Samsung QE75QN900A £5999
You don’t need 8K footage to prove the worth of an 8K TV, it’s about the panel size. Increasing the resolution ups the pixel density, meaning that this fabulous TV manages an awesome sense of scale but with a crispness of detail we’d normally associate with a smaller 4K set.
This is the first of Samsung’s 8K TVS with a Mini LED lighting system. Much smaller than standard LEDS, looking like glitter in your hand, Mini LEDS number in the thousands, rather than the hundreds. These are grouped into thousands of dimming zones to create a carefully controllable 4000-nit panel supplying over 33 million pixels with as much shading and contrast care as Samsung can muster.
The Neo Quantum Processor 8K uses ‘Deep Learning’ and multiple ‘Neural Networks’, as well as image databases and other picture algorithms for what Samsung claims is its best object recognition. There’s upgraded sharpening and detail retrieval processes for upscaling too.
Samsung has one of the best TV operating systems in Tizen: responsive, usable and nice to look at too. Add to this a neat Multi-view feature that splits the screen so you can enjoy two different sources, ALLM, anti-screen tearing tech and dynamic refresh rate support through Samsung’s ‘Motion Xcelerator Turbo’, and it all makes for one of the richest TV feature sets you’ll find anywhere. Switzerland In 8K ULTRA HD HDR on Youtube offers superb examples of what this TV can do. This set is quick to find the correct brightness levels and serves up the kind of stunning detail and depth that makes us want to visit the spectacular on-screen landscapes. We’ve never seen this level of shading skill in the range of textures available in the snowcaps. We drop down to 4K HDR with Blade Runner 2049 on Blu-ray and once again, the results are jaw-dropping. This 2021 TV is so much better than previous 8Ks – the Mini LED backlighting and its wealth of dimming zones makes its predecessors look slow and clumsy in comparison.
Samsung’s Object Tracking Sound (OTS) Pro aims to bring a Dolby Atmos-like spread of sound. These are increasingly big TVS to provide audio for and getting the sound out and around the panel to the listener becomes a tougher task. But it works – the soundstage is one of the best features of this set’s audio performance.
For the first time, this is a super hi-res TV that we’d like to own. It’s consistent at scaling and so adept with contrast that it easily outperforms other 4K panels we’ve seen at the 75in size. A worthy winner.