The Samsung RU9000, also known as the Samsung 9 Series, is a decent 4k TV. It's well-suited for dark room viewing, as it has a high contrast ratio to produce deep blacks, and it has excellent black uniformity. However, even though it has decent reflection handling, it struggles to overcome glare in bright environments due to its low peak brightness. It has a great response time to deliver fast-moving scenes with minimal motion blur, and it has an optional Black Frame Insertion feature to further improve clarity. Its low input lag makes gaming feel incredibly responsive, and it supports variable refresh rate (VRR) support to help minimize screen tearing. Unfortunately, while it has an impressive color gamut to produce a wide range of colors in HDR, it doesn't get bright enough to make highlights pop and lacks a local dimming feature. Also, its VA panel's sub-par viewing angles make it less ideal for wide seating areas. Like all Samsung TVs, it runs on the great Tizen OS platform, which has tons of streaming services readily available.
Our Verdict
The Samsung RU9000 is a decent TV for most uses. It performs impressively well for gaming due to its low input lag, fast response time, and VRR support. Its high contrast ratio is great for viewing movies in the dark; however, it lacks local dimming and doesn't get very bright to bring out highlights in HDR movies. Visibility can be an issue if you're watching in a well-lit environment, and its VA panel's sub-par viewing angles result in images looking washed out when viewed from the side.
- Excellent contrast ratio.
- Great response time.
- Reasonable SDR peak brightness.
- No local dimming.
- Sub-par viewing angles.
The Samsung RU9000 is okay for watching movies. It performs very well in dark rooms thanks to its high contrast ratio and excellent black uniformity. It displays native 4k content without any issues and upscales lower resolution movies well. It can remove judder from all sources, but it stutters a bit in low frame rate content like movies. Sadly, it doesn't have a local dimming feature. There's some dirty screen effect; however, uniformity can vary between units.
- Excellent contrast ratio.
- Excellent black uniformity.
- No local dimming.
- Some stutter in low frame rate content.
The Samsung RU9000 is decent for watching TV shows. It upscales lower resolution content from cable boxes well, and Samsung's Tizen OS platform has tons of streaming services available. Its reflection handling is decent, but it doesn't get very bright, so it isn't ideal for well-lit rooms. Also, it isn't a good option if you like to walk around while watching due to its VA panel's narrow viewing angles.
- Reasonable SDR peak brightness.
- Decent reflection handling.
- Sub-par viewing angles.
The Samsung RU9000 is good for watching sports. Its response time is great, and it has an optional Black Frame Insertion feature to further improve motion clarity in fast-moving scenes. Unfortunately, even though it has decent reflection handling, it doesn't get very bright and might not be able to overcome glare in a well-lit environment. Also, its sub-par viewing angles cause the image to look washed out from the side, so it isn't the best option for watching with a big group of people.
- Great response time.
- Reasonable SDR peak brightness.
- Decent reflection handling.
- Sub-par viewing angles.
The Samsung RU9000 is great for gaming. It has incredibly low input lag, a fast response time, and it supports variable refresh rate technology to reduce screen tearing. It has a high contrast ratio and excellent black uniformity, which is great for dark room gaming. Unfortunately, there's a bit of dirty screen effect as well as image duplication due to the TV's backlight flicker.
- Excellent contrast ratio.
- Low input lag.
- FreeSync support.
- Great response time.
- No local dimming.
The Samsung RU9000 is okay for watching movies in HDR. Its VA panel has an excellent contrast ratio and black uniformity, making it a great choice for dark rooms. However, it doesn't get very bright, and it lacks local dimming, so highlights don't stand out the way they should. It can remove judder from all sources, but it stutters a bit due to its fast response time.
- Excellent contrast ratio.
- Excellent black uniformity.
- No local dimming.
- Poor HDR peak brightness.
- Some stutter in low frame rate content.
The Samsung RU9000 is good for playing games in HDR. It has low input lag, a fast response time, and VRR support. However, its HDR performance is severely limited by the low HDR peak brightness and lack of local dimming. On the upside, it has an excellent contrast ratio and black uniformity, making it a great choice for gaming in the dark.
- Excellent contrast ratio.
- Low input lag.
- FreeSync support.
- Great response time.
- No local dimming.
- Poor HDR peak brightness.
The Samsung RU9000 is good for use as a PC monitor. It has low input lag, a fast response time, and it can display proper chroma 4:4:4 for optimal text clarity. It handles reflections decently well, but it has narrow viewing angles, so the sides of the screen can look washed out if you sit too close.
- Low input lag.
- Great response time.
- Decent reflection handling.
- Sub-par viewing angles.
Changelog
- Updated Jul 29, 2021: Added the real content local dimming videos.
- Updated Mar 02, 2021: Converted to Test Bench 1.6.
- Updated Nov 10, 2020: Updated review for accuracy and clarity.
- Updated Aug 19, 2020: Update to HDMI Forum VRR support.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the 82" RU9000 (UN82RU9000) and we expect our results to be valid for the 65" RU9000 (UN65RU9000), and the 75" RU9000 (UN75RU9000).
If someone comes across a different type of panel or if their Samsung RU9000 doesn't correspond to our review, let us know and we will update the review. Note that some tests such as the gray uniformity may vary between individual units.
| Size | United States | Canada |
|---|---|---|
| 65" | UN65RU9000FXZA | UN65RU9000FXZC |
| 75" | UN75RU9000FXZA | UN75RU9000FXZC |
| 82" | UN82RU9000FXZA | UN82RU9000FXZC |
Our unit of the UN82RU9000 was manufactured in March 2020; you can see the label here.
Popular TV Comparisons
The Samsung RU9000 is a decent TV for most uses. It isn't the best option for watching HDR content due to its low HDR peak brightness, but it's one of the better options for gaming, as it has low input lag, a fast response time, and it supports VRR. For other options, check out our recommendations for the best TVs, the best HDR gaming TVs, and the best smart TVs.
The Samsung RU9000 and the Samsung RU8000 are very similarly performing TVs. The biggest difference is that the RU9000 has slightly wider viewing angles, resulting in an image that looks a tad less washed out from the side, and its color gamut is a bit wider. Other differences are very minor and will likely be hard to notice.
The Samsung RU9000 is better than the LG NANO81. The RU9000 has a VA panel with a much higher contrast ratio and significantly better black uniformity, making it more suitable for dark room viewing. The RU9000 has a 120Hz refresh rate, faster response time, and it has an optional black frame insertion feature. Furthermore, it has a wider color gamut and it supports VRR. However, the NANO81 has better viewing angles due to its IPS panel, it has better reflection handling, and lower input lag.
Overall, the Samsung RU9000 is better than the Samsung TU8000. The RU9000 has a higher peak brightness, a much wider color gamut, and significantly better gradient handling. The RU9000 also has a faster response time, it can remove judder from all sources, and it has a 120Hz refresh rate. Input lag is lower on the TU8000, but if you want VRR support, only the RU9000 has it.
The Samsung RU9000 is marginally better than the Samsung Q60T. The RU9000 has significantly better motion handling due to its much faster response time, it can remove judder from all sources, and it has a better HDR color gamut. However, the Q60T has a higher contrast ratio, higher peak brightness in SDR and HDR, and it has much better color accuracy out of the box. The Q60T has lower input lag, but it doesn't support variable refresh rate, which the RU9000 does.
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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