The Samsung AU9000 in a nutshell

Yes, the Samsung AU9000 can occasionally suffer from reduced brightness, a bit dull sound and less generous SD content upscaling… but most of the time, you will just sit in front of it and enjoy revel in the brilliant images that pop out of its impossibly thin screen - for a TV in this range.

Samsung has been a major player in the consumer TV market for years now, and the AU9000 continues that remarkable success story, thanks above all to its excellent value for money. space-saving smart display with exceptional 4K image quality and some gaming features.

Obviously, you will not be acquiring one of the best Samsung televisions in circulation here (look instead at the Samsung QN95A Neo and Samsung QN90A Neo, if that is what you are looking for). The sound stage remains relatively basic, while the upscaling of programs broadcast in low resolution struggles somewhat. Despite its shortcomings, Samsung offers with its AU9000 range a great first foray into Ultra HD in your living room.

Samsung AU9000 price and availability

The Samsung AU9000 is on sale now, offering five distinct screen sizes: 43-inch, 50-inch, 55-inch, 65-inch and 75-inch. Only the first two are currently available in France.

The 50-inch model reviewed here usually retails for €899.99 – it's currently discounted €200 at Darty . And if we rely on our experience based on the evolution of previous mid-range Samsung models, this price should become even more attractive at the end of the year.

The 43-inch edition is therefore curiously more expensive, since it is sold at €749.99, without promotion.

Design of the Samsung AU9000

We're all used to expecting a certain degree of sophistication from Samsung TVs, even when it's a mid-range TV. A purchase criterion to which the Samsung 50AU9000 responds perfectly, as it is elegant and discreet - with a remarkably thin side view.

With pleasing dimensions of 1119 x 645 x 26mm (hxwxd), you can choose to mount your TV on the wall and feel like it's one with it. Samsung, without apparent hyperbole, calls this type of design "AirSlim".

If you prefer to place it on a piece of furniture, a shelf or a table, it comes with two clip-on feet. As a bonus, these have a sober cable management system, which appears to be very practical – as long as the said cables do not prove to be too bulky.

Up front, the Samsung AU9000 cuts a good figure. The frame is minimalist on the top and the sides, and even if the lower part turns out to be a little wider than the rest of the structure, you will not think about it after installation. The plastic surface is intended to be quite pleasant to the touch, and as usual with Samsung, there is a feeling of durable material.

On the rear are three HDMI inputs (one of which is eARC compatible and all three cover ALLM and FreeSync HDMI 2.1 options). Additional physical ports are present, in the form of an Ethernet socket, two USB 2.0 inputs, a CI slot and an antenna for the TV tuner. There's also a digital optical output, for pairing with more dated soundbars, for example. You finally benefit from a dual-band wi-fi connection and Bluetooth 5.2.

Smart TV (Tizen)

For a while, the interface for Smart TV Tizen was obviously and unquestionably the best. In 2021, it remains so, despite the fact that all the competition, from LG to Hisense, have improved their own OSes accordingly. On the AU9000, Tizen is refined, intuitive, complete and above all very pleasant to use.

The choice of content available is vast, with a large volume of interesting applications (and many others that turn out to be more futile). You have a decent number of replay services, as well as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus and Apple TV+ SVOD platforms. Without any difficulty in finding each of these proposals.

The menus and settings are just as logical and it will only take you a few seconds to access the major settings of your television. Getting a smoother, brighter, or more detailed image becomes a near-instantaneous task. On the other hand, convincingly optimizing the color balance can take a little longer.

Both remotes are themselves easy to grip. The full remote is a bit cruder in look and feel, admittedly, but you'll love getting lost in it. The more stripped down alternative offers the "main functions" of the Samsung AU9000, it will probably become the default choice for most users.

Voice commands can be activated here. Unsurprisingly, Siri isn't compatible, but Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant are ready to serve you. For the more obtuse (or for Samsung aficionados), Bixby voice assistance is also available.

Image quality

If you intend to see the AU9000 give its best, you will need to serve it native 4K content that meets the HDR10+ standard. Don't try to play a Dolby Vision Blu-Ray on it, the standard is by no means served - as always with Samsung.

