No, the AU9000 is not the dullest, or the vaguest, or the most volume-adverse, television I've ever heard – but then neither is it all that interesting or engaging to listen to. That’s a positive, though. At a touch over 25mm deep for our 55-inch version, the chassis is enviably slim, and the bezels surrounding the screen are minimal too. It can be wall-mounted, of course. If you don’t fancy that option, though, and would rather stand your new TV on a surface, the Samsung’s feet are usefully close together, so your surface needn’t be as wide as the screen itself. There are two feet to be screwed to the chassis, and they can be made to look like a single pedestal using a plastic cover that feels rather cheap and fits only approximately. Still, it raises the bottom of the screen sufficiently to comfortably fit a soundbar beneath. Samsung BU8500 review: Value

The Samsung BU8500 is impressively slim, but this does limit what its speakers can do. (Image credit: Future) Samsung BU8500 review: Sound quality To give the Samsung 50AU9000 some credit, at least it doesn’t become unlistenable at serious volumes – which is a trait that afflicts plenty of its rivals. It just gets louder. But the tonal quality of its sound is nothing to write home about. There are limits to the amount of ‘designing’ that can be done to a TV at the best of times, and ‘the best of times’ most certainly does not include a mainstream range of aggressively priced televisions designed to appeal to as many folk as possible. So the BU8500 is an unremarkable looker. There’s an impressive choice of apps for a TV at this price point too, with Netflix, Prime Video, Now TV, Disney+, Apple TV+, Rakuten, YouTube, and all the UK TV catch-up services; plus there’s the Universal Guide to help you sift through the extensive selection of content. It’s not uncommon for a mainstream TV to betray its price-point more readily with the sound it makes than with the images it produces. And so it proves with the Samsung AU9000 TV.The AU9000 supports HDR10, HLG and HDR10+, but not Dolby Vision. However, the absence of the latter has nothing to do with the TV’s mid-range status – none of Samsung’s models support the format, with the company instead opting for the royalty-free HDR10+. HDR10+ performance was good in testing, and while not as prevalent as Dolby Vision, is a format used by Prime Video and some 4K Blu-rays. It’s quite distinct through the mid-range and, again, quite decent levels of detail. Voices project forwards well, and they're actually quite nicely balanced – until they start to nudge into the upper frequency range. Once it reaches the higher frequencies, the BU8500 becomes quite hard and edgy, bringing sibilance and even a hint of coarseness to treble sounds. It’s a trait that’s only exacerbated by volume. To test the Samsung AU9000 we used Portrait Displays Calman colour calibration software. Samsung AU9000 review: Gaming After watching all sorts of content, I noticed that edge definition is also handled well, so edges are drawn confidently and with real positivity. Only when combined with properly testing on-screen motion are edges anything less than smooth, and only when on-screen motion gets properly complex does the Samsung do anything except grip movement with real determination. Only in extremis does the AU9000’s Crystal Processor 4K give the slightest hint of how hard it’s working.

There are two ways to consider the design of the 50AU9000. The first is from straight-on, because that’s how you’ll be watching it. And when viewed this way, the Samsung is completely anonymous – but in a good way. After all, very few people want their TV to draw attention to itself, so design flourishes are pretty rare. The Samsung AU9000 is mostly screen, with quite narrow bezels across the top and down each side. It’s going to come as no great surprise to learn that the Samsung does its verybest work when given the very best content to work with. And, in light of its specification, the very best content turns out to be some native 4K material with HDR10+ as the cherry on top. There are three HDMI 2.0 inputs, one of which (HDMI 2) supports eARC, and all of which are capable of handling 4K resolution at 60Hz, CEC, Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) and Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) – making this TV a solid choice for gamers. There are also two USB 2.0 inputs, a terrestrial tuner, a CI slot, an optical digital output, and an Ethernet port for a wired connection. In terms of wireless connections, both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.2 are supported.

Plan Benefits

The Game Bar is a new addition to some of Samsung’s TVs this year and provides all the main gaming info and settings in one convenient display. It pops up when the play/pause button is held down and includes the HDR, frame rate, and VRR status, as well as key gaming picture adjustments. The Samsung AU9000 delivers excellent image quality but isn’t without limitations. It uses a VA panel, which means for an LCD TV it delivers a decent contrast ratio of 4,000:1 and some nice shadow detail. However, it also means the optimal viewing angles are fairly limited, so you’ll want to be facing the screen head-on when watching TV. Looked at in profile, though, the AU9000 is a fair bit more interesting. Somehow Samsung has managed to keep the depth down to a super-svelte 26mm – and that’s a consistent depth, too. Unlike that OLED TV you’ve had your eye on, there’s no swelling or protuberance housing all the electronic odds and sods here. If you decide to wall-mount your new TV, you can be sure that it will sit as flush to the rear surface as any screen that doesn’t cost maybe five times as much. As yet, we’ve no confirmation as to whether the Samsung AU9000 range will be offered for sale either in Australia or in the United States. Samsung isn’t alone in preferring to have bespoke models in different territories – or, at the very least, to have different model numbers in different territories for the same televisions. Design