Samsung's F8500 PDP owners thread with reviews

[Robert Zohn]

Kevin just left after a very long day evaluating and calibrating the 60" F8500. We have the 51", 60" and 64" but the 64" does not have enough hours on it and we ran out of time so no work was done on the 51".

The report is preliminary as much more work needs to be done to do a proper evaluation, but here's what I can share at the moment. Hopefully we'll have more technical information by tomorrow evening and we scheduled next Friday to evaluate and calibrate the 64" and 51".

Here's some information and measurements from the PN60F8500:

After calibrating the movie mode (we found the Movie mode to be the best for night calibration) for night performance the MLL is 0.001, Peak luminance is 41.8fl

Gamma was easily set to 2.5 and was as flat as a pancake, very excellent results.

In Cal Day the peak luminance was set to 66fl.

3D performance was excellent and through the glasses the luminance level was 17.5fl, very acceptable for 3D.

We very carefully compared the picture quality of our perfectly calibrated 65" VT50 butt next to the F8500 and to the eye they looked very very similar. The F8500 is a little brighter, but colors looked almost identical as did the detail, black level and color saturation.

With the Samsung F8500 in Cal day and the VT50 in ISF day the Samsung was much brighter and held its black level.

Just wanted to give you some interesting preliminary facts. Stay tuned for more as we do more evaluation.

-Robert

[saprano]

Robert, is the 0.001 MLL full on full off CR or ANSI?

[Robert Zohn]

The 0.001 is with full screen black. With a 4x4 ANSI checkerboard we measured 0.003 in most black squares.

-Robert

[v_squared123]

Really impressed with samsungs effort soo far! Sounds like a really really impressive display. Can't wait to read to th full review. Btw, what is the preferred ftl for daytime and night time viewing? And how does this compare to the kuro?

[scweb13]

Originally Posted by v_squared123

Really impressed with samsungs effort soo far! Sounds like a really really impressive display. Can't wait to read to th full review. Btw, what is the preferred ftl for daytime and night time viewing? And how does this compare to the kuro?

2nd gen Kuro's were .001ftL (111, 5020, 6020 and 151), .0006ftL (141 and 600M) and .0004ftL (101 and 500M).

[saprano]

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

The 0.001 is with full screen black. With a 4x4 ANSI checkerboard we measured 0.003 in most black squares.

-Robert

That's very good black level numbers.

Originally Posted by scweb13

2nd gen Kuro's were .001ftL (111, 5020, 6020 and 151), .0005ftL (141 and 600M) and .0004ftL (101 and 500M).

The 141 and 600M black level is 0.001. Only the 101 and 5OOM measured below other kuros.

[mblackm2]

Thanks for the review. It compares the kuro vs vt50 vs 8500 MML levels just in case you care. Looks like Samsung really invested in plasma this past year. Can't wait to see the ZT

Originally Posted by scweb13

2nd gen Kuro's were .001ftL (111, 5020, 6020 and 151), .0005ftL (141 and 600M) and .0004ftL (101 and 500M).

[scweb13]

Originally Posted by saprano

That's very good black level numbers.


The 141 and 600M black level is 0.001. Only the 101 and 5OOM measured below other kuros.

Certain numbers of the 141 and 600M panels, not all, were able to be calibrated down to that number by D-nice.

I just looked it up on AVS and the post I found mentioned that D-nice was able to get them (141's and 600M's) down to .0006ftL.

[dobyblue]

What were the black numbers on the Kuros with an ANSI pattern?

[Wingman1977]

That pedestal looks hideous. Other than that, that set looks very promising. Can't wait for the shoot out in May when this and the ZT60 square off.

[Mr Kite]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

What were the black numbers on the Kuros with an ANSI pattern?

Someone in the UK just had there Kuro calibrated, they were getting 0.001:

[saprano]

^^^Damn.

[saprano]

Originally Posted by scweb13

Certain numbers of the 141 and 600M panels, not all, were able to be calibrated down to that number by D-nice.

I just looked it up on AVS and the post I found mentioned that D-nice was able to get them (141's and 600M's) down to .0006ftL.

Yes by D-Nice, they don't come standard.

D-Nice is a calibration wizard. Some of his kuros measure down to 0.0003.

[saprano]

Chad B's review-

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1450401/sa...#post_23125865

Robert, why does Chad's measurements differ so much from Kevin's?

[Robert Zohn]

Good question, I can't say for sure why but here's a few differences:

• Kevin Miller uses a K-10A meter that goes down to .0000 and is more sensitive for reading MLL

• Our 60" F8500 had about 200 hrs on it and typically PDPs get blacker as they have more hrs on them

• The K-10A is a contact meter and our room had very low ambient light

• Our 60" black level measured a very impressive .001 fL with the new Black Optimizer feature set to the Dark Room setting. It measured significantly higher at .004 fL with that feature turned off. Samsung describes the Black Optimizer as a feature that changes the reset timing to improve black level. Not sure how Chad had the Black Optimizer set.

