Samsung OLED S95D vs TCL A400 PRO

Samsung S95D offers excellent HDR performance, delivering consistent effects across all scenes exceeding 1500 nits, except for the fifth, where brightness drops to 800 nits. Despite this, the TV maintains a high level of picture quality. A significant advantage of QD-OLED technology is the ability to maintain high brightness even in the smallest elements on a black background, which is rare in LCD and mini LED TVs. As a result, every scene impresses with strong lighting effects, regardless of the size of the illuminated surface. Only in the brightest scenes with a large light area does brightness drop slightly, which is typical even for standard LG OLEDs. Additionally, the quantum dot coating has allowed for an unprecedented high coverage of the BT.2020 colour palette at 88%.

The TCL A400 Pro is a moderately bright TV. Its peak brightness reaches around 600 nits. That level already allows for a real HDR effect and in many films it does deliver a noticeably more appealing picture than in SDR. However, it’s not a level that dazzles by brightness alone. The A400 Pro is not one of those TVs that bombard the viewer with a powerful flash in every dramatic scene. The biggest limitation is visible with small bright elements on a dark background. Because of fairly aggressive zone control, the TV can significantly reduce their brightness, in extreme cases down to around 100 nits. That means small lights, sparks, stars or single highlights can be much less visible than they should be. It should be added, though, that this isn’t done without reason. The A400 Pro does this to keep black levels as deep as possible and to limit the halo effect around bright objects. It’s a deliberate compromise: the TV more often opts for deeper blacks rather than maximising point highlights. On the one hand this is understandable, especially given a limited number of dimming zones, but on the other you should be aware that the HDR effect won’t always be as strong as the peak brightness alone might suggest.

On the plus side, the colours are a strength. The PFS LED filter used here, marketed by the manufacturer as QLED, delivers suitably saturated colours. Our measurements showed about 94% coverage of the DCI-P3 gamut and around 74% of BT.2020, which is a solid result for this class.

On the Samsung S95D, the best colour reproduction mode is the Filmmaker mode. We conduct all our tests in this mode. Although initially, the image in this mode may seem a bit warmer to the viewer, it provides significantly more detail compared to the standard or dynamic modes, which are always oversaturated and artificial. Therefore, Filmmaker is the most closely aligned with the vision of filmmakers and ideal for watching high-quality content. It is worth noting, however, that the factory settings are not perfect, despite dealing with premium segment equipment. The image may contain certain issues that affect the overall quality of the displayed scenes. An example is the drops in red colour in the white balance, both in HD and HDR content. Colour Checker tests showed that the colours lean towards cooler tones. The image is dominated by blue hues, and the overall colour spectrum is distorted. As can be seen in the picture below, the boy from the film appears in cooler tones, making him look less natural. When it comes to brightness characteristics for HD content, it is quite accurate, although there are minor errors. The biggest issue arises when displaying 4K HDR content. The EOTF curve, which seems appropriate at first glance in test patterns, in actual film scenes shows that the TV sometimes "messes around" with the image. This results in some scenes appearing slightly brighter and others darker.

Samsung S95D offers quite decent factory colour reproduction; however, it has some shortcomings that may require calibration to fully utilise the potential of this television. The process is recommended to achieve the most natural and immersive image possible.

As usual, we carried out colour measurements in the best‑tuned picture mode, Filmmaker Mode, the one intended to be closest to the creators’ intentions. The A400 Pro, of course, also offers other picture modes, but in practice they show much larger colour errors and interfere more with the image character. So we won’t cover them in detail in this part of the review. How does the factory colour reproduction fare? In short: really very well. In fact, looking at our measurements, it’s excellent. Both the white balance and the luminance response were set surprisingly precisely. The errors were so small that during the measurements we genuinely rubbed our eyes in surprise. Such good factory settings don’t happen often, even in televisions running Filmmaker Mode. All the more reason to praise TCL, because the A400 Pro straight out of the box can produce an image very close to how the source material should look. The results were so good you could easily think someone had already given this unit extra attention and tried to calibrate it. Our one bit of nitpicking comes down to a single issue. In SDR material the image was slightly brighter than the reference for a dark room, because the factory gamma was set closer to 2.3 than 2.4. It’s not a large error and most viewers probably won’t even notice it. We should note, however, that we are talking about our specific test unit. There can always be some variation in factory colour between individual units, production batches or screen sizes. We do not assume every A400 Pro will look identical straight out of the box.

How much can the picture quality of a TV change after calibration? After calibration on the Samsung S95D, the white balance has significantly improved, eliminating all major errors, allowing for a more natural and harmonious colour representation. In the case of 4K content, there are only minor imperfections which do not affect the overall picture quality. Thanks to the calibration, viewers can now enjoy more balanced tones, which better reflect the intentions of filmmakers. The contrast has also improved, and the gamma shows even better results. This means that the differences between bright and dark parts of the image have become more pronounced, resulting in better depth and detail of scenes. As a result, shadows have gained more detail, and bright areas are no longer so overwhelming, providing a more realistic visual experience. However, it should be noted that the EOTF curve is slightly below the expected level, which may affect how the TV handles dynamic scenes. Nevertheless, after calibration, the overall picture quality has significantly improved, and viewers can now enjoy a visual experience that is more in line with the creators' intentions. The TV handles subtle tonal transitions and contrast better, making it more suitable for watching movies and high-definition programs. Ultimately, the picture after calibration is closely aligned with reference quality, making the visual experience even more satisfying.

