Samsung QN900C review

Why would you go for an expensive 8K TV similar to Samsung’s QN900C when nice 4K TVs price a lot much less? Element, my associates, element.

Whereas true 8K content material stays uncommon, it seems to be spectacular on this TV. And the lower-resolution content material you’re extra more likely to encounter every day seems extra detailed due to this Samsung’s clever upscaling. Sure, the QN900C is pricey, however merchandise at expertise’s bleeding edge at all times are.

Samsung QN900C picture high quality

The rendering of superb element is the Samsung QN900C’s most salient power by far. And it’s not simply with 8K content material, which seems to be superior, but additionally when upscaling content material in 4K and decrease resolutions, which you’ll encounter much more usually.

There’s a noticeable uptick in sharpness in each patterns and the sides of upscaled objects. 4 instances the pixels helps with that, nevertheless it takes algorithmic experience as properly – to not point out the greater than 2000 nits of peak brightness the QN900C is able to.

Be aware: If you wish to take a look at 8K UHD within the retailer, don’t depend on YouTube. A lot of the 8K content material on that service is compressed to the purpose that the additional element 8K UHD can present is misplaced. I counsel that you simply obtain a few 8K information, put them on a USB stick and ask a salesman play them for you.

Past the superior element, the colour is nice – correct and saturated due to the layer of quantum dots filtering the full-array backlighting. Distinction can also be glorious for an LED-backlit LCD TV, because of the extremely granular mini-LEDs within the backlight. The place the QN900C runs into points is with a few of its formulation for stated backlighting. Artifacts didn’t rear their head fairly often with regular materials, however there was a noticeable lag in adjusting brightness with some transitions between in another way lit scenes. The scene would begin off darker and develop brighter after a second or two.

We additionally observed some pulsing of grey blocks on lighter backgrounds within the Spears & Munsil exams. Moreover, the brightness adjustment was all over when switching ranges with a 15 p.c protection white block on a black background.

Moreover, the cascading star subject in the identical take a look at suite appeared as if it was being consumed from the middle by a black nebula. That’s not the norm.

Be aware that these aren’t one-offs for the QN900C – we’ve seen them earlier than with Samsung TVs. Nonetheless, as I stated, they very hardly ever affect real-world materials. Extraordinarily hardly ever, actually.

Whereas the backlighting suffered points underneath stress exams, its granularity additionally minimized the blooming and flaring of vibrant objects on a black or darkish background. Certainly, the QN900C rendered Sony’s Las Vegas evening sky distinction video in addition to any non-OLED TV I’ve examined – higher than something however its Samsung 8K predecessors.

Moreover, real-world materials was rendered with a shocking lack of shimmer, moiré, and judder. Kudos to Samsung on these fronts. The one TVs I’ve seen with picture processing this pristine are Sony’s and LG’s high-end 4K OLEDs.

Viewing angles are exceptionally large, glare is minimal, and display uniformity can also be glorious. By most metrics, the QN900C delivers a improbable picture.

Samsung QN900C design, options, and specs

For this assessment, Samsung despatched the relatively huge 75in model of the QN900C, which weighs in round 31kg. You’ll want a heavy-duty mounting bracket (VESA 400 x 400) for this pet and ensure the mount is anchored to studs. There are smaller, lighter and bigger, heavier configurations accessible as properly.

You’ll want a second particular person to deal with this TV, even in the event you don’t mount it on the wall. The stand provides one other 12kg to the 75in mannequin, and I uncared for to seize a buddy. Sorry, Samsung.

A lot of the TV’s weight may be attributed to the glass in its expansive panel. The TV’s energy provide, most of its electronics, and all however one in all its ports are housed in Samsung’s One Join breakout field, which permits the QN900C to to be extraordinarily skinny at 0.6in. The one port on the TV itself is the flush-mounted jack for the one cable that goes to the One Join field.

The show itself is a 10-bit, 8K UHD (7680 x 4320 pixels) panel with a 120Hz refresh charge (as much as 144Hz for video games), that includes quantum dots and full-array mini-LED backlighting. Utilizing a zone counter we counted simply south of two,000 zones. That’s so much.

The One Join breakout field’s ports consist of 4 HDMI 2.1, coax for the TV’s ATSC 3.0 tuners or a cable/satellite tv for pc TV connection, hardwired ethernet, three USB ports, optical S/PDIF audio out, and an EX-Hyperlink (RS-232C) port for system integration. There’s a Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) adapter onboard, and a Bluetooth 5.2 radio.

