Samsung LSP9T Ultra-Short Throw RGB Laser Projector

Samsung LSP9T Ultra-Short Throw RGB Laser Projector Review

The flagship Samsung UST is impressive with its RGB laser engine, wide color gamut, and robust audio system, but it needs some tweaking to look good.

The Samsung LSP9T is Samsung’s flagship UST projector, also marketed as “The Premiere,” and it is an outstanding piece of technology. We were glad to get a chance to review it recently after it launched in earnest in early 2021. As the first discrete RGB triple laser projector to offer a color gamut exceeding BT.2020 when it was released, the projector remains a strong contender today in a crowded laser TV market despite standing alone upon its release. We take a closer look at a well-built video performer that normally sells for $6,499 with no discount. Let’s see if it holds up to our expectations.

Pros

HDR color gamut exceeding Rec.2020

Exceptional audio system built-in

Web streaming powered by Tizen

Tuner for ATSC off-air transmissions built-in

Design that is sleek and modern

Cons

For accurate images, calibration is required

Laser speckles and rainbows are visible

Dolby Vision and 3D are not supported

Samsung LSP9T Ultra-Short Throw RGB Laser Projector Features

Models

Two models are available in Samsung’s UST lineup, the LSP9T being one of them. With 2,800 ANSI lumens, this laser TV has less firepower than today’s brightest laser TVs, which range from 3,000 to 4,000 lumens. However, when combined with a screen that rejects ambient light, it is still a good option for bright environments. A single laser+phosphor light engine powers the LSP7T, a step-down sister model that costs $3,499 before any discounts. It has a narrower color range, and its color gamut is more limited.

In addition, it produces less light, at 2,200 ANSI lumens, and uses a 0.47-inch XPR 4K DLP chip, compared to a 0.66-inch DMD from the LSP9. To get all 8 million pixels of a UHD video signal on screen, the larger chip only requires two phases of pixel shifting, whereas the smaller chip requires four phases of pixel shifting. Some claim that the 0.66-inch chip offers a sharper image, but it is usually only found in premium products.

Finally, the LSP7T projector reaches a diagonal picture size of 120 inches (16:9), while the LSP9T is capable of focusing up to 130 inches due to its more advanced optics. Despite this, the most popular and effective ALR screens are still only available up to 120 inches. (A 150-inch version of this lenticular screen type was recently manufactured, costing around $5,000).

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RGB laser engine

LSP9T’s sophisticated RGB laser engine has a 20,000-hour playback rating, which is typical of most laser television projectors, but falls short of some, notably the Hisense L9G and PX1-PRO triple laser models that compete with it. If the red, green, and blue primaries are delivered discretely by the triple-laser design, the color wheel of most projectors is eliminated, allowing all light to reach the screen using just the single imaging chip. Rainbow artifacts, how

ever, were not completely eliminated by the LSP9T.

The colors must be delivered sequentially to the screen even without a wheel, so rainbows are always present even without a wheel. There is a risk of timing errors, so only a three-chip projector can guarantee absolute immunity to RBE. Even though I am not particularly sensitive to rainbows, I certainly saw them during my audition, especially when I fixed my eyes on images of white credits on black backgrounds, or the Oppo logo on their disc players, which bounced white-on-black. Live content, however, didn’t show them often to me.

Laser speckle

One artifact I accepted with the LSP9T was the laser speckle. Laser speckle is basically a super fine layer of noise or grain that does not appear to be in the image, but floats just above it. When you change your head position, for instance, you may notice it more readily in bright areas of the picture. When you stand next to the screen, it is more noticeable. The phenomenon of speckle is a result of the interaction of coherent laser light with screen textures, and it most commonly occurs with discrete RGB laser projectors.

Some commercial cinemas use mechanical systems to reduce or eliminate speckle imperceptibly. Every RGB projector Mark Henninger has reviewed for us has shown some level of speckle.

In addition to the projector’s engineering, the amount of speckle you see will be affected by the screen on which you’re using it, though the screen type I used for this review (which I explain below) is now a common ALR solution for USTs, with characteristics that are consistent across brands. It depends in part on your sensitivity to laser speckle and your ability to see through it once you do see it whether laser speckle bothers you. In dark rooms, it is more noticeable—only when the image is bright or if it is highly saturated in bright colors like red—and the further away from the screen, the less noticeable it is.

