Samsung QN85F vs Samsung The Frame Pro

Although more than twice the number of dimming zones compared to its predecessor did not result in a spectacular leap in black levels and contrast, we definitely felt it in the HDR effect itself. The QN85F is up to 50% brighter than last year's model and it makes a huge impression in dynamic scenes. Peak brightness can reach almost 1700–1800 nits, which is an impressively high result for this Mini-LED class. The best part is that almost regardless of the scene being watched, the HDR effect remains strong and vibrant. In four out of five test scenes, brightness was maintained around 1000 nits, a level that in most cases allows the viewer to feel the true magic of this format. Of course, in scene number 4 from the film Sicario 2, the limitations of Mini-LED technology become apparent – the brightness of the helicopter's subtle light drops to around 500 nits. This isn't an outstanding result, but it is still much more acceptable than last year's model. Samsung deserves applause for the dramatic improvement in brightness with the QN85F compared to its predecessor. However, there's a certain trend visible in this year's televisions – the manufacturer has worsened colour gamut coverage. Although the QN85F has a QLED panel, its result at around 90% DCI-P3 is average, and in the most demanding films, it may lead to less vibrant colours than its predecessor. Despite this drawback, the overall HDR effect is at an excellent level and truly makes a big impression in this class of devices.

Samsung The Frame Pro is one of the relatively bright televisions. In synthetic tests, we managed to achieve values around 900 nits, which is quite a decent result for a lifestyle model. In full-screen scenes, such as the frame from the movie The Meg or the opening sequence in Life of Pi, the brightness maintained a level of 700–800 nits. These values allow you to fully enjoy the HDR effects and capture their cinematic magic. However, the situation complicates when smaller, point light sources appear on the screen. The edge lighting used here, equipped with the ability to local dim whole strips, does not handle them very well. It happens that small elements are overly darkened, which weakens the effect, or conversely – they become heavily brightened, but at the cost of losing black depth in that part of the image. This can be compared to light halos reminiscent of a laser beam spreading in dense fog – an effect that is visible and bright but at the same time not very natural and distracting. Fortunately, the colour aspect performs better. Thanks to the use of a quantum dot filter (QLED), the colours are saturated, and the reproduction of the DCI-P3 palette reaches over 92%. Generally, movies or series watched in HDR on The Frame Pro present a rich colour palette, even if contrast and the performance of the lighting algorithms can sometimes draw our attention away.

Samsung QN85F offers several preset picture modes, but out of the box, the television starts in 'Eco' mode. We could almost end the discussion here, as using this setting on such a model makes little sense – the picture is washed out, unpleasant, and far from what we expect from a television of this class. Therefore, we conducted our tests in the best available mode, which is Filmmaker mode. Its purpose is to faithfully reproduce what the directors saw during filming, and indeed, it is the setting that performs best among all factory options. However, this doesn't mean it's free from flaws.

Both in SDR and HDR, the QN85F prominently highlighted warm colours. This was due to a lack of white balance, where the blue colour was noticeably absent. Additionally, the image was sometimes overexposed – both the gamma brightness characteristic and the EOTF curve indicated that the television has a tendency to blow out scenes. In SDR, colour reproduction errors (Delta E around 4–5) were still acceptable, but in HDR, the inaccuracies became quite significant and clearly deviated from what the creators intended to show us. Fortunately, Samsung provides a wide range of calibration tools in its televisions, so – as always – we proceeded with professional calibration to see how much could be improved.

The best results were, of course, achieved in Filmmaker mode, which immediately showed that Samsung had put effort into the factory settings. In SDR content – the most commonly viewed materials – The Frame Pro performed really well. The white balance and gamma were almost perfectly set, making the image look natural and cohesive. Yes, there were some noticeable errors, particularly in skin tones and reds, which could be overly saturated, giving everything a slightly "warmed up" character, but in everyday use, it didn't hinder the viewing experience too much. For HDR content, the situation was similar regarding the white balance. It was at a good level, however, the biggest issue turned out to be managing brightness. The EOTF curve was set in such a way that in many scenes the image appeared blown out, and the brightest areas lost detail and resulted in uniform patches of light. This severely affected realism and made colours appear very oversharpened. Fortunately, Samsung provides the option for manual adjustment of the curve in their TVs, so we opted for calibration and its results can be seen below.

