Dreame Q100 vs Samsung R85H / R86H

Unfortunately the Dreame Q100 is too simple, and above all too dim, a television to talk about a true HDR effect. The peak brightness we measured reaches at most about 300 nits, which is clearly too little for bright elements of the image to actually 'pop' with light. In fact, this is a level we more often associate with SDR material than with HDR. It therefore lacks the brightness headroom offered by more expensive televisions that makes highlights, reflections and the sun look noticeably more striking.

HDR colours

Fortunately the Q100 makes up for this a little elsewhere. The manufacturer markets it as a QLED television, although in practice a PFS filter is responsible for widening the colour palette. The DCI-P3 colour space we measured is covered at roughly 92%, and BT.2020 at about 67%. These are not top-tier figures, but still clearly better than simple LCD televisions without an additional gamut-expanding layer. As a result, HDR material can at least offer more saturated and varied colours, even if the brightness itself does not yet allow us to speak of a fully fledged HDR effect.

When it comes to brightness, the R85H performs really respectably. In most of our test scenes the TV reaches around 800 to 900 nits, and with larger bright elements it can exceed 1000 nits. These are not, of course, levels on a par with the pricier Mini-LEDs, but they are more than enough for watching films and TV shows in HDR, and the effect can already be quite noticeable. The problem reappears in more demanding scenes where there is a small bright element on a very dark background. Here the TV can significantly limit its brightness so as not to light up too large a portion of the screen. In our measurements such small highlights fell even to around 200 to 250 nits, so it is clear that a small number of zones combined with the particular behaviour of the algorithm has consequences here. Fortunately, this is not something that disturbs viewing all the time. In typical mixed HDR scenes the R85H looks good and can deliver appropriate image dynamics. It's just that with very small points of light you shouldn't expect an effect as strong as on TVs with many more zones or on OLEDs.

We chose the "Film" mode for testing and, in our opinion, it is by far the best of the available presets. There are none of the heavily boosted, unnatural colours you can see, for example, in the Vivid/Dynamic mode. The picture looks quite reasonable straight away, although it falls a little short of perfect. In SDR material the most noticeable issue was a slight warming of the image. The white balance had too much red, which made whites lean towards a warmer hue, and a similar tint was visible in shades of grey. In HDR the situation was a little different. Here blue had a slight advantage, making the picture a touch cooler. These are not major faults, though. For such an inexpensive TV, the factory settings on our unit were fairly decent, and the "Film" mode already delivers a relatively natural image without much fiddling with the settings.

In Filmmaker mode our R85H sample performed acceptably in SDR, but a few things stood out immediately in the measurements. In the white balance red increased with rising brightness while blue decreased. As a result the brighter parts of the picture had a slightly too warm tint. Gamma only held to the target value at the start. It then gradually fell, which left most of the image a little too bright. The combination of these two effects also showed up in the colours, with errors growing particularly in the brighter and more saturated samples. It did not look bad, but for Filmmaker mode we had expected a bit more accuracy. Interestingly, in HDR our sample fared noticeably better. The white balance was much more even and, over most of the range, the individual components stayed close together. Only in the very brightest areas did red start to be lacking, causing white to shift subtly. The EOTF curve, by contrast, looked very good and followed the target luminance levels across almost the entire range. That does not mean HDR colours were perfect. The Colour Checker still showed some deviations, especially for some of the more saturated hues, but the errors were clearly smaller than in SDR.

Contrary to appearances, the Dreame Q100 is quite well prepared for image calibration. The menu contains quite a few advanced picture settings that allow its characteristics to be adjusted fairly precisely. In our case the most work was required on the white balance, both in SDR and HDR. After correction SDR content looked very good. We managed to achieve a practically neutral white balance and natural colours, with the main remaining limitation being the black level itself, stemming from the panel construction and the lack of local dimming.

In HDR we also managed to improve white balance and colour reproduction, but here the limitations of the TV's electronics become apparent more quickly. Even after very precise adjustment of the EOTF curve, the Q100 does not always follow it correctly during actual scenes. In some content it can also brighten the image further, causing some parts to look brighter than they should, and in bright areas some details can be lost as a result.

After calibration the R85H shows it has genuinely substantial capabilities in colour reproduction. It performed best in SDR, where the white balance could be brought almost perfectly into line and the gamma stays very close to the target value across most of the range. This also translated into very low errors on the Colour Checker, so there is really little to pick fault with. HDR also shows a clear improvement, although some things can no longer be corrected as well. At the highest brightness levels the character of the backlight begins to make itself felt and the individual components of the white balance start to drift apart. The same applies to the most saturated colours, which do not always land exactly where they should. Despite these limitations the overall image is much more accurate than with the factory settings, and the biggest difference is definitely seen in SDR. There is, however, one thing calibration cannot fix. With heavily saturated elements the colour can slightly bleed onto adjacent bright areas of the image. It is easiest to notice this on white, which can pick up a faint tint of a neighbouring colour. It does not appear in every scene, but when the material is demanding the effect can be visible. This is more a characteristic of the way the RGB backlight works than a matter of picture settings.