The LSP9T speckle is visible to me if

I look for it, but it never bothered me during everyday viewing and wasn’t a distraction in my theater where I sit only about 10 feet from a 100-inch screen. However, it was harder to detect from longer distances. However, anyone buying a RGB laser projector should be aware of it.

Advantage of these RBG laser engines

The major advantage of these RBG laser engines is their ultra-wide color gamut. Most single-laser USTs are well short of the DCI-P3 color space required to master HDR content today, and often even fall short of the Rec.709 gamut. In addition to achieving full DCI-P3, the LSP9T is future-proofed to support UHD content with the full BT.2020 gamut. Most current HDR content has a full range of color. According to its specs, this product achieves 106% BT.2020, 147% DCI-P3, and 240.5% Rec-709.

I confirmed that it achieved

108.9% BT.2020, 161.4% DCI-P3, and 240.5% Rec-709. As well as HDR10 and HLG content, the projector is also compatible with HDR10+ content, which is becoming increasingly prevalent on streamed content, such as Amazon Prime. The HDR10+ scheme allows displays to adjust the brightness levels of HDR scenes or frames based on the scene instead of the static tone-map metadata provided by HDR10. Dolby Vision HDR support is lacking in the LSP9T, but is available in several more recent RGB laser USTs.

SamsungLSP9T ColorVolume

White finish, rounded corners, and gray grille cloth cover the front of the LSP9T and LSP7T models share the same refined industrial design. Despite its shiny cabinet finish being highly reflective, it actually looks pretty sexy sitting out on a credenza—to the point that the ceiling light in my home theater three feet away from the screen caused a funnel-like reflection off the white surface.

During viewing with that light on, it created a touch of sheen on the screen surface that was noticeable when the projector was off, but also in black letterbox bars and dark content, so keep in mind if you are planning to keep a particularly bright light above the projector. In spite of the fact that you should definitely invest in a UST ALR screen that rejects ceiling light, some attention should always be given to tempering the nearby lighting.

With an adjustable foo

t at the front and a single fixed foot at the back, the projector can be set up physically. As someone who has set up many of these USTs, I prefer adjustable feet front and rear, but starting with a level projector platform is essential. In addition to this, the image can be pushed in to fit the screen by using a geometric correction of four or fifteen points, but we always recommend avoiding it both to retain image quality as well as to assure your image won’t go awry when using the Game Mode on a projector, which sometimes skips this processing to reduce input lag.

Even with its Game Mode turned on, the LSP9T still offers reduced input lag even when it is switched off. The LSP9T supports traditional front-projection tabletop positioning as well as rear-projection tabletop projections and inverted ceiling projections from the front and back.

Throw ratio

Living room USTs typically have a throw ratio of 0.19:1 or less, which is uncommon among the USTs. With that throw, only LG’s premium HU915 and earlier HU85 series projectors can match it, and Epson’s new LS800 has the shortest lens on the market, a 0.16:1 ratio, the shortest of all. Other models typically have an angle between 0.22-0.25:1. You don’t have to move your credenza or TV stand away from the wall when you choose a projector with a shorter throw, which allows you to project your preferred image size much closer to the wall. When the projector is projected at 100 inches, the back edge sits 4.5 inches away from the screen; based on its depth of 14.4 inches, its front edge is about 19 inches from the wall. If the screen is 120 inches, these numbers shift to 7.7 and approximately 22 inches, respectively.

With the LSP9T’s optics, I was pleased to see an exceptionally sharp image across my entire 100-inch screen, even into the upper corners, which can be difficult to achieve as the throw ratio shrinks. My picture was perfectly dialed in with LG’s manual 0.19 lens on the HU915 and HU85. The motorized focus on the lens worked very well, as well as an excellent test pattern integrated into the lens.

smart streaming platform

Any Samsung television with a late-generation Tizen OS will be familiar with the LSP9T’s user interface and smart streaming platform, which are based on open-source Tizen OS. In a similar way to LG’s webOS interface, it allows you to select streaming apps, menus, input, and other features through tiles. When you only have access to the on-screen interface to reach a setup or adjustment menu, which is the case here, the Samsung OS can be less convenient to use. However,

Moreover, Samsung took advantage of its status as a major TV manufacturer to build a Tizen platform that supports all major services with easy-to-navigate apps that support 4K and HDR – something not found on many smart projectors today. Although several brands are now opting to use Google TV’s Android platform, certification for Netflix is often the missing link, forcing customers to buy a third-party streaming device and negating the integrated platform’s abilities.

