Blaupunkt UGC5500S vs Samsung QN80H

We won’t beat around the bush here – if you’re looking for a TV strictly for cinematic HDR experiences, then you’ve come to the wrong place. Unfortunately, the Blaupunkt UGC5500S is not a machine built for such challenges. This is primarily due to its very low brightness, which we measured during our tests. A result of around 250 nits on movie screens speaks for itself. It’s simply too little to even consider any real HDR effect. To be honest, everything displayed in this format can confidently be seen as a somewhat “enhanced” SDR mode. We expected this, as practically every device in this price range falls short in this area, but we feel it’s our duty to warn you. Manufacturers love to brag about HDR compatibility on the boxes, but in reality, this format simply doesn’t exist here – it lacks the “fuel” in the form of brightness.

The situation is further complicated for Blaupunkt, as we’re dealing with a panel that has very basic coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, reaching only about 80%. You won’t find any advanced coatings to expand these capabilities (like quantum dots), which means scenes that are supposed to burst with richly saturated colours appear simply underwhelming on this screen. Therefore, we have a particular piece of advice for you: don’t force HDR mode on this model. If you have the option in the streaming app settings – just turn it off. By sticking to the classic SDR mode, you’ll be sure that the TV won’t try to “enhance” something that it can’t handle hardware-wise.

The Samsung QN80H is undoubtedly a bright TV. In synthetic tests it exceeds the 1000‑nit mark, which on paper already promises a solid HDR effect. In practice the screen really shows its stuff, although it can't always fully spread its wings (or its backlight 🤔). The best impression comes from bright, wide shots. Sunlit landscapes or heavily lit scenes look really good on it. Brightness then sits around 700 nits, which delivers a noticeable step up compared with standard SDR. Problems start in dark scenes with small, pinpoint highlights. The QN80H tends to dim those aggressively to protect black depth at all costs. On one hand you get better contrast, on the other... you lose dynamics and the sparkle of fine HDR detail. The TV therefore has plenty of potential, but the local‑dimming algorithm can be too restrictive.

Colour‑gamut coverage

Colour-wise it’s also good. The QN80H uses quantum‑dot technology, and in our measurements it covered 93% of the DCI‑P3 colour space and about 70% of BT.2020. Those results won't drop anyone's jaw today, but in real‑world use they’re more than enough to deliver a vivid and natural picture for most films and series. Colours are suitably saturated and, after proper tuning, they don't look artificial or overly aggressive.

We also took a close look at how Blaupunkt handles colours in movie mode, and here the matter is, to put it simply, twofold. We must once again clearly separate what we see in the standard SDR format from what happens when HDR is switched on, as they are two completely different worlds. Let's start with the better side of the coin. If you're planning to watch traditional TV, YouTube, or older films on this television, you can count on really well-tuned colours. In our test sample, the white balance in movie mode performed exceptionally well, which honestly surprised us. Of course, to avoid being too rosy, we noticed some drawbacks. Looking at the gamma charts, we observed that the processor struggles with properly dimming the image in its brightest areas. Additionally, there is quite a strong, at times overly aggressive, red saturation, which resulted in visible errors in reproducing certain shades. Despite this, overall, the image in SDR is simply solid and watchable without a grimace on your face. Unfortunately, the magic fades when we re-enter the world of HDR. Here, Blaupunkt behaves as if we suddenly switched it to store mode, and in its worst rendition. The excess blue in the white balance is so significant that it’s glaring, ruining any realism in the scene. Furthermore, the television interprets brightness very loosely, which, upon analysing the EOTF curve, clearly showed that for most of the time, colours simply appear washed out and lacking depth. This is also perfectly evident in the colour errors that become apparent in this mode. Once again, we are left with the same conclusion: Blaupunkt in SDR mode looks significantly better and more natural than in HDR, which seems to be forcefully added without proper refinement.

The QN80H’s factory settings performed really well, especially compared with most TVs that come through our tests. Of course we took measurements in Filmmaker Mode, and that’s the mode we recommend switching on right after the initial setup. For SDR content our sample was set up surprisingly well. The white balance was very even, colours looked natural, and errors were so small they were hard to spot without test equipment. The only weaker point was the gamma. In brighter parts of the picture the TV brightened them a little too much, so the image sometimes lost some depth. Even so, we wish most TVs looked this good straight out of the box.

It was a bit worse in HDR. The white balance was still set correctly, so the issue wasn’t colour but the way the QN80H managed image brightness. You could see that straight away on the EOTF chart. The TV brightened large parts of scenes too much, causing the brightest elements to blow out. Interestingly, very small highlights were often dimmed too much at the same time. As a result some fine details simply disappeared. The factory Filmmaker mode in HDR isn’t bad, but it’s definitely not as well tuned as it is in SDR.

It may sound like a joke – pulling out professional measuring equipment for a TV that costs around a thousand złoty / 250 dollars, but we wouldn’t be ourselves if we didn’t check it. The question is: does such cheap gear give us any leeway in terms of calibration? To your surprise, the answer is: yes, absolutely. In the Blaupunkt UGC5500S menu, we found surprisingly many options that allowed us to effectively work on the picture. These aren't just empty sliders; these are concrete tools that enabled us to make use of our measurement sensors and software. In SDR mode, the effects were visible to the naked eye. We successfully eliminated the problem we mentioned earlier – that excessive, almost artificial saturation of reds. We also fixed the issue with the incorrect dimming of the brightest parts of the image. After calibration, the picture in standard format became significantly more balanced and simply correct. When it comes to HDR, the situation was more complicated again. While we managed to “tame” that aggressive blue tint in the white balance, it was clear that we were fighting a bit of a losing battle. Even after changing the settings, the TV still tried to interfere with the picture in its own way, as if the electronics knew better than we did how the scene should look. To top it off, there's the hardware barrier that no slider can overcome – colours in HDR still remain undersaturated. This simply results from the quality of the panel itself; it physically cannot produce the most vivid colours. To summarise this point: if any of you ask whether it’s possible to calibrate a TV for “a grand”, we respond with complete conviction: it is possible.

