Samsung Neo QLED QN90D / QN92D vs Samsung Neo QLED QN95D

During synthetic tests, the Samsung QN92D demonstrated remarkable brightness capabilities, reaching an impressive 2000 nits—on par with top models in the market. This level of brightness puts it at the forefront for displaying HDR content, where high brightness is essential. But how does it fare in real movie scenes? Under favourable conditions, such as the light-drenched opening and closing scenes of Life of Pi, the QN92D nearly replicates its lab results, delivering striking brightness levels. However, performance changes in scenes featuring small, bright objects against dark backgrounds, such as the fourth scene in Sicario. Here, brightness levels drop significantly, with maximum values capping at around 600 nits.

As with contrast, these limitations are due to the aggressive local dimming algorithm, which aims to reduce the "halo" effect around bright objects in dark scenes but often sacrifices overall brightness. Consequently, while the TV excels in scenes with abundant light, it faces challenges maintaining brightness with smaller, bright elements on dark backgrounds.

The Samsung QN95D excels in HDR performance, achieving an impressive peak brightness of approximately 2000 nits. In tested movie scenes with fully lit screens, the television delivers an intense and realistic representation of HDR content, significantly enhancing the viewing experience. However, as with its handling of contrast, the dimming algorithm occasionally reveals limitations.

Despite the large number of Mini LED zones, the television doesn’t consistently provide extraordinary brightness. For instance, in scenes from "Life of Pi," featuring a bright moon against a dark background, and excerpts from "Sicario 2," showcasing intense light effects on dark backdrops, the QN95D underperforms. In such instances, the television mitigates halo effects by dimming the image to a level closer to SDR quality. While this ensures deep and uniform blacks, it comes at the cost of losing some detail in bright areas. This compromise is intended to preserve black quality but can detract from the image’s dynamism.

Despite these occasional shortcomings in the local dimming algorithm, the QN95D deserves commendation for its wide coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut. Thanks to the quantum dot coating, also known as QLED technology, the television produces vibrant and richly saturated colours, adding to its appeal for HDR content.

The best mode for colour reproduction on the Samsung QN92D is Filmmaker mode. Although it generally offers good colour quality, it is not without significant issues. Starting with HD/SDR image quality, the main challenge is white balance. The graphs reveal considerable instability, with a dominant red tint that makes the image appear too warm. This imbalance causes shades to shift unnaturally towards warmer tones, potentially affecting the perception of natural colours. Additionally, while contrast, as indicated by the gamma chart, is not the worst, it still falls short of the ideal, impacting overall image quality, especially in darker scenes.

This issue continues with 4K content, such as high-quality series or films. Here too, white balance proves problematic, with noticeable deficiencies in both blue and red, leading to tonal shifts. Tests using the Colour Checker tool confirm these issues, showing a tendency for colours to skew toward yellow hues, further distorting the natural look of the image. While Filmmaker mode remains one of the best options for cinematic content, it could still benefit from improvements, particularly in colour accuracy and white balance.

The Samsung QN95D was evaluated for factory colour reproduction in Filmmaker mode, which provides the manufacturer’s optimised settings. While this mode delivers good performance, it is not without shortcomings. For HD content, notable colour deviations were observed, particularly in white balance, where a red tint dominated the chart. Improvements were noted with 4K HDR content; however, significant deficiencies in blue colour reproduction persist. This is evident in scenes such as those from Star Wars, where the main character appears in tones that are warmer than intended.

Regarding contrast, the gamma chart reveals an initial steep rise, demonstrating the television’s capability to emphasise brighter image areas effectively. However, the chart also shows a clear dip at the lower end, suggesting a potential loss of detail in darker tones. This gamma curve shape could impact the clarity of dark scenes, where details may appear overly blurred or obscured. Additionally, the brightness curve (EOTF) was mostly accurate, aside from an initial drop.

Despite these minor issues, the QN95D boasts impressive features and cutting-edge technology that solidify its position as one of the top televisions on the market. However, refinements in colour accuracy and contrast are needed to maximise its potential fully.

After calibration, the Filmmaker mode on the Samsung QN92D shows significant improvement, particularly with SDR content. The white balance has been greatly enhanced — previous colour shifts and red dominance have been corrected, resulting in more natural colour reproduction. Although the gamma curve didn’t require major adjustments, its stabilisation has positively impacted overall picture quality.

In high-quality materials, the white balance has also improved. However, contrast remains an area to watch. The EOTF curve initially appears accurate, but closer inspection reveals that the television struggles to maintain consistent contrast in film content, indicating further room for improvement. Despite these areas, one advantage is the TV’s colour saturation. Skin tones are rendered well, and while some colours may be slightly oversaturated, the overall effect is rich and vibrant.

Despite minor contrast limitations, the calibrated Filmmaker mode on the Samsung QN92D delivers excellent picture quality, with natural colours, making it a strong choice for movie watching.

After calibration, the Samsung QN95D delivers truly impressive results. The white balance is perfectly aligned, with error readings rarely exceeding 2, indicating faithful colour reproduction. Most samples from the Colour Checker test fall well within an acceptable error range, confirming the television's excellent performance in accurately displaying colours. Contrast has also improved significantly, and the gamma curve has become more stable, ensuring better visibility of details in both dark and bright scenes.