With over 200 web-based channels from major and not so major news and entertainment networks, Samsung’s TV Plus streaming selections are an added bonus. The built-in microphone of the remote allows for voice search with Amazon, Google Assistant, or Bixby.

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Connectivity

There are three HDMI ports on the Samsung’s rear connection panel, one of which is eARC compliant, so you can connect an outboard soundbar or system to Dolby Atmos bitstreams from the projector’s streaming apps. HDMI 2.0b ports accept 4K/60 Hz signals, not HDMI 2.1 ports, which support 4K/120 Hz signals for the latest gaming consoles. The Samsung projector is now two years old, and Texas Instruments has yet to release a 4K chipset capable of handling anything faster than 60Hz at UHD resolution. But before anyone jumps on Samsung, let me remind you that it is only two years old.

In the latest Hisense USTs, for example, the HDMI 2.1 ports are labeled at 4K/120 Hz, but these signals are actually downconverted anyway to 4K/60 Hz by the projectors. Even though the LSP9T was never marketed as a gaming projector, it has an option to switch to Game Mode manually or set it to activate automatically when it sees the game console. With it active, my input lag measured 55.9 milliseconds at 4K/60 Hz, which is too slow to use for anything other than casual gaming. Additionally, you cannot play 1080p 3D games or movies on the LSP9T, as this is not supported.

The built-in ATSC tuner allows the receiver to receive off-air digital programming in addition to HDMI inputs. Since so many people are cutting the cord these days, this feature is a welcome and rare addition, particularly when combined with the projector’s outstanding streaming capabilities. In addition to an optical audio output, there are a USB-A port, a LAN port, and an EX-LINK service port on the back panel. In addition, Apple AirPlay2 and Android screen mirroring are also available for wirelessly streaming pictures and sounds.

4.2-channel sound system

It is described by Samsung as a 4.2-channel sound system that is driven by a total of 40 watts for the LSP9T and LSP7T, which share the same cosmetics and cabinetry. During the 14-projector UST audio faceoff I conducted as part of last summer’s ProjectorCentral Laser TV Showdown, it fared well in the company’s Acoustic Beam technology. A link to those face-off results will be provided in the Performance section below.

Lastly, the LSP9T’s “Smart remote” is a little white wedge-like wand that’s 1.5-inches wide and 6.5-inches tall. To better fit your hand, it has a gentle curve from top to bottom. At some level, it’s an ergonomic masterpiece, conceived exclusively to simplify the operation of the projector. In spite of its lack of backlight, you do not need one because it’s so intuitively laid out and has so few buttons, all of which are raised so they are easy to identify in the dark. As well as volume and channel rockers, there are buttons for activating the on-board microphone, a virtual number keypad for selecting channels, and color-coded options for certain features. The Home button opens the Tizen OS, where you can access apps, input selections, and setup menus. You also have a play/pause button, a back/return key, and a play/pause button.

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HDMI-CEC function

Samsung has incorporated HDMI-CEC functions into the overall system in addition to its simple remote, so you can control it from the remote, and the projector will switch inputs when you power up a source based on the HDMI-CEC function that detects the source’s product identity the first time you plug it in. While this design simplifies day-to-day use for most viewers, it’s extremely inconvenient to have to navigate to common picture or audio menus by calling up the Home screen and pressing several buttons.

To adjust the ST2084 HDR brightness trim to accommodate differences in program material, for instance, I had to drive deep into the menu system and press several buttons just to navigate to the Home screen. The fact that there is no direct access to the main setup menu for calibrators or reviewers like myself becomes a real occupational hazard for me as well. I’ll talk about this in more detail below. Additionally, I found it tiresome to wait a long time each time I plugged in a different device before the projector detected the source. Although Samsung should consider adding a switch to their device management menu to allow users to bypass the HDMI-CEC cycle, switching off the HDMI-CEC function did not eliminate this cycle.

Performance

In order to do this review, I viewed and measured the screen in my home theater using an Elite Aeon CLR ambient light-rejecting screen specifically designed for ultra-short throw projectors. UST laser TV projectors can be mated with lenticular ALR screens, the most common and effective type. As its angled ridges are reflective, they reflect light from below out to the viewer. However, an absorbing layer is applied to each ridge in order to reject light from overhead. Despite eating up some luminance from the projector, the 0.6 gain more than makes up for itself with a 95% rejection of overhead light and a 100-time improvement in contrast. We recently reviewed Elite’s motorized version of these lenticular screens, so you can see how great they are in a brightly lit room.