• We tested the 60" F8500, Chad B measured the 64" F8500. Not sure what difference this makes, but we're evaluating and calibrating the 51" and 64" this Thursday. I'll be posting all of the specs on all three F8500 sizes.

We had a perfectly calibrated 65" VT50 butt next to the 60" F8500 both running the same reference content and text patterns. So it was easy and accurate for us to compare them.

Chad and Kevin are very highly respected professional calibrators.

Hope this helps.

-Robert

[Mr. Joshua]

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

Good question, I can't say for sure why but here's a few differences:

• Kevin Miller uses a K-10A meter that goes down to .0000 and is more sensitive for reading MLL

• Our 60" F8500 had about 200 hrs on it and typically PDPs get blacker as they have more hrs on them

• The K-10A is a contact meter and our room had very low ambient light

• Our 60" black level measured a very impressive .001 fL with the new Black Optimizer feature set to the Dark Room setting. It measured significantly higher at .004 fL with that feature turned off. Samsung describes the Black Optimizer as a feature that changes the reset timing to improve black level. Not sure how Chad had the Black Optimizer set.

• We tested the 60" F8500, Chad B measured the 64" F8500. Not sure what difference this makes, but we're evaluating and calibrating the 51" and 64" this Thursday. I'll be posting all of the specs on all three F8500 sizes.

We had a perfectly calibrated 65" VT50 butt next to the 60" F8500 both running the same reference content and text patterns. So it was easy and accurate for us to compare them.

Chad and Kevin are very highly respected professional calibrators.

Hope this helps.

-Robert

I'm interested in the 64" model Samsung Plasma. Any buzzing for this set? Sounds like this set looks awesome!

Thank you...

[Robert Zohn]

All plasma panels buzz. The larger panels buzz louder. PDPs generate a sound wave as the panel oscillation produces a frequency that radiates directly in front of the panel form 4' to 12'.

The footprint is very narrow so if you move off the center by even 1' most folks can't hear any buzz. Also all humans lose the ability to hear this fq after age 35.

The 64" F8500 does not buzz more than other panels.

-Robert

[Mr Kite]

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

All plasma panels buzz. The larger panels buzz louder. PDPs generate a sound wave as the panel oscillation produces a frequency that radiates directly in front of the panel form 4' to 12'.

The footprint is very narrow so if you move off the center by even 1' most folks can't hear any buzz. Also all humans lose the ability to hear this fq after age 35.

The 64" F8500 does not buzz more than other panels.

-Robert

Ah...... thats why i can never hear it.

[Bruisermoore]

So, I went to Best Buy today and was looking at the televisions. I came across the Panasonic TC-P50ST60 3D TV and it looked really good, and at 999.99, it's a heck of a bargain too. That seemed to be the only 2013 plasma model this BBY had until I noticed they had a Magnolia room. Me and a buddy went in there and almost instantly were drawn to one set in particular -

The Samsung PN60F8500. Holy crap this display looks awesome! They were playing The Avengers on it and my friend and I watched it for nearly a half an hour, without any sound on! It was that mesmerizing! I also love the all metal design of it as well. I'm sure it's not going to knock the socks off of most of you Kuro owners/enthusiasts, but this was the best looking picture I've ever seen on a TV. I was speaking to the general manager of the store about the TV, getting prices etc., and he said that he owns a Panasonic TC-P60VT50 and said he feels this TV blows it away. I'm going to wait to see how the ZT series compares and go from there but it's going to be hard for Panasonic to top this imo. This is all just opinion but I just wanted to share my experience since it was very awe-inspiring and still, hours later, I can't stop thinking about this TV.

I will be buying the PN51F8500 ASAP since there isn't a 50 or 55 inch ZT60 coming.

[Godzilla71]

Robert,
Think I may have just did a complete turn around. I was originally thinking of getting the 55f7100 LED as you know from my PM but I researched more and have been reading more about the f8500 series plasmas and then went and actually checked one out as well. I think I just might go with the 51F8500 instead. It will be my first plasma so I am a little hesitant about IR etc. I think I'll be fine with proper precautions though. It seems to be more bang for the buck with the quad core processor etc even though a slight smaller screen and about the same price as the led i was looking at first. I'm looking forward to some calibrations and more reviews and buyers experiences and thoughts. I am surprised there is not alot of activity on here about it though. I have been reading nothing but wows and other positive things about this series from owners so far. It seems to be the best of both worlds with the brighter screen.
Bruisermoore, good luck with your purchase I am pretty excited and I am looking forward to the difference between the new set and my soon to be moved to the bedroom LCD.