Product review: Samsung UE55JS8500

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What Hi-Fi? 2015 Award Winner Best 52”-60” TV under £2500

For years the question we’ve generally heard most in our stores is “there isn’t that much of a difference between TV’s nowadays is there?” Thankfully we get the odd few TVs that change those people’s minds.

Samsung have stepped up their game once again with a TV that seems to be wowing all the customers who step into our store. The UE55JS8500 is one of the higher specification TVs on offer from Samsung in 2015 and has many features that have helped it to secure this prestigious award from What Hi-Fi.

The “S” in the model code is short for Super as this is one of Samsung’s Super Ultra High Definition TVs that comes equipped with the Nano Crystal technology. In basic terms they have added an additional filter of colour over the backlighting system in order to increase the range of colours that can be displayed on the screen at any one given time. This means that you are always going to get the best colour spectrum from whatever source you are watching. The first time we plugged in this TV we actually wall mounted it on a cantilever bracket and added a soundbar underneath and it was surprisingly easy and looks very good on a wall despite many people being unsure of curved TVs being wall mount capable.

Experience the power of the curved screen.

Experience the power of the curved screen.

The first port of call was a Blu-ray and we picked up our copy of Big Hero 6 from Disney Animation studios. The upscaling in this TV did a fantastic job of keeping all the lines smooth and detailed as well as seeing a huge improvement from the Nano crystals. The colour array was bright and vast giving us the exact colour that was meant to be on the final cut when this movie was released. Its not just the animations that this movie does well, a quick swap out to our copy of The Hunger Games showed how natural skin tones process can look as well. It was a joy to watch as Katniss Everdeen battled with the elements and her rivals in the arena and even the bark on the tree she sleeps in looked extremely life like and accurate. After we popped on a DVD we noticed, as with most 4K TVs, that the drop in resolution is something they are still going to be working on as the edging became a little more jagged but then this type of TV should be receiving an HD signal at the bare minimum, hence the freeview HD and FreeSat HD tuners built within. So on with the main capability, 4K, or UHD I should say. We pop into our Netflix account and begin streaming the epic “Narcos” series and instantly it stole the show.

The latest operating system Tizen is also integrated into this TV and comes equipped with all the major catch up applications as well as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Wuaki and many more. It’s not quite as simplistic as the Web OS 2.0 system on LG’s but even someone who is not a fan of complicated technology will be able to use this with no problems at all. The magic remote included is also a breeze to use and set up with the initial setup also being completely painless and quick.

Another question we get is “What is the reason behind the curved TVs?” and what many people are unaware of is that you get a much better wide angle than most flat screen TV’s but its true advantage is that you get an auto depth enhancement engine built into the curved screens. What this does is in essence stretch the image deeper and give you a much more intense backdrop.

Sound on this is not its strength but that falls into line with many flat screen models of this era so we would recommend a soundbar to really get the most out of it. Samsung’s own soundbars have the capability of wirelessly linking into this TV via the TV Sound Connect system so you won’t even have to run a cable between them making it look neat and tidy.

This TV is a huge hit with us in the Weybridge store so I would definitely recommend popping in and having a look for yourself.

Pop into your local Richer Sounds store or give our friendly Telesales team a call on 0333 900 093 for more information about any of our products.

To find out more about the Samsung UE55JS8500, click here.

Author – Andrew, Weybridge store