Samsung 9 Series

The 9 Series is the flagship line of LCD televisions introduced by Samsung in 2008 and is the 2nd generation of LED backlit sets. Succeeding the often praised 81F series, Samsung has improved upon the LED system by introducing more lights, increasing contrast ratio, and retaining the premium features that make the 7 and 8 series notable. Samsung states the television has a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio which is achieved by the local dimming effect of the LED back-light.

More information

Specs

* 1080p native resolution
* 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio
* Auto Motion Plus 120Hz
* 4ms response time
* Ultra Clear Panel
* Wide Color Enhancer 2
* DNIe Pro
* WiseLink Pro USB port for accessing digital media
* Ethernet port for RSS, news, weather and stocks and digital media
* Two 10 watt speakers
* 1GB internal flash memory
* Inputs: HDMI x 4, Component x 2, Composite x 1, S-Video x 1, VGA x 1, Ethernet x 1, USB x 1

LED Back-light - The LED back-light solution differs from traditional LCD back-lighting solutions in two distinct ways: local dimming, and energy consumption. While traditional displays use 1-5 lights for the entire panel, this LED system uses 276 lights across the panel. This is an improvement over the 81F series which featured less than 100 lights. Each of the lights can be controlled so dark areas of the scene will have the lights off, while the brighter areas will have the lights with more power; this is how the extremely high dynamic contrast ratio is achieved.

Series 7,8,9 specific features

DLNA Support - Stream video, image, and music content over your home network. The TV has support for a wide variety of CODECs including DivX and XVid, and can support hi-def resolutions.



USB Port - The USB port lets you connect storage devices such as portable hard drives, or thumb drives and access the content within. Details aren't currently available but most like the TV can read content stores on devices that act as a USB Mass Storage (UMS) device.

1GB of Internal Memory - It's unknown whether or not you will be able to overwrite the content stored on this internal memory. Samsung reports that it will come preloaded with "premium" content such as HD art, recipes and children's stories.

"Touch of Color" - in a break away from the traditional black or really black choices that most televisions offer Samsung is introducing a little bit of color to these sets. During the manufacturing process the bevel has some color applied to it, with auburn being the initial option and more colors expected over time.

Series 6,7,8, 9 features

Ethernet port - the included ethernet port will allow you to access RSS feeds and other real time content to display sports information, news, stocks and weather. It's currently unknown whether other forms of content such as full Internet access will be available in the future.

4 HDMI ports - the lower level series feature 3 HDMI ports, with the high-end models adding an extra HDMI port for more expandability. All HDMI ports are version 1.3.

Common to all 2008 Samsungs

Anti-glare screen - first introduced in the Samsung's 71F series of television released in 2007, Samsung claims they have improved the glossy anti-glare screen to reduce glare and reduce reflections.

Models

* LN46A950 - 46" screen | $3199
* LN55A950 - 55" screen | $4199