Samsung OLED S95D vs TCL A400 PRO

Samsung S95D offers excellent HDR performance, providing uniform effects across all scenes exceeding 1500 nits, except for the fifth scene, where brightness drops to 800 nits. Despite this, the television maintains a high level of image quality. A significant advantage of QD-OLED technology is its ability to retain high brightness even in the smallest elements on a black background, which is uncommon in LCD and mini LED televisions. This ensures that every scene captivates with strong light effects, regardless of the size of the illuminated surface. Only in the brightest scenes with large light areas does brightness slightly decrease, which is typical even for standard LG-produced OLEDs. Additionally, the quantum dot coating has allowed for unprecedented high coverage of the BT.2020 colour gamut at 88%.

The TCL A400 Pro is a moderately bright TV. Its peak brightness reaches about 600 nits. That level already allows for a real HDR effect and in many movies it does produce a noticeably more attractive picture than SDR. However, it is not a level that overwhelms by brightness alone. The A400 Pro is not one of those TVs that "attack" the viewer with a powerful flash in every dramatic scene. The biggest limitation is visible with small bright elements on a dark background. Due to rather aggressive control of the dimming zones, the TV can significantly reduce their brightness — in extreme cases down to around 100 nits. That means small lights, sparks, stars, or single highlights can be much less visible than they should be. That said, this is not done without reason. The A400 Pro does this to keep blacks as deep as possible and to limit haloing around bright objects. It's a deliberate compromise: the TV more often chooses deeper blacks over maximally bright, point-like highlights. On one hand this is understandable, especially with a limited number of dimming zones, but on the other hand you should be aware that the HDR effect will not always be as strong as the peak brightness alone would suggest.

On the plus side, the colors are worth noting. The PFS LED filter used here, marketed by the manufacturer as QLED, produces suitably saturated colors. Our measurements showed about 94% coverage of the DCI-P3 gamut and about 74% of BT.2020, which is a solid result for this class.

The Samsung S95D’s Filmmaker mode excels in colour accuracy, making it ideal for true-to-life viewing and closely reflecting the intent of content creators. We rely on this mode for all testing, as it presents significantly more detail than the often oversaturated standard or dynamic modes. Initially, viewers may find the image slightly warmer in Filmmaker mode, but it brings out a more authentic, balanced display. Despite being in the premium segment, the factory settings aren’t perfect. For example, there is a dip in red tones in the white balance for both HD and HDR content, with Colour Checker tests showing a cooler colour bias that shifts the image towards blue, impacting the natural appearance of scenes. In the sample photo, the boy appears in cooler tones, which diminishes realism.

Brightness performance for HD content is generally on point, though minor inconsistencies appear. However, the more noticeable issue arises with 4K HDR content. While the EOTF curve seems accurate in test patterns, real scenes sometimes reveal fluctuations, where some areas are overly brightened or darkened. Although the S95D offers reasonably good out-of-the-box colour reproduction, calibration is recommended to achieve a more precise, natural, and immersive picture, maximising the television’s potential.

As standard, we carried out color measurements in the best-calibrated mode, Filmmaker Mode, the one that is supposed to be closest to the creators’ intent. The A400 Pro, of course, also offers other picture modes, but in practice they suffer from much larger color errors and alter the image character more strongly. We won’t go into those modes in detail in this part of the test. So how does the factory color reproduction perform? In short: really very well. In fact, looking at our measurement results, it’s excellent. Both the white balance and the luminance response were set surprisingly precisely. The errors were so small that during testing we genuinely rubbed our eyes in disbelief. Such good out-of-the-box settings don’t happen often, even in TVs operating in Filmmaker Mode. All the more reason to praise TCL, because the A400 Pro right out of the box can produce an image very close to how the source material should look. The results were so good that you could easily think someone had already paid extra attention to that unit and tried to calibrate it.

Our nitpicking really comes down to just one thing. In SDR content the image was slightly brighter than the reference for a dark room, because the factory gamma was set closer to 2.3 than to 2.4. It’s not a big error and most viewers probably won’t even notice it.

However, it should be noted that we’re talking about our specific review sample. With factory colors there can always be some variation between units, production batches, or screen sizes. So we don’t assume that every A400 Pro will look identical straight out of the box.

Calibration can significantly elevate a television's image quality, enhancing both accuracy and overall viewing experience. For the Samsung S95D, calibration has notably refined the white balance, removing major colour inaccuracies to produce more natural and balanced tones, which allows for a closer representation of the filmmakers’ vision. The adjustments bring subtle improvements to contrast and gamma, with more pronounced distinctions between light and dark areas, adding depth and revealing finer details in both shadows and highlights. This creates a richer, more lifelike image with enhanced detail, particularly in darker scenes where shadows now hold greater clarity, while bright areas appear well-balanced rather than overly intense.

Despite these improvements, the EOTF curve remains slightly below ideal, which might influence the handling of dynamic scenes. However, the enhanced tonal transitions and boosted contrast post-calibration make the S95D an excellent choice for film and high-definition content, bringing it closer to reference-level quality. This calibration enables the television to deliver a more immersive, accurate visual experience in line with industry standards, ultimately offering a more rewarding viewing experience.

