SAMSUNG OLED S95F (QD-OLED) vs SHARP JP7765E

The new generation of QD-OLED panels in the Samsung S95F shows its full potential, and the brightness results are absolutely stunning. In test film scenes, such as "Life of Pi" or "Sicario 2," where smaller light elements appear – stars, the moon, or headlights – the TV was able to achieve over 2000 nits of brightness. This is a result that surpasses even most top Mini-LED models.

The secret lies in the technology itself – instead of a limited number of dimming zones like in Mini-LED TVs, we have millions of glowing pixels here, allowing the TV to fully showcase its power without technological compromises. Of course, since it is still an organic panel, in full-screen scenes flooded with white – like in the final sequence of the film The Meg – the brightness drops to around 1400 nits. Nevertheless, the result remains excellent and definitely exceeds what any OLEDs, both QD-OLED and WOLED, have offered so far. The color reproduction also deserves special attention. Thanks to QD-OLED technology, the TV achieves almost 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 color palette and about 80% in BT.2020. These values make the HDR image not only dazzling with brightness but also captivating with a richness of colors.

So how does the brightness of the Sharp JP7 perform in the most demanding titles? Honestly: at first, we were quite surprised. The television is capable of achieving over 1000 nits of brightness, which is an outstanding and rarely seen result for a device costing just under 2000 zł (for 55 inches). Watching bright, full-screen scenes, one can get the impression that we are dealing with truly good equipment. However, unfortunately, we must return to the problem we mentioned earlier regarding local dimming management. When small, bright elements appear on a dark background on the screen (like in the test scenes from Life of Pi or Sicario 2), it is noticeable how poorly the JP7 handles the zones. The television dims them almost to the maximum, stifling the whole HDR effect, which at such moments resembles a flat SDR image (less than 200 nits). This instability makes the image on the JP7 unfortunately lose its appeal in demanding, contrast-heavy films.

As a consolation, it is worth noting that the panel has the potential for good color display. A PFS (phosphor) filter has been implemented here, allowing the coverage of the DCI-P3 palette to reach a solid 94%. The manufacturer calls its product a “QLED,” even though it is mainly based technologically on the aforementioned PFS filter. Considering the recent market battles among manufacturers about what can and cannot be called QLED, we leave the issue of the correctness of this naming to your judgment. However, it remains a fact that the potential for reproducing saturated colors in this panel is simply good.

The best picture mode right out of the box is undoubtedly Filmmaker Mode – a mode that Samsung has been using for several years, designed to faithfully represent the creators' intentions. In SDR content, its implementation is not bad, although some imperfections can be noticed. The picture is slightly dimmed, and the screen has a slight pinkish tint resulting from the predominance of red and blue in the white balance. Color errors remained at a level of 3–4 ΔE units – and for the uninitiated: a value above 3 is the threshold where the average human eye begins to notice differences.

However, much larger problems arise in HDR content. Here, the white balance was not such a significant issue – a slight excess of blue did not cause major problems. The issue became managing brightness. In practice, the TV "overexposed" the image too much, causing details in the blacks to completely disappear. The final effect was far from what was expected, and the color errors in this mode became really large. It's hard to say why such a design decision was made, but it was clear that the factory HDR settings did not allow this TV to showcase its full potential.

When it comes to out-of-the-box colors, the Sharp JP7 was tested in Film mode, which traditionally offers the most consistent image compared to the yellowed “Eco” mode or the glaring blue of the “Dynamic” mode. Although this is the best choice among the available settings, the results are still far from ideal. The white balance clearly lacked red and blue components, causing many scenes to take on an unnatural, greenish tint. Another issue was the gamma – during fullscreen scenes, the television provides too much brightness, completely stripping away its cinematic character. All of this translated into color reproduction errors, particularly with shades of gray, which exceeded Delta E 10. Just to remind: errors above 2-3 are already noticeable to the human eye, so here we are dealing with a significant distortion of reality.

In HDR mode, the situation is reversed but not any better. Here, the blue color dominates the white balance, giving the image an unnatural, almost “store-like” sharpness reminiscent of aggressive demo modes. Furthermore, the measurements of the EOTF curve emphasize the store-like nature of the image. The graph clearly shows that the television generates an image significantly brighter than the standards predict, resulting in an artificially boosted and unrealistic final effect. The Sharp JP7 is evidently trying to appear stronger than it actually is, but it does so at the expense of fidelity to the content.

After calibrating, it was possible to make subtle adjustments in white balance and significantly improve the image characteristics. In SDR content, the quality has become practically reference-level—most color errors have fallen below a ΔE value of 1, which is the level at which the human eye can no longer detect differences. This is a result that places the S95F among the absolute top televisions available on the market.

In HDR materials, calibration also brought significant improvement. The tendency of the television to overexpose the image was successfully controlled, as confirmed by the analysis of the EOTF curve. A slight tendency to brighten the entire scene or occasional loss of details in the blacks can still be observed; however, it does not significantly impact the overall perception. After calibration, the S95F showcases its full potential and can be described as one of the best televisions on the market!

We subjected the JP7 to our standard calibration procedure and truly... the television gained a new life thanks to it, especially in SDR content (YouTube, classic television, series, or older movies). Because we managed to accurately set the white balance and stabilize the gamma, color errors dropped to a value of below 3. This is a level at which the human eye has trouble detecting discrepancies. In this scenario, the Sharp JP7 delivers an image with really great color accuracy, which is a significant advantage in this price range. However, the content in HDR turned out to be much more problematic. Here, despite our efforts and adjustments to the settings, the television simply did not want to cooperate. In the JP7 menu, we cannot find any option that would allow for real control over brightness management (EOTF). Although a significant portion of color errors was reduced, the image still remained unnaturally oversaturated. It's a pity because the potential of the mini-LED backlit panel is large, but the software presents a clear barrier.

