Samsung R95H Micro RGB vs Samsung R85H / R86H

In terms of brightness the Samsung R95H shows that it is still a high-end TV, although the results are not always as spectacular as one might expect from a flagship Micro RGB model. In synthetic tests the TV can exceed 2400 nits, so it clearly has plenty of headroom. Crucially, it can maintain high brightness even when bright elements occupy a larger portion of the screen. In real cinematic scenes the situation is a little more complex. The R95H most often reaches around 1000–1400 nits, which still delivers a very good, powerful HDR effect. Bright sun, reflections or lights can look genuinely impressive, and the TV has enough power for HDR to be clearly distinguishable from standard SDR.

The problem appears mainly in very dark scenes with single, small light sources. Here the local dimming algorithm prioritises deep black and reducing halo over maximising the brightness of such elements. As a result, small highlights can be noticeably dimmed. Overall HDR therefore performs well, but not without limitations. The R95H has huge brightness headroom, especially in larger and brighter parts of the image, but in difficult dark scenes its capabilities are primarily limited by the way local dimming operates.

Colours

Colours were supposed to be the biggest revolution brought by RGB backlighting, and indeed the R95H shows considerable potential here. The assessment is not, however, as simple as synthetic measurements alone might suggest. On test patterns the TV performs superbly – BT.2020 coverage reaches almost 94%, and DCI-P3 98%, so particularly strongly saturated reds and greens can look truly impressive. The situation shifts somewhat when, instead of test patterns, we start measuring real film scenes. Then BT.2020 coverage falls to about 87%, and DCI-P3 to 93%. It seems that with more complex images the RGB zones are not always able to maintain the same high colour saturation as on simple charts. They remain saturated, but the advantage of the new backlight is no longer as large as the manufacturer’s figures might suggest.

When it comes to brightness, the R85H performs really respectably. In most of our test scenes the TV reaches around 800 to 900 nits, and with larger bright elements it can exceed 1000 nits. These are not, of course, levels on a par with the pricier Mini-LEDs, but they are more than enough for watching films and TV shows in HDR, and the effect can already be quite noticeable. The problem reappears in more demanding scenes where there is a small bright element on a very dark background. Here the TV can significantly limit its brightness so as not to light up too large a portion of the screen. In our measurements such small highlights fell even to around 200 to 250 nits, so it is clear that a small number of zones combined with the particular behaviour of the algorithm has consequences here. Fortunately, this is not something that disturbs viewing all the time. In typical mixed HDR scenes the R85H looks good and can deliver appropriate image dynamics. It's just that with very small points of light you shouldn't expect an effect as strong as on TVs with many more zones or on OLEDs.

For assessing factory colour reproduction we naturally chose the Filmmaker mode, the setting that is supposed to be closest to how the picture was intended by the creators. Here, unfortunately, the R95H does not fully exploit the potential of its panel. The biggest problem in SDR concerns the gamma. The image is noticeably brightened across almost the entire range, which makes it lose some depth and look flatter than it should. The white balance itself is also not ideal; as brightness increases there is a red bias and a lack of blue, making the image too warm. This is especially visible in bright elements and skin tones, which can look more "reddish" than they should.

It looks similar in HDR. The EOTF curve is above the reference value for a significant part of the range, so the R95H again brightens the image compared with how it should look. Combined with the inaccurate white balance, this means the colours here are also not as precise as we would expect from a TV of this class. The factory Filmmaker mode is therefore not the R95H's strong suit. At first glance the picture may look impressive because it is bright and highly saturated, but in terms of fidelity to the source material there is still plenty of room for improvement.

In Filmmaker mode our R85H sample performed acceptably in SDR, but a few things stood out immediately in the measurements. In the white balance red increased with rising brightness while blue decreased. As a result the brighter parts of the picture had a slightly too warm tint. Gamma only held to the target value at the start. It then gradually fell, which left most of the image a little too bright. The combination of these two effects also showed up in the colours, with errors growing particularly in the brighter and more saturated samples. It did not look bad, but for Filmmaker mode we had expected a bit more accuracy. Interestingly, in HDR our sample fared noticeably better. The white balance was much more even and, over most of the range, the individual components stayed close together. Only in the very brightest areas did red start to be lacking, causing white to shift subtly. The EOTF curve, by contrast, looked very good and followed the target luminance levels across almost the entire range. That does not mean HDR colours were perfect. The Colour Checker still showed some deviations, especially for some of the more saturated hues, but the errors were clearly smaller than in SDR.

The R95H responds very well to calibration. In SDR we managed to set the white balance and gamma almost perfectly, and colour errors fell to a very low level. The difference compared with the factory settings is therefore substantial and after calibration the picture looks noticeably more natural. In HDR we can also make considerable improvements, particularly in terms of white balance and overall colour accuracy. The issue of managing brightness and colour saturation is somewhat different, though. At a certain point we run up against limitations inherent in the RGB backlight and local dimming. Individual zones must control both the brightness and the colour of the light simultaneously, so in more demanding scenes it is not always possible to achieve exactly the same saturation and brightness that the TV shows on simple test patterns. Calibration simply cannot completely overcome that. Despite this, after calibration the R95H delivers accurate image reproduction, and most of the errors we saw on the factory settings can be effectively eliminated.

