of standard rather than movie mode, and brightness level up to about 25 unless you are in a pitch black basement. As is normal for calibration recommendations, it looks a little washed out and warm unless you up the brightness and change the mode. Don't be afraid to do so. A lot of people don't like calibrated TVs. **Good HDR, good color, good black level, good motion handling for sports and action movies, overall great image. Cons: **First, the advertisements. big problem. You can disable some by going into the menu Support -> Terms and Policy -> internet based advertisement and uncheck it. Then General -> smart features -> uncheck both smart hub autorun options. BUT you will still have to look at Samsung's rental suggestions. So these options aren't 100%. Samsung is really digging deep to monetize, but you guys already know that if you have a Galaxy phone. **Unreliable software and remote control connectivity - My first TV failed this way, eventually the remote would not power it up unless I would unplug it from the wall. When I did that, then it would slowly lose remote functionality until it would lock up. A full reset from the menu did not help. I was within the return period so I boxed the TV up and returned it, then got a replacement. Unfortunately the replacement did the same thing, but worse, I could not even get past the setup before I'd lose the control! It was stuck on the select English screen. I thought it had to be something else, some interference but I tried everything. Powering down and unplugging everything around the TV. Ultimately, Geek Squad came out and solved the problem using a special Samsung remote control that gave them access to a service menu to do a different kind of reset than the one that is in the user menus. That worked. The TV has been fine since. I am a person who NEVER recommends the extended warranty, but in this case, with this TV which IMHO is one of the best made picture wise, get the 5 year Geek Squad plan. Being an engineer myself I expected an unskilled kid to show up but I was rather impressed. I still like the TV because of the picture quality and recommend it because of that. You can really only do better with QLED, but then you have to worry about serious screen burn-in issues. (look it up - and don't fall asleep watching CNN) But I don't recommend this TV purchased from a mail order outlet, or purchased without an extended service plan that is *available immediately in the first year* like Geek Squad. Beware of service plans that don't kick in until year 2 because then you'll have to deal with Samsung if it doesn't work after the return period but before the 1st year is up. The Samsung guy I spoke to on the phone was clearly overseas, I could barely hear with a crackly distorted phone line, he barely spoke English, and it was clear he was working a script not working with any actual knowledge himself. Great TV but there's a little more risk to be closer to the bleeding edge. The Samsung 6500 series I've had in the gameroom for years and years keeps going without issues. But not as good motion handling, black levels or colors.

We were needing to replace our aging 10 year old Samsung TV to enter the modern 4K world. Our old model served us well, and in fact still works well, but it doesn’t have the sleek, small bezel look nor the sharp resolution of modern 4K TVs. The NU8000 at around $999.00 comes in at about half the price of that older TV. The NU8000 boasts a UHD 4K screen resolution, and 120 khz over-sampling for an amazingly clear image, even on older HD resolution content. Our cable service, DVD’s and streaming video all look brighter and more vivid on this TV. In short, the screen is gorgeous and the 65 inch size takes up only a few more inches of wall space than the old 55 inch unit due to the smaller bezel and form factor. This TV looks clean and modern whether powered on or off. I already had a Samsung sound bar and wireless subwoofer, which I hooked up to the NU8000 via optical cable, and darn if that sound bar (about 2 years old) doesn’t sound much better on this updated TV too – and the Samsung Smart Remote controls it seamlessly. The audio processing on this TV has improved it. But I want to focus my review on the TV user interface – something often neglected in looking for a new TV. Usually device user interfaces are kind of gimmicky, but honestly Samsung has learned a thing or two from their phone business. The NU8000 user interface and smart remote are a joy to use. I have been a long time user of the Harmony universal remote system by Logitech to help tame the complexity of cable boxes, DVD’s, Roku Boxes, and sound systems of a modern home theater. The NU8000 with it's smart remote, and built in streaming features almost eliminates the need for the Harmony remote (I'll hang on to it for awhile though). The user interface is content driven, and Samsung, like others has gotten into the content distribution business. Once you set up all your sources (Spectrum Cable box via HDMI, Roku via HDMI, and internal TV streaming Apps), you can search for content on your TV by voice much as you can with a Roku or Amazon device. These abilities are honestly moving past gimmick status to being truly useful. The TV has native Smart TV features and comes with Apps for Netflix, Amazon Video, YouTube, and Amazon Music, as well as the ability to install additional Aps for specific content providers (i.e. HGTV, CNN, Sports etc.). The Smart TV features work quite well, and all but eliminate the need for “yet another box” such as a Roku, Apple, or Amazon Fire Stick. And because the user interface is integrated into the TV, switching content sources is extremely easy and intuitive. It’s all there on the TV’s home screen, including your Cable provider. I will probably use the TV's native apps for Netflix and Amazon Prime, but I will still keep my Roku attached for those few apps not available in the Samsung world (for example Hoopla - a favorite!). The NU8000 comes with built in Wi-Fi (including 5 ghz band Wi-Fi), and with an Ethernet port. If you choose to use the native Smart TV aps (which I can highly recommend), I’d suggest hooking up an Ethernet cable if you are able. While the Wi-Fi works well, hard wired internet access improves latency – the time it takes for things to start loading. Bottom Line: If you are looking for a solid, mid-range 4K TV, the Samsung NU8000 will serve you well. You can buy TV’s with brighter and more impressive screens (LG's OLED or Samsung's QLED for example) and they are stunning, but at 2.5 times the cost. Mostly you notice the difference when in the showroom seeing screens side by side. For most of us, the NU8000 level of screen will serve nicely – maybe for another 10 years. The user interface, which doesn’t usually get much attention is really quite amazing, and the Samsung Smart Universal remote is also a strong value added, and intuitive (working by Wi-Fi rather than IR when available). This TV may well simplify your home theater set up. Definitely recommended.

