Hisense A6N vs Samsung OLED S95H (S99H) (QD-OLED)

The HDR performance of the A6N is unfortunately underwhelming. A peak brightness of 250 nits does not allow for spectacular effects, and HDR comes across as rather lacklustre, more like ordinary SDR. This will not satisfy more demanding users who want to enjoy high-quality cinematic content. In addition, colour gamut coverage is not very impressive either: an 82% DCI-P3 result is average and does not allow viewers to fully enjoy vivid colours in HDR content.

When it comes to brightness alone, the S99H is an astronomically bright TV. Its peak brightness in film scenes can exceed 2800 nits. Whatever the scene, you can count on powerful HDR effects that are almost blinding, exactly what you expect from a top-tier screen. It is the nature of OLED panels that they cannot sustain the same extreme brightness in very bright, full‑screen frames as they can with small highlights, but the results are still excellent. In a bright scene from the film The Meg, the sun still exceeded 2200 nits. That means the S99H managed to sustain higher brightness than most Mini LED displays on the market. In terms of brightness, the S99H is currently the best OLED TV we have tested.

Colour gamut coverage

The S99H also handles colour extremely well, which is a direct result of the QD-OLED panel used here. Whether the test scenarios were synthetic test patterns or measurements taken with film material playing in the background, the results remained at a very high level. The S99H easily covers almost 100% of the DCI-P3 gamut, and for the more demanding BT.2020 colour space it reaches nearly 90%. That is absolute top-tier performance. These results match what we have seen in the new SQD-Mini-LED screens, and in real film scenes even outperform RGB Mini LED displays.

In terms of colour reproduction, the Hisense A6N in Filmmaker Mode leaves much to be desired. Although the mode's name suggests we should expect faithful rendering of cinematic colours, the reality is different, and the TV has significant problems with picture quality. The white balance issue is particularly noticeable for both HD and 4K material, being severely skewed by a dominance of blue. This results in artificial, cool tints, which are clearly visible in the comparison photo below. The Colour Checker test further confirms these errors, which are compounded by low colour gamut coverage.

The gamma luminance characteristic reveals a serious problem with maintaining the 2.4 level, the curve sitting well below the reference value and causing the image to be overly bright with washed-out blacks. The EOTF curve for 4K material also points to brightness issues, with a pronounced rise at the low end caused by the TV's excessive brightening, which negatively affects picture quality. Such image behaviour prevents fully enjoying films and requires manual calibration.

Samsung offers a whole host of picture modes and features, but as usual we recommend choosing Filmmaker Mode, especially if you want the most faithful rendering of the filmmakers' intent. Out of the box the TV is tuned very well, although it has minor shortcomings. These are mainly a slight drift in the white balance in SDR content and a slightly low gamma. As a result, in darker viewing conditions the picture can be a little too bright compared with the reference gamma of 2.4, which is the standard for watching films with the lights off. These are, of course, minor points, because overall colour reproduction remains at a very good level and the errors in the ColorChecker measurements are not large. However, we know that with a screen of the S99H's class you can, and arguably should, expect even more, which is why we carried out a professional calibration.

Hisense A6N offers options and tools in its settings to adjust many image parameters that we have utilized. When it comes to white balance, we managed to eliminate the excess blue colour – this effect is clearly visible in the comparison photo below, where the boy in the image seemingly "comes to life". A significant improvement can also be noticed in the gamma brightness characteristics – the television no longer has serious issues with excessively brightening the entire image. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for 4K content, where the EOTF curve could not be fully corrected due to the exceptionally low brightness of this model. For HDR materials, we apply dynamic tone mapping, which allows for the recovery of many details despite the boosting of mid-tones in the image. For this television, this provides more benefits than drawbacks. The errors that are still visible in the colour palette test and Colour Checker for 4K materials stem from the low colour gamut coverage and are difficult to eliminate due to the characteristics of the television. Nevertheless, the tonal quality of the image is significantly better, which is why we recommend calibrating the factory settings, which are far from ideal.

