Samsung UE55JS8500 – The Real 4K Technology Arrives
Its SUHD status means it enjoys a native UHD resolution, Samsung’s new Nano Crystal color technology, a high-brightness panel, and support for the new high dynamic range (HDR) picture format. It’s predominantly distinguished from the JS9000 series by having less powerful processing and a Mini One Connect connections box. Despite sitting quite high up in Samsung’s 2015 TV range, the UE55JS8500 is actually the company’s entry level ‘SUHD’ model.
Styling And Characteristics
On the JS9000 and JS9500 TVs essentially all of the TV’s connections, including the tuner and network options, are found on external ‘full sized’ One Connect boxes. This is important because it’s a performance of the way the full One Connect box carries the TV’s processing inside, whereas the processing is built into the UE55JS8500’s main TV chassis. Which means the UE55JS8500 cannot be upgraded to fit new specialties and processing systems by adding a future One Connect box in the same way the JS9000 and JS9500s can. In fact, really all the One Connect Mini does is reduce – slightly – the amount of cable spaghetti going into the UE55JS8500’s rear. As you’d expect of a 55-inch TV that costs £2,350 at the time of writing, the UE55JS8500 is jam-packed with top-notch tech that goes way beyond its curved screen and native UHD resolution. New Nano Crystal technology delivers a markedly wider color range than you get with normal LCD TVs – as much as 92% of the Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI) spectrum and joins forces with an ultra-trans missive and thus ultra-bright LCD panel design to ensure Samsung’s TV does much more than just pay lip service to its ability to play HDR content. Of course, HDR content continues to be in short supply right now. Oh, alright, yes, it’s non-existent in the UK – except on the USB sticks Samsung supplied us with for this review. But it is coming soon, promising to start HDR streams this year, UHD Blu-rays with HDR due before Christmas, and potentially a new HDR-toting UHD Video Pack coming from Samsung itself in the not too farther future.
Determination
You might also want to adjust the color space setting to Auto, which will limit the set’s color response to levels close to the traditional Rec 709 color standard. Personally, though, we were impressed by how in sensitive manner the UE55JS8500 applied its high brightness and wide color gamut to non-HDR material. And if you’ve paid for all that fancy next-gen tech it seems to us you might as well use it as much as possible.
