Samsung UN55C9000 55 inch 3D LED TV
Apr 3rd, 2011 | By SimonEven though the Samsung UN55C9000 is the flagship TV and the appearance on the outside is very different than the previous models the firmware that makes the TV run hasn’t changed. The primary menu page includes Picture, Sound, Channel, Setup, Input, Application and Support. The tools include a quick way to connect to any Anynet+ device or change audio and picture modes or switch inputs from Air to Cable.
Samsung continues to use Media Play as the interactive menu to watch movies, view pictures or play songs off USB devices or computers on your home network.
The active device is listed at the bottom left, for me I have my Patriot Memory thumbdrive plugged in. You can change the devices by navigating to the button with the remote or pressing the color coded quick keys.
To watch a video you need to first select the device where the media file is saved and open up the video file. Whether your watch the video file from a USB drive or a shared folder on your network, the TV is able to play any file without skipping. It’s like you’re watching the file off a connected DVD player or directly from your cable provider.
The process for playing music is no different. You need to select the device where your songs are stored and then create your play list.
It’s not very exciting to stare at a giant screen only playing music. It is far more practical to at least show a slideshow with music in the background. To do this you must start the photo gallery and then add background music.
Here is a video capture of the slideshow in action.
One nice feature that the UN55C9000 has is the ability to go online with either a wired or wireless connection. For the wired LAN connection you just plug a Cat5 cable in and go. For the wireless LAN connection you need to add the SSID and encryption. The firmware permits all your typical security modes but I found that when trying to enter a creative SSID not all the charters are available. You may need to dumb down your SSID if it is not broadcasting.
Once the TV is connected to the internet it opens up a few more features: Internet@TV and Yahoo! widgets. Internet@TV is a quick way to get online and read the news, watch Youtube videos, play some free games, log onto Facebook or browsing Google Earth etc. Here’s a few screenshots of Youtube watched on the UN55C9000 complete with a video the clip taken off my camera.
Another feature you can take advantage with on the UN55C9000 once you are online is the Yahoo! widgets. These little widgets can be loaded up while in any source and give you quick access to weather, news and stock markets.
The Internet@TV and Yahoo! widgets are nice to have but are also features that with the exception of the weather widget lose their novelty factor. What’s more important than knowing what goes on around you is how well the UN55C9000 puts up a picture for your computer or movie needs. Let’s move on with the review.