Our Verdict
The Samsung JS9000 is our overall top rated TV this year. It has picture quality very similar to the cheaper JS8500, which is really great both in a dark and bright room. It outranked the JS8500 in our test suite, thanks to the lower input lag. If you don't care about the input lag, the curve, or the full OneConnect box, you get the same excellent picture quality with the cheaper JS8500.
- Wider color gamut
- Good uniformity
- Great gaming TV (low input lag and motion blur)
- Great overall picture quality in both a dark and a bright room
- Limited viewing angle.
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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 are done with 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
The Samsung JS9000 is pretty eye-catching, thanks to its curved screen and gray back, and its stand is nice and stable. The bezel is not the thinnest, though.
While this TV did outperform all the others this year, the Sansungs JS8500 is a similar option that comes for a good deal cheaper. You pay a lot for a curved screen, so if that's not a 'must' for you, consider saving money with a flat TV.
The native contrast ratio of this TV is good. Turning on 'Smart LED' doesn't change the measurement on our checkboard pattern.
The edge-lit local dimming's zones are big, because the LEDs are located on the left and right sides of the TV.
The maximum luminosity of a 2% white window is not really impressive, even with 'Smart LED' set to 'High'.
As with the JS8500, the JS9000's edge-lighting backlight is really great at getting rid of the dirty screen effect (small darker patches). The top and bottom center edges are slightly darker, but it shouldn't be an issue.
The picture quality when you view at an angle is not as great as what you get from directly in front.
Update 01/06/2017: We have changed the methodology of testing. Since this is an old TV which we don't have anymore, we extrapolated the results from 2016 TVs.
It has a few clouding spots, but nothing major. If you get one with major black uniformity issues, don't forget to apply slight pressure and massage the area with a dry cloth, and then let the TV sit for a few days. This often solves uniformity issues.
Movie mode has a good preset in terms of white balance and colors.
Achieving a great calibration was easy on this TV. See the third page of our review for the full settings.
Like all Samsung JS series TVs, setting the colorspace to 'Native' increases the color gamut. For normal content, we don't recommend this, because it will produce over-saturated colors.
Samsung's glossy finish is great at reducing the ambient reflections, and thus increasing the perceived contrast ratio when you have a few lights on. There is a little bit of rainbow glare around bright objects.
This TV can get very bright, but its glossy screen finish won't be ideal if you have windows directly opposite the TV. Your eyes will tend to focus on those outlines.
It handles fast motion really well, thanks to its very fast response time.
Movies don't have judder when using a 24p source (like a Blu-ray player). However, it doesn't always do the reverse 3:2 pulldown, so you might see a little bit of judder in movies when watching over a 60p or 60i source (like on cable, or some streaming boxes). Of course, turning on 'Auto Motion Plus' solves this, but it adds the soap opera effect.
In game mode, the input lag is very low (23.6 ms). In PC mode, the lag is a bit higher, at 55.8 ms.
It doesn't support an input of 1080p @ 120fps, but handles 4k @ 60 Hz @ 4:4:4 well. For 4:4:4, turn on UHD Color and use PC mode.
The loudness and low-end cut off are very good for a TV, but the frequency response is poor. There seems to be pumping present at higher volumes.
The distortion isn't bad at 75 dB SPL. At higher volumes the distortion increases to noticeable amounts, but not as much as some other TVs.
Major Apps Available
The remote is really good. It would be better if it came with more buttons - you have to use an onscreen keypad to input channels - but the motion and voice features are great ways to navigate quickly. The smart platform itself is likewise really good.
The One Connect box houses the processor and the inputs. Your TV won't be usable if it is not connected, and it's an unfortunate extra bit of clutter. Having this separate does mean, though, that you'll be able to upgrade some of the TV's 'guts' in the future, should you wish to do so.
