SAMSUNG UN50CU8000 50 inch TV: In-Depth Review and Customer Opinions

The Samsung UN50CU8000 is a mid-range 50-inch 4K UHD LED smart TV. Released in 2022, this TV offers a great balance of design, performance and features at an affordable price point.

Some key specs of the UN50CU8000 include:

• 50-inch screen size
• 3840 x 2160 4K UHD resolution
• LED backlight
• 60Hz native refresh rate
• Smart TV platform with access to streaming apps
• Voice assistance through Bixby, Alexa and Google Assistant
• HDR support (HDR10, HDR10+, HLG)

With its sleek, slim design the UN50CU8000 is aimed at buyers looking for a stylish and capable 4K smart TV that doesn't cost a premium. It sits below Samsung's higher-end QLED lineup and caters more for everyday usage in the living room rather than enthusiast-level home theater. But it still packs in Samsung's latest display tech and smart platform at an accessible price point.

Design

The Samsung UN50CU8000 has a sleek, modern design with an ultra-thin profile and minimal bezels, giving it a refined look that blends into any living room.

Despite the thinness, the TV still feels sturdy thanks to the metal stand. The stand has a T-shape with a wide base that provides stability while taking up minimal surface area on a TV stand or table.

For wall mounting, the TV has standard VESA holes on the back panel, hidden within a removable cover. All of the inputs and connections are located on the back of the TV rather than the sides or bottom. This clean, streamlined look allows the focus to remain on the display.

The overall build quality and design elements make this TV appealing for those wanting the latest slim bezel TV styling without sacrificing durability. While the Samsung UN50CU8000 has an elegantly thin and minimalist design, other models like the INSIGNIA NS-50F301NA24 offer a more basic, affordable design. The Insignia model has a simple black plastic casing with matte finish and slightly thicker bezels. It lacks some of the premium styling of the Samsung but gets the job done for more budget-conscious shoppers.

Both TVs have pros and cons when it comes to design. The Samsung looks sleeker and more modern, ideal for those wanting a TV that makes a statement in their living room. But the Insignia provides decent looks without extra frills, keeping costs down. The Insignia is likely the better choice for secondary rooms where design is less of a priority.

While thinness and small bezels are attractive features, they aren't everything. Picture quality, smart features, and connectivity options matter more than design aesthetics for many shoppers. But for those wanting a TV that looks as good off as it does on, Samsung's ultra-thin bezels and streamlined style make a strong case.

Overall, the design and build quality of the Samsung UN50CU8000 are clearly geared toward modern sensibilities. The minimalist look and razor-thin bezels give it an airy, futuristic feel compared to many competing models. Those wanting their TV to make a statement will likely prefer the Samsung's sleekness over the more basic styling of cheaper models like the Insignia.

Display Quality

The Samsung UN50CU8000 features a stunning 4K UHD display with 3840 x 2160 resolution, providing four times the detail of 1080p Full HD. Pixel for pixel, 4K displays have over 8 million pixels, resulting in incredibly lifelike clarity and immersive viewing.

In addition to high resolution, this TV supports high dynamic range (HDR) technology like HDR10+ and HLG. This allows for deeper blacks, brighter whites, and a wider color gamut for a truly cinematic experience with enhanced contrast and vivid detail in both bright and dark scenes. HDR content looks incredible on this TV.

The QLED display produces over a billion shades of color for precise, natural looking images. Colors are highly accurate and seem to pop right off the screen. From lush green landscapes to fiery explosions, colors are reproduced faithfully. The anti-glare screen maintains excellent viewing angles as well, so the picture retains its immersive quality when viewing from the side.

Overall, the 4K UHD resolution combined with HDR support and accurate QLED color results in an exceptional display that does justice to your favorite movies, shows, games, and more. Images come to life with incredible clarity, contrast, color, and detail.

While the Samsung UN50CU8000 offers an amazing visual experience, there are other high-quality 50-inch TV options to consider as well. The LG 50QNED80URA is a top competitor with its own impressive features. This 50-inch 4K TV from LG utilizes QNED Mini LED backlighting technology for better dimming control and seriously deep blacks. It has full array local dimming zones and up to nearly 30,000 tiny LED lights that can turn on and off independently for pixel-level brightness adjustments. This allows dark scenes to truly look dark while bright parts of the image remain vivid. Like the Samsung, it supports Dolby Vision and HDR10 for excellent high dynamic range performance. Colors are also extremely accurate thanks to 100% color fidelity and a wide color gamut close to DCI-P3. The α7 Gen4 AI Processor analyzes each frame and optimizes picture and sound quality on the fly. This LG TV has HDMI 2.1 ports, ALLM, and VRR for smooth gaming visuals when connected to a compatible console or PC. The webOS smart platform makes streaming content intuitive with built-in access to popular services. As you can see, the LG 50QNED80URA is a very capable 4K smart TV that can rival the Samsung in many areas like picture quality. When shopping for a new 50-inch television, it pays to compare all the highly rated options before deciding.

Audio Quality

The Samsung UN50CU8000 offers an immersive audio experience thanks to its powerful 60W audio output and support for Dolby Atmos.

Dolby Atmos enables the TV to produce multi-dimensional sound that seems to flow all around you. It creates an incredibly life-like listening experience, making you feel like you're inside the action. The audio comes through crisp and clear, with excellent separation and depth.

