Samsung UE65JS9000 review

The UE65JS9000 is potentially the most important TV in Samsung's new range, thanks to the way it offers genuine HDR playback, native UHD resolution and the new Tizen operating system for £2,000 less than the previously tested UE65JS9500.

It has to be said that the UE65JS9500 is a better TV, especially when it comes to delivering the maximum impact from High Dynamic Range content. It's true, too, that for now there's no HDR UHD content around to help you unlock the UE65JS9000's full potential.

Nonetheless, so long as you exercise a little care with its set-up the UE65JS9000 is simply streets ahead of typical LCD TVs in both picture performance and future-proofing terms.

We liked

With a little care during set-up, the UE65JS9000 can give you jaw-dropping picture quality with truly next-generation levels of brightness and colour. Native HDR UHD content is like nothing you've ever seen before.

The use of an external upgradable connections/processing box is great for peace of mind in today's fast-changing times, too, and this set costs two grand less than the UE65JS9500.

We disliked

Although substantially cheaper than its flagship sibling, the UE65JS9000 is still expensive by UHD TV standards generally. The curved design may be divisive and can cause reflection distortions, and finally backlight clouding concerns mean you can't run the TV at full brightness, reducing the impact of HDR playback.

Final verdict

As well as being the most feature-rich, future-proofed TV I've seen – apart from Samsung's own luxurious UE65JS9500 – the UE65JS9000 sets new picture-quality standards for the edge LED market.

The edge LED system does require some compromise of the TV's HDR ambitions, but many AV fans will surely find these compromises easy to live with in return for saving £2,000 on the price of the flagship UE65JS9500.