Four picture modes

With the LSP9T, you can select one of four picture modes for any input, whether you are playing 1080p SDR or 4K/HDR content. The picture mode stays the same for each input regardless of whether it’s 1080p SDR or 4K/HDR. You can, however, adjust the settings for HDR and SDR signals to work consistently for that source or all sources by setting the menu. Consequently, you can set separate settings for 1080p/SDR and 4K/HDR on each cable box and Blu-ray player in Standard mode. It would be necessary to manually change the picture mode on your UHD Blu-ray player when switching from SDR to HDR if you wanted Movie mode for 1080p/SDR and Standard mode for 4K/HDR discs on that device. Seeing the HDR flag in the signal will not automatically switch the projector into HDR mode.

As with most projectors, Dynamic has a green bias that helps it achieve its lumen spec by being the brightest mode. The Dynamic projector is not as green as other projectors, and I wouldn’t rule out using it in a room with bright sunlight for sports and news.

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Standard mode

It is also very bright and punchy in standard mode, which is the default for all inputs out-of-the-box. Nevertheless, the flesh tones of the film were clearly oversaturated, pink/orange in nature, and clearly blue-biased, regardless of whether I was watching it in the dark or with bright or moderate room lighting. Color temperatures that are bluish are not unusual for bright-room picture modes; manufacturers tend to use icy whites to help the image pop through light. Especially among the latest generation of discrete RGB UST laser projectors, overcooked skin tones are also far too common. In contrast to targeting Rec.709 accuracy for SDR content, manufacturers seem to think it is their duty to show off the wide Rec.2020 gamut and make the reds look amazing.

Filmmaker Modes

Movie and Filmmaker Modes had virtually the same image and measurements, but were set to Warm2 (what Samsung calls Color Tone) by default. Upon first glance, I knew that the picture was too pink for a neutral gray D65/6,500 Kelvin white point, and measurements revealed that it was well beyond the industry-standard neutral gray white point at around 5,200K. Despite being better, Warm1 still looked quite red. With a D65 white point and all color and contrast processing turned off, Filmmaker Mode was supposed to be dead-on accurate for achieving the “creator’s intent,” so this was particularly surprising. In the case of Filmmaker, however, the only real difference is that they were both deactivated except for the dynamic contrast enhancer feature and frame interpolation (to avoid soap opera effects).

The thought that not everyone is going to request professional calibration always makes me play with the default settings by eye before I attempt any calibration. Despite the fact that sometimes it’s impossible to fix things, I ended up with an image on the ALR screen after some time messing with the Movie mode that was quite satisfactory and fairly accurate, even if it had to use some of the projector’s super-wide color gamut to add vibrancy to deep reds only possible with an RGB laser projector. For a hardcore video purist, the end result might seem indulgent, but it is highly engaging. At the end of this review, I have highlighted the adjustments I did by eye for both SDR and HDR.

Picture controls

In addition to its nice mix of picture controls, the LSP9T is not particularly calibration-friendly, as I mentioned earlier. To adjust grayscale, I had to press 20 or 30 buttons just to reach the White Balance adjustments buried five or six clicks into the menu. From there, it’s a few more to get to the control you’re looking for, and to make matters worse, the menu system ends up changing the reading as well. The best way to see and measure the full effect of your tweak is to adjust for this, then exit the menu (with a minimum of two clicks) completely.

Then…back in to the menu system to the tune of 20+ clicks. The routine becomes rather tedious. Even worse is the problem when you try to adjust the color gamut with the Color Management System (CMS), which is further down in the menu.

Despite my best efforts, I was unable to calibrate the Movie mode for SDR-Rec.709 gamut, D65 color temperature, and BT.1886 gamma targets. A calibrated image was taken with the help of Portait Displays Calman calibration software, an i1Pro2 photospectrometer profiled against a Klein K10-A colorimeter, and a Murideo Six-G signal generator. This was done to measure the out-of-box Movie and Filmmaker modes, and my initial observations were confirmed with a grayscale image in which a significant deficit in blue and green and a large surplus of red increased in size as the image became more brighter.

