SAMSUNG OLED S95F (QD-OLED) vs LG QNED80A6A (VA)

The new generation of QD-OLED matrices in the Samsung S95F shows its full potential, with brightness results that are truly stunning. In test film scenes like "Life of Pi" or "Sicario 2," where smaller light elements appear – stars, the moon, or headlights – the television managed to achieve over 2000 nits of brightness. This is a result that surpasses even most top-of-the-range Mini-LED models.

The secret lies in the technology itself – instead of a limited number of dimming zones like in Mini-LED televisions, here we have millions of emitting pixels, allowing the television to fully showcase its power without technological compromises. Of course, as this is still an organic panel, in full-screen scenes flooded with white – like in the final sequence of the film The Meg – the brightness drops to around 1400 nits. Nevertheless, the result remains excellent and clearly exceeds what any OLEDs, both QD-OLED and WOLED, have offered so far. The colour reproduction is also particularly noteworthy. Thanks to QD-OLED technology, the television achieves nearly 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 colour space and about 80% in BT.2020. These values make HDR images not only dazzling in brightness but also captivating in the richness of colours.

Let's now talk about how this television shines. If you are expecting dazzling light effects, we need to temper your enthusiasm. The LG QNED80A is a moderately bright television. Our measurements in most movie scenes indicated values around 350-400 nits. This is not enough to speak of a full, cinematic HDR experience and the sense of that famous "high dynamism" offered by flagship products. However, brightness is not everything. Although the QNED80A is not a "light monster," it makes up for it in another crucial category: colours. This is where PFS technology comes into play, which LG marketers disguise under the name QNED/NanoCell. Thanks to this approach, the television offers a much wider colour palette than classic LCD designs. In our tests, coverage of the cinematic DCI-P3 palette reached a solid 93-94%. What does this mean for you? That even with lower brightness, when watching movies in HDR, colours will be vivid, deep, and appropriately saturated. The image is not washed out but rather juicy, which is a significant advantage in this price range.

The best picture mode straight out of the box is undoubtedly Filmmaker Mode – a mode that Samsung has been using for several years, designed to faithfully convey the creators' intent. In SDR content, its implementation is not bad, although some imperfections can be observed. The image is slightly dimmed, and the screen has a subtle pinkish tint due to the dominance of red and blue in the white balance. Colour errors were maintained at a level of 3–4 ΔE units – and for those who are not familiar: a value above 3 is the threshold at which the average human eye starts to notice differences.

However, much greater problems arise in HDR content. Here, the white balance was not such a significant issue – a slight excess of blue did not significantly hinder the viewing experience. The problem became managing brightness. In practice, the television "blasted" the image too much, causing details in the blacks to completely disappear. The final effect was far from expected, and colour errors in this mode became quite pronounced. It's hard to say why such a design decision was made, but it was evident that the factory HDR settings did not allow this television to showcase its full capabilities.

It might seem that since the QNED80A is one model, regardless of the version, it should offer the same picture. However, practice shows something completely different. Analyzing the variant with a VA panel in the best factory setting – that is, in Filmmaker Mode – we noticed a specific characteristic. This television, “out of the box,” serves us a picture with a clear dominance of red and a deficiency of blue. Overall, it is very warm, even hot. Many users may describe this as a picture that is “too cinematic,” leaning towards sepia. Additionally, there is the issue of the gamma curve – the television has a tendency to slightly artificially brighten scenes (gamma is too low), causing the picture to lose some depth. The good news is that these are not panel errors, but merely software issues. As always in our tests, we conducted professional calibration, which completely eliminated these shortcomings, restoring the natural white balance and correct saturation.

After calibration, it was possible to make subtle adjustments to the white balance and significantly improve the image characteristics. In SDR content, the quality has become practically reference-level – most colour errors have fallen below a ΔE value of 1, which is the level at which the human eye can no longer discern differences. This is a result that places the S95F among the very best televisions available on the market.

In HDR materials, the calibration also brought about a significant improvement. The television's tendency to blow out highlights has been brought under control, as confirmed by the analysis of the EOTF curve. A slight tendency to brighten the entire scene or occasional loss of detail in blacks can still be observed, but this does not significantly affect the overall perception. After calibration, the S95F reveals its full potential and can be described as one of the best televisions on the market!

Was it worth spending time on calibration? Definitely yes. We managed to tame the initial, too warm white balance and, most importantly, correct the gamma curve. The television stopped artificially brightening scenes, which gave the image depth. The greatest improvement is noticeable in SDR content, that is, while watching regular television, YouTube, or playing games without HDR. Here the QNED80A shows its class – colour reproduction errors (DeltaE) have dropped below a value of 2. In technical terms, this means that the errors are virtually unnoticeable to the human eye. The image in everyday use has simply become very attractive, natural, and correct. The difficulties begin with HDR content. Although we managed to improve the white balance, the EOTF curve graph (responsible for brightness at various levels) shows that the television still "interprets" the image in its own way. This stems from the nature of the edge-lit backlight with local dimming and the fact that LG gives the calibrator very little control over this parameter. In short: the television struggles to hide its hardware shortcomings, sometimes ignoring our commands. Nevertheless, the final image is significantly more accurate and pleasant to behold than with factory settings, even if it falls a bit short of studio perfection.