Despite the outstanding factory tuning, we couldn't resist checking how the TCL A400 Pro would respond to professional calibration. With such a strong starting point, we were especially curious whether we could squeeze even more from this TV. And here we have to boast: we managed to bring our sample to absurdly low colour errors. Results below 1 are something you don't see every day, even on very good TVs. Such outcomes are more often associated with professional reference monitors than with a lifestyle TV for the living room. In terms of white balance and colour reproduction, the A400 Pro after calibration simply excelled. The only thing we can pick on after closer analysis concerns the brightness response. The TV can vary the luminance level depending on the content being displayed, and quite often the picture is a little darker than it should be according to the reference. This most likely stems from the way the Mini-LED backlight and the local dimming algorithms work in this model. That said, it doesn't ruin the overall impression, because in terms of colour precision the A400 Pro after calibration reached a level that was genuinely hard to expect.

How does the television handle tonal transitions in lower quality materials? Generally speaking, the S95D performs exceptionally well. On the screen with the light bulb, there are virtually no transitions between shades of grey, making it one of the best televisions we have tested in this regard.

When it comes to digital processing, the entirety of the image — from branches to the models' characters — has been well rendered, with no jagged edges or overly visible contours. However, we must point out one issue: the image has been slightly cropped. Nevertheless, the television performs brilliantly, and details in lower quality materials are still noticeable and well-defined.

Digital image processing is unfortunately one of the weaker points of the TCL A400 Pro. That does not mean the TV performs badly, but it’s hard to call it anything clearly above standard. The upscaling itself is acceptable: edges are fairly well smoothed, the picture does not look overly sharp or “pixelated”, and lower-quality material can be watched without major discomfort. At the same time the overall image has a slightly soft character and you don’t see the kind of precision that the best image processors in more expensive TVs can offer.

Handling of tonal transitions caused by heavy compression is much worse. TCL equipped the A400 Pro with a “Gradual Smoothing” feature that in theory should reduce visible colour banding and artefacts in lower-quality material. In practice, however, its effectiveness is very limited. It does not improve tonal transitions in any noticeable way, and at higher settings it can further smooth image detail, giving it an artificial, slightly blurred character. For that reason we think it’s best to leave this feature off. The A400 Pro copes decently with basic image scaling, but if you often watch heavily compressed material with visible posterisation, this model will not be one of the best choices.

The Samsung S95D TV, equipped with a 120 Hz refresh rate panel (and even up to 144 Hz in the appropriate PC configuration), provides excellent motion fluidity. Samsung offers a variety of image sharpness settings on a ten-point scale, allowing users to adjust the display according to their own preferences – whether the picture should be more cinematic/frame-like or more theatrical/smooth. In tests with UFO, the OLED panel shows its advantages, eliminating any blurring. The lightning-fast pixel response ensures that dynamic movements are rendered with unparalleled precision.

The TCL A400 Pro is equipped with a 144 Hz panel, but in practice we're most interested in how it performs at 120 Hz. That's the refresh rate most consoles, as well as many sports broadcasts and high-motion sources, are limited to today. In that range the TV performs quite well. Motion clarity is really good, especially after properly configuring the motion smoothing. The 'Motion Clarity' function improves smoothness. Its settings include two sliders that let you tailor the motion smoothing to your preferences, separately for low-frame-rate and high-frame-rate content. This allows you to achieve either a more cinematic look or a noticeably smoother image. If you don't want to fiddle with manual configuration, you can use built-in presets such as Low, Medium, High, Cinema or Nature.

The Samsung S95D television is perfectly adapted to the needs of gamers, offering four HDMI 2.1 ports that support key features such as Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), and HDR Gaming Interest Group (HGIG). The HDMI 2.1 ports do not offer the full 48Gb bandwidth, but they are still sufficient for achieving the appropriate resolution and smoothness. With these technologies, gamers can enjoy smoother and more responsive gameplay, which significantly impacts comfort and performance during intense gaming sessions. One of the biggest advantages is the Xbox app, which allows for cloud gaming without the need for a console. With it, gamers can access a wide range of titles directly on the television, enjoying high image quality and smooth gameplay. Additionally, the S95D offers a Game Bar feature that enables easy management of game settings, including quick adjustments to parameters such as changing the aspect ratio, which can be extremely useful in various games and game modes. It is also worth mentioning the support for G-Sync and FreeSync, which is a huge plus for users of Nvidia and AMD graphics cards. Despite the lack of support for Dolby Vision, the television still offers excellent features that make it an ideal choice for console gaming enthusiasts. Overall, the S95D combines modern technologies with superb image quality, creating a complete package for every gamer.

In terms of gaming features the TCL A400 Pro performs brilliantly. The TV has practically everything you’d expect from a gaming TV today: support for 4K at high refresh rates, VRR, ALLM, correct implementation of HDR formats in games, including Dolby Vision, and HGiG. That means it works well with both next‑gen consoles and PCs. Another plus is the inclusion of a Game Bar, a dedicated panel with the most important settings for gamers. From it you can quickly check basic information about the signal, refresh rate or active features, and customise the appearance and behaviour of some settings to your preferences. It’s a solution that may not change picture quality by itself, but it greatly improves the convenience of using the TV while gaming. The only thing to criticise is the number of full HDMI 2.1 ports. The A400 Pro has only two such ports out of four, and one of them also serves as eARC. In practice this means that if you want to connect two next‑gen consoles and a soundbar you may run into some limitations. In that scenario you’ll need to either swap devices or use extra equipment, such as an AV receiver or a soundbar with HDMI inputs. Even so, it’s hard not to rate the A400 Pro very highly as a gaming TV. The gaming feature set here is genuinely powerful.