Samsung Neo QLED QN70F / QN74F / QN77F vs Haier Q80FUX

QN70F is a TV that can positively surprise when it comes to brightness. In ideal test conditions, it reaches even 800 nits, which – for this price range – is really solid. Of course, that's a result from measurement test patterns, so we decided to check how it performs in practice, with real movies. Here, the TV somewhat tones down its capabilities. In most of the tested scenes – for example, in "The Meg" – the actual HDR brightness was around 500 nits. That's still a good result that allows you to enjoy HDR effects, although it is far from perfect. On the other hand, we have a QLED screen with a quantum dot layer, which means very good color reproduction capabilities. The colors are vivid and saturated. QN70F covers about 94% of the DCI-P3 color space, and in the wider BT.2020 gamut, it exceeds 75%, so in this regard, there's nothing to be ashamed of.

Alright, let's move on to the topic that generates so much discussion, namely the capabilities of the TV in HDR mode. Let's make it clear right away: the Haier Q80FUX is certainly not a brightness demon. The panel of this receiver can generate about 350 nits at peak, which in today’s reality is an absolute minimum to even talk about the presence of extended HDR tonal dynamic range. On the plus side, this power is at least stable – regardless of the test pattern or movie scene we used, the measurements invariably oscillated around 300-350 nits. These are therefore at best adequate results, definitely far from the stunning showcase of capabilities that we know from more expensive models. Fortunately, there is one aspect in which the Q80FUX makes up for these shortcomings and does so abundantly. After all, we are talking about a QLED TV (or more precisely, PFS LED), which means that thanks to the quantum dot filter applied to the matrix, it can generate really juicy, vibrant colors. These are not empty promises – a DCI-P3 color gamut coverage reaching nearly 95% is an impressive result that directly translates into very pleasant, saturated colors for the eye.

We tested the QN70F in the best default picture mode, which is Filmmaker Mode. It must be said that in this particular test unit, the factory settings performed quite well. The picture was calm, natural, and despite minor deviations, pleasant to perceive. The biggest flaw was a slight dominance of red in the white balance, which caused a slight pinkish tint to the entire scene. However, this was not a glaring flaw – rather subtle and only noticeable when directly compared to a properly calibrated screen. A somewhat larger issue appeared in the brightness characteristic. The television tends to understate the brightness of parts of the image that should be displayed more brightly. As a result, some details can appear slightly dimmed – not so much lost entirely, but not as clearly pronounced as they should be. Nevertheless, as far as a television in this category and in these settings goes, we consider the result to be a good starting point for further calibration.

Factory settings for film mode are rarely perfect, but in the case of the Q80FUX, we encountered a noticeable imbalance. In SDR content, the image was definitely too warm, which resulted from an excessive amount of red in the white balance, giving it a slightly sepia tone. Contrarily, in HDR materials, the television fell into the other extreme—the excess of blue created an unnatural, cold effect. However, it wasn’t the whimsical white balance that was the biggest problem with this TV. The real culprit, responsible for the previously described issues, was hidden deeper. It turned out that the Q80FUX had completely misaligned gamma values and, crucially for HDR, a poorly managed EOTF curve. It was these erroneous factory settings that caused notorious clipping of the brightest parts of the image, applying that characteristic milky filter over them. Thus, we found the source of the problem. This state of affairs led to overall, significant color errors that were easy to catch even for an untrained eye. Like every television we tested, we decided to calibrate this model as well, and you can find the results of those adjustments in the next paragraph.

After calibration, the QN70F shows that it can offer a really high level of color reproduction. It nearly perfectly balanced the white point, and the values in the Color Checker test dropped below 3 – that is, below the threshold at which the average eye can perceive differences. The image looks natural, and the colors are accurately represented, without excessive saturation or the coolness known from factory settings. It must be said that Samsung provides very extensive calibration options – not only for enthusiasts but also for professionals. The QN70F takes advantage of this potential and, after proper adjustment, can come close to much more expensive models in terms of color accuracy. The only thing one could still criticize is the brightness characteristics. There is still a tendency to brighten the smallest parts of the image – particularly those that should remain darker. However, this is a design feature of this model, not a calibration error. Despite this, the final effect definitely deserves recognition.

The results of our calibration efforts must, unfortunately, be considered twofold. Overall, the image is indisputably better than before the corrections, but the biggest winner of this process turned out to be SDR content. It is here, after clarifying the gamma and white balance graphs, that we obtained results that can confidently be called very good. After the setup, the Q80FUX truly shines in standard dynamics, showing only slight errors in the most challenging skin tone reproductions. Unfortunately, the weakest link still remains HDR content. And here lies the paradox: even though we managed to calibrate the white balance almost to perfection, the overall color errors still remain at a fairly high level. The reason is that the television still interprets the static HDR10 metadata "in its own way," stubbornly enforcing that unfortunate washed-out image effect, which inevitably leads to significant distortions. Although we successfully eliminated the factory excess of blue color, due to this electronic interference, the screen can still tend to fall into somewhat too cold tones. This television just has it this way.

Samsung QN70F offers a distortion reduction feature that improves the smoothness of tonal transitions. In "Standard" mode, it works quite well - smoothing problematic transitions without significantly interfering with the image structure. Film grain is partially removed, but details such as texture or skin structure still remain visible. The "High" mode operates much more aggressively. The smoothing is stronger, but it comes at the cost of a noticeable loss of detail. Therefore, in practice, we recommend sticking with the "Standard" setting or completely turning off this feature. The improvement in gradation may be less spectacular, but the image retains more naturalness.