11 and 19 DeltaE errors

Between 11 and 19 DeltaE errors were found, which measure how far colors are from perfect accuracy based on the D65 standard. These are extremely large errors compared to calibrators who typically aim for dEs of below 3. In both picture modes, the color points for both the primary red-green-blue color space and secondary cyan-magenta-yellow color space were improved, but were still off of the Rec.709 limits in both picture modes, with dEs ranging from 5 to 7. It was very positive to note that the display’s gamma, or EOTF, was exactly right for a classic dark-room 2.2 gamma, even though it wasn’t as accurate with the darker BT.1886 gamma as described in the menu settings, since the display follows the prescribed grayscale brightness as the signal level rises from black.

white balance settings

There are 2 and 10 white balance settings on Samsung’s camera. Using the 2-point controls, I was able to get the grayscale in shape fairly easily with the Warm 1 Color Tone, and then further tweaked it with the 10-point controls. As a result, the dEs were dropped below 2 across the entire grayscale spectrum. LSP9T’s unconventional CMS made it very difficult to correct the oversaturated color points, as it lacked the usual controls for Hue, Saturation, and Brightness (Luminance) instead of dedicated sliders for red, green, and blue saturation. In the end, I left them as they were, and the calibrated image still showed subtle green bias despite being corrected for grayscale and default color.

I eventually went back to my very satisfying by-eye calibration, which could have been corrected by a more skilled and Samsung-experienced calibrator.

Due to the lack of brightness in projectors in comparison to flatpanels where HDR is mastered, it was also challenging to calibrate for HDR. As HDR was invitingly bright and punchy, Dynamic and Standard modes had unacceptably inaccurate color, with oversaturated red and blue colors that leaned overwhelmingly toward magenta, and yellows that were too orange. Although the Movie mode had a too-red color temperature out of the box, it also looked better with a few by-eye tweaks than I did when I later calibrated the grayscale and color points for this mode.

Rec.709

You can find the HDR settings you set by eye in the appendix below. In Rec.709, the oversaturated color points started to look much more neutral with HDR content graded for wide color gamut, so the default settings looked pretty good on HDR content graded for wide color gamut, even if they had been oversaturated in Rec.709. Choosing Cool instead of Warm2 was a good choice for me, since it produced a bluer image than what a calibrated D65 would have. The crispness added a little more punch to HDR content.

1080p/SDR

Watching 1080p/SDR content on the LSP9T was a joy. Despite the room light, the ALR screen showed punchy and bright football and postseason baseball from my Fios set-top box due to the projector’s excellent scaling of the better-quality broadcast channels. Colors from familiar teams rang true in memory, such as the grass on the fields or the colors from the uniforms and helmets of those teams. Whites were neutral enough. Despite looking hard, I couldn’t find any indication of a icy tone in Pete Townshend’s white T-shirt in a documentary about the making of Tommy.

The calibration resulted in excellent Caucasian and dark skin tones on decent TV broadcasts and good 1080p/SDR movies. With excellent detail and sharpness on the faces and equipment close-ups despite scaling to its native 4K, the superb SDR transfer in Oblivion showed superb separation between the ruddy skin tone of technician Jack Harper (played by Tom Cruise) and Vika’s smooth, milky skin tone (Andrea Riseborough). Jack’s mountain hideaway was surrounded by lush foliage and gray granite rock walls that blended with the sky without being overdone.

SDR

Similarly, La La Land, one of my old favorites, looked great on the Samsung in its SDR version. In the opening musical number that takes place on an LA highway ramp, the many dancers wear brilliantly saturated colors, which I have probably studied hundreds of times. As I have come to expect, the Samsung got them right with its punchy reds, blues, greens, mustards, and yellows. A slight glow was visible in the deep reds, but not to the point where they appeared radioactive or painted.

As a result of the bright yellow dress worn by Emma Stone, Gosling’s romantic foil avoided an orange lean that is often associated with projectors that over-push yellow into red. A police car parked on a movie lot in the 1970’s offered the proper azure tone without looking either too blue or too magenta in another scene.

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HDR Viewing

On the LSP9T, the vibrant colors in La La Land’s opening dance sequence appeared vividly. HDR Viewing. HDR, with the tweaked out-of-box settings in the Movie mode, looked even better and made the movie even more entertaining. Oblivion looked phenomenal in HDR, and it was a blast to watch. With bright, fiery explosions and burning remnants in the dark ruins of the New York Public Library, Jack and the Scavs battled, and with a long shot of Jack’s bubble ship arriving home in a bright sunset, the sun made a visceral impact without obscuring the details of the shot. When Jack was interrogated in a bright spotlight later, a close-up of his face leapt off the screen with its brightness, detail, and convincingly natural tone of skin.