The Samsung S95F offers a noise reduction feature that is responsible for smoothing tonal transitions. It works very effectively, but in practice, it can be overly aggressive. Materials of lower quality – e.g., older recordings or videos from YouTube – become soft and plastic when this feature is activated, resembling an image digitally smoothed in a graphic program. Unfortunately, the natural film grain, which often adds authenticity to the image, disappears in the process. Fortunately, the television does not lose too many fine details, such as in skin textures or elements of the surroundings. Therefore, this feature is best used with discretion – depending on preferences, one can achieve a smooth image that is less natural, or one that is truer to the original. In our opinion, the most universal choice is the “Standard” setting.

The image scaling performs significantly better. The television handles materials of lower resolution well – even content at 576p looks quite decent, although a slight blockiness can be noticed. Overall, the effect is very good, although it somewhat falls short of what Sony Bravia 8 (II) or LG G5 can achieve. It is also worth mentioning a minor imperfection of the S95F – in older materials, overscan may occur, causing a slight trimming of the left edge of the image.

In this category, the QNED80A proves to be a true "dark horse." It is an excellent, affordable television for those who frequently watch lower-quality content – for example, traditional cable TV. The processor used here handles upscaling, that is, enhancing low resolution to native 4K, exceptionally well. The image after processing is natural, smooth, and, most importantly, not overly jagged or artificially sharpened. In the menu, we also find a dedicated option for smoothing tonal transitions in low-quality content. This feature works really effectively, eliminating annoying "banding" of colours under heavy video compression. However, we must remain vigilant. Remember that we are not dealing with a top-tier processor known from flagship OLED models. In more challenging scenes, the system may struggle and introduce minor artefacts or distortions. Nonetheless, it is definitely worth giving this feature a chance, as in most cases the quality improvement is visibly apparent.

The Samsung S95F shows phenomenal performance in terms of motion fluidity. The panel operates at a native resolution of 4K with a refresh rate of up to 165 Hz, and combined with QD-OLED organic technology, it delivers incredible results. Sports and games look stunning – the image is fast, dynamic, and very natural. Additionally, the built-in motion smoother and motion blur reduction system allow you to tailor the character of the picture to your own preferences. You can opt for a more "frame-like" effect with visible film structure or a smooth, theatrical spectacle. Every viewer will find a setting that suits them.

We move on to a matter that may be decisive for many. Unfortunately, here we must point out the biggest "Achilles' heel" of the QNED80A model. This television is equipped with a panel featuring a native refresh rate of 60Hz. There is no denying it – at this price, we expected more as we know that Chinese manufacturers can offer 120Hz screens for a similar price. Due to this parameter, dynamic scenes in sports or fast-paced games are not the strongest aspect of this display. Fortunately, LG has equipped the television with a proven motion smoothing system called TruMotion. It works quite effectively with film material (24 frames). We suggest playing around with the De-Judder slider – from our experience, setting it in the range of 2-4 provides the best compromise: the motion becomes smoother, yet still looks natural, without the artificial "television theatre" effect.

The advantages of low motion blur and excellent motion fluidity characteristic of OLED panels are just the beginning, as the Samsung S95F has been designed with gamers in mind. The manufacturer has equipped it with four HDMI 2.1 ports – although limited to a bandwidth of 40 Gb/s, in practice this has no impact on compatibility with consoles or PCs. We get a full suite of gaming features: variable refresh rate (VRR), automatic game mode (ALLM), as well as a very well-implemented HGiG standard, which ensures that HDR titles look exactly as their creators intended. Completing the package is the Game Bar – a clear settings hub where we can preview and change all key image parameters with one motion. The proprietary motion smoother, Game Motion Plus, also deserves commendation, as it can smooth out animations, which is particularly useful in productions running at 60 frames, where stability is not always exemplary. While support for Dolby Vision in games is lacking, it’s hard to view this as a serious drawback – Samsung compensates with other solutions. This is one of the best, if not the best, gaming televisions available on the market today.

Now that we have established that the QNED80A is a television with a 60Hz panel, we must say it plainly: we will not be playing here at 120 frames per second at any resolution. Does this disqualify the equipment in the eyes of gamers? Not necessarily, especially those "casual" ones. LG has decided to sweeten this technical limitation by packing quite a few useful functions inside. We have support for VRR (variable refresh rate) in the range of 48-60Hz and automatic game mode ALLM, which instantly reduces input lag upon detection of a console. All of this is managed from a very convenient, purple Game Optimizer menu, which has already become LG's hallmark. A big plus goes to the manufacturer for consistency regarding HDR. Although the television does not support Dolby Vision in games on Xbox consoles, LG adds a well-implemented HGiG standard. Thanks to this, even on a moderately bright screen, playing in HDR is clear, and the details in shadows and highlights are accurately reproduced, rather than "cut off".