However, the EOTF (Electro-Optical Transfer Function) curve still shows a slight divergence in film tests. While the television performs well in most scenarios, some details in black may still be lost in extreme cases due to the aggressive dimming algorithm.

Despite these minor imperfections, the overall image quality remains outstanding. After calibration, the Samsung QN95D impresses with its visual performance, offering an exceptional experience that will satisfy anyone seeking a top-tier television.

Let's examine how the Samsung QN92D television manages tonal transitions in low-quality materials. The noise reduction function is highly effective, enhancing the fluidity of tonal transitions even under challenging conditions. However, it’s worth noting that, as with other Samsung televisions, this feature can occasionally remove desirable elements, such as film grain, which may affect image authenticity. 

In terms of digital processing, the Samsung QN92D also performs impressively. During testing, the image appeared natural and well-balanced, with details like background branches precisely reproduced, underscoring the television’s ability to enhance the quality of low-resolution materials.

The Samsung QN95D television handles tonal transitions even in lower-quality materials, thanks to the noise reduction feature that works like a gentle gradation. This function is extremely effective, smoothing out the image and eliminating unwanted noise, thus significantly improving the quality of the displayed material. However, as is often the case, overly good effectiveness can lead to unintended side effects. In the case of some materials, this feature may also blur elements that should remain clear, such as film grain.

Despite this, the television performs well in terms of image scaling, eliminating larger jagged edges. In a scene where branches are visible, they are not overly artificially sharpened, which allows for a natural look, and the model does not have an artificial outline. Overall, even in more challenging conditions, the footage is presented satisfactorily on the Samsung QN95D. The only downside when watching HD/SD content (such as regular terrestrial television) is the fact that the image is slightly cropped - this is caused by the so-called overscan, which cannot be turned off.

The Samsung QN92D TV features a 144 Hz panel, however, when using the motion smoother, the maximum refresh rate adjusts to 120 Hz. This setup ensures excellent picture quality for both gamers and sports enthusiasts. Additionally, the TV offers a range of image enhancement options, such as the "blur and judder reduction" feature, which lets users fine-tune smoothness on a 10-point scale. Blur reduction sharpens fast-moving objects, while judder reduction smooths out motion, eliminating the "stutter" effect. With these advanced settings, the Samsung QN92D provides optimal visual experiences for dynamic scenes and intense gameplay alike.

The TV performs impressively in terms of motion blur, with minimal issues. The only minor drawback is a slight overshoot effect noticeable on dark backgrounds in our "Ufoludkiem" test. Nonetheless, with its advanced smoothness settings, the Samsung QN92D delivers outstanding performance for both fast-paced scenes and immersive gaming sessions.

The Samsung QN95D panel excels in motion blur and fluidity, offering a 120 Hz refresh rate along with features designed to reduce blur and judder. This allows users to adjust the picture settings to their liking, whether for movie watching or dynamic sports broadcasts. The television provides a 10-point scale for adjusting image smoothness, ranging from a frame-like appearance reminiscent of traditional film to a smoother, more cinematic effect, which is especially beneficial for sports broadcasts. This level of customization enhances the viewing experience across various types of content.

The Samsung QN92/QN90 TV is an outstanding choice for avid gamers and is highly recommended. This model provides virtually every gaming feature currently available, enhancing the excitement of gameplay. A standout feature is the 120 Hz panel, delivering impressive motion smoothness, which is especially beneficial during action-packed games. The TV also boasts low input lag, ensuring quick responses to player commands. Additionally, VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) and ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) optimise refresh rates and automatically activate gaming mode, further elevating the gaming experience. An additional bonus is the Xbox app, enabling users to play directly on the TV without needing a console—an exclusive feature in Samsung TVs, adding to their appeal in the gaming world.

Samsung’s Auto Motion Plus Game feature deserves particular praise. This motion smoother is highly effective in gaming, making lower frame rates appear smoother—30 frames per second can look like 45, and 60 Hz can resemble 90 Hz. Crucially, it achieves this without introducing noticeable input lag (keeping it below 25 ms), so gameplay remains highly responsive, unlike many other motion-smoothing options on the market. As a result, players can enjoy a smoother visual experience without sacrificing responsiveness.

The Samsung QN95D offers several features that gamers will appreciate. First, the TV supports a variable refresh rate (VRR), which eliminates screen tearing and provides smoother gameplay, especially in dynamic scenes. It also includes an automatic game mode (ALLM) that switches the TV to low latency mode when a connected console or computer is detected, resulting in more responsive controls.

Additionally, the QN95D has a game mode that reduces input lag to an impressively low level, which is vital for games where quick reflexes matter. With a high refresh rate of 120 Hz, the image remains exceptionally smooth, enhancing the experience of fast-paced action games and sports. The TV also supports G-Sync and FreeSync technologies, further improving gameplay and user comfort. An interesting addition is the 'Game Bar' – a special menu that provides easy access to all gaming-related settings, allowing users to quickly adjust the image and other parameters without interrupting gameplay.

While the Samsung QN95D does not support Dolby Vision, which is typical for Samsung models, it does feature HGiG functionality, ensuring that HDR games are displayed with the appropriate image quality in line with the creators' intentions.