Samsung TU8000 Crystal UHD TV Review (2020)

Samsung's 8000 series of TVs have been a staple in the mid-range TV market for years.

But how does the 2020 8000 series TV compare to last year's RU8000?

We just bought the all-new Samsung TU8000, so in this article we'll go through our test results and see if it's an improvement over last year's model.

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In this article, we'll start by looking at the design and inputs of the TU8000 and then move on to the results of our image quality tests.

We'll also look at handling motion, input lag, and sound.

Throughout this article we will be comparing the RU8000 from last year.

It should be noted that Samsung has changed its lineup and this year's TU8000 only succeeds the RU8000 in name, and is in fact closer to the performance of last year's TU7100.

We will therefore also make comparisons with this model.

We bought the 55 inch TU8000, but it is also available in a wide range of sizes from 43 to 75 inches.

We would expect these other sizes to have very similar image quality and performance, but obviously as the sizes get larger you are likely to need a larger table or more wall mount. sustainable.

1. Design 
2. Picture Quality 
3. Motion 
4. Sound  
5. Overall  

1 - DESIGN

The design of the TU8000 is almost identical to that of this year's entry-level QLED, the Q60T, and looks slightly more upscale than last year's RU8000, although the legs aren't as good looking.

The bezels on this TV are very thin and a bit thinner than last year's RU8000.

The wide feet support the TV well and like some other Samsung TVs, they attach securely without the need for screws, which is nice and convenient.

The TV controls are very similar to newer Samsung TVs and consist of a single button below the Samsung logo in the middle of the TV.

Since all of the controls from power to volume control to source input selection are inside a button, you have to rely on a different series of short presses and long to activate different commands.

Which can be a bit confusing and difficult, you will probably want to make sure to keep your remote handy.

If we move to the side, the TV is thin and looks good.

It sits close to the wall when mounted, which is good.

All of your inputs are on the back of the TV with some facing to the side and others to the back, unlike last year's RU8000 which only had side inputs which are easier to pull out. access all of them if you mount the TV to the wall.

There are two HDMI ports facing to the side and one to the rear, giving you a total of 3, one less than last year's model.

On the side panel you also have your tuner input and 2 USB ports.

Face upside down you have your third HDMI port mentioned earlier, along with your digital optical audio output, your Ethernet port, and unlike many newer TVs, Samsung has included composite inputs this year so you can plug in older devices, the good thing is.

When it comes to cable management, Samsung includes clips for the feet, similar to last year's.

Although it is very simple, it is effective in routing all your cables in one place.

2 - Picture Quality

We will now move on to image quality.

The first is the contrast ratio. Contrast ratio is the relative brightness of white areas compared to dark areas in a scene. It is generally considered to be one of the most important aspects of picture quality, as the high contrast ratio helps dark scenes appear more detailed without the detail getting lost in gray.

Unlike the slightly higher-end Q60T, the TU8000 does not feature Samsung's new Dual LED technology. to help its contrast.

That being said, the native contrast ratio of this TV is excellent and is improved over last year's RU8000.

This allows its black uniformity to work exceptionally well, making this TV a great choice for watching movies in a dark room.

Unfortunately, the TU8000 does not have local dimming to further enhance the perceived contrast of real scenes. However

a - Viewing angle

Having good viewing angles helps keep the image sharp when viewed from an angle, which can be important if you're watching TV with a large group of people or if your
the sofa is placed on the side of your TV.

Like most TVs with VA-type panels, the TU8000's viewing angles are disappointing.

At a certain angle, the black level rises quickly and the image looks washed out.

While it performs slightly better than last year's model, it's still not that good overall.

b - Reflection

If your TV is in a bright room, good reflection management is important to reduce the amount of
glare.

The TU8000's reflection handling is fairly typical of most mid-range TVs.

Its semi-gloss finish helps diffuse reflections a bit on the screen although overall it is only decent and may struggle in moderately bright rooms.

It will likely be difficult to see the image in a bright room or with direct glare from a window, especially since its SDR maximum brightness is only decent.

c - SDR of maximum brightness

SDR Maximum Brightness refers to how bright your screen is when watching most non-HDR content.

A brighter screen will help your TV overcome glare and glare, and unfortunately the screen cannot be very bright and is overall a bit darker than last year's RU8000.

no local dimming, so the brightness doesn't really change with most window sizes, but the TV has CE dimming, also called raster dimming which darkens the entire screen during dark scenes.