The conclusion is simple: when watching less demanding content (SDR) on the JP7, you can expect an image that is more than satisfactory, but in HDR, you have to come to terms with a certain degree of "artificiality" that cannot be overcome even with professional equipment.

The Samsung S95F offers a noise reduction feature that smooths tonal transitions. It works very effectively, but in practice, it can be too aggressive. Materials of lower quality – such as older recordings or videos from YouTube – become soft and plastic when this feature is turned on, resembling an image digitally smoothed in a graphics program. Unfortunately, this also causes the natural film grain, which often adds authenticity to the image, to disappear. Fortunately, the TV does not lose too many fine details, such as in skin textures or elements of the surroundings. Therefore, this feature is best used with caution – depending on preferences, one can achieve a smooth image, but less natural, or one that is more faithful to the original. In our opinion, the most universal choice is the “Standard” setting.

The image scaling performs significantly better. The TV handles lower resolution materials well – even 576p content looks quite decent, although a slight blockiness can be noticed. Overall, the effect is very good, although it is somewhat inferior to what Sony Bravia 8 (II) or LG G5 can achieve. It's also worth mentioning a small imperfection of the S95F – in older materials, overscan may occur, causing a slight cropping of the left edge of the image.

When it comes to lower quality materials and how the Sharp JP7 handles them, the situation is ambiguous. Let's start with the upscaling – here we have no major objections. The process of scaling the image to a higher resolution is correct; the image remains readable and clear, without the overscan effect or cropped edges. Of course, this is not at the level of top models and at times one can notice slight jaggedness on the contours, but in this price range, the effect is fully acceptable.

However, the digital image processing itself is significantly worse, as aside from the scaling, it virtually does not exist. In the JP7 menu, we won't find any option that would effectively smooth out unwanted tonal transitions or reduce noise in the image. As a result, the signal reaches the matrix in a very raw form, which, with heavily compressed materials (e.g., from YouTube), leads to visible posterization. Either this is a flaw in the software or a very strange design decision, as in earlier Sharp models, this feature was available and, more importantly, worked with noticeable effect. Here we are left at the mercy of what the source provides, without any digital support from the image processor.

The Samsung S95F demonstrates phenomenal motion fluidity. The panel itself operates at a native 4K resolution with a refresh rate of up to 165 Hz, and combined with QD-OLED organic technology, it delivers incredible results. Sports and games look amazing – the image is fast, dynamic, and very natural. Additionally, the built-in motion smoother and motion blur reduction system allow you to adjust the character of the image to your preferences. You can opt for a more "frame" effect with visible film structure or a smooth, theatrical performance. Every viewer will find a setting that suits them.

The motion fluidity on the Sharp JP7 is very mediocre, and the reason is simple: the television uses a 60Hz panel. This immediately makes it difficult to recommend for watching sports or serious gaming, where higher refresh rates are already the standard. The only real plus is the presence of a motion smoother, which we can control in movies using a slider called De-judder. Lower settings produce a more raw, "cinematic" (frame-based) image, while higher settings add artificial fluidity. We suggest setting it somewhere in the middle of the scale, that is, in the 3-5 range – this is the best compromise to avoid the soap opera effect while getting rid of the tiring image stutter. Interestingly, in the menu, we also find a slider for "motion blur reduction," which usually suggests the presence of a 120Hz panel. However, in the case of the JP7, it does not contribute anything to the image and serves more as a placeholder – it is meant to look good in the settings, but technically it should not function on this panel.

The same advantages of low motion blur and excellent motion fluidity characteristic of OLED panels are just the beginning, as the Samsung S95F was designed with gamers in mind. The manufacturer has equipped it with four HDMI 2.1 ports – although limited to a bandwidth of 40 Gb/s, in practice, this has no impact on compatibility with consoles or PCs. We get a complete set of gaming features: variable refresh rate (VRR), automatic game mode (ALLM), as well as a very well-implemented HGiG standard, which allows HDR titles to appear as their creators intended. The whole thing is complemented by the Game Bar – a clear settings hub where we can preview and change all key picture parameters with one movement. The proprietary motion smoother Game Motion Plus also deserves praise, as it can smooth out animation, which is particularly useful in productions running at 60 frames, where stability is not always exemplary. Although support for Dolby Vision in games is lacking, it is hard to consider this a serious drawback – Samsung compensates for it with other solutions. This is one of the best, if not the best, gaming TVs available today on the market.

As we mentioned earlier, the 60Hz panel is not a feature that will attract gamers to the Sharp JP7. Perhaps for the casual gamer, whose console generates most titles at 60 frames per second, there might be something interesting? When it comes to specific additions, we find:

• ALLM Mode: Automatically switches the TV to low latency game mode (input lag).

• Game Menu: Which is hard to call a full-fledged “Game Bar,” as its functionality is minimal. Besides enabling ALLM, there is only a smoothness enhancer dedicated to games, which we recommend against because it introduces very noticeable artifacts and spoils the responsiveness.

• Dolby Vision Gaming: For Microsoft's consoles.

Unfortunately, the list of shortcomings is much longer and more painful than the positives. The biggest disappointment is the lack of support for 120Hz, even when lowering the resolution to Full HD. The presence of 120Hz would allow for performance modes to be activated in many games on PS5 or Xbox Series X. Another absence is VRR, which means that during frame drops, we are susceptible to image tearing. The lack of proper implementation of the HGiG standard is also very problematic. This results in the fact that during HDR calibration in the console menu, it is very easy to “overshoot” the brightness settings. As a result, instead of clear details in highlights, we end up with an unnaturally over-brightened image with cut-off details. The Sharp JP7 is a proposal only for very casual gamers.