The biggest difference after calibration was in HDR Filmmaker mode. SDR was already very good out of the box, so we didn't have much work to do there. In HDR, however, we were able to rein in how the QN80H handled brightness; it had been making most scenes too bright. After calibration the picture is calmer, more natural and much closer to a faithful reproduction.

If you're hoping that the processor in this model will magically "fix" the poor quality signal from your cable TV or old movies from YouTube, we must disappoint you. The capabilities of this television end at absolutely basic upscaling, which is simply stretching the image to a higher resolution. It does this correctly in that the image is not blurry, but there is no mention of any intelligent sharpening or adding details. Worse still, Blaupunkt is completely devoid of any functions to reduce unwanted tonal transitions. If the material being viewed shows what is known as banding (ugly "steps" instead of a smooth transition of colours, e.g., in the sky), this television will display them in all their glory. Additionally, the television has a tendency to slightly crop the edges of the image. Instead of displaying 100% of what the source sends, Blaupunkt slightly zooms in on the frame, causing us to lose details that are at the very edges of the screen. In summary: in the category of digital "enhancement" of the image, Blaupunkt simply performs poorly. We receive a raw, unprocessed signal, with all its flaws.

The digital image processing in the Samsung QN80H is handled by the second-generation NQ4 AI processor. It's a chip we've already seen in previous Samsung models and it still performs very well, especially with lower-resolution content. The image is effectively upscaled to 4K, but without excessive sharpening and without making it feel like the TV is trying to forcibly enhance the source material.

The "Noise Reduction" feature also proves useful. It can noticeably reduce posterisation and visible banding in lower-quality material, especially in low-bitrate streaming. However, you should remember it doesn't work without side effects. It can remove some film grain and slightly smooth the picture. So with a good-quality source we'd leave this feature turned off. If, however, banding and uneven tonal transitions bother you more than the loss of some grain, "Noise Reduction" can be a really useful addition.

When it comes to motion fluidity, Blaupunkt has nothing to defend itself with. A 60 Hz panel at this price is standard, so none of us expected a perfectly sharp image in fast action scenes or during a match. However, the biggest drawback of this model is that you won’t find any digital motion smoothers in the menu. The manufacturer hasn’t given us any room for manoeuvre – nothing can be smoothed out or the image adjusted to our personal preferences. The picture is always "raw" and we receive it exactly as it is transmitted by the source. For fans of cinematic "jumping" images, this might be good, but the rest simply has to get used to the lack of any motion enhancement.

Motion blur and motion handling on the QN80H are really good, mainly thanks to the fast panel. In 4K the screen refreshes the image at up to 144 Hz, and when switched to Full HD and connected to a PC it can reach up to 240 Hz. That's new for Samsung TVs and a handy extra for people who want to use the TV for PC gaming. We were more interested, though, in how the QN80H performs at 120 Hz, because consoles use that refresh rate. It does very well. The panel doesn't suffer much from the smearing typical of VA panels; faint trails behind moving objects are mostly visible on dark backgrounds. That's not something that would interfere with normal sports watching or gaming. The TV also has a motion smoothing system that Samsung calls "Picture Clarity". You can set judder reduction and blur reduction separately, so it's easy to tune it for films, sport or your own preferences.

When it comes to gaming on the Blaupunkt, we weren’t expecting miracles and indeed – the list of features isn’t very long. However, there are two interesting points worth mentioning, as they might be significant for some of you at this price. The first advantage is that the TV quite smoothly detects the connected console. Thanks to the ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) feature, the device knows when you start gaming and automatically switches to low latency mode. This is convenient because you don’t have to fiddle with settings every time to ensure input lag doesn’t spoil the fun. The second point is a real curiosity that surprised us. Despite it being a 60 Hz panel, the Blaupunkt can display a 120 Hz image at Full HD resolution. Sure, we lose 4K details, but for those playing more dynamic, online shooters where smoothness is more important than resolution, this is a really nice and unexpected addition in such an affordable device. Other than these two points, you won’t find anything more here. There are no advanced smoothness enhancement systems for gamers or extensive gaming menu bars. It’s a simple screen for occasional gaming.

The Samsung QN80H is a TV that performs very strongly when it comes to gamer-focused features. The biggest new feature for 2026 is DLG mode, which allows refresh rates up to 240 Hz when the image is switched to Full HD. It's an option aimed mainly at PC users, but it also shows that Samsung is still investing heavily in the gaming side of its TVs. The list of advantages doesn't end there. The QN80H has four full HDMI 2.1 ports, which at this price point still isn't standard. So you can connect multiple consoles, a PC or a soundbar at once and not worry about which port supports the full video capabilities. The TV also supports VRR, ALLM and HGiG, so it's hard to fault its basic feature set.

A downside is the lack of Dolby Vision, which could matter especially for Xbox Series X owners. However, this isn't a flaw that rules the QN80H out as a gaming TV. Samsung does have a feature that most manufacturers still lack, namely its proprietary motion smoothing, Game Motion Plus. This motion smoother also works in game mode, improving the smoothness of titles running at 30 or 60 frames per second without a drastic increase in input lag. In practice, Game Motion Plus can make a much bigger difference than Dolby's codec, especially in more demanding games that don't offer a 60 fps mode. The image becomes noticeably smoother, while controls remain sufficiently responsive. So despite the lack of Dolby Vision, the QN80H is still one of the best-equipped gaming TVs in its class.