Unfortunately, this can overwrite some details and cannot be turned off.

If you are watching HDR content, the ability to produce brighter regions of the image is important to produce impactful highlight detail and help make the image “pop” Unfortunately, while the TU8000 supports HDR, it is very weak with HDR content and cannot produce bright specular reflections.

It performs even worse than last year's RU8000, and at less than three hundred nits HDR content won't really stand out.

d - Volume and range of colors

The ability to take advantage of the more saturated colors possible in HDR, due to the larger mastery color space Unfortunately, the TU8000 has a very wide color gamut and, again, performs a little less well in this regard. VS RU8000 from last year.

Overall, this TV isn't the best choice if you watch a lot of HDR movies or TV shows
from your favorite streaming service or play HDR-compatible games on Xbox One X or PS4.

3 - Movement

a - Response time

Speaking of games:

How is the movement management of this television?

Unlike last year's RU8000 which had a 120 Hertz panel, all sizes of the TU8000 have a 60 Hertz panel.

The first movement is the response time.

Response time is an average of the time it takes for the TV to switch from one color to the next.

The TU8000 has a great response time, but again it doesn't perform as well as the RU8000's last year and there is a bit of blur behind fast moving objects, although this may not be noticeable for everybody.

The TV's backlight flashes at 600 hertz, which is such a high frequency that it is not visible to most people and cannot be seen in our moving logo photo.


However, like this year's Q60T, we found that on full-screen uniform colors this causes a sort of weird rolling effect.

b - Insertion of the black frame

To help reduce motion blur, the TU8000 has an optional black frame insertion feature.

The backlight flicker can also be adjusted for those who want a clearer picture.

This can be activated by selecting the “LED Clear Motion” parameter in video mode.

This results in a clearer picture with less lingering blur, although it is not as good as other TVs as you can see the image duplication, and it also darkens the screen a lot.

Unfortunately, as with the RU7100 and Q60T, the Clear Motion LED does not work in game mode for low input lag.

In game mode, the backlight flickers at 120Hz and activating the Clear Motion LED does not work, adjust it so that more duplication is visible and the image is less clear.

This can be fixed with a future firmware update.

c - Entry delay

When using this TV in game mode, it reduces the input lag of the TV and for most signals it is less than 10 milliseconds which is close to the theoretical minimum at 60 hertz.

It's actually an improvement over last year's RU8000 and is great for gaming as it feels very responsive.

Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, this year’s model only has a 60 hertz panel, so it cannot display a 120 Hz signal in game mode, which is disappointing.

Also, unlike last year's RU8000, this TV no longer supports variable refresh rates.

That's a huge downgrade if you're playing with an Xbox One X with VRR or from a PC, and it's a shame they ruled that out of both this TV and this year's Q60T.

d- Smart functions

Like all Samsung smart TVs, the RU8000 uses Samsung's Tizen operating system, although the 2020 version has a slightly simpler interface with no animations and a new “dark mode” instead of the white background.

Overall, it's similar to previous Samsung smart TVs and it's easy to use.

The remote control is also the same that Samsung has used in recent years with the 8000 series and is small and simple to use.


It still includes the quick launch buttons that Samsung included on the RU8000's remote, so you can quickly open Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Samsung TV Plus.

4 - Sound

At this point you are probably wondering,

How do the speakers sound?

Well if you guessed "pretty much the same as most televisions" you are right.

The speakers have a decent frequency response and can be quite loud, but as you would expect, they lack bass.


For better and clearer sound, it's always best to use a dedicated speaker system or even a soundbar.

5 - General

Overall the TU8000 is a good TV and is fine for most uses, although sadly overall this is a slight downgrade from last year's RU8000.

It works closer to the RU7100, especially when it comes to HDR and gaming performance.

Although it seems to be becoming the norm, like every year, the 8000 series seems to perform a little less than the 8000 of the previous year.


Keep this in mind when looking for a new TV, like even this year's Q60T which is a plus model as the TU8000 performs slightly worse than older RU8000s overall.



So that's it! What do you think of the Samsung TU8000 2020?

Is it worth upgrading from last year's model or have we reached the point where we should look to Samsung's QLED line when looking for a solid mid-range TV?

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Thanks for reading our article and see you next time.