Samsung Q60D / Q67D / Q68D vs Samsung QN85F

The Samsung Q60D television, regardless of the scene being tested, achieves brightness above 500 nits, which is above average for this class of devices. Such a level of brightness allows one to experience a taste of true home cinema, with clearly visible details in bright parts of the image and well-reproduced contrast dynamics, especially when watching content from streaming platforms or movies played from Blu-ray. As a result, film screenings gain greater depth and realism, particularly in well-lit scenes. Despite the use of quantum dot technology (QLED), the television does not achieve outstanding results in colour reproduction. The coverage of the DCI-P3 colour space is only 90%, which may be noticeable in more demanding scenes, where the richness and saturation of colours play a key role in image quality.

Although more than twice the number of dimming zones compared to its predecessor did not translate into a spectacular jump in black levels and contrast, we definitely felt it in the HDR effect itself. The QN85F is up to 50% brighter than last year's model, making a huge impression in dynamic scenes. The peak brightness can reach almost 1700–1800 nits, which is truly impressive for Mini-LED in this class. The best part is that almost regardless of the scene being watched, the HDR effect remains strong and vibrant. In four out of five test scenes, brightness was maintained around 1000 nits, a level that in most cases allows the viewer to experience the true magic of this format. Of course, in scene number 4 from the film Sicario 2, the limitations of Mini-LED technology become apparent – the brightness of the helicopter’s small light drops to around 500 nits. This result is not stellar, but it is still much more acceptable than last year's model. Samsung therefore deserves applause, as the improvement in brightness in the QN85F is drastic compared to its predecessor. However, it is a shame about a certain trend visible in this year's televisions – the manufacturer has worsened the colour gamut coverage. Although the QN85F has a QLED panel, its score of around 90% DCI-P3 is average, and in the most demanding films, it can lead to less vibrant colours than its predecessor. Despite this shortcoming, the overall HDR effect stands at an excellent level and truly makes a big impression in this class of devices.

Samsung has been offering a "Filmmaker" mode in its televisions for several years, aimed at providing the most faithful picture settings straight from the factory, in accordance with the vision of filmmakers. This is certainly a significant step towards cinematic quality at home; however, it is worth noting that this mode is not without its problems.

For instance, the white balance in both SDR and HDR modes exhibits an excessive amount of red hue, causing the picture to appear too warm. As a result, the skin of actors and bright scenes may seem unnaturally pinkish. The Colour Checker test further confirms this issue – colour samples often shift towards red tones, deviating from the neutral colour reproduction that would be more desirable in a professional setting.

When it comes to contrast, there is a noticeable drop at the beginning of the gamma graph, where values below 2.4 drop all the way down to 2.1. Consequently, the image in darker scenes may appear less distinct, losing depth. In terms of HDR content, the EOTF curve (responsible for brightness reproduction) shows a strong spike at the beginning of the graph, which may lead to excessive brightness in the lighter parts of the image, disrupting the natural tonal balance.

Samsung QN85F offers several preset picture modes, but by default, when the television is turned on, it starts in "Eco" mode. And we could actually end the discussion here, because for such a model, using this setting makes no sense – the picture is washed out, unpleasant, and far from what we expect from a television of this class. We therefore carried out our tests in the best of the available modes, which is the Filmmaker mode. Its purpose is to faithfully reproduce what the directors saw during the filming of the movies, and indeed this is the setting that performs best among all factory options. However, this does not mean that it is without flaws.

Both in SDR and HDR, the QN85F quite strongly emphasised warm colours. This resulted from deficiencies in white balance, where there was a distinct lack of blue. Additionally, the picture was sometimes overexposed – as indicated by both the gamma brightness characteristic and the EOTF curve, which showed that the television tends to blow out scenes. In SDR, the colour reproduction errors (Delta E levels of 4-5) were still acceptable, but in HDR the discrepancies became quite large and clearly deviated from what the creators intended to show us. Fortunately, Samsung provides a wide range of calibration tools in its televisions, so – as always – we proceeded with professional calibration to see how much could be improved.

After professional calibration of the Samsung Q60D television in film mode, users can enjoy a significant improvement in image quality. Samsung televisions have always offered 2- and 20-point grey scale adjustments, as well as an advanced CMS (Color Management System), which allows for precise colour and shade adjustments. The white balance for both SDR and HDR has been free from strong spikes and tendencies for colours to shift to red hues, greatly enhancing the naturalness of the image. Although a few more significant errors can still be observed in HDR mode, the overall colour reproduction quality has been excellently improved. Regarding contrast, although drastic changes cannot be mentioned due to limitations in the television's technology, the improvement is noticeable. Thanks to calibration, details in dark scenes are more visible, and the differences between light and dark elements of the image have been enhanced. This makes the overall viewing experience more satisfying, allowing viewers to enjoy greater depth and realism in the displayed content.

After calibrating the film mode, we managed to tame the colours in both modes to near perfection – most of them did not exceed an error value of 3, which is the threshold of perception by the human eye. The image became more natural, fuller, and at the same time free from bloom, which was noticeable right after taking the television out of the box. This shows the great potential of the QN85F and how well it responds to precise settings. However, this does not change the fact that certain technological barriers cannot be overcome. Despite the enormous benefits of calibration, there are still limitations of the panel itself. Although the number of dimming zones has doubled compared to its predecessor, the algorithms controlling the backlighting can manipulate brightness in their own way. Sometimes this leads to slight colour inaccuracies or gently visible halo effects around bright objects. Nevertheless, the experience after calibration is truly pleasant and demonstrates how good a screen the QN85F can be if we just take a moment for proper settings.

