Skip to main content

Samsung’s flagship KS9800 is bold, beautiful, and wicked smart

When Samsung showed off its new line of TVs at CES in Las Vegas last January, some of us were left scratching our heads. Many were expecting to see the company’s new flagship TV, one that would replace the vaunted JS9500 that earned such rave reviews in 2015. That’s not what we got. Instead, we were left to believe the ultra-slim KS9500, which we previewed just a few weeks ago, might be the best Samsung would offer this year. Not so! Today, Samsung surprised us with the KS9800, a no-holds-barred, everything-and-the-kitchen sink TV that’s just as brilliant and beautiful as we could ever have hoped for.

While Samsung’s competitor, LG, has been honing its OLED TV lineup to a fine point, Samsung has done its part to make LED/LCD TVs perform their absolute best. The KS9800 is the embodiment of those efforts, and you can see it in every one of its tiny 8 million pixels.

You’ll never need a universal remote again.

Recommended Videos

Like Samsung’s entire premium SUHD lineup, the KS9800 uses quantum dots to achieve extremely bright, highly accurate colors, and more shades of those colors than ever before. It supports high dynamic range, with peak brightness topping out at more than 1,000 nits, which, if you’re not familiar with nits, means the TV produces the brightest, most sparkling highlights you can buy in a TV today. But the most important thing to video enthusiasts is that this TV, unlike the KS9500 we previewed earlier this month, has a full-array local dimming backlight system. And that means that, while the TV is a little thicker than the ultra-slim step-down model, it has better black levels and, therefore, much better overall contrast; that’s what makes this TV’s picture leap off the screen with an almost natural 3D effect.

In terms of picture quality, the KS9800 offers everything we had hoped for. It matches or exceeds the picture quality we saw in last year’s model, only, in the end, this is a better TV. That’s due in part to the fact that Samsung’s Smart TV system is looking like it might just be the best in the business now.

Related: Check out the whole Samsung TV family here

A feature new for this year, Samsung’s Tizen-powered smart TV system can automatically detect what you connect to it, be it your cable/satellite box, game console, or streaming set-top box like Apple TV, and control it automatically. You’ll never need a universal remote again. The system also does some really great things with lining up Live TV up with the apps you love to stream with, making the whole interface feel like individual channels. Channel surfing has finally been brought back in the 21st century, and, frankly, we like it. A lot. If you know someone who tends to get frustrated with their TV because they can’t figure out how to control it, Samsung’s new system will change that in a hurry.

And if all that wasn’t enough, the simple addition of a special USB dongle, simply called Samsung Extend — and due to be sent out free of charge to anyone who purchases a Samsung 7, 8, or 9-series SUHD TV — instantly transforms the TV into a Smart Home control system. Packing Samsung’s Smart Things system compatibility, this TV can control any number of smart lights, thermostats, wireless cameras, and outlets — all from different brands — by bringing them together under one very simple, easy-to-use interface, right there on the TV screen. Check to see who’s at the door, or set the system up so that it dims the lights when you watch a movie. The possibilities are limited only to your imagination, and how many smart devices you might have in your home.

Overall, the KS9800 is every bit the top-tier TV we expected from Samsung, and its bound to get rave reviews later this year as reviewers, ourselves included, finally get some extended one-one-one time with the TV.

Yeah, we’ll just be over here, “working.”

For now, know that the 65-inch version of the KS9800 comes available this June, the 78-inch will come as soon as May for $10,000, and the monstrous 88-inch version, also due this June, will beg a pocketbook-draining $20,000

Sound expensive? Well, they are. The best costs a bit of money. However, consider that the last year’s 65-inch JS9500 was introduced at the same price, but is now available for about $3,400 online. So, the prices will calm down eventually (to a degree). For now, Samsung deserves to charge a premium for the KS9800, because it most certainly plays the role of a premium TV — probably one of the best we’ll see all year.

Caleb Denison
Digital Trends Editor at Large Caleb Denison is a sought-after writer, speaker, and television correspondent with unmatched…
Samsung shows off the first two 77-inch QD-OLED 4K TVs at CES 2023
Samsung S95C QD-OLED 4K TV.

Samsung was the first company to show off a 4K TV based on QD-OLED technology at CES 2022, and now, at CES 2023 it has unveiled two new QD-OLED models -- the S95C Samsung OLED and S90C Samsung OLED -- and each will be available as 77-inch models. Both will also be offered in 55- and 65-inch sizes.  The news came one day after Samsung Display confirmed it would show its next-gen "QD-OLED 2023" panel at the show in a 77-inch size.

When QD-OLED-based TVs debuted in 2022, Samsung and Sony revealed the first two 4K TVs models within hours of each other: the Samsung S95B and the Sony A95K. Both TVs proved to be absolutely stunning in terms of picture quality, leaving our reviewer no choice but to award them a rare 10/10 rating. But the TVs themselves weren't especially large; only 55- and 65-inch sizes were introduced.

Read more
Samsung’s CES 2023 TVs get thinner, brighter, healthier, and better for gaming
Samsung 2022 QN900B 8K Neo QLED TV.

On display at CES 2023, Samsung's 2023 TV lineup is getting a wide variety of upgrades, including thinner designs, better sound systems, 4K cloud-based gaming, and some interesting health applications that the company is borrowing from its mobile division. Here's everything you need to know.
MicroLED gets smaller, more affordable
Samsung was an early promoter of microLED display tech, which uses tiny LED lights as individual pixels instead of using them as the backlight on an LCD-based TV (LED TV, mini-LED TV). Unfortunately, microLED TVs have tended to be huge (starting at 110 inches), expensive, and somewhat limited in resolution at smaller sizes.

The company's new Micro LED CX, at 76 inches, is its smallest yet, and Samsung promises it will also be the most affordable microLED TV ever released.

Read more
Optoma’s CinemaX 4K laser projectors now have faster response times for gamers
People using the Optoma CinemaX D2 outdoors.

Optoma is expanding its 4K UHD home theater projector line by introducing the CinemaX D2 Series. Optoma says this is an upgrade from the previous CinemaX P2 projector, and the improvements are based on user feedback. The series includes the CinemaX D2, a 4K UHD ultra short throw laser home projector, and the CinemaX D2 Smart, which adds smart TV features courtesy of an included Android TV dongle.
Ultra short throw projectors are ideal for people with limited space in their room as they can cast an image on the screen from small distances. Traditional short throw projectors need at least four feet to eight feet of distance from the screen to be able to produce high-quality images, but not all rooms have this much area to spare.  That's where ultra short throw projectors can help. The CinemaX D2 Series, for example, can cast up to 100-inch images from less than a foot away from the screen. If you increase the distance a bit more, you get up to 120-inch images. 
The CinemaX D2 Series features 3,000 lumens and a 1,800,000:1 contrast ratio, which, oddly, is a bit of a step down from their predecessor, the CinemaX P2 projector, which offers the same brightness, but with a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio. 

The biggest boost this series offers is an Enhanced Gaming Mode that claims "blur-free visuals and low lag" with the help of its 16ms response time in 4K at 60Hz and 4ms in 1080P at 240Hz. The 30,000-hour life span (same as its predecessor) seems to be slightly higher than other ultra short throw projectors in this price range as well. Both D2 models have three HDMI 2.0 inputs, instead of the P2's double-HDMI 2.0 and single HDMI 1.4 inputs.

Read more