The Samsung UN55B7000 55-Inch LED HDTV and the Samsung UN55B8000 HDTV are two of Samsung’s best LED-based LCD HDTVs. As such, both deliver breathtaking images and cutting-edge interactive features without pumping up your electric bill. So which one should you buy?
While both models are seemingly alike, they have some key differences, which can help you decide which one to get. For starters, the frame of the UN55B7000 has a distinct red border in accordance with Samsung’s Touch of Color, while the UN55B8000 has a less noticeable dark grey border. Other than that, and the fact that the UN55B7000 is a few inches taller, the design of the two are the same, with the same thinness – 1.2 inches deep at most, matching semi-transparent swivelling stands and a black glossy frame tapered with a transparent edge.
Their clickers are different, too, with the one that comes with the UN55B7000 being more user-friendly, with backlit buttons that are easy to press and differentiate instead of the less-than-responsive scroll wheel. Its design has been slightly modified, too, so that it remains stable on flat surfaces, although it won’t work unless pointed to the screen – something the UN55B8000’s clicker, with its RF capability, can do. Both have secondary remotes for power, channel and volume controls.
As for picture quality, both offer crisp images with vivid, generally accurate colors, although the UN55B8000 offers deeper black levels and brighter whites with a contrast ratio of 5,000,000:1 as opposed to 3,000,000:1. The Wide Color Enhancer of the UN55B8000 is also more advanced, allowing it to stretch each pixel to its three-dimensional limit.
Finally, the UN55B8000 has a higher refresh rate of 240Hz while the UN55B7000 only has 120Hz. This difference, though, is difficult to discern, except to a trained eye, both being able to effectively prevent images from blurring even during fast-action sequences.
With these, you should be able to tell the Samsung UN55B7000 and the UN55B8000 apart, and better decide which one you should get. After all, they are alike in all the rest, like their interactive features, for example. Both carry the same Yahoo widgets that make it easy to access the latest news, weather and stock market updates, and both are also enhanced with DLNA capability that makes it possible to access videos, photos and music files stored on networked computers.
Both also score well in energy efficiency. In fact, it would not be wrong to say they are the most energy efficient HDTVs around. After all, they are LCD televisions, which consume less energy than other HDTV types, and they are LED-lit at that. In addition, they employ Samsung’s edge-lit technology, which uses less LEDs that cuts down energy consumption even more. For good connectivity, four HDMI inputs, a PC input and two USB slots top the list of inputs and outputs provided.
Clearly, the Samsung UN55B7000 is not as good as the more expensive UN55B8000, especially in terms of the images produced, but it certainly comes pretty close and with a few hundred bucks less, is definitely worth considering over the UN55B8000. No matter which you get, though, you’re sure to get an excellent viewing experience you won’t regret.
About the author – Edward McKellen is an HDTV expert who writes HDTV reviews for HDTVreviewlab.com. To read more about the Samsung UN55B7000 or check out the latest HDTV reviews visit HDTVreviewlab.com