Which is the best 4k TV 2022? Samsung AU8000| Samsung AU9070| Sony X80J| Sony X80AJ| Budget QLED TV
How is the 2021 model Samsung AU8000 TV? Is it better than the 2020 model Samsung TU8000? Are Sony X80J & Sony X80AJ TVs better options than this? Are Sony X80J & Sony X80AJ the same TVs? Is Samsung AU9070 better than Samsung AU8000? And would the budget QLED TVs be a better choice than Samsung AU8000? All these questions will be answered, here, in this article.
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Design & Built
The 55 inches Samsung AU8000 is a well-built TV, in whose construction high-quality plastic material has been used. Despite being an entry-level TV, it is pretty stylish that leaves behind even the costliest budget TVs in construction quality. This time, Samsung has paid fair attention to the design of even its entry-level TV. The bezels of the TV are pretty slim and its side profile, too, is ultra-slim. It looks very elegant even when you mount it on the wall. To impart a modern appearance to this TV, the stand has been imparted a stylish flat lift design, which highly accentuates the aesthetics of this TV. The colour of the bezel and stand, both, is Black. At the rear, too, this TV gets a very clean look. For cable management, grooves are provided on the rear along with clips on the stand, which do help in maintaining a tidy setup. The TV gets a newly designed remote that also houses a voice command feature.
Connectivity Options
On the connectivity front, this TV has 3 HDMI ports, 2 USB ports, 1 AV port, 1 optical port, an Ethernet port and an RF-In port. Apart from HDMI ARC & CEC, you also get HDMI eARC through which you get an enhanced audio performance of any home theatre. Apart from Bluetooth v5.2, it has Wi-Fi5.
Specifications
Talking about its Specifications, this Edge-Lit VA panel TV comes fitted with a Crystal Processor 4k Engine and it supports all three, HDR, HDR10+, and HLG. The Picture Quality Index of this TV is 2300 and it comes with Dynamic Crystal Color Technology. It exhibits UHD dimming, has Auto Motion Plus and Film Mode too. Though the TV comes with only a refresh rate of 60 Hz, it has a motion accelerator, through which the company intends to handle Motion Blur smoothly.
This Samsung TV comes with 20 Watts speakers that have Dolby Digital Plus support and Q-Symphony feature. When you will connect any Samsung soundbar to it, which has Q-Symphony on it, you will be able to hear the audio of the TV and soundbar simultaneously. The TV also has a Bluetooth Audio feature, which gives you the liberty to listen to the music stored on your phone through the big speakers of this TV. This TV comes with the Tizen operating system and you also get Eco Sensor on it, which is instrumental in saving power.
Actual Performance
These all were company specified details, now, let's talk about the real performance of this TV. Samsung AU8000 is certainly an upgraded version of Samsung TU8000. Samsung TU8000 came just with the Crystal Color technology, whereas, AU8000 has Dynamic Crystal Color Technology. This technology plays a major role in enhancing the colours of Samsung TVs so that at a glance, you get the feel of a QLED TV. Giving Dynamic Crystal Color Technology, in an entry-level TV is a good move on behalf of the company.
On this TV, the colors despite being vibrant, do not look oversaturated or artificial. The colours, while maintaining their vibrancy look pretty natural. As it is a VA panel TV, the contrast ratio is fairly good and Blacks appear quite deep. The uniformity of Blacks on the screen is also fairly good. The real HDR peak brightness of this TV is somewhere near 320 Nits, however, expecting more from an entry-level higher brand TV that is being sold at an affordable price, would be somewhat unjustified. The best performance of this TV is seen in a dimly-lit room, however, the bright room performance of this TV is pretty appreciable. It leaves behind in performance even those budget category TVs that boast a high brightness of 400 Nits. Deep Blacks, colorful-sharp images, and good picture clarity make this TV a very good package in the affordable category. Set-top box and SDR contents look great on this TV & the brightness, too, is reasonably fair. HDR contents look better than those on Samsung TU8000. The HDR peak brightness of this TV is definitely more than its SDR peak brightness. Because of this, HDR content, look good on this TV except for some very dark scenes where details are not as clear as those on a high bright TV.
However, the absence of Dolby Vision on Samsung TVs is a major drawback. It is a misconception that Dolby Vision and HDR10+ on Samsung TVs are similar features! This is not true! When you place Dolby Vision and HDR10+ TVs side by side, the difference in colour and brightness is pretty visible. Dolby Vision contents play more beautifully on TVs that come with Dolby Vision support rather than on TVs coming only with HDR10+. Though motion blur doesn't pose any major problem on this TV, it does get visible in very fast action scenes. Motion accelerator does not seem to play an effective role in stopping this blur, instead, when you switch on the motion settings, the picture starts giving a Soap Opera Effect, which can be annoying for some. However, in the Game Mode, this feature seems to work, but to some extent only. Samsung's previous models had more noticeable motion blur on them than these newer models. Now, motion blur is visible only in very fast action scenes. As it comes fitted with a VA panel, its viewing angle is not that good, but it is not bad too. At 45 degrees, colours do not fade much. Only when you watch the TV from an extreme angle, there is a visible colour shift of 25%.
