Samsung QN80F vs Samsung Q6F (IPS)

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 Samsung Q6F is, unfortunately, a very dark model. Its peak brightness in HDR does not exceed 250 nits, which is a value that is decidedly too low to even talk about any effect of “high dynamic range,” or HDR. In practice, it’s better to stick to content in SDR format, which simply looks more predictable on this television. Another problem is the global dimming technique – in scenes with a lot of black, the television drastically dims the entire panel to artificially improve the black levels. This causes the image to become even darker, and the brightness can drop below 100 nits. The only consolation is supposed to be the QLED technology, but even here it is average. The layer of quantum dots used is not of the highest quality, as the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour palette does not exceed 90%. As a result, the colours in HDR content may simply appear under-saturated.

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.

We tested the television in Filmmaker mode, which showed us two completely different facets of this model. Looking at SDR content, we were genuinely shocked at how good this television looks straight out of the box. It was really difficult to find fault with anything here. Despite a slight 'muddiness' in the white balance or somewhat brightened details in the blacks (which directly stem from the design of the IPS panel), the colour errors hovered around a level of '2'. This result is not only surprisingly good but downright amazing, considering the price of this device.

On the other hand, what the Q6F displayed in terms of colours after switching to HDR mode was a very unpleasant surprise. The errors in colour reproduction and palette were so enormous that our charts literally ran out of scale. Of course, since Samsung even in such an affordable model offers very extensive calibration options, we decided to approach the issue professionally and see what could be done during calibration.

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.

After our calibration, the colours in SDR mode looked even better – the result is truly surprising, as colour errors at the '1' level are something generally seen in devices costing several thousand pounds. In this regard, the Q6F is really an excellent screen for everyday television, less demanding series or films. Unfortunately, our intervention in the HDR mode did not bring a noticeable improvement. The television, due to its poor blacks and low coverage of a wide colour gamut, still has significant issues with proper colour saturation, especially reds. This is an example of a device where HDR exists mainly as a label on the box – for everyday use, we definitely recommend watching content in SDR format.

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.

Q6F performs very well in upscaling lower-resolution content to native 4K. The scaling here is surprisingly good, even for such an inexpensive television from the QLED series. The only downside is the situation where we are watching very low-resolution materials, such as 576p (typical for old DVD players) – in which case the image may be slightly cropped. This is due to the fact that the television does not allow the Overscan function to be turned off, which is a typical issue with Samsung devices.

The situation is completely different when it comes to digital processing, specifically the attempt to smooth the image of unwanted artifacts. Here the television completely fails. Although there is a function in the menu called "Noise Reduction," it yields no visible results regardless of the slider setting. The only thing it manages to do is introduce undesired errors in the image. Despite its presence in the system, we definitely do not recommend using it.

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 60 Hz panel in the Samsung Q6F is standard for this price range, making it rather average for dynamic sports or gaming. However, when it comes to films, the television performs quite well thanks to the motion smoothing feature. The "Motion Reduction" option allows you to adjust the smoothness of movement to your own preferences – from maintaining a cinematic character to complete fluidity.

Samsung QN80F is a television that delivers on almost every front when it comes to gaming. We have a 144 Hz panel, four fully-fledged HDMI 2.1 ports, support for gamers in the form of Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), Auto Low Latency 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.

[UPDATE] We have updated our reviews of Samsung televisions from the 2025 model year due to the release of firmware version 1131, which restored the critical gaming feature HGiG.

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

And it is precisely because of this one absence that the QN80F shifts from being nearly perfect for gamers to being 'almost' perfect. It's a shame – because everything else suggested that Samsung could raise the bar very high again in this generation.

We're not going to beat around the bush – the Q6F is not a television designed for gamers. Although it features additions like ALLM (automatic low latency mode) and VRR frame synchronisation for consoles, the list of advantages basically ends there. Aside from these basics, the television offers nothing more that would satisfy those who spend a lot of time in front of a console. It’s a great shame that such a useful tool as Game Bar, which allows for quick control of game parameters in Samsung's higher models, is missing here. In terms of gaming, this model is absolutely basic and is only suitable for "casual" gamers.