Samsung DU7192 (VA) vs Samsung S90H (WOLED)

The peak brightness of the television is about 280 nits on the luminance charts. Unfortunately, this value is too low to fully enjoy the effects of HDR, which require significantly higher luminance. In the tested materials, such as The Meg or Gemini Man, the lack of adequate brightness significantly limits the magic of HDR, and the details in the brighter parts of the image are not sufficiently exposed. For users primarily consuming SDR content, this level of quality may be acceptable, but it is definitely insufficient when it comes to HDR. Additionally, the coverage of the DCI-P3 color palette at 82% does not favor the presentation of HDR content in its full glory. The limited color gamut makes it difficult for the television to reproduce vibrant and diverse colors, which is crucial for achieving a cinematic experience.

The Samsung S90H in the WOLED variant is still an exceptionally bright TV for its price class, although it is slightly dimmer compared to the QD-OLED version. The difference is not as pronounced as in last year’s F series, where gaps could reach as much as 500 nits. Here the specs of both panels are very close, and differences in peak brightness are only about 100–150 nits. In small-area measurements, the S90H on the WOLED panel easily reaches levels close to 1500 nits. That headroom lets it portray HDR dynamics phenomenally—specular highlights, reflections or explosions have the right punch, just as the creators intended in the post-production studio. As with most OLED displays, when a very bright scene fills the entire screen, the protection systems that safeguard the panel kick in and brightness naturally falls to around 700 nits. It’s worth stressing that this is still an excellent result on the market, often noticeably better than many Mini LED screens in the same segment.

Color gamut coverage

The biggest difference between the two S90H variants lies in color reproduction and saturation. This stems directly from the different construction of the WOLED panel, which uses an additional white subpixel. As a result, colors at very high brightness don’t achieve quite the same intensity, and the volume of the wide color gamut is somewhat more limited than with QD-OLED. That said, in everyday use these differences will be hard for most viewers to notice. Our measured DCI-P3 coverage on the WOLED panel reaches nearly 99%, which means that in the vast majority of real film scenes both variants will deliver almost identical images. The true gap only appears in rarer, particularly demanding productions that use the ultra-wide BT.2020 gamut. Due to the WOLED panel’s design, coverage of that standard is about 15% lower compared to the S90HAT with a QD-OLED panel, so the brightest, heavily illuminated HDR colors may appear a bit less vivid.

The best factory mode we relied on during testing turned out to be "Filmmaker." Although this mode is the closest to the intentions of filmmakers, it is not without certain imperfections. The white balance chart shows a clear dominance of red in both SDR and HDR, resulting in significant yellowness, particularly noticeable in whites and on the actors' faces. In HDR mode, there is additionally a slight dominance of green, which, however, does not have as much impact on the overall perception of the image. The gamma, responsible for brightness in SDR materials, performed quite well, but with one serious caveat. In the darkest areas of the image, it was too low, leading to excessive brightness in those scenes, depriving the film of drama and contrast. In HDR, the white balance remains at a similar level, but the EOTF curve chart draws attention. At the beginning, the curve clearly bulges, leading to strong brightness in the darkest scenes. Then the result drops sharply below the reference line, resulting in an image that is too dark and a loss of dynamics in the brighter areas.

To summarize, the "Filmmaker" mode, despite its advantages, requires refinement – especially regarding white balance and proper management of brightness in the darkest and brightest areas of the image. In its current form, it may be acceptable for less demanding users, but for viewers expecting precise image reproduction, it may leave much to be desired.

In Filmmaker mode, which we strongly recommend enabling right out of the box, the S90H offers very good factory color tuning. Colors are natural and faithful to the filmmakers' intent, without the intrusive oversaturation found in more aggressive profiles. However, as is usually the case without full calibration, there can be unit-to-unit variation. In our test the white balance lacked a bit of the blue component, causing the image to lean slightly toward warmer, yellowish tones. This was most noticeable in bright scenes, such as the snowy sequences from Star Wars. Additionally, the gamma curve ran slightly low, around 2.2, which resulted in a slight boost to shadow detail. In HDR mode the tuning was a bit better, showing only a slight undersaturation in the red region.

Even with its lower models, Samsung offers extensive tools for image calibration, allowing for significant improvement of factory settings. We undertook this task, and the results proved to be more than satisfactory. The white balance, which previously exhibited strong yellowing in both SDR and HDR, has been significantly improved. Although minor deviations from the norm can be observed, the overall effect is much cleaner and more natural than before calibration. As a result, whites and skin tones look much better. We also managed to appropriately model the gamma in SDR materials, allowing for maximum contrast that this television can offer. The EOTF curve, responsible for HDR materials, has also been improved – the image is no longer brightened or darkened as drastically as it was before calibration. Despite these successes, HDR materials still struggle with high deltaE error values. The main cause lies in the limited brightness of the television, which does not allow for a full representation of HDR content dynamics. Nevertheless, after calibration, the picture is clearly better and more aligned with the creators' intent. For users seeking the best possible quality in this class of equipment, calibration is definitely recommended.

