Black level: The F8500 can produce some of the deepest levels of black of any display I've seen, beating the depth of all but the very best plasmas and local dimming LEDs. In our lineup, which includes the best flat-panel TVs we have available (and, I'd argue, most of the best ever made), it looked just a shade lighter than only the VT60, the Kuro, and the Elite in most dark and mixed scenes. In the very dark "Drive" Blu-ray, for example, the depth of the F8500's letterbox bars and black areas like Driver's car stereo and leather gloves (4:12) was superb. Even sitting right between the Kuro and the VT60, the F8500 looked almost as deep -- and made the VT50, ST60, and especially the E8000 seem slightly grayish as opposed to inky black.
Unfortunately, you do have to trade away true film cadence if you want the absolute deepest black levels the F8500 can deliver. When I switched the Film Mode setting from Off to Cinema Smooth, those inky blacks got slightly brighter, reaching about the level of the ST60 and the VT50 (from 0.002 fL to 0.004, if you're counting). That's not much of a jump, so film cadence purists might not mind making it. On the other hand, of course, all of the other sets delivered correct cadence without sacrificing black levels.
Shadow detail was another strong suit for the F8500. As Irene grasps Driver's hand under the vacillating light (30:29), all of the folds in his pants and jacket, along with the shadows along the steering column and door, looked correct, neither too bright nor too dim, and every detail was preserved. That said, I'd still give a slight advantage in most scenes to the Panasonics, particularly the VT60, where certain shadow details appeared just a bit more distinct, especially in areas very close to black. The walls during the slow pan over Driver's room (37:20) or, even better, the very deep shadows and gasses in the Creation sequence from "Tree of Life" (23:48), again showed the Panasonics' slight advantage. In any case the difference was very subtle, and it was tough to pick a clear winner between the F8500 and the three Panasonics, even with the benefit of side-by-side comparison. It was easier to see the F8500's superiority to the E8000 in this area.
I watched a lot of Drive as well dark parts of other films, and I didn't notice any instances of abrupt changes in overall black level -- aka "brightness pops." I also checked out the two pops tests that created the artifact in 2011 Samsung plasmas, in "Bram Stoker's Dracula" and "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," but the F8500 didn't show the issue there either.
A strange image retention artifact did occur on the F8500 that I've never seen before. When I paused the image or the shot lingered for long enough on a dark stationary element, purplish noise would begin to gradually accumulate in shadowy areas. It happened in the upper-right of the screen on the beige car interior (between 4:14 and 4:19), for example, and became quite obvious if I paused. It wasn't overly distracting, and disappeared nearly immediately when the image changed, but it's still unusual and potentially distracting in certain stationary shots with near-black material. I also saw it during calibration (see the picture settings above for details), but in any case this issue doesn't spoil my recommendation.
Color accuracy: The colors on the F8500 are superb. The rich saturation imparted by its deep black levels combined with very low measured error levels to create a palate that stands against the lineup extremely well. The only flaw was a spike in blue in the middle of the grayscale that adjustment couldn't tame, an issue that perhaps manifested in slightly cooler skin tones in areas like the face of Irene in the restaurant (46:54).
On the other hand, the F8500 came closer than the others to the E8000 which, according to our measurements, has the best overall color in the lineup. It's difficult to say which was "better" -- the warmer Panasonic VTs or the slightly cooler Samsungs -- but to my eye the Panasonics did appear a bit more pleasing and saturated. Regardless, the F8500 looked slightly more accurate than the ST60, and significantly more accurate than the Kuro and the Sharp Elite.
The measurement of the F8500's near-black (5%) was also among the best I've ever seen, leading to pleasingly neutral dark areas and shadows. Of course, most of the others were also extremely good in this area, but the F8500 was just a bit better.
Video processing: As I mentioned above, this area is the F8500's only major stumbling block. The only way to achieve the correct film cadence of 1080p/24 sources, like most Blu-ray movies, is to engage the Cinema Smooth setting under Film Mode -- which lightens black levels somewhat. When I did so, I saw the nice, smooth-but-not-too-smooth movement in areas like the swinging camera in the grocery store in "Drive" (15:30) and of course even more clearly in my traditional such test, the pan over the aircraft carrier from "I Am Legend" (24:58).
Switching back to Off, which delivers the deepest black levels, caused the cadence to assume the characteristic, slightly hitching motion of 2:3 pulldown. It's a subtle difference, but videophiles will have to choose between correct cadence and the deepest blacks. I chose the latter, for what it's worth.
The F8500 offers two levels of dejudder that introduce the characteristic Soap Opera Effect. Even the weakest, Standard, produced an exceedingly smooth image that won't appeal to those who dislike that effect. Unlike Panasonic's plasmas, however, engaging dejudder did not affect my motion resolution measurements.
As with previous Samsungs, the default Auto2 Film Mode setting for 1080i sources didn't result in proper deinterlacing; I had to switch to Auto 1 to get the PNF8500 to pass that test.
Bright lighting: The performance of the F8500 in high ambient light is better than any other plasma I've tested, and in this lineup is second only to the Sharp Elite LED. Its largest advantage over the other plasmas came in the form of prodigious light output.
Compared directly to the also-60-inch VT60, the F8500 almost doubled its maximum light output; I measured a peak of 83 fL (footlambert) in Dynamic mode on the Samsung, compared to 49 in Vivid mode on the Panasonic using window patterns.
The F8500 also maintains higher light output with full-screen patterns, measuring 19.1 fL compared to just 9.8 on the Panasonic. Hockey or skiing, where much of the screen is occupied by white or very bright material, appears markedly brighter on the F8500 than on other plasmas this size, and other content is proportionately brighter too, depending on how much of the screen is occupied by white. Most content is more mixed between light and dark, however, making this F8500 advantage less important. It's also worth noting that most LEDs can maintain an even brighter image than the F8500 with near- or full-white content.
Speaking of importance, here's the part where I remind readers that 40 fL, the amount to which I calibrate, is plenty for a moderately lit room. But if you have an extremely bright room or just prefer watching an extremely bright picture (like Vivid or Dynamic on your current TV), the F8500 comes closer to the light output of an LED TV than any plasma I've tested. Of course an LED can get even brighter; the 60-inch Elite, for example, can achieve a scorching 300 (window) and 133 (full-screen) fL in certain settings.
The F8500 has an excellent screen filter to go along with its light output potential. It preserved black levels under bright overhead lighting better than any TV in my lineup aside from the Sharp, keeping the image punchy instead of washed out. All of the plasmas aside from the Kuro were quite close in this regard; the VT50 was actually second-best at preserving black, followed by the VT60 and then the ST60 and E8000.
The ability to reduce reflections is also very important, and while none of these displays can match a matte-screened LED/LCD in that area, the F8500 was one of the best. Again, its least wasn't much, but reflections were a bit brighter on the VT60.
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