However, when it comes to processing and scaling lower quality materials, the television performs quite well. The image is rendered without overscan, which ensures full use of the available screen area. Additionally, the outlines of the model or the branches of the tree are not overly jagged, which translates to a satisfactory quality of the displayed content. Although noise reduction could be more effective, the overall results of processing lower quality materials are positive and meet expectations.

Although the native tonal transitions on the QN85F with 4K material perform excellently, we do not always deal with content in the highest resolution. At that point, it becomes crucial how the television handles upscaling and digital image processing. This process is managed by Samsung's proprietary processor – AI NQ4 Gen2. In practice, it operates very efficiently. If visible colour banding or other undesirable phenomena occur on the screen, for instance, in materials from YouTube, they can easily be smoothed out using the "noise reduction" feature. Set to a medium level, it improves tonal transitions without excessively blurring desired details. However, it is important to remember that – as with most Samsung televisions – this function heavily interferes with the film grain. Therefore, during cinematic screenings, it is wise to use it cautiously to avoid losing the natural character of the image.

The upscaling itself looks very good. Test materials in lower resolutions were displayed sharply and clearly, with a great deal of detail. The only downside remains the issue of overscan, which is the trimming of the edges of the screen. In most situations, this is not noticeable, but with very old materials below HD quality, there may be cases where a fragment of the image from the left side gets slightly cut off.

Samsung Q60D is equipped with a 60 Hz panel and a film smoothness enhancement option known as "Motion Blur Reduction." This feature aims to minimise motion blur and enhance overall image smoothness, which will certainly appeal to users who are primarily looking for a television to watch films and series. Thanks to this technology, viewers can enjoy a more fluid visual experience, even in dynamic action scenes where details are crucial. However, it is worth noting that while "Motion Blur Reduction" improves the smoothness of images in films, for gaming, this panel may not be the best choice as it exhibits significant motion blur, which can be seen in the picture below.

Motion smoothing and fluidity in the QN85F is a topic worth discussing in more detail, as the television is equipped not with a standard 120 Hz panel, but with a 144 Hz one. The extra hertz will mainly be appreciated by PC gamers, but the mere presence of such an option can be seen as a nice addition and a sign of the times – it’s hard to complain about the trend towards faster panels, as in practice, each of us would prefer the image to be as smooth as possible. However, the most important thing is how the television handles typical 120 Hz refresh rates – in the case of consoles, sports, or films recorded at 24 or 30 frames per second. Here, the QN85F performs really well. In films, one can easily adjust the character of the image thanks to the "image clarity" function, where we find two adjustable sliders. Key for screenings is the one responsible for reducing judder. Lower values give the image a more cinematic character with preserved "frame rate," while higher values lead to strong smoothing reminiscent of television theatre.

Samsung Q60D is equipped with features such as ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode), HGiG (HDR Gaming Interest Group) and Game Bar, which significantly enhance the gaming experience. However, the lack of HDMI 2.1 implementation limits capabilities, preventing the use of VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), which could further improve smoothness and picture quality. Overall, for casual gamers, this television should perform well in everyday use, providing satisfactory gaming experiences. However, if we are more demanding in terms of gaming, it is worth considering models with a higher refresh rate and HDMI 2.1, which will ensure full functionality and better support for the latest games. In such cases, investing in a more advanced television will yield significantly better results in terms of smoothness and picture quality, which is crucial for gaming enthusiasts.

The Samsung QN85F makes a really great impression from the perspective of gaming features. We have four HDMI 2.1 ports here, so we can easily connect several devices simultaneously. There is also variable refresh rate (VRR) to prevent screen tearing, as well as automatic low latency mode (ALLM), which allows the TV to switch to the appropriate settings when we start the console. Additionally, it supports refresh rates of up to 144 Hz – something that PC gamers will particularly appreciate, but the mere fact that such an option is available shows that Samsung is committed to full support for gamers. The Game Bar panel also deserves praise. It provides a quick overview of key parameters – from frame count to refresh mode, right down to shortcuts for picture settings. Instead of digging through the entire menu, everything is at our fingertips, which turns out to be really convenient in practice. However, the most interesting addition is the Game Motion Plus feature. This is nothing more than a motion smoother brought into the gaming world. When turned on, the image becomes smoother, sometimes appearing as if we’re getting several more frames, and importantly – the response time doesn’t increase sufficiently to hinder gameplay. This is a solution that truly distinguishes Samsung's 120Hz televisions from the competition.

The only serious downside remains the lack of proper HGiG support. This is the standard responsible for proper tone mapping in HDR games, ensuring that brightness and contrast are displayed according to the creators' intentions. Without HGiG, we have to adjust the brightness manually, which doesn’t always result in the ideal outcome. The feature was available in previous models, but it disappeared in the QN85F after one of the updates. We hope that Samsung will quickly address this issue, and we will be monitoring whether it has been resolved.