Samsung OLED S90D / S94D (WRGB OLED) vs Samsung QN80F

In the tested film scenes, the television Samsung S90D achieves impressive brightness results, exceeding the 1000 nits barrier in the first four shots, which can be considered an outstanding result. In the case of the last shot, where a full-screen flash of sunlight is visible, the brightness drops to around 500 nits, but still remains at a very good level. Additionally, the television impresses with a DCI-P3 colour gamut coverage measurement of 98%, ensuring an extraordinarily rich and realistic colour reproduction, further enhancing the picture quality. This result makes the Samsung S90D an ideal choice for those expecting high-quality images in a variety of lighting conditions.

QN80F is quite a bright screen – in synthetic tests, it achieved nearly 1000 nits, which allows for justified expectations regarding HDR content. And indeed, in many scenes, the television can truly shine. Sequences with a lot of light – like shots from the film Life of Pi or wide, bright surfaces in The Meg – look impressive. Brightness remains around 700 nits, which provides a solid effect, sufficient to feel the true "HDR magic." Unfortunately, not every scene looks that good. In materials with small, bright details on a dark background, such as in Sicario 2, the television has issues – it can significantly dim certain elements, sometimes to the point where they disappear from the image. This is the result of a limited number of dimming zones, which forces the device to make compromises: either maintain inky blacks or sacrifice some detail. QN80F usually chooses the former. As a consolation, there is quite decent coverage of a wide colour gamut – DCI-P3 at 93%. This is not the highest score on the market, but it is more than adequate for most content on streaming platforms.

The S90D television has been tested in Filmmaker mode, which offers good colour reproduction, although with some imperfections that may be noticeable to more discerning users. This mode may seem a bit too warm, and users who switched from Standard mode may experience a slight shock. It is worth noting that this situation is caused by poor settings, such as in the white balance, rather than the Filmmaker mode itself. In both SDR and HDR content, the device exhibits drops in blue colour, making colours warmer than they should be. In practice, this means that some shades, such as sky blue or skin tones, may appear less natural and more tinged with pink or yellow. The Colour Checker test confirms these deviations, showing shifts towards warmer tones. In SDR content, the gamma graph indicates slight fluctuations, resulting in a minimally darker image, especially in shadows. This can affect less defined details in darker scenes. Conversely, in 4K HDR materials, the EOTF curve is above the recommended line, leading to overly bright displays in certain parts of the image, which can cause clipping in the brightest areas. Overall, Samsung S90D presents a solid picture right out of the box, but for the best effects, especially with more demanding content, additional calibration is recommended.

We test televisions always in the best available factory mode – in the case of the Samsung QN80F, this is the Filmmaker mode, and indeed, it is this mode that offers settings closest to the creators' intentions. However, this does not mean that everything looks perfect. In SDR content, the biggest problem turned out to be an unbalanced white balance – slight deficiencies in green and a noticeable excess of red led to discernible colour errors, one could even say a pinkish tint on the screen. This was well demonstrated in the colour checker test, where the colours 'escaped' beyond their target fields – to the extent that even a sensitive viewer's eye could catch this without the aid of a meter.

In HDR content, the white balance was much better, but another issue arose – brightness management. The EOTF curve resulted in an overly bright image for most of the time, which could affect the perception of contrast and caused the screen to subtly 'flicker' during dynamic light changes. We have already written more about this in the paragraphs on black levels and HDR. Fortunately, Samsung leaves the user with plenty of options. The QN80F offers a rich set of calibration options, including a 20-point white balance – therefore, we decided to check what this television is really capable of after proper calibration.

After calibration, the Samsung S90D television in movie mode looks even better than one might have expected. The white balance, for both HD and 4K HDR content, has been improved almost to perfection. Although minor flaws can still be noticed, they are minimal enough not to significantly affect the picture quality. The colours are more balanced, which translates to a natural reproduction of details, especially in scenes requiring a precise colour palette. It is worth noting that this model in this size is equipped with a WOLED panel, which has less coverage of the wide colour gamut and does not offer as rich colours as, for example, the 65-inch version, which is equipped with a QD-OLED panel.

Contrast has also seen significant improvement. The gamma graph post-calibration is much closer to the expected line, providing better balance between bright and dark areas of the image. The EOTF curve, which prior to calibration showed issues with overexposed scenes, now presents better results. This effect allows for greater detail retention in bright parts of the image, especially in HDR materials.

After conducting a thorough calibration, it was possible to bring most of the image parameters to a really good level. The white balance in both SDR and HDR is nearly perfect – the picture is natural, neutral and devoid of the previously noticeable redness. The colours have gained depth, and the overall visual reception has become more pleasant and cohesive. It was also possible to partially master the brightness management, which in the factory version could be problematic. The EOTF chart shows that the television performs significantly better with brightness after calibration – there is no longer excessive dimming of certain elements. In films, it can still be noticed that the QN80F has a tendency to slightly brighten the smallest, light details – however, this is the effect of the device's design and the limited number of dimming zones. In short: not everything can be overcome, but what could be has been improved. After calibration, the QN80F makes a really good impression; it simply looks more mature and professional.

