HD Picture Quality: First off, know that the 120Hz and 240Hz feature on the Samsung LED TVs have been greatly improved from the first edition. The feature is intended to reduce judder and smooth out the picture from that annoying jerky effect. But there are side effects. The kitchy cardboard cutout effect that we experienced on prior models stubbornly remains. The effect is due to removal of natural background blur with film based content. The effect can be distracting and unnatural especially at first. But thankfully, one can just turn this feature off. Turning it off will cause the jerky judder to return, but this is probably best for movies and TV programming. For sports programming, we recommend using the feature. To adjust: Click Menu/picture/Scroll down to Picture Options/Press enter/Scroll down to AutoMotionPlus 240Hz/Press Enter/Scroll or press to Off position.
Once this is accomplished how is the picture? Vibrant. The picture is super color saturated and bright with powerful lighting while maintaining good saturation in blacks. Blue tones from the LED edge lighting are slightly oversaturated in the C9000 as is overall saturation. Click on our Picture Settings here to see our recommendations on how to calibrate. Two of the rumored and real flaws of edge lit LED are uneven lighting or backlighting and side angle viewing contrast degradation. The uneven lighting issue is nearly non-existent on the UN55C9000. With all lights off and a solid blue screen we could note some variation, however once a movie is playing on the TV, signs of this issue are unnoticeable. Side angle viewing is an issue with all TVs except plasma TVs which have individually lit phosphor cells. We felt side angle viewing on the C9000 is above average at around 30 degrees off center before noticing a slight decrease in contrast. The TV performed better than the C7000 series in this regard probably due to the Mega Dynamic Contrast technology included on this TV.
