Samsung AU9000 Review: Suitable for Home

Michelle

Member
Samsung AU9000 is positioned as a TV for daily viewing in the living room. It has a good display screen, and the image can be clearly seen even in a very bright environment. At the same time, it has excellent smart TV systems and gaming features, such as ALLM, VRR, and 10.9 milliseconds low input delay, making the most competitive gamers happy.

Although there is no HDR image and no Dolby Vision, the price is very competitive. It is really good for users who want to simply watch movies and listen to music. The specific performance is as follows.
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1. Appearance

The appearance design of Samsung AU9000 is very simple and generous, with a relatively sturdy structure, and the borderless design of the panel edge adopts a bronze finish. Although the bracket is made of plastic, it is strong enough, and the cable can be pushed in with the foot in the plastic at the rear for cable management.

On the back of the panel, we also have side and rear connections. On the side we have two USB 2.0 ports, one LAN and two HDMI 2.0b slots, and the bottom of the connection part has an RF antenna and a CI slot. There is also an HDMI 2.0b port and digital audio output on the back.

The AU9000 comes with two remote controls, one is a small black mini remote for daily use, and the other is a larger traditional remote with buttons. More options can be accessed by directly pressing the buttons. Both are made of plastic, but they are sturdy and durable. No matter which one is used, they feel good in the hand.
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2. Image

After restoring Samsung AU9000 to factory settings, the best picture display mode is movie mode, which can retain accurate color and white balance. You don't need to modify the image information yourself, just switch the image mode to movie mode.

We use Portrait Displays' Calman color calibration software, Murideo Seven Generator and Klein K-10A meter for measurement and calibration.

The Samsung AU9000 is under-displayed in red, and green and blue are slightly increased throughout the range. Gamma follows the s-curve instead of the BT.1886 standard, which means that the image is too dark in shadows and too bright in highlights.

In terms of color gamut, moving to the Rec.709 color gamut, there are only some minor issues of red desaturation and green hue errors, which have no obvious impact on the content of TV and movies we watch.

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3. HDR

We measured the HDR performance of Samsung AU9000 in HDR mode, which is designed to correctly map the content to the ST.2084 PQ EOTF standard and try to produce a wider color gamut to comply with the BT.2020 standard. Like most LED LCD TVs in this price range, the peak brightness is not very bright, and as an edge-lit display, this is also affected by the total peak brightness.

In the brightness test, using our standard test for measuring various screen window sizes, we found that the peak brightness of the AU9000 is about 275 nits. At this price, this can be expected. The black level measured by ANSI is 0.071 nits, with an on/off contrast ratio of 3878:1.

Samsung AU9000 also has a good performance in a wide color gamut. Its color gamut is not wide enough for the coverage of DCI-P3, but the saturation point is close to where it should be in the reduced color gamut.
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Due to the limitations of the TV and the LED LCD technology used, it is not a TV for watching HDR movies. Compared with high-end models, its brightness is not enough to provide full dynamic range for HDR, and the color performance is not sufficient.

The black level of the AU9000 is good when viewed in a bright and well-lit living room, but if you look closely, you will begin to notice a certain degree of black coverage in the image, which is especially noticeable in darker scenes.

The SDR image quality at the calibrated settings is good, with excellent tones and a natural skin tone appearance. When the correct setting is 24fps, the details are present and correct, with good image clarity and good motion. Movie images have good movie effects in some scenes, but it is recommended to watch them in a well-lit environment.

Due to performance limitations, Samsung AU9000 is relatively weak to watch videos in a dark environment, but if it is watched in a bright living room, there is no high requirement for the picture, Samsung AU9000 is still satisfactory.
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4. Gaming

Samsung AU9000 has VRR and ALLM functions. In addition, the input delay measured under 4K/60p is only 10.9 milliseconds, which is very fast, even hardcore gamers should be happy. The image quality and movement during the game are indeed very good, the SDR image looks very detailed and the color balance is also very good.

5. Conclusion

Maybe Samsung AU9000 can't meet everyone's requirements, but if you just use it as a large-screen monitor for watching movies or games, Samsung AU9000 can really give you enough confidence.
 
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