Television S90D performs very well at smoothing tonal transitions. Thanks to the applied technology, the transitions between colours are more fluid and natural. There is also the option to use noise reduction, which further smooths tonal transitions, which can be useful in certain situations. However, it is worth remembering that enabling noise reduction can also lead to the smoothing of desirable film grain, which in turn could reduce the cinematic atmosphere of the image. For this reason, caution is advised when using this feature, as it is better to leave the natural grain that adds character and authenticity to the viewed content.

Samsung, as always, does not disappoint and excels in the area of scaling images from lower resolutions. The S90D Samsung television effectively processes lower resolutions, as can be seen in the visible image. The outline of the model is clear and accurate and, as a result, looks natural and detailed. Moreover, the branches of the trees are well-rendered, showing no significant jaggedness, which could diminish the image quality. Thanks to effective scaling, even materials in lower resolution present attractively on the screen, pleasing users who prefer various sources of content such as regular antenna/cable television.

If, while watching lower quality materials – for example from YouTube – we notice strange colour transitions or unwanted artefacts, it's worth checking the settings and turning on the noise reduction feature. In our opinion, the best setting is at “medium” – it effectively smooths out problematic colour transitions while not blurring the entire image too much. However, one must know this: this option tends to remove film grain. If someone cares about preserving this effect (e.g. in older films), it’s better to simply turn it off – regardless of the level, the grain always disappears.

When it comes to resolution scaling (or so-called upscaling), Samsung – as usual – performs very well in this area. The QN80F may not compete with top models costing tens of thousands, but for its price class, it really does impress. Materials of very low quality (e.g. from SD television or older video files) are noticeably improved and look surprisingly decent. The only noticeable drawback is the typical Samsung issue with overscan – that is, slight cropping of the image edges in very low resolutions, e.g. 576p.

Samsung S90D TV is equipped with a 120 Hz panel, with the possibility of "overclocking" to 144 Hz with the appropriate PC configuration, providing exceptional motion fluidity. Samsung has been offering a variety of sharpness settings on a ten-point scale for years, allowing users to adjust the display to their preferences. In the UFO test, thanks to the use of an OLED panel, there's no sign of any smearing. The pixel response is instantaneous and perfectly captures dynamic movements. In this aspect, OLED technology is considered one of the best on the market. The picture is extremely sharp and detailed, even during fast actions, making the S90D TV an ideal choice for gamers and sports enthusiasts.

QN80F is truly a "fast" television. The applied panel offers a refresh rate of up to 144 Hz, which in practice means that the screen keeps up with the action – whether we're watching a film, playing games, or browsing dynamic content online. The image doesn’t stutter, isn’t excessively smeared, and overall looks simply smooth and pleasing to the eye. Of course, the manufacturer hasn’t forgotten about cinema fans – in the settings, we’ll find an option to adjust motion smoothness, allowing us to tailor the effect to our personal preferences. We can maintain a more "framey" appearance (for those who enjoy the classic cinematic vibe) or ramp up the smoothness to a higher level for a theatrical smoothing effect. Importantly, the choice is ours. Watching films and playing on the QN80F is simply a delight.

The Samsung S90D TV is perfectly adapted to the needs of gamers, offering four HDMI 2.1 ports that support key features such as Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), and HDR Gaming Interest Group (HGIG). With these technologies, gamers can enjoy smoother and more responsive gameplay, significantly affecting comfort and performance during intense gaming sessions. An additional advantage of the television is the special Game Bar, which allows for easy management of game settings. This functionality enables quick adjustments to parameters such as changing the TV's screen aspect ratio, which can be useful in various games and types of gameplay. Users can easily customise their preferences, making the use of the TV during gaming even more convenient and enjoyable. As for PC users, the TV pleasantly surprises. When connected to a computer, the panel is capable of achieving a refresh rate of 144Hz, and users of Nvidia or AMD graphics cards can enjoy features such as G-Sync and FreeSync. It should be noted, however, that the TV does not support Dolby Vision, which may be a drawback - but it's worth bearing in mind that Dolby Vision is not as popular for games as it is for films. Nevertheless, the S90D TV still offers excellent features for gamers, making it a great choice for gaming enthusiasts who seek top-notch picture quality and modern technological solutions.

The Samsung QN80F is a television that delivers on almost every front when it comes to gaming. We have a 144 Hz panel, four full-fledged HDMI 2.1 ports, support for gamers in the form of variable refresh rate (VRR), automatic game mode (ALLM), and even one of the best-designed game bars on the market. The cherry on top is the motion smoother, which – uniquely in the world – works in games without significantly increasing input lag. Sounds like an almost perfect television for gamers? And indeed, it is almost that.

As usual, Samsung does not support Dolby Vision in games, but that no longer surprises anyone. However, it is considerably more surprising that... the HGIG function has disappeared – that is, the system that allows the console (e.g., PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X) to precisely match HDR tone mapping to the television’s capabilities. In the latest firmware update for the 2025 models, this option has simply vanished. This looks more like a mistake than a deliberate move, but it must be noted fairly that as of the date of writing this review, the HGIG function is simply not available.

And it is precisely because of this one missing feature that the QN80F transforms from an almost perfect gaming television into a “nearly” perfect device. It’s a shame – because everything else suggested that Samsung could once again set the bar very high in this generation.