Samsung QN900F vs Philips OLED910

QN900F is a seriously bright TV – it can generate nearly 2000 nits, which is a level that remains unattainable for most models on the market. But the ability to achieve such brightness isn’t everything – it also matters whether the TV can make good use of it. And here it’s not always perfect. Our tests on cinematic scenes showed that in scenes like those from Life of Pi or The Meg, the QN900F can really shine – both literally and figuratively. In such moments, its greatest advantage, which is brightness, makes a huge impression. However, in more demanding scenes, things start to get tricky – similar to assessing contrast. When smaller, bright elements appear on the screen, the TV often struggles with the decision of whether to highlight them at the cost of black levels or perhaps maintain deep blacks but tone down the brightness. The result is situations where, for example, in the movie Sicario 2, the brightness dropped to just 200 nits, making details barely visible. The dimming algorithms could definitely be better, considering the class of this television.

OLED910 is simply an absurdly bright television for an OLED. All thanks to the new panel from LG Display, the Tandem RGB OLED, which Philips has branded as "META OLED". It is this panel that allows for over 2000 nits of brightness in films, which not long ago was completely unachievable in OLEDs. The way the television handles full-screen scenes flooded with bright light also deserves high praise. Usually, in OLEDs, brightness drops significantly, but here it remains at a great level – around 1400 nits. These values are almost reference-level, and combined with excellent colour reproduction at 99% DCI P3 and 82% BT.2020, it gives us an HDR effect that can confidently be called one of the best in the world.

Testing the QN900F in Filmmaker mode, the distinct characteristics of the image quickly became apparent, despite this mode being designed to reflect the director's vision. The white balance was not perfect – the television had noticeable deficits in blue. This caused the entire scene to take on a warmer tone, as if someone had applied a subtle filter in shades of yellow and orange to the image. In films where bright shots dominate – for example, scenes in the snow or under strong daylight – this gave an impression of a slight warmth that does not always convey the director's intention. The second noticeable element was the management of brightness. The QN900F sometimes brightened the image more than necessary. It looked as if the exposure had been slightly "pushed up," which caused the scene to lose some naturalness. Shadows could be too shallow, and contrast slightly weakened. These are not disqualifying errors, but for a television in this price range, it is clear that the Filmmaker mode has not been perfected one hundred percent. This is particularly noticeable when we compare its image to what was visible after the screen calibration.

Unfortunately, when it comes to colour reproduction straight out of the box, the Filmmaker mode on the OLED910 really falls short. The television overemphasises the blue colour and at times it looks almost like a shop mode. It gives the impression that the manufacturer hasn't quite calibrated the device properly. The result is that colours appear unnatural, and the overall look resembles a slightly exaggerated display from a store showcase. HDR content looks much better, where apart from a slight loss of detail in blacks, there’s hardly anything to complain about. The problem is that in everyday viewing, it’s actually SDR materials that matter the most – and on the OLED910, they just look poor and significantly deviate from what we would expect from a television of this class.

After calibration, we managed to reduce the errors in white balance and adjust them to a level that can be considered acceptable. It's not perfect, but definitely better than the factory settings. Most colour errors now fall within the deltaE 2–3 range, so in practice, they shouldn't be noticeable during everyday viewing. The biggest improvement is evident in how the television handles brightness in SDR content. Shadows and details are no longer flattened, giving the image depth and naturalness. As for 4K HDR materials – colours themselves are no longer an issue, but one can still notice some imperfections in Mini-LED technology. The QN900F tends to excessively dim the smallest bright elements, causing them to sometimes disappear from view. However, it's worth noting that this is a much better solution than boosting the entire screen, which would ruin the contrast. This is more of a characteristic of the technology rather than a typical flaw, but it's worth keeping in mind. The effects of the calibration are really very good.

Fortunately, it quickly turned out that it wasn't the panel causing the problems, but the way Philips factory-tuned the OLED910. After calibration, the television showcased its full potential, and only then could we see what the new panels from LG Display were truly capable of. We primarily corrected the white balance and brightness characteristics, successfully taming the excessive blue and giving the image a natural look. The final effect can be described as excellent. Errors on the Color Checker palette rarely exceeded a value of 3, which in practice means an image close to ideal and colours presented in line with the creators' intent. In SDR content, the effect was stunning, and in HDR, the improvement was even more noticeable – gradients became cleaner, and colours fuller and more accurate. After calibration, the OLED910 transformed from a disappointing television into equipment that can be confidently referred to as reference-grade in terms of colour accuracy.