After full calibration it can safely be said that the S90H in the WOLED version looks almost perfect. In SDR mode color reproduction errors drop to ultra-low levels, and Delta E values very rarely exceed 2. That's a phenomenal result, so if you care about perfectly faithful color reproduction it's definitely worth considering calibration. The calibrated HDR mode also performs very well, in which the white balance was stabilized and earlier deviations eliminated. After professional tuning it's really hard to find anything to criticize, because the TV delivers an image with almost exemplary naturalness and dimensionality. The slightly lower rating in this category compared with the QD-OLED variant is solely due to the previously described saturation limitation in extremely bright scenes; the tuning options and color fidelity themselves are at the highest level.

The tonal smooth transition function operates in two modes – "off" and "auto." Turning it off causes gradation issues, while the "auto" mode provides smooth transitions but at the expense of grain and details that are often blurred. Due to these limitations, we do not recommend using this function, as confirmed by our tests conducted with it turned off.

Scaling lower resolution materials in this model is not impressive. Details are blurred, and the edges of objects may contain artifacts. This limitation means that the television is better suited for higher resolution content.

When it comes to reducing posterization, Samsung has kept the same solutions as last year’s models. The dedicated gradient-smoothing function works quite well and can effectively mask unwanted tonal transitions, which can be useful on a WOLED panel that is somewhat prone to banding. However, keep in mind it acts aggressively. This mechanism, aside from removing artifacts, can clean up fine film grain and slightly soften detail. Ultimately it’s a matter of compromise, but if you care about an absolutely faithful reproduction, it’s safer to leave this option off.

There’s also no breakthrough in scaling. The S90H uses the same NQ4 Gen3 processor as its predecessor, so the quality of upscaling was almost identical. The chip sharpens lower-resolution material very well, extracting a satisfying level of detail. Samsung still hasn’t dealt with the old overscan issue. With some older recordings or archival material the image edges can be slightly cropped. It’s a minor flaw, but it’s a shame the manufacturer still hasn’t eliminated it.

Although the Samsung DU7192 is the lowest model in the manufacturer's offer, it is equipped with a motion smoothing system. While the functionality of this solution is significantly limited compared to more expensive models, its mere presence distinguishes the television from competitors in this price range. The television supports a maximum refresh rate of 60 Hz, which is sufficient for comfortable viewing of movies and series, but may be inadequate for dynamic content such as sports. In the motion smoothing menu, we find, among others, the "Motion Blur Reduction" function. Unfortunately, its performance leaves much to be desired – regardless of the setting, the image exhibits characteristic stuttering known from material recorded at 24 frames per second, which makes this function practically fail to fulfill its role.

In terms of motion handling, the S90H is simply excellent. This year's panel offers a refresh rate boosted to 165 Hz, though in practice the benefit will be realized mainly by gamers connecting a powerful PC. For movies, TV series, or sports broadcasts, such a high refresh rate makes no difference and the picture looks exactly the same as at the standard 120 Hz. Regardless of the source, the OLED panel's lightning-fast response time does its job, so motion is clean and the ghosting or smearing seen on LCD screens simply doesn't occur here.

The Samsung DU7192 is equipped with HDMI 2.0 ports, which is expected in this price range. This limitation means a lack of support for the full capabilities of the latest generation consoles, such as VRR technologies. The television only offers basic features for gamers – automatic switching to low latency mode (ALLM) and support for basic HDR for games in the HGiG standard. HGiG allows for displaying HDR content in games according to manufacturers' guidelines; however, the limited brightness of the television does not allow for fully enjoying the effects that this standard offers. Unfortunately, there is a lack of conveniences such as GameBar, which is increasingly found even in cheaper models and greatly facilitates quick adjustments of settings for games. The presence of this feature could significantly enhance user comfort, especially among those who frequently change display modes.

Players should feel at home with the S90H, because in that respect Samsung left few reasons to complain. The TV has four HDMI 2.1 ports, each of which supports VRR, ALLM, and high refresh rates. There's also the Game Bar, a handy menu that lets you quickly check key parameters and change settings without leaving the game. Importantly, Samsung has also improved HGiG. In last year's models it could cause issues when used with a console, but in the S90H it now works as it should. What sets it apart from the competition is primarily Game Motion Plus. It's a special motion-smoothing mode designed for games, which works best with titles running at 30 or 60 frames per second. Motion becomes noticeably smoother, while latency remains at a reasonable level. In our measurements it was under 50 ms, so you can still play comfortably. That's important, because on many TVs turning on a similar smoothing mode causes such a large increase in input lag that controls start to feel noticeably sluggish. Samsung has managed to find a good compromise here. There's still no Dolby Vision Gaming, but in practice Game Motion Plus may prove to be a far more useful feature.