The Samsung CU8000 is one of the entry-level models in Samsung's 2023 lineup, replacing the Samsung AU8000 in North America. It's part of Samsung's Crystal UHD series of TVs, sitting just above the Samsung CU7000/CU7000D. It competes with other entry-level models like the Sony X80K/X80CK and LG UQ8000. It's a simple model that lacks features like variable refresh rate (VRR) and HDMI 2.1 support, except for on its 85-inch screen size. It uses Samsung's Crystal Processor 4K, first introduced in 2020 and designed to provide powerful 4K upscaling. It runs a simplified version of Samsung's 2023 Tizen OS interface, which offers most of the features of more advanced models but with a reduced feature set meant to run smoothly on this entry-level TV. It comes with the same great remote as more expensive models, like the Samsung S95C, and it supports voice controls to make it easy to find your favorite content.
Our Verdict
Overall, the Samsung CU8000 is a decent performer. It's adequate when watching movies in a dark room, as it has a wide color gamut that tends to lean towards showing dark, saturated images. It's also somewhat good for HDR content due to its wide color gamut, but it doesn't get nearly bright enough for highlights to stand out, and it doesn't have a local dimming feature to help. Plus, it has poor reflection handling, so it's not a great bright room TV. It also has a bad response time, which is good for reducing stutter in movies, but as it introduces motion blur, it isn't optimal for sports, PC monitor use, or gaming.
- Great low-quality content smoothing.
- Lacks a local dimming feature.
- Doesn't get very bright in SDR and HDR.
The Samsung CU8000 is adequate for TV shows. It has satisfactory but not good reflection handling, and the TV doesn't get very bright, making it a bad choice for watching shows in brightly lit rooms. It also has a narrow viewing angle, so you can't easily watch content on the TV while doing your daily chores due to the image fading when viewed from the sides; it's best viewed while sitting right in front. It has very good lower-resolution upscaling and very good low-quality content smoothing, making shows on DVDs or streaming apps look good on this TV.
- Great low-quality content smoothing.
- Good low resolution upscaling.
- Doesn't get very bright in SDR and HDR.
- Narrow viewing angle.
The Samsung CU8000 is mediocre for watching sports. Fast action, like hockey players skating on ice, is blurry on this TV due to its low response time. It also has a narrow viewing angle, so it's not ideal for big groups, as only people sitting right in front of the TV will get the best image due to it looking faded when viewed from the sides. The TV has barely adequate reflection handling, meaning it doesn't look good in brightly lit rooms.
- Good low resolution upscaling.
- Fast-moving action is blurry.
- Doesn't get very bright in SDR and HDR.
- Narrow viewing angle.
The Samsung CU8000 is okay as a gaming TV. It has very low input lag in Game Mode, leading to responsive inputs when playing games. Game Mode doesn't negatively impact the TV's image quality, so you can safely turn it on. It also does a good job of upscaling lower resolutions, so older game consoles look great on this TV. Sadly, fast action is blurry due to the TV's poor response time, so it's not the best TV to play action games.
- Low input lag in Game Mode.
- Wide color gamut.
- Good low resolution upscaling.
- Fast-moving action is blurry.
- Limited to 60Hz and has no VRR support.
- Doesn't get very bright in SDR and HDR.
The Samsung CU8000 is alright for watching the latest hit movies in HDR. The TV doesn't get nearly bright enough for highlights to stand out, and it doesn't have any local dimming to help it emphasize highlights, which stops this TV from being a good HDR performer. The lack of local dimming means that the TV doesn't have any distracting blooming around bright objects and no lighting zone transitions, but it also makes dark scenes look washed out due to the backlight always being on at the same intensity. Thankfully, the TV's low-quality content smoothing is great, so movies watched from streaming apps are mostly free of any compression artifacts.
- Removes judder from 24p sources.
- Wide color gamut.
- Lacks a local dimming feature.
- Doesn't get very bright in SDR and HDR.
- Poor pre calibration accuracy.
- No DTS audio support.
The Samsung CU8000 is good for playing the latest HDR-enabled games. It has very low input lag in Game Mode, leading to very responsive inputs when playing games. Game Mode also doesn't negatively impact the TV's image quality, so you can safely turn it on. The TV supports 10-bit 4k @ 60Hz and has a wide color gamut, leading to saturated colors in HDR. However, it doesn't get nearly bright enough to do HDR content justice, and it doesn't support 120Hz or any VRR technologies, which isn't optimal for newer consoles. The TV's poor response time makes fast action look blurry in games.
- Low input lag in Game Mode.
- Wide color gamut.
- Lacks a local dimming feature.
- Fast-moving action is blurry.
- Limited to 60Hz and has no VRR support.
- Doesn't get very bright in SDR and HDR.
- Poor pre calibration accuracy.
The Samsung CU8000 is alright as a PC monitor. It has a narrow viewing angle, so the screen's sides look washed out if you sit close to it. It also has a poor response time, leading to trailing behind the mouse cursor or when moving windows around. It does have low input lag when set to Game Mode, which makes for responsive mouse or controller inputs. Sadly, it's not optimal for PC gaming as it has motion blur due to its bad response time, and the TV is limited to 60Hz and has no VRR support. The TV's wide color gamut is great for professional design work, but unfortunately, the TV has poor color accuracy and some uniformity issues. However, the TV displays chroma 4:4:4 properly in 'PC mode,' which is important for text clarity, although it's not as clear as it could be due to the TV's BGR subpixel layout.
