Haier Q80FUX vs Samsung QN80H

Alright, let's move on to the topic that really sparks discussions, which is the capabilities of the TV in HDR mode. Let's be clear from the start: the Haier Q80FUX is certainly not a brightness demon. The panel of this set can generate about 350 nits at peak, which in today's reality is an absolute minimum to even talk about the presence of HDR expanded dynamic range. On the plus side, this brightness is at least stable – regardless of the test pattern or film scene we used, measurements consistently hovered around 300-350 nits. These are at best adequate results, definitely far from the dazzling display of capabilities that we know from more expensive models. Fortunately, there is one aspect where the Q80FUX makes up for these shortcomings and does so considerably. We are talking about a QLED TV (or more precisely PFS LED), which means that thanks to the quantum dot filter used on the panel, it can generate truly juicy, vibrant colours. These are not empty promises – covering nearly 95% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut is an impressive result and directly translates into very pleasant, saturated colours for the eye.

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.

Factory settings for movie mode are seldom perfect, but in the case of the Q80FUX, we encountered a noticeable imbalance. In SDR content, the image was definitely too warm, due to an excessive amount of red in the white balance, giving the overall picture a slight sepia tone. Conversely, in HDR materials, the television fell into the other extreme – an excess of blue caused an unnatural, cool effect in perception. However, it wasn't the fickle white balance that was the biggest issue with this TV. The real culprit, responsible for the previously described problems, was hiding deeper. It turned out that the Q80FUX has completely miscalibrated gamma values and, crucial for HDR, a poorly executed EOTF curve. It was these erroneous factory settings that caused the notorious clipping of the brightest parts of the image, imposing that characteristic milky filter over them. Thus, we found the source of the problem. This situation led to general, significant colour inaccuracies that were easy to catch even for an untrained eye. Like every television we tested, we decided to calibrate this model as well, and you can find the results of these adjustments in the next paragraph.

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.

The results of our calibration procedures must, unfortunately, be regarded as twofold. Generally speaking, the picture is undeniably better than before the adjustments; however, the biggest winner of this process has been SDR content. It is precisely here, after correcting the gamma curves and white balance, that we achieved results that can safely be called very good. Once set up, the Q80FUX truly shines in standard dynamic range, displaying only slight errors in the most challenging skin tones. Unfortunately, the weakest link remains HDR content. And here's the paradox: even though we managed to calibrate the white balance to near perfection, the overall colour errors still remain at quite a high level. The reason is that the television still interprets the static HDR10 metadata "in its own way," stubbornly enforcing that unfortunate image clipping effect, which inevitably leads to significant distortions. Although we successfully eliminated the factory excess of blue, due to this electronic interference, the screen can still veer into somewhat too cool tones. That’s just how this television is.

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 there's one area where Haier clearly shows it still has a lot to catch up on compared to the market leaders, it's digital image processing. The upscaling, well... it's just okay. And that's really all that can be said about it. It does what it's supposed to do: ensures that lower resolution signals don't scare you with harsh pixelation on the screen and don't look like a forcibly enlarged postage stamp. However, it's far from the finesse and "intelligent" sharpening that more experienced players in this market have developed over the years. The biggest issue with the Q80FUX software is the almost complete lack of additional "cleaning" and smoothing features for the image. The receiver offers no noise reduction mechanisms or gradient enhancement. This means that with older or highly compressed materials, we simply have to accept that all the imperfections in tonal transitions or colour blending, which we mentioned earlier, will constantly accompany us during viewing.

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.

The issue of motion fluidity and blurring is largely predetermined by the use of a 60Hz panel, which naturally makes it difficult to recommend this receiver to enthusiasts of very dynamic content. Fortunately, in the Q80FUX, we find a few options (although, as will soon become clear, really just one) intended to enhance the experience with older film productions. There is a "De-Judder" slider available, which indeed affects motion fluidity and allows us to adjust it to our preferences: from raw, cinematic frame rates to a more theatrical, smoothed presentation. However, a true surprise awaits us right next to it in the menu. There is also a second slider, supposedly dedicated to removing blur – this is a feature we typically encounter in 120Hz panels, aimed at combating blurring in sports. As we expected, recalling memories from testing the K85F model, here too this slider is merely a façade. Its adjustment contributes absolutely nothing to the picture and simply seems to be an oversight by the product engineers who left a non-functional option in the software for this type of panel.

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.

Entering the realm of gaming, the Haier Q80FUX proves to be quite a good companion for the "casual gamer." It is equipped with some highly sought-after features today such as VRR (variable refresh rate) and ALLM (automatic low latency mode). However, the biggest surprise is something else. Even though we don't have a 4K@120Hz panel here, the television can accept and display a 120Hz signal at a lower resolution (Full HD). This is a very useful feature, allowing you to consciously switch the console to a lower resolution mode in exchange for significantly higher fluidity, which is a perfectly acceptable compromise in the gaming world.

We won't particularly complain about the lack of additions like the "Game Bar," as it's just a nice extra. However, the most concerning issues arise when we enter the world of HDR in gaming. Due to the fact that the television continuously adapts the signal "in its own way," setting the brightness on the console according to the HGIG standard is almost impossible to accomplish according to the instructions. Worse still, in Dolby Vision mode for gaming, the input lag increases to around 50 ms, which is a high enough value that essentially makes this mode unusable. Generally speaking, we still wouldn't recommend gaming on this television in HDR mode, so these aren't that serious shortcomings. What’s most pleasing is the presence of 120Hz in Full HD, making the Q80FUX quite a cool television for the occasional gamer.

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.