Samsung QLED Q70D / Q74D / Q77D vs Dreame S100

The brightness that the Samsung Q70D can offer is at a rather average level, although it cannot be said that the HDR effect will not be noticeable. Any brightness above 400 nits allows for a clear distinction between SDR and HDR content. As was the case in the paragraph about contrast and black levels, we can also observe here that the first scene, featuring a bright sunny sky and a darker foreground, has the lowest luminance of those measured. The result, which can be considered very good for this price range and display class, is that one. In a scene where we see a large light source filling a significant portion of the frame, the brightness of the TV is at its highest, reaching nearly 500 nits. However, it is worth noting the rather low coverage of the wide DCI-P3 colour gamut, which sometimes results in noticeable shortcomings in the colour reproduction. Additionally, users can enjoy rich colours and high precision in rendering shades, making movie screenings a unique experience. It is also worth mentioning that the Q70D Samsung panel performs excellently in eliminating blur during dynamic action scenes, which enhances the viewing comfort of sports broadcasts or games.

The Dreame S100 is a relatively bright television. In movie mode, the brightness we measured reached around 600 nits. This is a really good result, although not the highest considering the competition in this price range. In full-screen scenes, it's clear that the television can generate an image that hits the mark in terms of brightness. Unfortunately, when more complex scenes appeared on the screen, the local dimming algorithm in this model tried above all to maintain the deepest blacks. However, this came at the expense of the HDR effect – and in a drastic way. In such scenes, the brightness of the bright elements fell below 100 nits, which is a downright tragic result, far from any HDR effect. This aspect can be improved, but there are caveats. You just need to change the local dimming setting in the television's menu; however, then the blacks in such scenes simply turn grey. It's a pity that Dreame wasn't able to refine the local dimming algorithms better, and the S100 is another example that the number of local dimming zones doesn't always translate into a better picture. As a consolation, it's worth noting that the Dreame S100 is marketed as a 'QLED' type television, although it actually uses a PFS LED filter. As a result, the colours are appropriately saturated, and our measured DCI-P3 colour gamut coverage exceeded 94%.

The best factory mode in Samsung Q70D is "Filmmaker," and it was this mode that we used during all our tests. Before the calibration process, it had several flaws that effectively hindered the presentation of the director's intentions. In both SDR and HDR material, the white balance was dominated by red and green colours. As a result, there was a characteristic yellow tint on the image, which caused whites to appear yellowed and skin tones to be noticeably too warm. The reduced gamma in standard colour palette materials caused a significant drop in contrast, which was already not the highest. This led to the highlighting of details in the blacks, but also to clipping in brighter scenes. In this case, the EOTF curve proved to be much better and only brightened those scenes with quite low luminance. This was clearly visible in the section where we measured the maximum brightness of the television in HDR materials. At that time, a shot from the film "Billy Lynn" appeared unnaturally bright and lacking depth.

We tested the Dreame S100 in "movie" mode and definitely recommend using this setting for watching all kinds of content. Interestingly, in the deeper settings of the TV, we also find a dedicated "Filmmaker" mode, which is now available from almost every manufacturer. However, in the case of the Dreame S100, we do not recommend using it – it blocks all settings related to the picture and does not allow for any configuration in the menu - not even a motion smoother. So how do the factory colours fare in the S100? Not too bad, but not great either. The TV itself had a noticeable blue tint, which is clearly evident in our white balance measurements. As a result, the picture was artificially brightened, and the colours had a slight bluish tint. This is also confirmed by the Color Checker palette, which showed how the colour samples leaned towards blue, generating quite significant colour errors. On the other hand, the picture looked definitely better in HDR mode, where the colour errors were not as prominent, although they were still far from ideal. Here, the white balance was also too heavily skewed towards blue, causing quite significant errors in color reproduction.

Fortunately, Samsung provides a wide range of calibration tools in all its TVs, including 2- and 20-point grey scale adjustments and advanced CMS. As a result, we were able to significantly improve the quality of SDR and HDR content. The vast majority of errors have been corrected, and the image that the Samsung Q70D now delivers is definitely much closer to the reference. Higher deltaE errors in wide dynamic range content primarily result from the display's insufficient luminance.

The Dreame S100 has proven to be a device very amenable to professional calibration. In its menu, we found a plethora of advanced options that allowed us to effectively correct factory errors. Thanks to the advanced white balance correction – both in SDR and HDR content – we completely eliminated excess blue components. The image instantly became much more natural and pleasant to view. After fully tuning the colours, the errors in the Color Checker test dropped below a Delta E value of 2-3. For the average viewer, this means that any colour distortions became almost impossible to see with the naked eye. It's really a nice surprise, as often new brands in the TV market have significant problems with the correct implementation and functioning of sliders in the calibration menu. Here, everything worked as it should. The only thing we need to criticise is the way the TV manages its brightness in HDR. Due to the specific nature of the local dimming algorithms, our measured EOTF curve shows anomalies. In places where high highlights should appear, there is a slight bump in the curve above the reference line. In practice, this results in unnatural brightening of certain, the brightest elements in movies or games. Despite this minor flaw, professional calibration brings a huge, very positive change to this model.

The function responsible for improving gradation is named "Noise Reduction" in the menu. As we have confirmed, it is worth enabling as it has a beneficial impact on tonal transitions. More importantly, it does not negatively affect film grain or fine details, which sometimes the competition "offers" us.