After calibrating the movie mode, we managed to tame the colours in both modes almost to perfection – most of them did not exceed an error value of 3, which is the threshold of perceivability by the human eye. The image became more natural, fuller, and at the same time free of the overexposure that was noticeable right after taking the television out of the box. This demonstrates the significant potential that lies within the QN85F and how well it responds to precise settings. However, this does not change the fact that certain technological barriers cannot be overcome. Despite the enormous benefits of calibration, there are still limitations to the panel itself. Although the number of dimming zones has doubled compared to its predecessor, the algorithms controlling the backlighting can manipulate brightness in their own way. Sometimes this leads to slight colour inaccuracies or subtly visible halo effects around bright objects. Nonetheless, the viewing experience after calibration is really enjoyable and shows how good a screen the QN85F can be if we just take a moment for the right settings.

After calibration, the SDR mode looks almost perfect. We managed to eliminate the overly intense red saturation that previously gave the image a somewhat excessively warm character. The colours became more balanced, which translated into a natural and pleasant viewing experience for everyday content – from television to movies and series from streaming services or materials on YouTube. In HDR mode, the EOTF curve required the most work, as the factory settings caused excessive clipping of the entire image. The calibration significantly helped to "tame" this issue – the image stopped being overexposed, and details in the bright areas became more visible. Of course, the limits are set by the design of the television itself, as edge lighting reveals its limitations, and even the smallest elements of light can still appear overly bright or blend into the background. However, this is a matter of technology, not just calibration. After the correction, The Frame Pro is much more enjoyable to watch, and it is definitely worth considering if you want to make the most of the television's capabilities.

Although the native tonal transitions on the QN85F perform excellently with 4K content, we don't always have to deal with the highest resolution material. This is where how the TV handles upscaling and digital image processing becomes crucial. This process is managed by Samsung's proprietary processor – AI NQ4 Gen2. In practice, it works very effectively. If visible colour banding or other undesirable phenomena appear on the screen, for instance with content from YouTube, they can easily be smoothed out using the "noise reduction" feature. Set to medium, it improves tonal transitions while not overly blurring desired details. However, it should be noted that – like in most Samsung TVs – this feature heavily interferes with film grain. Therefore, during movie screenings, it’s wise to use it cautiously to avoid losing the natural character of the image.

The upscaling itself looks very good. Test materials in lower resolutions were displayed sharply and clearly, with a lot of details. The only drawback remains the issue with overscan, which cuts off the edges of the screen. In most situations, this isn't noticeable, but with very old materials below HD quality, there may be instances where a fragment of the image from the left side gets slightly cut off.

Although in 4K HDR materials the fluidity of tonal transitions in the ChooseTV Pro is not a problem at all, naturally with weaker signal quality – such as with television, HD materials, or older Full HD films – imperfections may occur. Therefore, it's crucial how the television handles these limitations thanks to the image processor. The noise reduction feature works really effectively here. At the medium setting, it eliminates unwanted bands or artifacts, smoothing the image in a visible yet not overdone way. However, it's important to remember that Samsung has a tendency to be aggressive – even at the lowest level of this feature, it can "eat" film grain. So, it's wise to use it with caution and adjust the settings according to the material being watched.

The upscaling itself is of a high standard. The ChooseTV Pro effectively boosts older materials to a native 4K resolution, maintaining good sharpness and clarity. Movies and series in lower quality simply look better here. However, it's worth mentioning a minor downside – typical for many Samsung televisions. With very old sources in poor quality, you may notice some cropping of the image edges on the left side of the screen. It's not a problem that will ruin the viewing experience, but it's good to know that it may occur.