After professional calibration, FILMMAKER mode looks practically perfect. Because Samsung offers a rich set of advanced calibration features, we were able to fine-tune the colours to an almost perfect level. Above all, we managed to even out the white balance and the gamma curve, which resulted in noticeably improved contrast and proper image modelling. In this tuned picture profile there really isn't a single thing to criticise or call a flaw. After calibration, the S99H can deliver an essentially reference-quality image.

Let's check how A6N performs with low-quality materials. When it comes to smoothing tonal transitions, the lack of posterisation reduction or smoothing of tonal transitions in low-quality materials such as television or DVD can be noticeable for more demanding viewers. In terms of digital processing, the model is presented correctly, and the branches are devoid of characteristic jaggedness – the image is very plastic and soft, which may appeal to those who prefer this style of image.

The proprietary Samsung NQ4 Gen3 processor is responsible for upscaling and digital image processing. It handles upscaling lower-resolution material to 4K very well. The picture is clear without looking artificial or overly sharp. The only rather specific drawback appears with very old material recorded at 480p or below. In such cases the TV can slightly crop the edges of the picture.

The processor also copes quite well with artefacts visible in lower bit-rate material, for example heavily compressed YouTube videos. The noise reduction function effectively smooths the image and reduces posterisation, but it operates quite aggressively. It can remove not only unwanted artefacts but also some fine detail, and even natural film grain. Wanting to preserve the source material as faithfully as possible, we decided not to use it. However, if someone prefers a clean, as-smooth-as-possible picture over retaining every detail, it may prove useful.

The 60 Hz panel in Hisense A6N will probably satisfy people who enjoy watching films, because the TV offers an "ultra motion smoothing" feature, which lets you adjust the image's choppiness, making it either more staccato or more fluid and cinematic. When it comes to motion blur, performance is fairly average, with quite noticeable smearing, especially on dark backgrounds, which is a fairly typical characteristic for this class of TVs.

Another major advantage of organic OLED panels is their excellent motion handling. Thanks to the pixels' virtually instantaneous response time, the Samsung S99H exhibits virtually no motion blur. Fast-moving objects do not produce visible halos or trailing outlines, so the television performs very well for both watching sport and gaming. One characteristic of OLED screens compared with LCDs, however, is the way they render low-frame-rate material. With very slow camera movement the image can appear noticeably more 'choppy'. This can, however, be fairly effectively mitigated using a frame-interpolation system. Samsung lets you adjust judder reduction and blur reduction separately, so it's easy to find a compromise between smoother motion and preserving the cinematic character of the content.

Hisense A6N is a television that will probably appeal to casual gamers, mainly because of its 60 Hz panel, which may not satisfy more demanding users. Despite that, it offers a few conveniences that can make gaming more enjoyable. The TV supports features such as ALLM (automatic low-latency mode), VRR (variable refresh rate) and Dolby Vision, allowing you to enjoy better image quality and smoother motion in games that support these technologies. Moreover, the low input lag means in-game reactions are quick, which is crucial, especially in fast-paced titles. Thanks to these features, although the TV is not the ideal choice for demanding gamers, it provides solid support for those who value comfortable gaming without complicated settings. It is an ideal solution for people who want to enjoy gaming without high hardware demands while having access to modern technologies that enhance the gaming experience.

The Samsung S99H is also a great TV for gamers. It offers almost every possible and useful feature... well, except for the obvious lack of Dolby Vision for the Xbox console. It's equipped with four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports that offer the full 48 Gbps. This lets you use VRR frame-rate synchronization and the automatic game mode (ALLM) without any problems. This year Samsung also has no issues properly supporting HGiG, so HDR setup on a console is quick and straightforward. Samsung's TVs are also known for interesting extras. In the Game Bar menu you'll find options to add an on-screen crosshair, enlarge the minimap or change the displayed image's aspect ratio (PC).

Particularly noteworthy is Samsung's Game Motion Plus feature. It's Samsung's proprietary motion-smoothing system that uses interpolation to increase smoothness in games. Input lag then rises to around 40 to 50 ms (depending on the strength of the setting), which is an excellent result compared with the competition. The system makes gameplay noticeably smoother. So if someone has their eye on a demanding game (e.g. GTA 6 😉) that runs on a console at only 30 frames per second, the S99H can display it much more smoothly than competing models.