The image scaling on Samsung Q70D should be rated as average. The manufacturer does not aim to artificially sharpen the image, but rather to keep it naturally softened.

For scaling and digital processing in the Dreame S100, the technology used is proudly called Dreamind™ Pro AI by the manufacturer. However, it must be clearly stated that this is not a proprietary processor but rather a marketing term for a chip from MediaTek – specifically, the model MT5889. Unfortunately, we are talking about a rather outdated unit from a time when MediaTek lagged significantly behind the competition in terms of performance. This, unfortunately, has a direct impact on the image, as this chip also handles that. The upscaling in the S100 is fairly average, and the processor has a tendency to artificially over-sharpen edges (fortunately, this can be somewhat tempered with the sharpness slider in the menu). In the options, we also find a feature called "Contour Smoothing," which theoretically is supposed to improve tonal transitions. In practice, it contributes almost no improvement – setting it to any level rarely eliminates visible colour banding, but it can unnecessarily blur elements of the image that should remain sharp.

Another issue is the phenomenon of overscan (cropping the edges of the frame), which is practically visible all the time. Although there is the possibility to set the screen to display the full frame in low-resolution materials, it requires activating the aforementioned Filmmaker mode. And as you may know, this mode completely blocks any changes to other sliders in the picture menu. In our test tables, we noted that the television offers an option to disable overscan, as such a function technically exists in the system – however, in everyday use, while maintaining reasonable picture settings, you will not be able to take advantage of it.

Samsung Q70D is the first model in the manufacturer's portfolio with a 120Hz panel. As a result, its motion smoothing features are more advanced than those in lower-tier models. In the menu, we find three functions responsible for improving fluidity. They are "Blur Reduction," "Judder Reduction," and "Clear Motion (LED)." We'll discuss the third one later. The first function enhances sharpness in motion, while the second adjusts the level of smoothing. The smoothness enhancer in Samsung Q70D works satisfactorily, and each setting makes a noticeable difference. Therefore, those who dislike the characteristic stuttering of films or who passionately watch sports will be able to achieve their preferred level of smoothness. In the image, we present a setting with slight smoothing, without the soap opera effect.

The panel used in Samsung Q70D has a fairly good response time for this type of display. Of course, it won't deliver an image as sharp as a proverbial razor, but at this price point, it is a recommended choice for all kinds of sports.

When it comes to motion fluidity, the Dreame S100 performs really well. It features a 144 Hz refresh rate panel, although in reality, the vast majority of people using it in a conventional way will still be limited to 120 Hz (as this is what today's hardware allows aside from PCs). Thanks to the high refresh rate, the image in motion remains really sharp, largely due to the well-functioning MEMC motion smoother. In the menu, we find predefined modes that enable the TV to efficiently generate artificial frames, which effectively enhances the fluidity of dynamic sports shots, but also helps eliminate motion judder in film and TV series material recorded at 24 frames.

The tested television is equipped with four HDMI 2.1 ports. Interestingly, all of them have a bandwidth of 40 Gbps; however, during the testing process, we did not observe any negative effects associated with this situation. More importantly, Samsung Q70D supports all features stemming from the aforementioned standard. This news will surely delight all gamers, as it means that whether using a console or a PC, we can expect the highest possible comfort during gameplay. Given the standard absence of Dolby Vision HDR for this manufacturer, it is significant that the HGIG mode has been implemented correctly and there are no issues with setting up the calibration chessboard. We particularly note that Samsung is the only manufacturer to allow gaming with the smoothness enhancer switched on, without significant degradation. This means that titles running at 30 fps will be perceived like those with native 60 frames per second.

Samsung, as one of the first manufacturers, introduced the Game Bar to its televisions, which has since been consistently refined. It contains all the necessary information regarding gameplay parameters that we can change "on the fly".

In summary: Samsung Q70D will perform excellently both with consoles and with computers. All functions worked brilliantly, and there were no issues with them. The ability to enable the smoothness enhancer without significant increases in input lag is a true gamechanger.

The Dreame S100 seems almost like the ideal screen for gamers. The television is equipped with 2 HDMI 2.1 ports with a bandwidth of 40 Gbps, allowing features such as automatic game mode (ALLM) or VRR frame synchronization in the range of 48-144 Hz to work seamlessly on consoles. On board, we also find a well-designed gaming panel (Game Bar). It allows you to continuously preview the most important parameters - from the activated picture modes, to the number of frames rendered by the console, right through to the option of adding a crosshair in the centre of the screen. All of this looks great on paper; however, the biggest issue with the S100 is its implementation of HDR in games. The television does not have a correctly implemented HGiG format. This means a clueless user may misconfigure the console during the initial setup of the screen. Poor configuration can result in an image that is too dark or overexposed (as a guideline: we suggest setting the brightness in the Xbox console menu to around 600 nits, and in the PS5 to 12 clicks). The Dolby Vision format also proves problematic, as it often did not activate at all on the XBOX – Dreame S100 line. And when it was eventually activated, playing was impossible due to the very high input lag often exceeding 100ms. If the manufacturer manages to improve the HDR gaming experience with an update, the S100 will be truly outstanding hardware for gamers. For now, however, compromises must be accepted.