The weakest point of the Dreame Q100 is its digital image processing capabilities. The processor used copes only moderately well with enhancing weaker sources, and the menu lacks any function that effectively smooths unsightly tonal transitions or reduces visible posterisation. Upscaling itself is also unimpressive. With low-resolution material the image is fairly soft and lacks faithful detail reproduction. Additionally, the Q100 tends to overscan, slightly cropping the edges of the image with very poor sources, such as 480p material. In everyday viewing of HD or 4K content this won't be a major problem, but with older recordings the processor's limitations become clearly visible.

In the R85H image processing is handled by the Micro RGB AI Processor. The name is new, but when it comes to upscaling lower-quality material the TV’s behaviour is very similar to what Samsung has shown before. And that’s not a bad thing, because the manufacturer has dealt with this aspect quite well for years. Lower-resolution content is displayed cleanly, edges do not become excessively soft, and the TV does not try to artificially extract details at any cost. The result is simply well balanced, and with regular broadcasts or older recordings the R85H performs as you would expect from a Samsung in this class. There remains only a minor drawback in the form of overscan, which cannot be completely turned off at the lowest resolutions. A separate matter is the additional processing of weaker sources. The R85H can smooth posterisation and somewhat tidy up heavily compressed footage, but it is worth emphasising that it does this relatively aggressively. At stronger noise reduction settings it begins to remove not only compression artefacts but also fine details and the natural film grain. It is therefore best used only when the material truly needs it.

The VA panel used in the Dreame Q100 has a native 60 Hz refresh rate, so from the outset this is not a TV designed for the most demanding sports fans or gamers. The manufacturer does mention the ability to run at 120 Hz, and that option is indeed available, but it mainly applies to a mode intended for gamers. In everyday use the Q100 should therefore be treated as a conventional 60 Hz TV. For fast-paced sports broadcasts or rapid gameplay this means less smooth motion than in models with 120 Hz panels or higher. On the plus side, the panel’s response time is worth noting. The VA panel does not exhibit excessive smearing, so motion remains quite clear and does not leave strong, blurred trails behind moving objects. For films you can also use a simple motion-smoothing system. The manufacturer has prepared several ready-made presets that help reduce the characteristic judder in material shot at 24 frames per second.

The R85H has a 144 Hz panel, so motion is really smooth here. Just bear in mind that the extra hertz above 120 are mainly used when connected to a PC, so in this category we don't treat them as any particular advantage. For films and TV, what's more important is that the panel is fast enough to provide access to an advanced motion-smoothing feature, "Motion Clarity", which lets you set motion anywhere from more film-like to very smooth. The panel's response time is a bit worse. Because it's a VA panel, fast-moving objects can leave a slight trail. On bright backgrounds this isn't very noticeable, but the darker the scene, the more pronounced the smearing becomes. This is a typical trait of this type of panel and it's easiest to notice in dark shots.

The Dreame Q100 is not a strictly gaming device, but for console use it offers a reasonable package. It provides VRR to eliminate screen tearing and ALLM, which automatically switches the TV to a low-latency mode when it detects a console signal. An interesting compromise is support for a 120 Hz mode. The panel won’t achieve that refresh rate in 4K, but dropping to 1080p lets you play at 120 frames per second. If a given title prioritises smoothness over high resolution (and the game offers such a mode), it’s worth using this option. There’s also a handy Game Bar on board, allowing you to quickly change display settings, switch the refresh mode or add a virtual crosshair. Admittedly the HGiG implementation is weak here, but it earns points for supporting Dolby Vision Gaming on Xbox Series X and S. This is not a panel for technological purists, but for casual console gaming it performs flawlessly, especially when you opt to trade 4K for a smoother Full HD.

Samsung has been steadily expanding its gaming features for several years, and the R85H really doesn't miss anything important here. The TV supports 4K at 120 Hz, VRR and ALLM, so we can easily take advantage of the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X. HGiG also works correctly, so with HDR properly set on the console, games retain the correct brightness and we don't unnecessarily lose detail in the brightest parts of the picture. The only major omission is Dolby Vision Gaming, which Samsung does not support on any of its TVs. The Game Bar is also very useful — a handy menu you can bring up without leaving the game. We can quickly check the frame rate, VRR status or change key picture settings. Samsung also adds a few less obvious features, such as the ability to change the aspect ratio and Game Motion Plus, which can further smooth games running at 30 or 60 frames per second. Of course this comes at the cost of higher input lag (around 55 ms), but for slower-paced titles it may be an interesting addition for some people.