Samsung QE55Q7F
“The Q7F delivers punch beyond what even the Sony A1 can muster, and that’s evident when you play HDR content”
FOR Bright, vibrant images; detailed and very sharp
AGAINST Black performance; soware issues
Here it is, finally: the first Samsung QLED to go up against an OLED at the same size. In fact, we’re really comparing this, the QE55Q7F, to three OLEDS: the LG OLED55B7V, Sony KD-55A1 and Panasonic TX-55EZ952B.
The LG is the real rival here, though, because it’s better than the Panasonic and more affordable than the Sony. And it’s built by LG, the progenitor of modern OLED and Samsung’s arch rival.
There’s still £700 between the prices of the LG B7 and Samsung Q7F, not to mention fundamental differences in the telly tech. Does that make this test a mismatch? Absolutely not. That name’s no accident, and Samsung is very much pitching QLED against OLED. And while OLED is the hot new thing, there are still things that old man LCD can do better.
It’s such a shame, then, that some buggy software holds the Q7F back from a five-star verdict.
Bright light
The biggest advantage an LCD TV with an LED backlight has over an OLED is brightness, so it’s little wonder that this is the most striking difference between the Q7F and the LG B7.
Play Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them on both sets and the alternative approaches are immediately apparent, with the film’s logo emerging far more brightly from the murky background. It appears to be made of some sort of metallic material, and on the Samsung it sparkles and shines in the light. It’s sharply defined, too, which gives the logo greater solidity and depth than it gets from the LG.
Weak blacks
But what’s also made clear here is that the depth of the blacks elsewhere in the image is sacrificed. This is an unavoidable characteristic of TVS with backlights, particularly those that are edge-lit, as this Samsung is. In fairness to Samsung, the Q7F implements its backlight effectively, in that blacks aren’t sacrificed nearly as much as they are on many rival LCD sets, and there’s none of the clouding often associated with backlit TVS.
The fact remains, though, that an OLED lights each pixel individually, so there’s no sacrifice to the blacks, regardless of how bright the rest of the on-screen action is supposed to be.
But the Samsung counters this Dna-level weakness. The Q7F delivers punch beyond what even the Sony A1 can muster, and that’s especially evident when you play HDR content (the set supports HDR10 and HLG). The march of the red crabs in Planet Earth II is a visceral treat, as the thousands of bright red crustaceans stand out vividly against the dirt of the forest floor and vibrant green foliage. For eye-pleasing vibrancy and visual fireworks, this is hard to beat.
Untrue spectacle
The Q7F isn’t all about brightness, either, because this is also an exceptionally sharp and detailed image. There’s a sense that the TV is imposing a little of its own character to proceedings by actively enhancing images, particularly when you’re watching non-4k content, but there’s no denying the spectacle.
Avoid sitting off-axis, though, as colours fade and blacks grey quickly. This is not the TV to buy if you have family or friends watching from all corners of the room.
Motion is handled pretty well, although the Samsung isn’t as naturally smooth as the LG B7. You’ll want to try turning the preset motion processing off and giving the Custom mode a go.
Great for gaming
The TV’S vibrant characteristics come through even when watching standarddef via one of the tuners (Freeview and satellite are available) or a DVD. There’s a fair bit of fuzz when you get to images at these low resolutions, and both the LG and Panasonic clean this up more effectively, but it certainly isn’t terrible.
The Q7F is also excellent as a games monitor, with that awesome brightness and vibrancy lending itself nicely to graphics, and an impressively low input lag of 23.8ms when in Game Mode.
You’re best served by the Standard mode when it comes to sound. This provides a full-bodied, weighty and relatively well-projected soundstage. And as for the One Connect box, this year’s is bigger than last year’s and for the first time requires its own power connection, which means you’re going to need to have two mains sockets available if you want your QLED to be able to produce a picture.
Unfortunately, where content is concerned we have quite a big issue. The Q7F brings with it loads of apps, adding the likes of Now TV and Google Play Movies & TV to the usual array of catch-up services, Netflix and Amazon. The problem is that, at the time of writing, the QE55Q7C is not displaying HDR content from Amazon or Netflix.
What’s odd is that when you play an HDR video from either of these apps, the TV reports that it’s receiving an HDR signal and adjusts its picture settings, but after about 20 seconds, loses the HDR part of the signal, drops out of HDR mode and produces a dull picture.
We believe this is a problem that’s been introduced with a recent software update. That suggests that a fix is relatively simple and should be provided by Samsung via another update.
In fact, that new software may have been deployed and the problem fixed by the time you read this, but print deadlines mean we have to call it as we see it at the time. You can also check
whathifi.com for the latest updates.
Buggy bugbear
At the time of writing, though, we cannot give the Samsung QE55Q7F the full five stars in our review. But let there be no doubt, the Q7F would be a five-star TV without this issue.
This is a TV that maximises the inherent qualities of LCD/LED TVS and combines them with Samsung’s world-renowned processing smarts to produce a picture that’s endlessly vibrant, dynamic and crisply defined. It’s a real thrill to watch.
Even putting aside the HDR bug, it does have its limitations, most notably in its blacks. Motion is a bit flawed, too, and there’s that nagging sense that what you’re watching has been turned up to 11.
Ultimately, the more natural picture of the LG B7 makes it our preferred choice even when the Samsung’s performing as it should, but there’s much to be said for the different charms of the Q7F, particularly at the more affordable price.