Compared this 65 inch tv with the Sony 800F and LGSK9000. I think I will keep it , although I am kinda regretting not going with the LG for $400 more. I have concluded that all these tvs have their pluses and minuses. The higher you pay the more you get. This unit is decent and well priced vs competitors. If I were to bump up my budget I would have gone with Sony 900F or perhaps Samsung QLED. With that said, here are the pluses for the NU8000: 1) good black levels - yesterday I clicked the pause button right after a show ended and the screen was displaying pure black. I thought the tv turned off. 2) good color out of the box. Like most tvs it is a little on the cool side. Could use more color presets. If you are good with RGB sliders (I am not) you can fine tune the gain and bias . In the end I went with standard with slight tint towards green. Depends on content but this looks good for skin tones and uniform colors. TV is wide gamut which is good for displaying colors but stuff that isn't color manged properly such as show banners might look over saturated. 3) good picture quality. Not too saturated or too much contrast - crystal clear for 4K content and sports (more on that below) 4) no bad pixels, banding, light bleeding or other screen issues on my unit 5) sound was better than I expected. It was okay for tv. I did watch one HBO show yesterday that I thought sounded terrible but everything else has been okay. 6) viewing angle is adequate. I have a sectional couch about 15 feet from the tv. All seats are good. If you go off angle than picture does drop off quickly. Here are the negatives: 1) It won't hold my wifi signal. Router is from BigCable Inc, only two years old and is 15 feet from tv. No excuse for dropping signal. 2) Samsung apps on Smart Hub stink. Direct TV Now app is still in beta and not functioning properly. Very annoying. Luckily I have 3rd gen Fire TV which works flawlessly. I also like the interface better on the Fire TV. 4) not a lot of apps in the Samsung app store. No PBS, no AMC. Again, Fire TV makes up for it. 3) Included within SmartHub are free Samsung streaming channels. These channels are total garbage and I wish I could deinstall them. 4) Since I am using HDMI source for Fire TV I sometimes change my source to the TV's SmartHub without shutting down Amazon Fire. Am I double streaming at that point? Not sure. I'm most likely just going to use the Fire TV and ditch Smart Hub for reasons above. Feel like that part of the tv is useless and a total waste of money. One final thought, Pay attention to 'Soap Opera Effect' I love how with auto motion turned on I feel like I am right there watching the action. Great for sports and even talk shows,. You can see every detail. Not so good for ty dramas and movies. Makes the show look like a tv/movie 'set' that you are watching rather then the story. Some people are more affected by this than others. All 4K tvs have this issue but some may deal with it better or worse. Samsung NU8000 allows you to turn it off or customize it, but I have no idea what the custom controls are doing. I just set it to auto or off depending on what I am watching. In the end I would recommend for price and picture quality ; but only if you have a Roku, Fire tv, or other device for reasons above.

