Our Verdict
There is no doubt that the Samsung HU8550 LED TV is a great TV. It is currently the best 4k flat TV you can buy. If it is within your budget, go for it without thinking about it.
- Great overall picture quality, both in pitch black and very bright rooms.
- Limited viewing angle. While the picture can still be seen, it losses color saturation.
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Test Results
The design is very similar to the Samsung H7150. It has about the same depth, borders, and even overall look.
The stand is a flat metal plate. It feels sturdier than it looks and it fits on top of a relatively small table.
Most Samsung TVs have a great contrast ratio between 4000 and 5000. The Samsung HU8550 is not an exception. It has deep blacks. The calibration out of the box was also very good.
The black uniformity is great, with a few barely-visible brighter spots brighter spots around the edges.
The uniformity of the gray color is excellent. It doesn't have any dirty screen effect. Some people reported banding issues on the 65", but our 65" didn't have any.
All Samsung LED TVs suffer from a loss of saturation and contrast when you are off-axis. Most people don't get bothered by this, though.
The HU8550 has a glossy screen, but it experiences significantly fewer reflections than semi-gloss screens. The blacks appear deeper. The trade-off is that any reflections are more defined.
This TV can even be used in a very bright room if you don't mind the more defined reflections. It can get very bright.
Even when setting the input type to PC, the input lag was really high. In other modes, the input lag reaches as high as 150ms. This lag is noticeable with fast-paced games, but most gamers won't be bothered by it.
Update: It has been reported to us that this issue has been fixed by a firmware update. It is now 44ms, which is good.
Samsung is leading the pack in terms of Smart TV functionality. Check out our full review of Samsung's 2014 Smart TV platform.
