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Strengths: Localized LED backlighting produces the deepest blacks and highest contrast ever in an LCD TV, while using less electricity.
Weaknesses: Standard-def scaling not up to par for a top-of-the-line model.
Summary: Samsung's highest-end 81 series of LCD televisions are the very first to incorporate a backlight made of hundreds of LEDs instead of the usual fluorescent tubes. The many benefits are immediately visible in its amazing contrast and color quality that finally matches that of plasma screens. Many reviews all agreed this is the best LCD they've seen, and in my own purchasing research it is very easy to see its quality next to others in the store, and ultimately that is why I bought this over any other model.
By selectively varying the brightness of each backlighting LED, the TV is able to have a much larger range from black to white, achieving a contrast ratio never seen before by an LCD.
In addition, LEDs produce a purer white, and allow the screen to display a wider range of colors (color gamut) than any fluorescent-backlit LCD.
Finally, the LEDs can be flashed at a very high rate of speed to improve upon the 8ms response time of the LCD itself, matching or beating the motion of 120 Hz panels.
Meanwhile, the TV uses much less electricity as a plasma and even other LCDs, and should be immune to any burn-in and lifetime issues associated with plasmas.
The TV has everything else you would expect at this high end: A spectacular LCD panel with very little off-axis brightness change, Three sets of HDMI and analog inputs, and of course a beautiful deep black glossy bezel and stand.
If you're looking for where to start with color settings, start with Movie mode, Warm 1 color, and a gamma of -3.
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