Samsung UN55C9000 55 inch 3D LED TV
Apr 3rd, 2011 | By SimonA more technical way to analyze picture quality, but not as fun as sitting in front of the TV for hours upon hours to come up with a qualitative value is to use a quantitative program to judge against a benchmark. In this instance I used X-Rite: iDisplay 2. Originally designed for monitors (CRT and LCD), I’m using it configured for LCD displays. I’ve configured the TV to take the input signal from my laptop and will adjust the backlight, contrast and brightness on the TV to see how far off the TV settings are away from the iDisplay 2 ideals. The software takes about 10 minutes to run and I was amazing how little modifications were required to meet what iDisplay 2 says is calibrated. The before and after photos don’t show too much of a difference – it’s hard to see in the pictures below.
Setting up X-Rite
Based on the settings of X-Rite, I found the TV colors worked best with the LED backlight slightly reduced followed by making minor changes to the brightness to meet the optimized values. Your settings will change a bit depending on your room situation however; overall the TV colors are very good right out of the box.
Calibrated
Power consumption is certainly something I consider when purchasing any new consumer electronics. The last thing I really want is to purchase a TV that continually drains my wallet with a power guzzling 600W usage. The advancements of technology have allowed us to enjoy the benefits of high definition pictures without expensive monthly bills. To test the power draw on the UN55C9000 I will consider the case of the TV being powered off to monitor the phantom load and watching the trailer of I Am Legend under various Eco Solutions. Eco Solution, a new feature to the Samsung TVs, is an Energy Saving solution by controlling the brightness which directly impacts how much power the TV draws. There are six modes: off, low, medium, high, picture off and auto. I found that with the auto mode the energy saving is negligible. I do think the picture off mode is brilliant, if you plan on listening to the radio via your digital cable signal there is no need for your TV to be on.
Here is the power draw:
By using an LED backlit panel, the power draw is very low. The standby power draw was undetectable with my meter. When watch I am Legend I found the average power draw to be a mere 151 watts with no Energy Saving enabled, this is a 6W drop from the 55C6500 and a whopping 70 LCD panels of 2008! The difference only gets bigger once Energy Saving is enabled. Over a course of a year this is actually a measureable savings. It’s not enough to warrant replacing your existing 55A950 but enough that if you had an old CRT lying around it’s time to recycle it and join the 21st century.