I spent a night with the Samsung Series 9 65 inch KS9500 Curved 4K SUHD TV

Normally spending the night with her would cost $6,299 and that doesn’t include the price of the room, but for just one night – she was all mine.  Tucked up in a luxury Sydney hotel room was this stunning 65 inch curved beauty – the Samsung Series 9 KS9500 SUHD TV.

Of course, if you spend the $6,299 ticket price, you would also get to keep this TV in your lounge room forever but to give me a sample of the quality of this TV I took a night out to watch some movies and see what it had to offer.

This is about as good as it gets from Samsung, it’s their Flagship TV (aside from the several +$10,000 TVs they have – but lets keep things “realistic” at under $10,000 ok?).

Boy oh Boy Samsung aren’t letting go of this Curved fad are they?  Speak to some TV companies they say there isn’t a strong appetite for Curve, speak to Samsung they say the force is strong with this one – though I fear they cite stats on sales where people don’t really have a choice.  LG too have some curved TVs but nothing like the range Samsung have, and I worry for them they are missing the game here – but their lead in sales is strong, so perhaps wide-eyed cockiness is working!

Design

Like the LG Super UHD this Samsung has a stunning side profile.  A more tapered wedge approach to the thin top edge, but all around a strong design.

This TV could easily sit in the middle of the lounge room with people walking all around it because the back is better looking than the front when there’s no content on-screen.

Operating System

Samsung have pulled out all the stops to run down LG who I believe have the clear advantage in terms of usability of their on-screen operating system.

I like this when it was announced, and using it was great, though without Live TV access, and perhaps another few inputs, I didn’t really get to sample the most of it.

Netflix recommendations and recently viewed titles in the menu without launching the app is very impressive, and if that can be extended across apps like Stan and others we’ll be on a real winner.

Launching an online stream from the menu without having to get into the app will be a real leap forward in the marriage of IPTV to our traditional TV screens – this is where Samsung have outplayed their opposition and have the advantage in this future connected play.

HDR

Like every other good 2016 TV, this Samsung has HDR.  As I’ve said before, buying a TV without it now is like ignoring the reality of a technology that’s not going away any time soon.

Using the connected Samsung 4K Blu Ray player I watched two movies and with the lights down and just the 4K and HDR to impress me I was not left wanting.

I could see the pores on The Rock’s face in San Andreas and the quality of a good Netflix show filmed ready for 4K was exceptional.

Picture Quality

Look, it’s exceptional.  Immersive.  Detailed.  You’d struggle to complain when watching your favourite movies or TV shows, especially those coming from your 4K player.

However, more noticeably than on any of the other top of the range TVs is the black and grey issue on title screens.

I know it’s a rare part of a movie – the credits or titles at start or finish, but they’re an example of how the screen is lit. With the screen all black, a white word appears in the centre of the screen.  To provide “light” to that word and make it show on-screen, the backlights need to turn on. Those backlights are at the top and bottom of the screen and the shine light up or down to the word.  This results in a grey are in the middle of the screen, with deep blacks either side.

It’s off-putting once you’ve seen OLED or even looked at some of the other TVs out there.  I don’t know how or why, but I didn’t see it as starkly on the LG I was looking at recently, and certainly the Hisense I’ve tried was miles better.

That’s going to be 0.01% of your viewing experience, but it’s noticeable and really stuck with me out of this short experience.

I’ve only seen the TV twice now, once at the launch, the other at this hotel stay.  Perhaps in normal viewing of Octonauts with the kids or Gilmore Girls with the missus, I wouldn’t see this as much.  Time will tell.

Overall

At $6,299 it’s pricey.  And the curve just isn’t for me, but that could be a very personal thing.  If I’m looking for a 65 inch TV this is sensational, but I do think there are other cheaper options out there.  The money saved could easily go into a solid sound system to support your huge purchase.

That’s not to say you won’t be impressed with the TV and thoroughly enjoy your purchase for many years to come.  It’s just to say there are other options – all worth putting together before you decide.

Web: Samsung

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