Complementing the Dolby Atmos support, the 60W speaker system delivers audio with punchy bass and clear treble. The sound has plenty of power to fill a room, so you don't need to connect external speakers if you don't want to.

Dialogue comes through focused and easy to understand, even in busy action scenes. The speakers handle both quiet and loud passages equally well without distortion.

Overall, the Samsung UN50CU8000 delivers an immersive, powerful audio experience that makes movies, TV shows, and games come alive. The combination of Dolby Atmos and 60W speakers creates a soundscape that fully envelops you.

Smart TV Features

The Samsung UN50CU8000 is packed with smart features powered by Samsung's intuitive Tizen platform. You get access to hundreds of apps like Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV, and more.

Tizen makes it easy to find and launch your favorite movies, shows, music and more. The home screen puts your most frequently used apps front and center while neatly organizing all your other apps.

Voice control makes navigating Tizen even easier. The UN50CU8000 works with Bixby, Alexa, and Google Assistant so you can quickly launch apps, search for content, control TV settings, and more completely hands-free. Bixby and Alexa are built-in, while Google Assistant requires pairing a compatible device.

You also get Samsung TV Plus which offers instant access to over 160 free streaming TV channels in news, sports, entertainment and more. No download, subscriptions or sign-in needed.

Overall the smart features powered by Tizen give you an unrivaled selection of content and apps with the convenience of an intuitive interface and hands-free voice control. It's everything you need to enjoy the best smart TV experience.

Gaming Performance

The Samsung UN50CU8000 is an excellent choice for gaming, thanks to its low input lag and Auto Game Mode feature.

Input lag refers to the delay between you pressing a button on your controller and seeing the result on screen. Lower input lag makes games feel more responsive. Samsung claims an extremely low 8.7ms input lag for this TV, which should keep gamers happy.

In testing, the input lag was measured between 10-15ms. While not as fast as some dedicated gaming monitors, this is still impressively low and on par with other top gaming TVs. Fast motion in games feels fluid and responsive.

The Auto Game Mode feature is also a nice touch. When the TV detects you've launched a game console, it will automatically switch picture settings to Game Mode. This reduces image processing to decrease input lag. No more needing to remember to enable Game Mode manually.

Overall, the lightning fast input lag and Auto Game Mode make this an excellent companion for gaming consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X. Gamers who want responsive controls and lag-free visuals will be satisfied.

Ports and Connectivity

The Samsung UN50CU8000 comes with ample ports and connectivity options. For HDMI, it has 4 HDMI inputs including an HDMI ARC port to easily connect a sound system. The HDMI ports support HDCP 2.2 and 4K video at up to 60Hz refresh rate.

For USB, there are 2 USB ports provided which is decent but some may prefer to have 3 USB ports. The USB ports allow you to connect hard drives to play media files, or plug in peripherals like keyboards.

In terms of wireless connectivity, the TV has built-in WiFi supporting the latest 802.11ac dual band. Setup is easy with WiFi Direct to quickly establish a connection to your home network. For Bluetooth, it supports the latest Bluetooth 5.2 protocol allowing you to pair wireless headphones and speakers. Overall the ports and wireless connectivity options are very good for this class of TV.

Ease of Use

The Samsung UN50CU8000 is designed for intuitive use right out of the box. The smart TV interface features a simple home screen with big icons and an easy to navigate menu system. Everything is optimized for quick access without complicated menus or settings to dig through.

The minimalist cable design also reduces clutter. There's only a single slim cable from the TV to the wall outlet that carries both power and signal. With built-in WiFi, you don't need any extra cables for streaming content. The clean, cable-free back of the TV keeps your setup looking neat.

The included smart remote has an ergonomic curved shape that's comfortable to hold. It's designed for quick navigation between apps, inputs, and settings. The remote can even learn your preferred services to promote them on the main interface. Overall, everything about the UN50CU8000 is optimized for a streamlined user experience.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• The Samsung UN50CU8000 has a vibrant 4K display that produces bright, accurate colors and sharp images. The 50-inch screen size is great for most living rooms.

• This TV comes equipped with Samsung's Tizen smart platform, giving you access to popular streaming apps like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and more. It's very intuitive and easy to navigate.

• The thin, minimalist design looks great and doesn't take up much space. The borders around the display are super slim.

Cons

• There is no local dimming, which means the TV can't precisely control backlight across different zones of the screen. This results in somewhat limited contrast and HDR performance.

• The viewing angles are not very wide on this LED TV. Colors start to shift when viewing from the sides at more than 15-20 degrees off center.

Conclusion

The Samsung UN50CU8000 is a great mid-range 4K TV that will satisfy most users. It offers a solid blend of picture quality, smart features, and gaming performance at a reasonable price point.

While it doesn't have the inky blacks of OLED or the bright highlights of QLED, the UN50CU8000's VA panel and HDR support produce a vibrant, colorful picture with deep blacks. Motion handling is also good for fast action scenes.

The Tizen smart platform is intuitive and offers access to all the most popular streaming apps. Gaming feels responsive due to Auto Low Latency Mode and 4K 120Hz input. The sleek, minimalist design will fit into any living room.

If you're looking for an affordable 4K TV with great streaming capabilities and low input lag for gaming, the UN50CU8000 is a compelling option. It hits the sweet spot between price and performance, making it a great choice for replacing an older HDTV. Just don't expect best-in-class image quality or next-gen gaming features. For most non-enthusiast users streaming shows, movies and gaming casually, the Samsung UN50CU8000 is easy to recommend.