Samsung S90H (QD-OLED) vs Samsung QN80H

The Samsung S90H is a genuinely bright TV for the mid-range OLED segment. In synthetic tests its peak brightness reached around 1650 nits. That’s an impressive result in this class, roughly 50% higher than what we have seen from previous models in this price bracket. Most importantly, these tests translate directly to real video material. In four out of five film clips we tested, the S90H’s brightness ranged between 1300 and 1500 nits. That headroom allows it to reproduce most HDR films with very high dynamic range and without obvious compromises, especially in material mastered to 1000–1500 nits. In practice light effects, reflections and explosions have the appropriate punch, and the picture does not appear dimmed. Of course, on full-screen very bright scenes the result is naturally lower and drops to around 900 nits. This is a direct result of the OLED panel’s protection systems working to prevent overload. Even in this scenario there is little to complain about. Those 900 nits across the whole screen is still a very high level, ensuring excellent dynamic range in HDR content.

Colour has always been a major strength of QD-OLED TVs, and the S90H is no exception. The DCI-P3 colour space we measured reached a full 100% (actually 99.9%), while coverage of the much wider BT.2020 gamut hit about 89%. That’s an excellent result, enabling very saturated and vivid colours in HDR content. It’s worth emphasising that QD-OLED’s advantage over WOLED panels is not limited to palette coverage alone. In practice it’s mainly visible in the higher brightness of saturated colours, that is in a greater colour volume. As a result, intense reds, greens and blues in HDR look more vibrant and more striking.

The Samsung QN80H is undoubtedly a bright TV. In synthetic tests it exceeds the 1000-nit mark, which on paper promises a solid HDR effect. In practice the screen really shows its teeth, although it can't fully spread its wings (or its backlight, if you will 🤔) in every condition. Bright, wide scenes make the best impression. Well-lit outdoor shots and brightly lit scenes look really good on it. Brightness then stays around 700 nits, which provides a noticeable step up in quality compared with standard SDR. Problems start in dark scenes with small, pinpoint highlights. The QN80H tends to dim these strongly, in order to protect black depth at all costs. On the one hand this gives better contrast, on the other... you lose dynamics and the brilliance of fine HDR detail. So the TV has considerable potential, but the dimming algorithm can be too restrictive.

Colour gamut coverage

When it comes to colours it's good as well. The QN80H uses quantum dot technology, and in our measurements it covered 93% of the DCI-P3 colour space and about 70% of BT.2020. Today those results aren't exactly jaw-dropping, but in real-world use they're more than sufficient to deliver a vivid, natural image for most films and TV series. Colours are suitably saturated, and after proper calibration they don't look artificial or overly aggressive.

The next stage of the test was to check how the S90H handles colour reproduction without any calibration. As always, we carried out the measurements in Filmmaker Mode, the best factory picture preset. And here Samsung really deserves praise. The factory tuning is at a very high level, and a few years ago this was not one of its strong points. The average colour error (Delta E) remained around 3, which is below the level at which most people can notice any inaccuracies. Only in the brightest shades of grey did the values slightly approach 4, but even then it's hard to regard this as a real problem while watching. For out-of-the-box settings, the result is simply excellent.

The factory settings of the QN80H performed really well, especially compared with the majority of TVs we receive for testing. Of course, our measurements were taken in Filmmaker Mode, and that's the mode we recommend turning on immediately after the initial setup. For SDR material, our sample was set up surprisingly well. The white balance was very even, colours looked natural, and errors were so small they were hard to notice without measurement equipment. The only weaker point was the gamma. In the brighter parts of the image the TV brightened them a little too much, which at times made the picture lose some depth. Still, we'd like most TVs to look this good straight out of the box.

It fared a little worse in HDR. The white balance was still set correctly, so the problem was not with the colours but with the way the QN80H managed image brightness. This was immediately visible on the EOTF chart. The TV brightened large parts of scenes too much, causing the brightest elements to clip. Interestingly, very small points were often dimmed too much at the same time. As a result, some fine details simply disappeared. So the factory Filmmaker mode in HDR is not bad, but it is definitely not as well calibrated as in SDR.

All right, but you know we wouldn't be ourselves if we didn't also check how far we could push the S90H after professional calibration. And there was no big surprise. Since the factory settings were already very good, there wasn't much room for improvement. Even so, we managed to refine the picture to near perfection. After calibration the mean colour reproduction errors fell below the threshold of perception, with Delta E values under 2 for both SDR and HDR material. We also improved the brightness response, so the image more faithfully reflects the creators' intent and maintains appropriate tonality across the whole luminance range. After professional calibration the S90H therefore becomes a display very close to reference.

Will the difference be spectacular for everyone? Not necessarily. The factory settings already deliver a very high level, so in everyday viewing some people may not notice a dramatic jump. Much also depends on the individual unit. Our sample was very well tuned straight out of the box, but that doesn't mean every S90H will perform at the same level. Even identical models can differ from each other in terms of factory calibration. That's exactly why professional calibration makes sense: it allows a specific unit to be brought to the highest possible accuracy, rather than relying on a bit of luck when buying.

We saw the biggest difference after calibration in HDR Filmmaker mode. SDR was already very good out of the box, so we didn't have much work to do there. In HDR, however, we managed to get to grips with the way the QN80H handled brightness, as it had been over-brightening most scenes. After calibration the picture is calmer, more natural and much closer to how a faithful image should look.