I struggled long and hard between the LG 8000 and the Samsung 8000. I currently have a 52" LG that just failed and a 55" LG which I'm very happy with, this 65" was to replace the 52" LG. The 52" had a common circuit board failure widely known on the internet that griped my behind causing me to look at other brands. The viewing angles of the LG vs the Samsung are different, the LG being advertised as wider viewing angle. My space isn't huge so I hoped it was a non issue. When comparing the two side by side, it sure looked to me that the viewing angle was better on the Samsung. I was leaning towards the Samsung because of the 5000 contrast ratio as compared to the LG which was 2000 if I recall. I was hoping for a WOW picture from the Samsung. I liked the remote features of the LG better, but after the fact, the Samsung features are just fine. The remote on the Samsung is pretty basic as compared to the LG, but plenty functional. Once I have it setup, I'll only be using my Comcast remote most of the time any way. Initial out of the box setup was very easy, the picture setup, not so easy. I spent about 5 days until I was happy with the picture, and even now have a few issues to work out. When watching a football game, white uniforms on the open field view seem to be too bright an lose detail when all other colors are good. A closer picture of the same player in a white jersey looked just fine. I was almost to the point of returning the TV in exchange for the LG until I hit on what I think is the almost perfect setting other than the white issue which is now much improved. I think at this point I've finally gotten the picture about as good as the LG that I'm replacing. Is it a WOW picture, eh, almost. I think the biggest fix for me was turning off local dimming, that seemed to bring back some detail that I was missing. Prior to that, close ups of peoples faces were too creamy and lacked detail. I should be able to see pores on the newscasters faces like I could on my LG. Some of the other settings seemed to just increase the blooming effect of the colors. I also seemed to struggle with consistency. Watching the news and weather were WOW pictures, watching a network show wasn't that great. It seems as though many shows have different quality. A good setup for one may not be a good setup for the other. Here's what I did, I put an NFL football game on and a show from Velocity on the jump channel. One good feature about the Samsung is you can bring up a setting and it stays up for a long time and doesn't time out. That allows you to compare picture quality on two different pictures to get it just right. I bounced back and forth between the two stations until I got it right. Audio-wise, the sound of the Samsung is far better than the other LGs that I have. I don't have a sound bar, which I'm sure would enhance the sound of either. Is it theatre sound without a sound bar, hardy, but its acceptable. In conclusion, the LG was $100 cheaper, and the setup of the Samsung picture took me a while. I can't compare the two exactly having only bought the Samsung, but I'm satisfied with it as of now and I'll keep it. Just know that the streaming that they do in the store is very hard to duplicate and remain consistant across many types of shows. It can however be done pretty well.

Bought this TV about 4 months ago and have no regrets at all. Picture is crisp and clear. Paired this with a Samsung Sound Bar HW-K650 and a pair of Samsung Radiant360 R3 wireless speakers. I originally had them on a Samsung 60 LED TV and had no issues getting surround sound to work. I haven't been able to get the 360 speakers to work with the new TV. The TV will see all the speakers but will not allow them to work as a surround sound setup. I currently have the sound bar using the HDMI option for sound and using the simulated surround sound option that works well. Issue that I have seen is the TV once in a while when first turned on does not always connect to the Sound Bar and you have to play around with settings to get it to be seen again. The TV does default back to the TV speakers when this happens so you still have sound. Other issue with using the HDMI cable for sound is that sometimes it looses communication to the sound bar when first turned on and the sound bar defaults to Digital audio. If you use the Digital Optical for sound you will not have this issue. The Remote has the ability through the TV menu for setting it up as a multi-remote. Select the manufacture and model of your device and it controls other devices with no issues. I have mine setup to work with the soundbar and Roku. It even has a remote overview for what buttons will do what function for each device on the TV screen. The remote Bixby search voice command option I have not found much use for. The couple of times I used it to find movies it brings up other apps that are pay services to watch the movies. Even when I have the plex app open and search for a movie I have on it the results do not give me an option to watch it on my Plex server. The TV runs Tizen (Linux OS), this is so much better than the old Samsung interface on my old TV. Installing apps is simple and you can add them to the favorites bar and move them into any order. On my older Samsung you had to go into the smarthub to do anything vs the newer Tizen OS pops up as a bar menu along the bottom of the TV. I dropped cable and have an HD antenna ClearStream 2 that gives me over 50 local Channels in my area along with the Sling TV app . Since the app interface on the TV works so well and has most of the apps I mainly use on my Roku I find that I rarely use my Roku any longer. Current apps I have installed are Plex, Sling, Netflix, Pluto TV, tubi TV, Prime Video, Crackle and YouTube to name a few. Even with the Sound issues I mentioned I would recommend this TV Since they are manageable and when they do happen it is only when you first turn the TV and soundbar on. It has never had an issue with working with the sound bar while actively using the TV. As I mentioned if you are using the Optical Audio instead of HDMI some of these issues you would not see. Just wish that I could get the setup to work with my 360 R3 speakers for surround Sound.