After calibration the R85H shows it has genuinely substantial capabilities in colour reproduction. It performed best in SDR, where the white balance could be brought almost perfectly into line and the gamma stays very close to the target value across most of the range. This also translated into very low errors on the Colour Checker, so there is really little to pick fault with. HDR also shows a clear improvement, although some things can no longer be corrected as well. At the highest brightness levels the character of the backlight begins to make itself felt and the individual components of the white balance start to drift apart. The same applies to the most saturated colours, which do not always land exactly where they should. Despite these limitations the overall image is much more accurate than with the factory settings, and the biggest difference is definitely seen in SDR. There is, however, one thing calibration cannot fix. With heavily saturated elements the colour can slightly bleed onto adjacent bright areas of the image. It is easiest to notice this on white, which can pick up a faint tint of a neighbouring colour. It does not appear in every scene, but when the material is demanding the effect can be visible. This is more a characteristic of the way the RGB backlight works than a matter of picture settings.

The Samsung R95H uses the new Micro RGB AI Processor, but in practice we didn't notice a big leap compared with the NQ4 AI Gen2 or Gen3 chips found in Samsung's other TVs. The upscaling itself still performs very well. The image is smoothed appropriately, yet retains plenty of sharpness and does not look overly soft. That's definitely one of Samsung's stronger points. It's a pity that with very low-resolution material you still can't completely disable overscan.

The processor also handles colour gradation well and can effectively smooth unwanted posterization. The noise reduction function is really effective, but you need to use it with care. At higher settings it can start to interfere quite heavily with the image and even remove natural film grain. For that reason it's best used only when the source material is actually heavily compressed.

In the R85H image processing is handled by the Micro RGB AI Processor. The name is new, but when it comes to upscaling lower-quality material the TV’s behaviour is very similar to what Samsung has shown before. And that’s not a bad thing, because the manufacturer has dealt with this aspect quite well for years. Lower-resolution content is displayed cleanly, edges do not become excessively soft, and the TV does not try to artificially extract details at any cost. The result is simply well balanced, and with regular broadcasts or older recordings the R85H performs as you would expect from a Samsung in this class. There remains only a minor drawback in the form of overscan, which cannot be completely turned off at the lowest resolutions. A separate matter is the additional processing of weaker sources. The R85H can smooth posterisation and somewhat tidy up heavily compressed footage, but it is worth emphasising that it does this relatively aggressively. At stronger noise reduction settings it begins to remove not only compression artefacts but also fine details and the natural film grain. It is therefore best used only when the material truly needs it.

Samsung R95H has a 165 Hz panel, so its motion handling is really good. At 120 Hz, for example when gaming on a console or watching sport, motion blur is minimal, and when connected to a PC you can use the full 165 Hz and further improve motion clarity. However, bear in mind it is still a VA panel, so it does not respond as instantly as OLED. You may sometimes notice a faint trail behind a moving object, but from a normal viewing distance this is unlikely to be bothersome. For films and TV shows you can also use the adjustable motion smoothing. You can keep the more cinematic 24 fps look or gradually smooth the motion if you prefer a smoother picture. Samsung gives plenty of flexibility here, so you can easily choose a setting to suit your own preferences.

The R85H has a 144 Hz panel, so motion is really smooth here. Just bear in mind that the extra hertz above 120 are mainly used when connected to a PC, so in this category we don't treat them as any particular advantage. For films and TV, what's more important is that the panel is fast enough to provide access to an advanced motion-smoothing feature, "Motion Clarity", which lets you set motion anywhere from more film-like to very smooth. The panel's response time is a bit worse. Because it's a VA panel, fast-moving objects can leave a slight trail. On bright backgrounds this isn't very noticeable, but the darker the scene, the more pronounced the smearing becomes. This is a typical trait of this type of panel and it's easiest to notice in dark shots.

In terms of gaming the Samsung R95H is almost a complete TV. When you connect a PS5 or Xbox Series X you can use 4K at 120 Hz, VRR and ALLM, and the TV also works correctly with HGiG. The only larger omission is Dolby Vision Gaming, which Samsung simply does not support, as with its other televisions. There is also the Game Bar, already seen on other Samsung models, which lets you quickly check the frame rate, VRR status or HDR format and change the most important settings without leaving the game. You can also brighten darker parts of the picture or change the screen aspect ratio.

Samsung also offers Game Motion Plus, a motion-smoothing function developed specifically for games. It makes most sense in titles running at 30 fps, where it can noticeably improve smoothness and make camera movement feel much more pleasant. You should remember, though, that this comes at the cost of higher input lag (about 60 ms), so it is probably not the best choice for online or more fast-paced games. It's also worth mentioning the Gaming Hub, which lets you run some games directly from the cloud without connecting a console. In terms of gamer-focused features, it is therefore hard to find any major shortcomings in the R95H.

Samsung has been steadily expanding its gaming features for several years, and the R85H really doesn't miss anything important here. The TV supports 4K at 120 Hz, VRR and ALLM, so we can easily take advantage of the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X. HGiG also works correctly, so with HDR properly set on the console, games retain the correct brightness and we don't unnecessarily lose detail in the brightest parts of the picture. The only major omission is Dolby Vision Gaming, which Samsung does not support on any of its TVs. The Game Bar is also very useful — a handy menu you can bring up without leaving the game. We can quickly check the frame rate, VRR status or change key picture settings. Samsung also adds a few less obvious features, such as the ability to change the aspect ratio and Game Motion Plus, which can further smooth games running at 30 or 60 frames per second. Of course this comes at the cost of higher input lag (around 55 ms), but for slower-paced titles it may be an interesting addition for some people.