In this respect Samsung has changed practically nothing compared with last year’s model, which is actually quite good news. The feature responsible for smoothing tonal transitions still very effectively limits the posterisation effect. However, you should remember that it works rather aggressively, because besides the artefacts themselves it can also remove film grain and slightly soften fine image detail. As always, this is therefore a matter of compromise and personal preference. If you want the most faithful reproduction of the source material possible, we recommend leaving this function turned off.

There is also little to be said about upscaling in terms of revolution. The S90H uses the same proprietary NQ4 Gen3 image processor as its predecessor, so scaling quality has remained practically unchanged. The TV handles lower-resolution material well, effectively improving its sharpness. However, the overscan problem has still not been solved. With some older material, especially archival recordings, it may happen that a portion of the image at the edges is cropped. It’s a minor flaw, but a shame Samsung has left this issue unchanged for another year running.

Digital image processing in the Samsung QN80H is handled by the second-generation NQ4 AI processor. It's a chip we already know from the manufacturer's earlier models, and it still performs very well, especially with lower-resolution content. The image is effectively upscaled to 4K, but without excessive sharpening and without giving the impression the TV is aggressively trying to improve the source material.

The "Noise Reduction" function also proves useful. It can noticeably reduce posterisation and visible banding in lower-quality material, particularly in low-bitrate streaming. However, it's important to remember that it does not work without side effects. It can remove some film grain and slightly smooth the image. So with a high-quality source we'd leave this function switched off. If, however, someone is more bothered by banding and uneven tonal transitions than by the loss of some grain, "Noise Reduction" can be a really useful addition.

In terms of motion handling the S90H delivers a very high level. A new feature here is a panel with a refresh rate of up to 165 Hz, although in practice that will mainly benefit PC gamers. Films, series and sports broadcasts do not use such high refresh rates, so when watching them the difference compared with the standard 120 Hz will not be noticeable. That said, thanks to the OLED panel's lightning-fast response time motion is very clean and the picture does not suffer from the motion blur typical of many LCDs. Samsung has equipped the television with extensive motion-smoothness settings. You get two sliders: judder reduction and blur reduction, which let you easily tailor the picture's character to your own preferences. You can easily achieve a very smooth image when watching sport, but you can just as well preserve a more cinematic feel at the typical 24 frames per second. It all depends on which effect you prefer.

Motion handling and motion clarity on the QN80H are really good, mainly thanks to the fast panel. In 4K the screen refreshes at up to 144 Hz, and when switched to Full HD and connected to a PC it can reach as much as 240 Hz. That's new for Samsung TVs and a useful addition for people who want to use the TV for PC gaming as well. We were more interested, however, in how the QN80H performs at 120 Hz, because consoles use that refresh rate. Here it performs very well. The panel does not suffer greatly from the smearing typical of VA panels, and light trails behind moving objects are mainly visible on dark backgrounds. That said, it's nothing that would interfere with normal watching of sport or gaming. The TV also has a motion smoothing system that Samsung calls "Wyrazistością obrazu". You can adjust judder reduction and blur reduction separately, so it's easy to tailor its behaviour to films, sport or your own preferences.

From the outset the Samsung S90H feels like a TV designed with gamers in mind, and it's easy to see why. The manufacturer has equipped it with almost everything you could expect from a modern gaming screen. You get as many as four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, support for ALLM and VRR, and very high refresh rates. There's also a clear Game Bar that lets you instantly check key picture parameters or change settings without leaving the game. Another very welcome improvement is the HGiG behaviour. Last year it could cause quite a few problems, but on the S90H it works exactly as it should.

Samsung's ace up its sleeve remains its proprietary Game Motion Plus mode. The feature works similarly to the motion smoothing used for films: it improves animation smoothness in games while keeping input lag at a very reasonable level. For titles running at 30 or 60 fps, with the right settings input lag did not exceed 40 ms in our tests. That's a very good result, especially since with many manufacturers enabling similar features results in delays several times higher. Game Motion Plus does not, of course, replace Dolby Vision Gaming, as it's a completely different type of feature, but overall it's a gaming addition that many players may find more noticeable. Smoother motion in 30/60 fps games often makes a bigger difference than HDR itself (which, incidentally, is often poorly implemented in games).

The Samsung QN80H is a TV that stands out when it comes to gaming features. The biggest new addition for 2026 is DLG mode, which allows refresh rates of up to 240 Hz when the image is switched to Full HD. It's an option aimed mainly at PC users, but it also shows that Samsung is still heavily developing the gaming side of its TVs. However, the list of advantages doesn't end there. The QN80H has four full-fledged HDMI 2.1 ports, which is still not standard at this price point. So you can connect several consoles, a PC or a soundbar at the same time without having to wonder which port supports the full video capabilities. The TV also supports VRR, ALLM and HGiG, so it's hard to fault its basic feature set.

A downside is the lack of Dolby Vision, which may matter primarily to Xbox Series X owners. However, this is not a flaw that disqualifies the QN80H as a gaming TV. Samsung has a feature most manufacturers still lack: its proprietary motion smoothing, Game Motion Plus. It's a motion smoothing system that works in game mode too, allowing you to improve the smoothness of titles running at 30 or 60 frames per second without a drastic increase in input lag. In practice, Game Motion Plus can make a much bigger difference than the Dolby codec, especially in more demanding games that don't offer a 60 FPS mode. The image becomes noticeably smoother, while controls remain sufficiently responsive. So despite the lack of Dolby Vision, the QN80H remains one of the best-equipped gaming TVs in its class.