When it comes to scaling low-quality content, the QN70F performs very well. Tests with lower resolution images were really impressive. Despite slight aliasing of contours, everything looks clean and clear, even if the original content was very poor. It's just a shame that the TV has an overscan issue that cannot be completely turned off. As a result, the image from very low resolution may be slightly cropped, which is mainly visible on subtitles or the interface.

If there is one area where Haier clearly shows that it has quite a bit to catch up on compared to the market leaders, it is digital image processing. The upscaling, well... is just okay. And that's about all that can be said about it. It does what it is supposed to do: it ensures that lower resolution signals don't scare you with harsh pixelation on the screen and don't look like an overly enlarged postage stamp. However, it is far from the finesse and "intelligent" sharpening that more experienced players in this market have developed over the years. The biggest drawback of the Q80FUX software, however, is the almost complete lack of additional "cleaning" and smoothing functions for the image. The receiver does not offer any noise reduction or gradient enhancement mechanisms. This means that with older or more heavily compressed materials, we simply have to accept that any imperfections in tonal transitions or color blending, which we mentioned earlier, will constantly accompany us during the viewing.

The QN70F is a television with a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which puts it at the forefront in terms of image smoothness. Whether we are watching dynamic sports broadcasts or playing on a console, the picture looks very good. There is no feeling of stuttering, chopping, or the typical "tearing" in fast motion that is common in lower-end models. Samsung also allows you to adjust the smoothness to your own preferences. In the picture clarity settings, we find options such as blur reduction and motion smoothing – each of which can be adjusted independently. This is especially useful when watching content with a lower frame rate and we want to give it a smoother, more cinematic character – or on the contrary, maintain the natural film "feeling" of 24 frames.

The issue of motion fluidity and blurring is largely predetermined by the use of a 60Hz panel, which naturally makes it difficult to recommend this receiver to enthusiasts of very dynamic content. Fortunately, in the Q80FUX, we find a few options (though, as we will see shortly, actually only one) designed to improve the experience with older film productions. There is a "De-Judder" slider available, which indeed affects the smoothness of the image and allows us to adjust it to our preferences: from raw, cinematic frame rates to a more theatrical, smoothed presentation. However, a genuine surprise awaits us right next to it in the menu. There is also a second slider, supposedly dedicated to eliminating blur – this is a feature we usually encounter in 120Hz panels, aimed at combating motion blur in sports. However, as expected, recalling memories from testing the K85F model, here too this slider is merely a facade. Moving it does absolutely nothing to the image and it simply looks like an oversight by the product engineers who left a non-functional option in the software for this type of panel.

Samsung QN70F is truly a solid choice for gamers. Here we have as many as four HDMI 2.1 ports with full bandwidth of 48 Gbps, which means full support for gaming in 4K at 144 Hz refresh rate. In addition, we have all the basic features we expect today: auto low latency mode (ALLM), variable refresh rate (VRR), and a very well-designed, intuitive Game Bar with information about the mode, resolution, and frame count.

It's also worth highlighting the Game Motion Plus feature, which allows you to add artificial frames to games running at 60 fps or less. It works surprisingly well and in many titles – especially those where consoles struggle to maintain a stable framerate – it improves gameplay smoothness without significant lag.

Unfortunately, there are also some drawbacks. The lack of support for Dolby Vision mode is not surprising – it's a standard for Samsung. But the much bigger disappointment is the absence of the HGiG feature. What's worse, it was removed in a software update, leaving users who previously used it quite shocked. Without HGiG, you can't manually set the maximum HDR brightness from the console, which results in some games looking slightly washed out – especially if the TV misinterprets the tonal range. Why did Samsung, a brand that has set standards in gaming features for years, decide to take such a step? It's hard to say. At the time of writing this review, the tested TV was running on software version 1110 – and frankly, if you care about full support for gamers, it's better to temporarily hold off on updates.

Stepping into the gaming territory, the Haier Q80FUX proves to be quite a decent companion for the "casual gamer." On board, we find today’s highly desired features like VRR (variable refresh rate) and ALLM (automatic low latency mode). However, the biggest surprise is something else. Although we are not dealing with a 4K@120Hz panel, the TV can accept and display a 120Hz signal at a lower resolution (Full HD). This is a very useful feature, allowing the conscious switch of the console to a lower resolution mode in exchange for significantly higher fluidity, which is a perfectly acceptable compromise in the gaming world.

We won’t particularly complain about the lack of extras like the "Game Bar," as it’s just a nice addition. The most concerning issues arise when we enter the world of HDR in games. Due to the fact that the TV constantly adapts the signal "in its own way," setting the brightness on the console according to the HGIG standard is nearly impossible to accomplish as per the instructions. Worse still, in the Dolby Vision mode for games, the input lag rises to about 50 ms, which is a high enough value that essentially makes this mode unusable. However, generally, we wouldn’t recommend gaming on this TV in HDR mode, so these aren’t such serious shortcomings. The most pleasing aspect is the presence of 120Hz in Full HD, which makes the Q80FUX quite a nice TV for the occasional gamer.