First off, I got this on a black Friday sale (2018), and I haven't seen the price matched anywhere since. So if you're buying this TV under 1K I would highly recommend it! I read all the reviews here and other sites and went to the local best buy to check out my options. Side by side with the next QLED model, I personally didn't see much of a difference for the price. Of course, the higher the model, the more differences you'll see. For my budget, and for my TV usage, the NU8000 model (65 inch) was perfect. I don't watch much TV outside of Netflix. However, the 4k stuff I've streamed looks incredible. I do play PS4 quite a bit, this TV really handles well for gaming. (Be sure to check your HDR settings on your PS4, the games itself, and adjust to your liking). I did tinker with settings forever to get that perfect color/brightness etc. The built in sound is pretty great too. Sure you can add a soundbar, but for my tiny apartment, I definitely don't need one. Sounds amazing. Okay, so the cons... I got this with a 0 interest credit card, and on sale, so the price was right for me. I don't know if I'd be completely happy at full retail value, and would recommend upgrading to QLED if you're really into hi-def 4k tv watching. The other con I would say is the built in software. Bixby is great, and the remote control is really easy to use, but seeing ads for SLING in my menu gets tiresome really quickly. And the WHITE colored background can be brighter than the sun in the summer on Mercury if you're watching TV in the dark. Other than that, I am extremely happy with this purchase. I can't get too technical about it, but go to the store and check it out. It's a great and simple design, and I love the built in cord management it has. Good luck and I hope this info was helpful for your decision.

I was in the middle of my research when my non-smart Sony Wega finally passed. The motherboard started to go so I began to do as much research as possible; so when the lamp finally gave out I was ready. I'd been researching the Samsung, Sony, and LG 65" TVs to determine which one I was going to buy. I visited the local Best Buy 3-4 times to talk to the guys in the TV section; they were VERY Helpful. I went with the Samsung because the color is simply brilliant; and that wasn't even the top or high mid-line model. Side by side with the next model up you could actually see the difference in color and sharpness; but another $5-600 in price (tv, warranty and tax) just didn't make sense since I knew I wouldn't even be able to tell when it was alone in my family room. The only hiccough was the remote went wonky and wouldn't connect so I called Samsung and they are sending a replacement. The quality of the color and the depth of the picture is amazing, you actually feel like you are there. I've read reviews about people having to tweak and adjust colors to get it perfect; but mine looked great right out of the box - but like I said I'm not a videophile. If you are an average Joe looking for good quality and a decent deal this set was a great bargain - it's already marked down about $400-500 from it's original listing of $1700+ and if you watch they'll pair it with a sound bar for an even better deal. I would recommend a sound bar if you don't already have one - these new TVs with the speakers in the back are tough to hear; plus with the sound bar pushing the sound forward, I can be watching an action movie with the sound blowing my hair back and no one upstairs can hear the TV because of speakers are facing away from the door!

Here's the bad news: This Samsung doesn't have the incredible, looking-through-the-glass picture quality of the high-priced and highly rated LG OLED TV. Here's the good news: It doesn't have the price tag of that OLED TV. If you're in the market for a high-quality UHD TV that is more reasonably priced than the top-tier sets, this Samsung is definitely worth considering. The picture is sharp, with rich contrast and deep blacks. I watch a lot of sports, and there's very little motion drag. It's not the picture of an OLED or a QLED, but it's exceptional. The set itself is sleek. It's remarkably thin for a 65-inch set, and the bezels are small. If you're using a stand, it's easy to set up, It juts out from the front of the set a bit, but it's okay for my TV cabinet. As is becoming more common, the remote control is minimalist, with no digits and only a few buttons. It took a couple of minutes to figure out the volume is button is an up/down motion, not a press down. It wasn't intuitive. The setup itself was super easy and took only a few minutes. Samsung has impressively simplified the initial start up. There are higher quality 4K TVs that you can buy. If you don't want to shell out high dollars, this TV is a great value.