As the Guardians ward off a giant intergalactic sea monkey that breathes colorful sparkle glitter in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, the Samsung was once again treated to a delight. There was plenty of HDR eye candy in shots of the golden palace of Sovereign drenched in the setting sun and the golden-skinned and clad inhabitants, as well as bursting bubbles of sparkling color floating throughout Ego’s lush planet when the Guardian arrived there.

Dark scenes

On the LSP9T, I was able to perform very well with some of my most difficult demo material for dark scenes. In Deathly Hallows Part 2, the Harry Potter theater scene on a moonlit cliff always requires a bit of tweaking to look their best, or the dark basement scene from It, or the dark cabin sequence near the beginning of Bladerunner 2049 when Bladerunner K first confronts replicant Sapper Morton. The projector achieved excellent contrast with minimal haze, which is typically indicative of poor black levels in a projector.

As a matter of fact, I was impressed with how well Samsung’s Contrast Enhancer and ST2084 brightness trim (available with HDR) pushed highlights while maintaining a strong black level. Despite the obvious elevated black level or washed-out image, I never found myself drawn out of the story. More mixed material yielded even deeper blacks in the image and letterbox bars, as well as a picture that looked punchy and had good contrast throughout.

In contrast, I watched The Meg, a film with a peak brightness of 4,000 nits and an average brightness of 1,193 nits, one of the toughest HDR movies on the market. The brightest scenes in this transfer will be washed out on most HDR projectors, particularly the shots outdoors on the open, sunny ocean. To properly set this title, a couple of tweaks were needed to the Contrast Enhancer and HDR trim, as with the ultra-dark material. In the end, though, it made a stunning impression, with impressively bright and engaging interior shots, superb skin tones, and no noteworthy blowouts on the most important highlights.

Audio.

The LSP9T and its sister projector the LSP7T offer a truly outstanding audio system, as I noted in my face-off of sound quality for 14 projectors at ProjectorCentral Laser TV Showdown this summer. Despite lacking some of the dynamic range and bass performance of the top models (which were largely engineered by Harman Kardon), it ranked just below the top tier projectors in my survey. While most UST systems struggle with musical timbre, detail, and openness, Samsung’s system excels at it.

The dialogue was exceptionally clear and rendered richly without hollowness. In our face-off, the system played at 88 dB at a high point. In its best sounding Standard audio mode, the projector produced a tall image that held up to the big screen. The soundbar sounded surprisingly good considering its size; for example, horn blasts in the jazz-laden soundtrack of La La Land sounded nice with a good treble response, piano notes were clear, and drum cymbal taps were sharp.

Unfortunately, Samsung, like many Laser TV brands, failed to include a subwoofer output with these two projectors that would have enhanced the otherwise excellent system with some low-end and dynamic reinforcement. As long as there are those UST makers out there who put such an effort into the audio, I will keep on asking them to please provide a sub-out so that 95% of people don’t have to buy an outboard system just to hear bass-laden effects in action movies.

Conclusion on Samsung LSP9T Ultra-Short Throw RGB Laser Projector

In the current state of UST laser TVs, Samsung’s Premiere LSP9T is still a top performer. This projector was the first of its kind to offer more than Rec.2020 color gamut, and it also supported HDR10+. When it was first released, it was truly cutting edge. These days, the RGB tri-laser LSP9T faces fierce competition, with some offering advanced features like Dolby Vision at a much lower price than the LSP9T’s $6,499 cost.

In all its modes, it does not come with what I would call an acceptable optimized picture out of the box, even though it produces superb imagery after some expert adjustments. Mo, some speckles and RBE are present, which may be problematic for viewers with sensitive eyes. In today’s market, all these factors make it harder to sell.

After getting the image tuned with the Premiere, I was truly amazed by how good it looked. The Premiere has plenty of features and creature comforts that are not typically found in USTs, and it looks great and feels excellent. HDR image quality and impressively wide color palette are the most desirable features, while effective 4K web streaming from all major services is comparable to the best smart TVs, you can plug in an off-air antenna, and the sound quality is as good as what you would get from an excellent standalone soundbar.

These won’t be easily found anywhere else. As an added benefit, the Tizen OS provides a real ease-of-use compared to some of the clumsy interfaces found on some of the LSP9T’s competitors and communicates a sophistication lacking in many of the newer USTs.