Coming to its Audio; Its 20 Watts speaker system leaves behind even the more powerful TV speakers falling in the budget category. The audio apart from being loud is rich in quality. And, you also get many good audio-related features on this TV like Bluetooth audio and Q-Symphony. Through its HDMI eARC, you can connect any good Dolby Atmos home theatre to it and get the full Dolby Atmos effect. Even if you connect any Dolby digital soundbar to this TV through the HDMI eARC, you will get a better audio output than any simple HDMI ARC TV.
Smartness
Alike all Samsung TVs, this too, comes with Tizen operating system, which has its own limitations. Though you get most of your favourite applications on this TV, you cannot sideload outside applications on it. You can use only those applications that come preloaded on this TV. However, by opting for an Android TV box, you can deal with this limitation anytime you wish. The browsing experience on this TV is smooth, I did not see any lag while doing so, all applications opened instantly. It comes with three assistants, Alexa, Google and Bixby. You can also operate this TV through voice command. By connecting it to your laptop, you can convert this TV into a PC and complete all your official work on its big screen or you can also give presentations on it.
Gaming Performance
Coming to its Gaming performance, the response time of this TV, though not excellent, is good enough and you get a very low input lag on it. However, the absence of HDMI 2.1 and 60 Hz limited refresh rate does not make it an ideal choice for hardcore gaming. During HDR gaming, in Game Mode, you get to see the same brightness as seen while watching other HDR content. However, in the Game Mode, its input lag is pretty good. HDR gaming is fairly good on this TV, which can be enjoyed without any discomfort. This TV constitutes a better gaming option than many other budget category TVs.
Budget QLEDs Vs Samsung AU8000
This Samsung TV, which is being sold at the price of a budget QLED TV is an all-round package, which apart from having a good picture and audio quality, includes an extensive service network. The colours of this Samsung TV are vibrant like any budget QLED TV, and in addition to this, you don't get to see that unnatural oversaturated tint that is overly visible in many budget category QLED TVs.
Samsung TU8000 Vs Samsung AU8000
This 2021 model Samsung TV is much better than the 2020 model Samsung TU8000, which came only with Crystal Colour Technology.
Samsung AU8000 Vs Sony X80J
If you compare this Samsung TV with Sony X80J, not much disparity is seen in the picture quality of the two. Because of its IPS panel, Sony X80J displays better viewing angles than the Samsung AU8000, but on the other hand, Samsung AU8000 has a much better contrast ratio and deeper Blacks than the Sony TV. It definitely is a point to consider that you don't get Dolby Vision on this Samsung TV, which is there on the Sony TV. But if you consider this point, then none of the Samsung TVs, despite being high-end fulfill this condition. We do get to see a difference in HDR10+ and Dolby Vision TVs, but, this difference is not so glaring as to spend Rs 20,000 extra for it. And then, now, Samsung, too, has started giving better motion handling in its 60 Hz TVs.
Sony X80J Vs Sony X80AJ
This is also a misconception that Sony X80J and Sony X80AJ are the same TVs! The reality is that both are different products. Sony X80AJ is an inferior version of Sony X80J, which has been created just for the online market. If Sony X80AJ and Sony X80J were the same TVs, why would anyone buy Sony X80J at a higher price? When Sony X80AJ was launched its price was much lower than Sony X80J. The difference in both these models is more or less the same as that which existed in Sony X7500H and Sony X7400H. Sony doesn't reveal much in this regard as any clarity could affect its online and offline marketing tactics. Brightness and motion handling is better in Sony X80J. In Sony X80J there is MotionFlow 200, which according to Sony, increases the TV's native 50 Hz refresh rate to 200 Hz, whereas, in Sony X80AJ the native refresh rate, get increased only to 100 Hz, as it comes with MotionFlow 100. Sony X80J has 16GB onboard storage, whereas, Sony X80AJ's storage is limited to 4.4GB. Then, how can both TVs be the same? This Samsung's TV performs better than Sony X80AJ in many aspects. Blacks are deeper on this Samsung TV and even its contrast ratio is much better than Sony X80AJ. Here, I don't mean to say that Sony X80J and Sony X80AJ are not good TVs! They are pretty good TVs, but, it would not be a prudent decision to spend 12-20 thousand extra on them as Samsung AU8000 and Samsung AU9070 are also very good TVs, whose picture quality is at par with Sony TVs. Opt for Sony X80J or Sony X80AJ only if you intend to place the TV in a big hall, where people will watch it from varied angles.
Samsung AU8000 Vs Samsung AU9070
And, if your budget is a bit flexible at around 5-6 thousand, then opt for Samsung AU9070 as its picture quality and graphics are better than Samsung AU8000. Samsung AU9070 is also a better option when it comes to gaming.
Conclusion
If your budget is strictly restricted, then you can skip Samsung AU9070 and go with Samsung AU8000 without any second thought as it is an excellent option at this price point with which you also get reliable aftersales services. And, if you are thinking of buying this Samsung TV instead of any budget brand TV, then too, you can comfortably go ahead with your purchase because at the price it is being sold it is a terrific deal.
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