If we want to get rid of awkward tonal transitions that can be annoying, for example, while watching YouTube, we can use a feature called noise reduction. It works really effectively – it eliminates issues with colour blending when set to Standard level. However, as with most Samsung TVs, this comes with some compromises. Although we didn't notice this feature having a significant impact on the structure of objects in the image, it unfortunately reacts quite aggressively to film grain. Most people will likely appreciate this effect – the noise is simply removed – but if someone is looking for an image as close as possible to reference settings, we definitely recommend turning this option off.

When it comes to upscaling, or dealing with very low-quality content, the QN900F performs really well. On the test pattern with a model, the image looked clear, with only slight jaggedness that shouldn't bother most viewers. However, it’s worth mentioning one issue – the TV sometimes struggles with so-called overscan, which means older content may be slightly cut off. This can manifest, for example, with disappearing subtitles at the bottom of the screen.

The previously visible colour connections can be largely mitigated thanks to a feature called "distortion reduction." Similar to the OLED820, it’s best to set it to medium level, as it then provides quite decent results – smoothing unwanted tonal transitions while not taking away too many details from the image. Although at times the effect may be a bit too aggressive, in everyday viewing, this function can be considered useful.

When it comes to image scaling, the OLED910 performs really well. The test material with the model showcased a characteristic soft look typical of Philips – at times almost too soft – but at any moment this can be adjusted with the sharpness slider to tailor the image to your own preferences. It’s also a plus that the television has no issues with overscan, which still occurs in some competitors' models. It’s a minor detail, but it’s pleasing as it means that all content, even the oldest, is displayed as it should be.

There’s really nothing to nitpick here – the QN900F looks great when it comes to motion. Thanks to its 165 Hz panel in 4K, you can confidently say that this TV is suited for both watching sports and gaming. The motion smoother plays a key role here. It works brilliantly – not just with sports broadcasts, where it can eliminate blurring and image judder, but also in games, where animation becomes clearer and more fluid. And of course, if someone likes to experiment with movies – they have that option as well. At lower settings, you can see a slight graininess and a filmic quality, while higher settings introduce a soap opera effect. So everyone can tailor the picture to their preferences, and the TV has the power to handle it.

OLED910 is a TV with a refresh rate of 144 Hz. It’s a bit of a shame that Philips didn’t opt for 165 Hz, as we know that the matrix used in it is capable of that. On the other hand, such a bonus will mainly benefit PC gamers, as for everyday use, the most important thing is the 120 Hz refresh rate, which is fully sufficient. Combined with the advantages of the OLED matrix – lightning-fast pixel response times and the absence of motion blur, the picture is impeccably sharp and fast, even in dynamic action scenes. The traditional motion smoother from Philips called “Motion Style” also deserves praise. We can easily adjust it to our own preferences: the “Smoothness” slider is for movies and allows you to choose between a more “framey,” cinematic character and a smooth, theatrical image. Meanwhile, the “Motion Blur Reduction” slider is intended for sports; here, it’s worth setting it to the maximum value so that the image is clear and sharp during very fast shots.

It's really good here. The QN900F offers a full set of features that we would expect from a top-notch gaming TV – we have VRR, ALLM, Game Bar, as well as cloud gaming apps. However, the biggest standout is its proprietary motion smoother, which also works in games and – importantly – does not add noticeable input lag. This is something we won't find in other competitors.

Unfortunately, there is also something concerning. This year, Samsung has clearly messed up something with its TVs. During the testing of the QN900F before its update, it had the HGIG feature, which allowed for perfect adjustment of HDR settings for consoles. However, according to our procedures, we always update the hardware to the latest version – to give the manufacturer a chance to fix any issues. And here… it went the other way.

After the update, the HGIG feature disappeared from the menu, making proper configuration of the console for HDR practically impossible. It was supposed to be complete – 165Hz, four HDMI 2.1 ports, a full gaming package… but unfortunately, it turned out to be a little mishap. What a shame.

The OLED910 is fantastic for gaming. It supports 144 Hz, so if someone has a powerful PC, they'll easily make the most of that potential. For consoles, the most important thing is still 120 Hz, and everything works smoothly here. It has VRR, an automatic game mode, and even Dolby Vision in games along with HGiG mode, so we pretty much get a full package of gaming features. Philips also added a Game Bar, which is like a quick menu that shows basic information and allows you to enable a few handy features. It might not look as modern as the competition, but it works and does its job. The only downside is the number of HDMI 2.1 ports. There are only two, which can be quite disappointing in this class of television. If someone connects two consoles and something extra to the eARC - like a soundbar (which doesn't really make sense in this model, but more on that in the sound section), they'll have to do a bit more figuring around. Other than that, though, the OLED910 has everything we expect from a gaming TV.