Samsung Neo QLED QN90D / QN92D vs SAMSUNG QN80F

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.

QN80F is quite a bright screen – in synthetic tests, it achieved nearly 1000 nits, which allows for reasonable expectations with HDR content. And indeed, in many scenes, the television truly shines. Sequences with a lot of light – such as shots from the movie Life of Pi or wide, bright surfaces in The Meg – look spectacular. Brightness maintains around 700 nits, which provides a solid effect, sufficient to feel the true "HDR magic." Unfortunately, not every scene looks that good. In materials with small, bright details on a dark background, like in Sicario 2, the television has problems – it can dim certain elements significantly, sometimes to the point where they disappear from the image. This is the result of a limited number of dimming zones, which forces the device to make compromises: either stick to inky blacks or sacrifice some details. QN80F usually chooses the former. As a consolation, it has quite decent coverage of a wide color gamut – DCI-P3 at 93%. This is not the highest score on the market, but it is more than enough for most content on streaming platforms.

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.

We always test televisions in the best available factory mode – for the Samsung QN80F, this is the Filmmaker mode, and indeed, it offers the settings closest to the creators' intentions. However, this doesn't mean that everything looks perfect. In SDR content, the biggest issue turned out to be an unbalanced white balance – slight deficiencies in green and a noticeable excess of red led to noticeable color errors, and one could almost say there was a pinkish tint to the screen. This was clearly visible in the color checker test, where colors would "escape" their target fields – to the extent that a sensitive viewer's eye could catch it even without the help of a meter.

In HDR content, the white balance was much better, but another problem emerged – brightness management. The EOTF curve caused an overly bright image most of the time, which could affect the perception of contrast and made the screen slightly "flicker" during dynamic light changes. We have already discussed this in the paragraphs about black and HDR. Fortunately, Samsung leaves the user with plenty of options. The QN80F offers a rich set of calibration options, including a 20-point white balance – that's why we decided to check what this television is really capable of after proper calibration.

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 conducting a thorough calibration, it was possible to bring most image parameters to a really good level. The white balance in both SDR and HDR appears nearly perfect – the image is natural, neutral, and free of the previously noticeable reddening. The colors have gained depth, and the overall visual reception has become more pleasant and cohesive. It was also possible to partially master brightness management, which in the factory version could be problematic. The EOTF chart shows that the television performs significantly better with brightness after calibration – there's no longer excessive dimming of certain elements. In films, it can still be observed that the QN80F has a tendency to slightly brighten the smallest, bright details – this is already a result of the device's construction and the limited number of dimming zones. In short: not everything can be overcome, but what could be improved has been addressed. After calibration, the QN80F makes a really good impression; it simply looks more mature and professional.

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.

If, while watching lower-quality materials – for example from YouTube – we notice strange color transitions or unwanted artifacts, it’s worth checking the settings and enabling the noise reduction function. In our opinion, the best setting is at the "medium" level – it effectively smooths out problematic color transitions while not excessively blurring the entire image. However, one must know this: this option tends to remove film grain. If someone cares about preserving this effect (e.g., in older films), it’s better to just turn it off – regardless of the level, the grain always disappears.

When it comes to scaling resolution (i.e., the so-called upscaling), Samsung – as always – performs very well in this area. The QN80F may not compare to the top models worth several thousand, but for its price class, it really performs impressively. Very low-quality materials (e.g., from SD television or older video files) are noticeably improved and look surprisingly decent. The only noticeable drawback is the typical Samsung issue with overscan – that is, slightly cropping the edges of the image at very low resolutions, e.g., 576p.

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.

QN80F is truly a "fast" television. The applied panel offers a refresh rate of up to 144 Hz, which in practice means that the screen keeps up with the action – whether we're watching a movie, playing games, or browsing dynamic content on the internet. The image doesn't tear, it doesn't excessively blur, and everything simply looks smooth and pleasant to the eye. Of course, the manufacturer hasn't forgotten about movie fans – in the settings, we find an option for motion smoothness adjustment, allowing us to tailor the effect to our personal preferences. You can leave a more "cinematic" look (for those who enjoy a classic film vibe) or crank up the smoothness to a higher level for a theatrical smoothing effect. Importantly, the choice is ours. Watching movies and playing on the QN80F is simply a joy.

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 QN80F is a TV that delivers on almost every front when it comes to gaming. We have a 144 Hz panel, four fully-fledged HDMI 2.1 ports, support for gamers in the form of variable refresh rate (VRR), automatic low latency mode (ALLM), and even one of the best-designed game bars on the market. The cherry on top is the motion smoother, which – uniquely in the world – works in games without significantly increasing input lag. Sounds like almost the perfect TV for gamers? And indeed, it is almost that.

As usual, Samsung does not support Dolby Vision in games, but that no longer surprises anyone. However, what is much more surprising is that... the HGIG feature has disappeared – that is, the system that allows the console (e.g., PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X) to precisely match HDR tone mapping to the TV's capabilities. In the latest firmware update for the 2025 models, this option has simply vanished. It looks more like a bug than a deliberate move, but it must be honestly pointed out that as of the day of writing this review, the HGIG feature is simply not available.

And it is precisely because of this one deficiency that the QN80F goes from being almost the perfect gaming TV to a "nearly" perfect device. It's a shame – because everything else indicated that Samsung could set the bar very high once again in this generation.