Samsung Flat 49-Inch 4K 8 Series UHD Smart TV with HDR and Alexa Compatibility – 2019 Model

★★★★☆ First, the positives: I got the 65" model and was, honestly, shocked at the quality of the picture. It is slightly better than the Q60 models for several hundred dollars less. There is very low input lag making this one of the better Samsung TV's for gaming. I was coming from a 65" Samsung Curved MU6900 and this TV is worlds beyond it. The 4 HDMI ports are great. Setting it up was kinda annoying as it lagged a lot when first setting up. It downloaded the update extremely fast (might help that I wired it to my router and I have gig service but that's neither here nor there as you will only receive the update at the speed Samsung gives it to you so anything over 25mbps will be the same as gig when you're updating it).It is light and thin. The legs on it have a small footprint compared to the older models that had the V shaped legs. The options to adjust everything from sound to backlighting to colors was better than I assumed it would be and with a little tweaking the screen was on par with the Q70/Q80 models, with one exception that I will get to in my negatives part of the review. Putting the legs on it was SO MUCH EASIER than other models. With my wife's help we had it out of the box, legs on, and on the tv stand in under 8 minutes. I hand it to them for their packaging.Now on to the negatives: HDR is basically useless (but when you turn off certain settings it really isn't something you notice).The sound is just, not good at all. If you are in a quiet room then it's not an issue really. I average having the sound on lvl 12 when it's quite in the house. On some shows or movies, if there is any noise at all takes the lvl up to around 30+ which just sounds terrible. So a soundbar is in your future if you are into audio. There is no bass out of those speakers so don't expect even a minor thump in movies. But you can expect that more and more from almost any tv because the thinner they get the less speaker power can go in them. And it doesn't help that Samsung wants to sell you a $400 soundbar for some crazy reason (i bet if they started putting the speakers facing forward like they used it would be a huge improvement but that will never happen)Now for the recommended settings to turn off or change: Disable all Eco SolutionsContrast: 45Brightness: 0 (raising this will turn your deep blacks into more gray making it HARDER for you to see dark scenes.Sharpness: 0Color: 25Tint (G/R): 0Color Tone: Warm 2 (this get's you closest to what the directors wanted you to see)Gamma: 2.2Backlight: You can set this as high as you want as it because backlight is not a picture adjustment just how bright you can view it meaning your blacks (and this tv has beautiful deep blacks) stay black.Turn off: Digital Clean View, Auto Motion Plus, and Contrast Enhancer. These can give the screen the "soap opera" effect that most people hate but don't know what it's called or what causes it. You don't need your TV changing the way it was filmed. It will take some getting used to but when you do this you are seeing it as the directors wanted you to (movies are not as bright as you would assume for reasons)For gaming set FreeSync to basic. There You could also choose to lower the input lag on it but since it is already so darn low it really isn't needed. This tv is just great for gaming (Xbox One X enhanced games are going to blow your mind on this tv)So overall this is a better tv than the Q60 and not much under the Q70 (except the Q70 does HDR like a champ)I spent months researching what tv I wanted and I can't stress enough that this tv is amazing. It is hundreds cheaper than the Q series and just as good and even better in areas.I will say this, if you are getting a 55" or smaller strictly for, lets say, a bedroom that will be strictly for gaming and that is all, then I would say go with the Q70 55". But if you're going for 65" or bigger and it's used for more than gaming, this is your tv.I'm sorry this is so long but I didn't even get in it all I wanted to. There are so many reviews that don't explain things and just say "my cat loved this tv" or "this tv doesn't help me do dishes" or whatever. I was happy as can be when I was finished setting up this tv and adjusting the settings because I saved SO MUCH over the other tvs.But I will say one thing: I need a tv for the bedroom. One only for gaming. For that I will be getting the Q70 55". But for a family room tv this is beyond what I assumed it would be.

★★★★★ This tv is incredible! The audio, visual and smart features are perfect in my opinion. The set up for the tv was so simple a child could do it because they walk you through the whole thing. The video is crisp and clean and they have about 4/5 options for you to change it up depending on your preference or mood. The remote is sleek, small and simple and I love it. The tv is thinner in person than it looks like in pictures. I was a little skeptical because of the small number of reviews it had but I am definitely glad I went with this tv.

★★★★★ Each year brings us higher quality audio/video at lower cost, it seems, and the RU8000 line from Samsung fits in quite nicely. I compared this UHD unit directly to an LG OLED 4K monitor that is now three years old but which had a price point roughly three times higher. There were some aspects in which the LG is superior, but for the most part there was little that would leave me wanting to use the LG rather than the Samsung, including in the latter's ability to display dark areas without any appearance of banding, an area where LG's early OLEDs fall short. I also found the new smart software to be exceptionally easy to set up. It recognized that I'd plugged in a Samsung BluRay player that wasn't even turned on. It quickly arranged connections to Netflix and Amazon Prime. And it provided adequate feedback to the Fios One box via the HDMI connection so that the FIOS remote could immediately control the TV. The remote's voice detection capabilities work very well and it's easy to go back and forth between the FIOS channels, Netflix, Hulu, and so forth. There's even a dedicated button on the remote for both Netflix and Prime. All things considered, the setup process took about half an hour.Unboxing was a non-event, with instructions provided for how best to wrestle the unit out of the box. Two people would make it easy, but one person can accomplish the task with the 55" model with only minor difficulty. The ports are all on the back but have logos that are legible as you lean around the side of the screen, rather than requiring you to somehow gaze under the back of the TV once it's in place so that you can plug things in, an annoyance with several competing models. The remote is a remarkably lightweight voice-activated unit powered by two included AA batteries. The monitor can be mounted on the two included stands or on a standard wall mounting bracket.Note that within the shipping box, there's minimal protection for the screen. My box arrived with a hole on the front and I was worried that something might have hit the screen. Luckily, nothing had, but be sure to look carefully at the time of delivery to ensure that the face of the shipping box didn't impact the corner of another box somewhere along the way. The outside of the box warns that the box should not be placed flat but should stand upright instead until the TV has been unpacked.Overall, a very impressive picture alongside very impressive operational software, all at an excellent price point. You can absolutely spend more. Samsung has a number of models that cost 2-3x what this model costs. This model, interestingly, has the same number of input ports, is also wifi-enabled, and really has differences that will likely be noticeable only by someone watching very closely, nitpicking their way along. Yes, the picture is a little better on the more expensive models, and the sound is a little better on those as well (but you're using a processor and your home theater speakers, right?), but you could have three of these scattered around your home instead of one of the more expensive models. Wouldn't you rather have that?