We have launched the remastered edition Blu-Ray (4K HDR10+) of The Shining directed by Stanley Kubrick. The Samsung AU9000 absorbs all of its stunning plans in an accomplished fashion. The backlight skews around the edges of the screen rather, and the peak brightness of 350 nits doesn't promise you oodles of contrast or visual vibrancy, but the Samsung far exceeds those specs on paper.

The black tones display decent depth, and they are very detailed at the same time. Even more impressive are the variation and smooth gradation of the shades of black. Backlight control remains reliable, the darkest scenes with minimal lighting show no blur or halo effects. Also, while the white tones don't pop off the screen, they look crisp and just as detailed. Thus, the level of contrast is always convincing, much more than on most mid-range 4K televisions.

The color palette is also presented as natural and varied. Skin tones are compelling, with more than enough fine detail to make the intricacies of any skin tone obvious. Kubrick's signature primary tones, such as the bright red washrooms in the Gold Room, are dynamic without going overboard, while the less garish tones in the reception area are muted without appearing dull.

The AU9000 draws a smooth and pleasing frame, preventing any highlighting or ghosting of images. One of the richest passages at the start of the film (an overhead camera follows the Torrance family's car down a mountain road, while the blue credits scroll from bottom to top of the screen) is handled with perfect fluidity and color matching.

Thanks to the Crystal Processor 4K, the Samsung guarantees a decent upscaling. Low definition content thus preserves sharp colors and contrasts, with interesting variation. There is nevertheless a little hesitation on the definition of the framework and the management of movements. Classic programs, like Arabesque, are transcribed with some jerky sequences and a loss of detail - which is the case for the vast majority of current 4K televisions anyway.

When it comes to running your games - both AAA and indie - the Samsung TV delivers with some display quality. Each of its three HDMI inputs is capable of supporting low input lag (between 6 and 10 m/s), FreeSync and any other premium specification of a next-gen console. Combine this with complex processing aimed at mimicking a 4K/120Hz refresh rate and the ability to adapt to the 32:9 aspect ratio that some PC games are so fond of, the AU9000 shines among gaming monitors. the most attractive of the moment.

Audio performance

It is not uncommon for a consumer television to justify the savings made on the final price by a reduced sound quality. This is clearly the case with the AU9000.

Samsung is not very forthcoming about the size and composition of the two speakers installed in the lower part of the screen. However, the manufacturer wants to admit that they have a total power of 20 watts. And prefers to highlight the "Object Tracking Lite" algorithms which give an impression of audio spatialization. This marketing argument is debatable. The sound source here benefits from a vaporous diffusion, but we cannot speak of an impression of height or depth. In terms of tone, the 50AU9000 sounds hesitant and rather flat. There is a habit to take, of course: by increasing the volume, you will slightly compensate for the problem. Without reaching the richness of high-end Samsung TVs that fully include spatial audio.

This is therefore not the first time that we have strongly insisted on the need to acquire an additional sound bar to perfect your TV installation. The AU9000 proves compatible with all of Samsung's "Q Symphony" soundbars - devices that automatically coordinate sound from TV speakers to prevent distortion. If you do not have the required budget (count between 350 and 900 €), an inexpensive sound bar will remain an asset compared to the current sound configuration of the television.

Should you buy the Samsung AU9000?

Buy it if...

Want to spend less than $1000 on a TV 4KSamsung has a long history of offering decent Ultra HD TVs at rock bottom prices. The AU9000 is no exception.

You prefer to hang your television on the wallThe Samsung AU9000 is designed with remarkable finesse, at least for its price. As a result, it will look great on the wall of your living room or bedroom - on which it will easily be forgotten.

You're a control freakWith its content and feature-rich Tizen interface, included voice commands and two remote controls, the Samsung AU9000 is just waiting to be steered.

Don't buy it if...

You watch a lot of vintage programming The AU9000 has some upscaling capability, but it's not a magic bullet for viewing the most dated SD content. Reruns of Columbo are to be avoided here.

You have a nice collection of Blu-Rays or Dolby Vision SVOD subscriptions Samsung doesn't like this format - it never has and probably never will. You will have to settle for the HDR10+ standard, present on Amazon Prime Video but not on Netflix.