- Displays chroma 4:4:4 subsampling.
- Low input lag in Game Mode.
- Wide color gamut.
- Limited to 60Hz and has no VRR support.
- Doesn't get very bright in SDR and HDR.
- Inaccurate color profile.
- Poor pre calibration accuracy.
- Narrow viewing angle.
Changelog
- Updated Apr 22, 2024: We've updated this review's text to keep it up-to-date and accurate.
- Updated Apr 11, 2024: Mentioned the newly reviewed Samsung DU8000 in the Contrast section of this review.
- Updated Nov 10, 2023: We bought and tested the LG UQ7590 and added a comparison below in the Viewing Angle section.
- Updated Aug 24, 2023: We bought and tested the Hisense A65K, and added a few relevant comparisons below.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We bought and tested the 65-inch Samsung UN65CU8000, and these results are also valid for the 43-inch, 50-inch, 55-inch, and 75-inch models. The 85-inch CU8000 uses a very different panel and supports advanced features not found on the smaller sizes, like a 120Hz refresh rate and VRR support. Note that the last four letters in the model number (FXZA in this case) vary between retailers and individual regions, but there's no difference in performance.
| Size | US Model | Short Model Code | Refresh Rate | VRR support |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 43" | UN43CU8000FXZA | UN43CU8000 | 60Hz | No |
| 50" | UN50CU8000FXZA | UN50CU8000 | 60Hz | No |
| 55" | UN55CU8000FXZA | UN55CU8000 | 60Hz | No |
| 65" | UN65CU8000FXZA | UN65CU8000 | 60Hz | No |
| 75" | UN75CU8000FXZA | UN75CU8000 | 60Hz | No |
| 85" | UN85CU8000FXZA | UN85CU8000 | 120Hz | Yes |
Our unit was manufactured in February 2023; you can see the label here.
Popular TV Comparisons
The Samsung 65CU8000 is a basic entry-level 4k TV with decent overall performance. It's similar to 2021's Samsung AU8000 and isn't worth the upgrade if you already own that panel. While it's comparable to some of its competitors, like the LG UQ8000, it's worse value for the money when compared to the Hisense U6/U6H, Hisense U7H, or the TCL 5 Series/S555 QLED.
If you're still shopping for the best TV for your needs, see our recommendations for the best budget TVs, the best 4k TVs, and the best 65-inch 4k TVs.
The Samsung CU8000 and the Samsung DU8000 are very similar, but there are a few differences. The DU8000 has better contrast and black uniformity, so blacks are a bit deeper on it during dark scenes. The DU8000 also has a better response time, so there's less blur behind quick motion. However, the CU8000 has better SDR brightness, so it overcomes more glare in a room with some lights on. Colors are also more vibrant and lifelike on the CU8000 due to its wider color gamut and better color volume.
The Samsung CU7000 and Samsung CU8000 are surprisingly comparable TVs, each having particular strengths. The CU8000 has a wider color gamut and slightly higher peak brightness, making it more pleasant to look at. It also has a more premium, slimmer design. However, it's a particularly slow TV; its response time is poor, which makes it ill-suited for watching sports or for playing fast-moving games, but it helps with watching movies as a slow response time reduces perceived stutter. One of the CU7000's primary strengths is its fast response time, especially in bright scene transitions, making it suited to sports and fast games. Ultimately, the CU7000 is likely cheaper and of particular interest to those wanting a cheaper TV to play games on and watch sports, while the CU8000 has a premium look and outputs more impressive images due to its wider color gamut and slightly higher peak brightness.
The Samsung CU8000 is slightly worse than the Samsung AU8000. The CU8000 is better in a few areas, as it has a wider color gamut, better color volume, higher HDR brightness in game mode, and much better low-quality content smoothing. The AU8000, however, has much better reflection handling, better build quality, much better color accuracy both pre- and post-calibration, and is easier to calibrate. It also has much better black uniformity, but this can vary between units. The newer CU8000 does have an upgraded version of Tizen OS, which now supports MultiView on this TV.
The Samsung TU7000 and Samsung CU8000 are very similar TVs with almost identical capabilities. Still, the Samsung TU7000 is much better than the CU8000 in dark rooms due to its superior contrast and vastly better black uniformity. Inversely, the CU8000 is a bit brighter than the TU7000 in HDR and SDR and has slightly better reflection handling, so it's better for moderately-lit rooms. It also has much better low-quality content smoothing than the TU7000, so low-bitrate streaming content looks better on the CU8000.
We buy and test dozens of TVs yearly, taking an objective, data-driven approach to deliver results you can trust. Our testing process is complex, with hundreds of individual tests that take over a week to complete. Most of our tests use specially designed test patterns that mimic real content, but we also use the same sources you have at home to ensure our results match the real-world experience. We use two main tools for our testing: a Colorimetry Research CR-100 colorimeter and a CR-250 spectroradiometer.
Test Results
Older Test Bench: This product has been tested using an older TV test methodology, before a major update. Some of the test results below aren't directly comparable with other TVs. Learn more
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