Samsung UE46C8000

After the UE46C7000, Samsung's second attempt at an active 3D TV is this C8000. 

It's backlit using lateral LEDs and comes with three different sizes: 40'', 42'' and 55''.

The 3D glasses

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To enjoy seeing in three dimensions, every viewer will need a pair of 3D glasses compatible with Samsung televisions.  As with the C7000, no glasses are included in the price of the C8000.  That means you'll have to spend a little bit more to get 3D, but fortunately, Samsung's are some of the cheapest out there.  Originally priced at £150 a pair, the price has already fallen by more than half, and you can now get the cheapest model for around £50.  We don't particularly like these ones, though, as they tend to grip the side of your head too tightly.

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These glasses include rechargeable batteries.  Other models can be recharged using the USB port on the TV or your computer, but they're a little more expensive (£100).  They're also more comfortable, and the inside of the arms has a thin layer of rubber to keep our pretty little heads nice and snug.

2D-to-3D Conversion

There aren't an awful lot of sources of 3D content available right now, so in the meantime, some manufacturers, including Samsung, have been working on automatic 2D to 3D conversion systems that allow you enjoy ordinary TV, DVDs and standard Blu-ray discs in three dimensions.

Although it couldn't rival an actual 3D source, we were still very pleasantly surprised by this mode when we tried out the UE46C7000.  It works well most of the time, although there are some exceptions.  In some cases, details appear to be too far back, which was just too much for two of our testers: one of them ended up with a headache while the other felt sick.  It was fine for most of us, but some people really couldn't handle it.

Samsung has adjusted the algorithm it uses for 2D to 3D conversion since the C7000, and although this new version has corrected the problems with depth of field, they're still visible now and again.  Overall, however, the results are much better.

Image Quality: 3D Mode

Just like the C7000, the C8000 uses active technology to simulate 3D.  The impression that you're seeing in three dimensions is created by displaying alternate Full HD 1080p frames first for one eye then the other.  At the same time, each of the lenses darkens in turn to block the eye that isn't supposed to see the current frame.

Samsung lent us a BD-C6900 3D Blu-ray player and a copy of Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D to test out on the TV.  As we found with the Sony Bravia KDL-HX803 and the Panasonic Viera TX-P50VT20, the results are very impressive.  Objects leap out of the screen and the depth of field is very much visible.  But like with these other 3D TVs, a few problems are still visible.  Occasionally, the frame for the left eye is sometimes visible to the right and vice vera, which results in some objects appearing twice.

To really see this problem, we used the test card above in side-by-side mode.  The frame is actually divided in two, with the left-hand side going to the left eye, and the right-hand side going to the right eye.  If you click on the photo above, you can compare the results we've found on the four 3D TVs we've tested so far.  The problem of crosstalk, the mixing of signals aimed at the left and right eye, is more visible on Samsung's 3D TVs than it is on Sony Bravia KDL-HX803.  Once again, Panasonic remains unbeaten in this area.

Note that, as with the C7000, you need to face the screen directly if you're wearing 3D glasses.  The picture gradually becomes darker as you move your head away from the centre line, appearing entirely black when you're at right angles to it.  That means you can't stretch out on the sofa to enjoy a film.  You should also know that those wearing 3D glasses really need to be close the screen's centre line, so you can forgot about lying down on the sofa to enjoy a movie.  Another recurring criticism is that the glasses significantly reduce brightness.  The results were as bad as with the C7000, and after testing the glasses for a while, we discovered they reduced the overall brightness by 60%, regardless of the backlighting.  That makes it hard to reach even 100 cd/m², which means you'll have to watch a 3D film in a dark room.

Hardware and handling

The differences between Samsung's two 3D TVs are pretty minimal, but the glossy black plastic frame found on the C7000 has made way for a more stylish brushed metal effect on the C8000.  The new model also has a new dynamic backlighting system, which, according to Samsung, makes the most of local dimming LEDs to improve contrast ratios.  As we'll see later on though, that's not without problems.  In any case, the local dimming in practice only refers to the LEDs arranged around the outside of the panel, rather than arranged in a grid behind the whole screen as is usually the case when we refer to local dimming.