Motion blur and fluidity of movement in the QN85F is a topic worth discussing further because the TV is equipped not with a standard 120 Hz panel but with a 144 Hz one. The extra hertz will mainly be appreciated by PC gamers, but the very fact of having such an option can be seen as a nice addition and a sign of the times – it's hard to complain about the trend of faster panels since in practice, each of us would like the picture to be as smooth as possible. However, the most important thing is how the TV performs with typical 120 Hz refresh rates – in the case of consoles, sports, or films recorded at 24 or 30 frames per second. And here, the QN85F performs really well. In films, you can easily adjust the character of the picture thanks to the "image clarity" feature, where you'll find two control sliders. Key in the case of screenings is the one responsible for reducing motion judder. Lower values give the image a more cinematic character with preserved "frame-ness," while higher values lead to strong smoothing, reminiscent of television theatre.

The fluidity of movement in The Frame Pro is not only due to the panel itself, which operates at a refresh rate of up to 144 Hz, but also the image processor and motion smoothing system. It is thanks to this that we can adjust the way movies or sports broadcasts are displayed to our own preferences. Available are sliders for blur reduction and motion judder reduction – the first function enhances the sharpness of fast movements, while the second helps to soften the effect of the "jumping" image during camera pans. Everyone can choose between a cinematic character of motion and a smoother, more "television" style.

Samsung QN85F makes a really great impression in terms of features for gamers. It has four HDMI 2.1 ports, so we can easily connect several devices at the same time. There's also Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) to prevent screen tearing, as well as Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), which allows the TV to automatically switch to the appropriate settings when we start the console. Additionally, it supports refresh rates of up to 144 Hz – something that PC gamers will particularly appreciate, but the very fact that such an option is available shows that Samsung is committed to full support for gamers. The Game Bar panel also deserves praise. It provides a quick overview of the most important parameters – from frame count to refresh rate mode, and even shortcuts to picture settings. Instead of digging through the entire menu, everything is at our fingertips, which proves to be really convenient in practice. However, the most interesting addition is the Game Motion Plus feature. It is nothing more than motion smoothing, adapted for the gaming world. When it’s turned on, the image becomes smoother, sometimes looking as if we’re getting several more frames, and importantly – the response delay doesn’t increase enough to interfere with gameplay. This is a solution that truly sets Samsung's 120Hz TVs apart from the competition.

[UPDATE] We have updated our tests of Samsung TVs from the 2025 model year due to the release of software version 1131, which restored the crucial gaming feature HGiG.

The only significant downside remains the lack of proper support for HGiG. This is a standard responsible for accurate tone mapping in HDR games, ensuring that brightness and contrast are displayed as intended by the creators. Without HGiG, we have to set brightness manually, which doesn’t always yield perfect results. This feature was available in previous models, but disappeared from the QN85F after one of the updates. We hope that Samsung will quickly fix this issue, and we will be monitoring to see if they succeed.

Samsung The Frame Pro doesn’t pretend to be just a “living room” TV; gamers will also find something for themselves here. The manufacturer has ensured a full package of gaming features: we have support for variable refresh rate (VRR), auto low latency mode (ALLM), refresh rates up to 144 Hz, and compatibility with both G-Sync and FreeSync Premium Pro. Additionally, there’s the well-known Game Bar panel, which is a quick menu where you can check key parameters on-the-fly – from refresh rates to active image processing modes. Are there downsides? Yes, The Frame Pro doesn’t support Dolby Vision in game mode, but it’s hard to consider this a serious issue – most gamers use HDR10 anyway... so the HGIG mode. Exactly. The biggest surprise was the latest software update. Samsung... completely removed this option from The Frame PRO. In practice, this means that the TV independently interprets HDR tone mapping in games, and the user cannot enable settings designed with consoles in mind. This is a step backwards, which may disappoint more aware gamers hoping for full compliance with HGiG guidelines. We can only hope that this mistake will be quickly fixed.

An interesting feature of The Frame Pro is also the unusual placement of HDMI 2.1 ports. We have as many as five at our disposal – four are located in the One Connect module, and the fifth, in micro HDMI form, is located directly on the TV. This solution is quite unusual but very practical. Samsung clearly suggests that this is the port to connect your console or computer. Why? Because it minimises any potential delays associated with communication through the wireless One Connect, and in gaming, every millisecond counts. We have written separately about input lag, but we can reveal here that by connecting the equipment directly to the TV, we get the absolute maximum response speed from it.