Despite its excellent factory tuning, we couldn't resist checking how the TCL A400 Pro would respond to a professional calibration. Since the starting point was so good, we were even more curious whether we could squeeze even more out of this TV. And here we have to boast: we managed to bring our unit to absurdly low color errors. Results below 1 are something you don't see every day, even on very good TVs. Such results are more often associated with professional reference monitors than with a lifestyle TV for the living room. In terms of white balance and color reproduction, the A400 Pro after calibration simply performed outstandingly. The only thing we can pick at after a deeper analysis concerns the brightness behavior. The TV can manipulate luminance levels depending on the content being displayed, and quite often the image is a bit darker than it should be according to the standard. This most likely stems from the way the Mini-LED backlight and local dimming algorithms work in this model. However, that doesn't spoil the overall impression, because in terms of color precision alone the A400 Pro after calibration reached a level we really didn't expect.

The Samsung S95D handles tonal transitions in lower-quality materials exceptionally well. In tests featuring a screen with a light bulb, there are virtually unnoticeable transitions between shades of grey, positioning it among the best televisions we have evaluated in this aspect.

Regarding digital processing, the S95D excels in rendering the entire image—whether it's branches or figures—without any jagged edges or overly pronounced contours. However, one point to note is that the image appears slightly trimmed. Despite this minor issue, the television still performs admirably, ensuring that details in lower-quality materials remain noticeable and well-defined. This ability to maintain clarity and depth in various content types further solidifies the S95D's reputation for delivering a high-quality viewing experience.

Digital video processing is unfortunately one of the weaker points of the TCL A400 Pro. That doesn't mean the TV performs badly, but it's hard to call it anything clearly above standard. The upscaling itself is adequate: edges are smoothed fairly well, the image doesn't look overly sharp or pixelated, and lower-quality content can be watched without major discomfort. At the same time the overall look is slightly soft and it lacks the precision that the best image processors in more expensive TVs can deliver.

Much worse, however, is its handling of tonal transitions caused by heavy compression. TCL equipped the A400 Pro with a "Gradual Smoothing" feature that in theory should reduce visible color banding and artifacts in lower-quality content. In practice its effectiveness is very limited. It does not improve tonal transitions in any noticeable way, and at higher settings it can also smooth out image details, giving the picture an artificial, slightly blurred character. For that reason we think it's best to leave this feature off. The A400 Pro handles basic image scaling decently, but if you often watch heavily compressed content with visible posterization, this model won't be one of the best choices.

The Samsung S95D TV, featuring a refresh rate of 120 Hz (and even 144 Hz when configured correctly for PC use), guarantees exceptional motion smoothness. Samsung provides a range of image sharpness settings on a ten-point scale, enabling users to customise the display according to their preferences— favouring a more cinematic look or a smoother, theatrical feel.

In UFO tests, the OLED panel demonstrates its strengths by effectively eliminating any blurring. The rapid pixel response ensures that dynamic movements are replicated with remarkable precision, resulting in a fluid viewing experience that enhances fast-paced content, such as action films or competitive gaming. This combination of high refresh rates and superior pixel response makes the S95D an outstanding choice for those seeking crisp, clear motion in their visual media.

The TCL A400 Pro is equipped with a 144 Hz panel, but in practice we're most interested in how it performs at 120 Hz. That's the refresh rate used by most consoles today, as well as many sports broadcasts and high-frame-rate content. In this range the TV performs quite well. Motion clarity is really good, especially after properly configuring the motion smoothing. The "Motion Clarity" feature improves smoothness. Its settings include two sliders that let you tailor the motion smoothing to your preferences — separately for lower- and higher-frame-rate material. That way you can achieve either a more cinematic look or a noticeably smoother picture. If you don't want to tweak settings manually, you can use presets such as low, medium, high, cinema, or nature.

The Samsung S95D TV is expertly designed to meet the needs of gamers, featuring four HDMI 2.1 ports that support essential functionalities like Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), and HDR Gaming Interest Group (HGIG). While the HDMI 2.1 ports do not offer the full 48Gb bandwidth, they are still adequate for achieving the desired resolution and smooth performance.

These technologies enable players to experience smoother and more responsive gameplay, significantly enhancing comfort and performance during intense gaming sessions. A standout feature is the Xbox app, which facilitates cloud gaming without requiring a console. This allows gamers to access an extensive range of titles directly on the TV, enjoying high image quality and fluid gameplay.

Additionally, the S95D includes a Game Bar feature, making it easy to manage game settings with quick adjustments, such as changing the screen ratio—an extremely useful function for various games and gameplay modes. The support for G-Sync and FreeSync is another advantage, particularly for Nvidia and AMD graphics card users.

Although the S95D lacks support for Dolby Vision, it still provides an impressive array of features, making it an ideal choice for console gaming enthusiasts. Overall, the S95D combines cutting-edge technology with exceptional picture quality, creating a comprehensive package for any gamer seeking an immersive experience.

When it comes to features for gamers, the TCL A400 Pro performs excellently. The TV has practically everything you can expect from a gaming TV today: 4K support at high refresh rates, VRR, ALLM, correct implementation of HDR formats in games, including Dolby Vision, and HGiG. Because of that it works well with both next-gen consoles and PCs. Another plus is the inclusion of a Game Bar, a special panel with the most important settings for gamers. From it you can quickly check basic signal information, refresh rate, and active features, and also adjust the look and behavior of some settings to your own preferences. This is a solution that may not change picture quality by itself, but it greatly improves the convenience of using the TV while gaming.

The only thing to complain about is the number of full HDMI 2.1 ports. The A400 Pro has only two such ports out of four, and one of them also functions as eARC. In practice this means that if someone wants to connect two next-gen consoles and a soundbar, they may hit some limitations. In that scenario you'll have to either swap devices or use extra equipment, for example an AV receiver or a soundbar with HDMI inputs. Despite this, it's hard not to rate the A400 Pro very highly as a gaming TV. The gaming feature set here is really powerful.