Otherwise, both TVs have Edge LED backlighting, a Motion Plus 200 Hz mode to improve the fluidity of fast-moving objects and 2D-to-3D conversion.  For multimedia, you get DLNA compatibility, Internet@TV, PVR-Ready and one of the best media players currently available on a TV.

During our tests, we discovered that it was compatible with hard drives formatted as both NTFS and FAT32, making it capable of accessing files larger than 2 GB, which isn't the case for the majority of its competitors.  The majority of HD video files we tried worked without any problems, whether they were encoded as AVC (x264) or encapsulated as MKV.  On the other hand, M2TS and MTS files still aren't supported.  If you like watching a lot of foreign films then you'll be glad to hear that subtitles work well if they're not in the same file as the video track.  If, however, you include them in a container, then you won't be able to get them onscreen.

Seen from the side, the C8000 is an impressively thin proposition, measuring just an inch thick despite having a diagonal of 46''.  It's 2 mm thinner than the C7000 and doesn't even need an external unit for connecting up your TV aerial or a Blu-ray player.  All of the connectivity options are at the back: four HDMI ports, two USB ports, an Ethernet port, an optical audio out, a VGA port, and composite and component video.


Samsung has included a remote that's worthy of a high-end television, and its competitors should take note.  It's abandoned the much criticized older design to adopt a much classier look.  The glossy black plastic has given way to something that does a great impression of being brushed aluminum.  The keys have been redesigned and improved, and you won't find those sticky-up buttons any more as they're now moulded directly into the surround to make a flat surface. This makes it pleasant to use, stylish and easier to clean.

Just like most other top-of-the-range TVs, the C8000's main weaknesses is its glossy finish.  Although it's very attractive, and pictures look great in dark rooms, as soon as there's a window or a light in line with the screen then it's a different story entirely. The dark areas of the picture simply turn into a mirror.

Image Quality: Factory Settings

With its factory settings, the UE46C8000 is in 'Standard' mode and the results are mediocre.  Colours take on a blue tinge, and the luminance results were out of line with what we'd expect.  Our equipment suggested an average deltaE of 7.0, representing a large discrepancy between the colours in the original signal and those actually shown on screen.  We don't need to tell you that these results mean you're getting anything but accurately reproduced colours.  That said, we're not that surprised either.  Most manufacturers seem to configure their TVs to win over new users.



By default, the backlighting in 'Cinema' mode is set to 10.  We suggest turning it up a little bit, and at 13, you get a more useful everyday brightness of 200 cd/m².  Once that's done, the colours are much more passable, without being perfect.  Our equipment indicated an average deltaE of 3.3, which results in attractive skin tones.  On the other hand, it's less good at handling darker areas and bright colours, which is disappointing.  Other TVs do better than this, and that's lost it a star in this section.  The contrast is a shade above average, with black levels of 0.08 cd/m².

As usual, we found the upscaling of SD sources to be a little blurry for our tastes, despite being better than on the majority of other TVs.  That's why we suggest you use a DVD or Blu-ray player for this task.  This TV does a perfect job of displaying HD content, and in both cases, the Motion Plus 200 Hz system is very efficient.  However, as with the C7000, you shouldn't push it too far.  Above Standard mode, artefacts begin to creep in, and we don't suggest you push it too far.  Jerkiness and ghosting are already taken perfectly good care of as it is.

Audio Quality

The thinner the television, the harder it is to produce good quality sound.  Although it's not exactly dreadful, the audio that comes out of the C8000 is clearly lacking a lot of bass.  There's not much detail in the treble or mid-range either.  It's enough for watching the news or a documentary, but if you're planning a movie night, we suggest you invest in a set of Home Cinema speakers.

Energy Consumption

While on standby, the UE46C8000 uses the absolute minimum of power, with consumption just under 0.1 W, which would work out as 17 p a year on your electricity bill.  While it's switched on,  we measured consumption of 131.1 W on this 46'' TV.