Samsung QE65Q90R
Being excellent simply isn’t good enough for Samsung. Only the very best will do. Despite its 2018 4K flagship being the best TV it had produced, with performance way beyond that of any other LCD set, Samsung fixated on the few flaws that prevented it from winning a What Hi-fi? Award.
Thankfully, the Q90R (here in 65in size), is every bit the belter that the Q9FN was, but with most of its relative weaknesses fixed. Not only is it the best backlit set we’ve tested, it also plays OLED rivals at their own game.
The main criticism of the Q9FN (and QLED as a whole) in comparison to OLED rivals, is viewing angles. It’s no surprise, then, that Samsung has prioritised fixing this particular problem. Its new Ultra Viewing Angle feature involves extra layers on the panel that reduce light leakage and spread light uniformly. The result is near-flawless viewing angles.
Even from wide angles, colours remain vibrant and blacks remain pure. It's no longer an obvious advantage of OLED – and that’s a huge step for Samsung. And while the Q9FN was capable of producing deep blacks for a NON-OLED, dark detail was being lost. Samsung over-compensated with its Q900R 8K sets, which sacrifice too much depth in their pursuit of detail, but this Q90R strikes a superb balance.
Play the scene in Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part II where Voldemort’s army of wizards amass on a hill above Hogwarts, and the difference in the delivery of the Q9FN and Q90R is stark. On the newer model you can see much more of the scenery and the structure of Hogwarts. But there’s no washing-out of the blacks and nothing that looks like artificial enhancement.
As the camera zooms in on Voldemort, it’s clear that the Q90R has no trouble with bright objects in otherwise dark scenes. Samsung has improved the precision of its backlight (which retains the Q9FN’S peak brightness figure of 2000 nits) and it confidently lights bright objects. The result is that, while Voldemort looks a little shadowed on the Q9FN, his white skin is creepily luminescent on the Q90R.
Brighter prospect
That said, a side-by-side with the LG C9 proves that, while the Q90 is a significant step-up over its predecessor with these super-challenging bright objects, it still has to hold back a little where an OLED does not. And while the Q90R goes exceptionally black for a backlit set, it's still just a whisker short of Oled-black.
In terms of colour, the Q90R strikes a slightly cool, neutral balance, one with lots of punch or vibrancy. You get all the dynamism of the picture along with excellent authenticity.
We play the opening of Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.2 and the Q90R’S fields are natural and organic, and its clouds are pure. The gold on the surface of the planets is bright, but lots of detail contained within, plus a little more dynamism to the contrast than on the Q9FN with the bright and dark elements of the planet being more pronounced. The new Quantum Processor 4K shares many of the attributes of the Quantum Processor 8K, introduced with the Q900R range, including its Ai-based approach to upscaling with a vast database of images used to create a more accurate algorithm. In the Q90R, it results in cleaner and sharper images from non-4k content. It’s most obvious when viewing standard-def content, which is smooth and free of artificiality.
Disappointingly, the one aspect of performance that Samsung has not improved is motion processing. The Auto mode produces over-processed images, while the Custom setting fails to get the artefact-free balance we’d hoped for. You can turn it off entirely, but we appreciate the slight smoothing and sharpening of the Custom mode’s default settings, even though it is occasionally caught out by tricky movement.
To get the Q90R performing its best with HDR, you need only select your preferred degree of motion processing and turn Digital Clean View off, while for all other content we suggest switching Local Dimming to High, and dropping Brightness and Sharpness.
It’s also worth mentioning the Intelligent Mode, which is designed to tweak the picture and sound based on
your room and the content you’re playing. The sound portion of the Intelligent Mode is split into two parts; Adaptive Sound, which optimises sound based on your room size, the position of your TV, and the characteristics of each scene; and Adaptive Volume, which automatically adjusts the volume based on your usage patterns and audio input.
Real-time sound
Adaptive Sound is similar to last year’s Optimized Sound mode, which added punch, openness and dynamics, but it adapts in real-time to what’s being played while analysing the acoustics of your room. The end result is a clean and open sound, albeit one that lags slightly behind that of the LG in this test, and is made to sound a bit pedestrian by that of the Sony.
The chassis of the TV itself is largely unchanged from last year; the sharp, angular aesthetic and pointy corners remain, as do the chunky edges. At 4cm deep, it’s a fairly thick TV, particularly compared with OLEDS, but the Q90R looks snazzy in its own right.
The key difference is the stand, with the old pedestal being replaced by a curved metal stand that gives the TV the air of a large Apple imac. The new pedestal looks slightly awkward but has practical advantages, including a smaller footprint and space for a soundbar.
Reduced input
As is the Samsung way, there’s just one input on the back of the TV for the thin, largely transparent cable that runs between it and the Oneconnect box, which handles not only all of the inputs and outputs, but also the power, which means the screen section of the Q90R does not need to be plugged into the wall. Connect the Oneconnect to power, run all of your sources into it, then there’s just one cable running from it to the screen. It’s such a neat solution we’re amazed other manufacturers haven’t copied it.
In terms of connections, the Q90R has a typical selection of four HDMIS, three USBS, ethernet, aerial, satellite and optical out. The HDMIS aren’t officially 2.1 certified, but Samsung says the hardware is there and the TV already boasts a number of 2.1-style features, including Variable Refresh Rate.
Samsung’s TV operating system is already one of the best around – fast, fluid and intuitive, and centred around getting you to what you want to watch as quickly as possible. The app selection is second to none. Netflix and Amazon are present in their full 4K HDR forms (the latter in HDR10+), as is Rakuten. BBC iplayer, ITV Hub, All 4 and Demand 5 are all on board, too, as are Now TV and Google Play Movies & TV. Apple’s itunes app has also now been added and gives you access to the biggest selection of streamable 4K HDR films currently available anywhere.
The Q90R also features the secondgeneration version of Samsung’s Ambient mode, designed to make use of the TV when it’s not in use. The TV blends in to the wall, requiring just a photo to copy the pattern and colours. Alternatively you can choose from the selection of 50 Ambient modes. It’s even possible to use the new QLED TVS as a light source, with a number of customisable patterns available, such as romantic lighting and party mode. You’re far more likely to use Ambient 2.0 to display your photos, for which there are now lots more layouts and styles.
On the more serious stuff of HDR formats, the Q90R supports HDR10, HLG and, of course, HDR10+. Samsung insists HDR10+ is a serious rival to Dolby Vision, but while we are finally seeing content ( Jack Ryan on Amazon Video and Bohemian Rhapsody on 4K Blu-ray), implementation is still patchy.
The TV now tells you (via the Home menu) when you’re watching HDR10+ on Amazon Video, but not when the HDR10+ is being sent by a Blu-ray player. There’s no dedicated HDR10+ picture mode on the Q90R, either, so the Dolby Vision-style sense that you’re seeing the content exactly as intended isn’t there. Instead, you’re getting a slightly tweaked version of the existing HDR10 picture.
Top of the tree
But getting hung up on the inconsistent implementation of HDR10+ is to not see the wood for the trees. The Q90R is an exceptional telly that does things that were previously considered inherent advantages of OLED.
It is a backlit TV that goes almost as black as an OLED and has Oled-like viewing angles, while retaining its own advantage of greater brightness. It boasts brilliantly judged colours and superb dark detail, not to mention an excellent operating system packed with apps.
The Samsung Q90R is a fantastic TV, but is it the very best on test?