A night with the Samsung Series 8 8000 Plasma TV

Samsung Philippines booked us for an overnight stay at the Picasso Hotel last Sunday so we can try their new flagship 64-inch Plasma Smart TV, the Series 8 8000.

Along with the Plasma TV is the latest 3D Bluray player and a 5.1 surround system pictured below (notice the two other speakers are strategically placed beside the headboard).

This is actually the largest TV we’ve ever tried and tested — the 64-inch display is almost as wide as the queen-sized bed in my hotel room.

Samsung Plasma TV PS64D8000
64-inch screen size (diagonal)
Full HD 1080p (1920×1080 resolution)
3D capable
4 HDMI ports
2 USB 2.0 ports
WiFi 802.11n
600Hz maximum refresh rate
3D Hyper Real Engine
Ethernet (LAN) port
PC audio in
PC in (D-Sub)
Smart Hub User Interface
DLNA (Samsung AllShare)
AnyNet+ (HDMI-CEC)
Skype on Samsung TV
Dolby Digital Plus / Dolby Pulse
SRS TheatreSound HD

It’s not the thinnest TV we’ve seen but at 37.1mm, it’s already very sexy.

And when I thought that plasma TVs are on their way out but here we are in front of a 64-incher from Samsung.

From the specs sheet, this baby can eat up to 480 watts when maxed out (less than 1 watt on stand-by).

The unit also comes with a Bluray player (model BDC6900) which is also WiFi-ready and 3D-capable when hooked up to the 3D TV. It also has a built-in hard drive with 1GB capacity. The player can also convert 2D movies and other video clips to 3D (requires 3D glasses).

The Series 8 8000 PS64D8000 is probably on the top end of Samsung’s Smart TV food chain with the Smart Hub that allows you to control all aspects of your TV — from searching for content, launching Samsung Apps, streaming YouTube videos or firing a native browser to surf the web.

And speaking of apps, there’s one for Facebook and another for Skype. You can actually run Twitter and Google Talk while watching TV (now there’s a real reason for TV networks to want their shows to trend on Twitter).

With AllShare (which is basically just DLNA), you can wirelessly connect your devices (laptop, camera, phone, etc) to the TV and project content from anywhere as long as you’re within range.

There are 2 USB 2.0 ports at the back where you can plug a flash drive or an external HDD and play movies and music or view photos straight off the device.

Picture-quality is excellent, display is clear and crisp with that very deep contrast you’d always expect in a plasma TV. The 3D glasses that came with the TV is also somewhat comfortable and lightweight, despite its bulky size, although I don’t think I can last more than one full movie with this on.

To help you appreciate the enormous size and impressive picture of this Samsung Plasma TV, check out this short video I made:

I wish we had more time with this TV since the 20 short hours we had with it went by so fast I don’t think I was able to explore all that is to learn about this unit. In any case, it was a great experience altogether.

I’m not sure if this model is already available locally and how much it retails but the list price in the US puts it at $4,299PHP 252,289INR 364,339EUR 4,094CNY 31,289 (I expect a quarter of a million pesos SRP in the Philippines).

Disclosure: Samsung Philippines shouldered the overnight stay and meals for us to review this product.