The QN900C helps HDR10, HDR10+, and HLG excessive dynamic vary content material, however Samsung nonetheless omits dynamic metadata Dolby Imaginative and prescient help. HDR10+ is the equal, in order that’s not a critical matter – most HDR materials streams embody each protocols. Additionally, Dolby Atmos and Samsung’s personal OTS Professional (Object Monitoring Sound) audio are supported together with older Dolby audio requirements.

People who personal a Samsung soundbar that helps the corporate’s Q-Symphony expertise will admire that this TV helps the identical. Q-Symphony blends the TV’s personal audio system with these contained in the soundbar to ship a greater audio expertise than both product can ship by itself.

Audio is evident and vibrant, and the QN900C helps Bluetooth headsets (with delay compensation). Contemplating the presence of eight impellers on the again of the unit and 90 watts RMS of amplifier energy, I used to be anticipating extra thump. There’s a modicum of bass, nevertheless it’s principally all of the less-impactful frequencies above 150Hz. A 100Hz slider is accessible on the graphic EQ, however rising it had no impact.

You received’t essentially need to increase the QN900C’s audio off the bat, however I can see most customers ultimately wanting an improve to one thing with extra low finish.

Consumers additionally get Samsung’s typical software program perks, together with the Ambient mode that shows a picture of the wall surrounding the TV that enables it to nearly disappear; Artwork mode, which lets you show artworks on the TV while you’re not in any other case utilizing it, and Samsung’s Gaming Hub, which lets you stream videogames to the TV.

You possibly can management the TV with voice instructions (Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Samsung’s personal Bixby are supported), and the TV can function as a full-featured good house hub utilizing the SmartThings platform. FreeSync Premium Professional, auto-low latency mode, and variable refresh charge are all accessible for gaming, as is a particular ultra-wide gaming mode.

A simply navigable channel information with favorites, scheduling, and recording/time-shift (utilizing USB storage) is supplied. And, as with almost all TV distributors as of late, there’s all kinds of free curated content material available with Samsung TV Plus.

Samsung QN900C consumer interface and distant management

Should you’ve learn any of my earlier opinions of the Samsung’s TVs, you’ve most likely gathered that I’m not an enormous fan of the Sensible Hub interface. It presents content material properly sufficient, nevertheless it’s scatter-shot in design, in addition to inefficient and considerably intrusive in comparison with the competitors.

Samsung has made some enhancements to SmartHub in 2023. After clicking twice to get to the settings, now you can change a few of them instantly from the underside row icons, though some result in different dialogs. Alas, the descriptions of among the settings had been truncated within the pop-up bubbles.

Samsung’s rechargeable voice distant, however, stays one in all my favorites when it comes to the way in which it feels in my hand and its fundamental ergonomics. The previous quantity/colour button is now a quantity/colour/settings button on the newest TM2360E mannequin. Meaning you possibly can lastly get to the TV’s settings without having to wade by two different menus.

The dearth of devoted transport controls remains to be a little bit of a bummer, and it could be nice if Samsung had been to switch one of many commercial shortcut buttons with a devoted settings button, however that is progress.

Utilizing voice instructions helps you to skip most button presses, however that’s not my most popular technique of TV management. Once I go into passive mode watching TV, I favor to pay attention versus orate.

Value, availability and verdict

The QN900C begins from $4,999/£4,799, and is available in 65-, 75- and 85in fashions. Within the US, you will get it from Samsung, Finest Purchase and Walmart. UK readers can get it from Samsung, Amazon and Currys.

To see how rivals evaluate, take a look at Tech Advisor’s charts of one of the best TVs and one of the best Samsung TVs.

By way of picture high quality, the QN900C delivers, after which some. The element is spectacular with 8K content material, and the upscaling provides to each the 4K UHD and 1080p experiences. There’s tons of peak brightness, the colour is marvelous, the distinction pretty much as good because it will get for LED TVs, and the picture processing is top-notch. Excessive reward apart, I’d prefer to see Samsung tweak the backlighting intelligence to get rid of the lag and different points I encountered.

As to the distant and interface, a variety of glad Samsung customers surprise what I’m on about. Some agree with me, however picayune interface gripes shouldn’t steer you away from what’s a top-five TV. I merely suppose Samsung may do higher.

This text has been localised for Tech Advisor, and was initially written by Jon Jacobi on TechHive.

Specs

• Mannequin examined 75in
• Display screen sizes: 65-, 75-, 85in 
• Neo QLED show expertise  
• Decision: 7,680 x 4,320  
• HDMI: x4  
• HDR help: HDR10+, HDR10, HLG,   
• Tizen good platform  
• 6.2.4 sound system with Dolby Atmos 
• Dimensions (with stand): 1654.8 x 1016.9 x 286.4 mm 
• Weight: 43kg