Samsung S90H / S92H (QD-OLED) vs Hisense UR8S

The Samsung S90H is a truly bright TV for the midrange among OLEDs. In synthetic measurements its peak brightness reached about 1650 nits. That's an outstanding result in this class, roughly 50% higher than what we’ve seen from previous models at this price point. Crucially, these tests translate directly to real video material. In 4 out of 5 film shots we tested the S90H’s brightness hovered around 1300–1500 nits. That headroom lets the TV reproduce most HDR movies with the same dynamics and expression the creators intended in post-production. Of course, on full-screen, very bright scenes the result is naturally lower and drops to around 900 nits. That’s a direct result of the protection systems that prevent the OLED panel from being overloaded. Even in that scenario there’s no reason to complain. Those 900 nits across the entire screen is still a very high level, ensuring excellent dynamics in HDR content.

A major advantage of QD-OLED TVs has always been color, and the S90H is no exception. The DCI-P3 gamut we measured reached a full 100% (exactly 99.9%), while coverage of the much wider BT.2020 gamut hit roughly 89%. That’s a great result, allowing you to enjoy extremely saturated, vivid colors in HDR content. It’s worth noting these figures are better than WOLED panels, which is especially noticeable in very demanding film scenes.

UR8S is a slightly higher-end Mini-LED, so you could expect a lot in terms of brightness. And indeed, on a synthetic test pattern the peak brightness reached around 2200 nits. That's a very good result, but as always what matters more is what the TV does in normal film scenes. Here the results are a bit more uneven. In bright scenes with a lot of light on screen, the UR8S can deliver really strong HDR. Brightness then reaches about 1500 nits, so the image is very intense and has a lot of punch. It's worse with small bright elements on a dark background. The TV noticeably dims them to maintain good blacks and avoid excessive blooming. As a result, things like single stars or tiny specular highlights can be only around 200 nits. And here HDR is no longer as impressive. So the local dimming algorithm works effectively, but it comes at a cost, sometimes it simply sacrifices the brightness of small details too much in favor of contrast.

Colors

With RGB Mini-LED TVs, colors should be evaluated a bit differently than usual. If we look solely at the panel's capabilities, the UR8S performs great. We measured about 94% coverage of BT.2020 and practically full DCI-P3. These are among the highest values currently found in LCD TVs, and this is where the potential of RGB backlighting is most apparent. The problem is that this potential isn't always used in real scenes. When we ran the same measurements on patterns with an overlaid film background, the saturation of some colors dropped noticeably. Individual zones can't always control the three RGB components as precisely when the scene becomes more complex. This is most noticeable with blue and magenta. In simple test patterns they can look very strong, but in tougher scenes samples of those colors clearly shrink. So the UR8S has enormous potential, but the TV can't always make full use of it.

The next stage of the test was to check how the S90H handles color reproduction without any calibration. As always, we took measurements in Filmmaker Mode, the best out-of-the-box picture setting. And here Samsung truly deserves praise. The factory tuning is at a very high level, and a few years ago that wasn't one of its strong points. The white balance was set correctly, as was the brightness response. The average color error (Delta E) hovered around 3, which is below the level at which most people can notice inaccuracies. Only in the brightest shades of gray did values slightly approach 4, but it's still hard to consider that a real viewing issue. For settings straight out of the box, the result is simply excellent.

For evaluating out-of-the-box colors we used Filmmaker mode, which is supposed to show the image as close as possible to how the material was intended. Looking at white balance alone, the UR8S does quite well. There is no strong color cast that immediately jumps out, although as brightness increases a bit too much blue and red appear while green becomes deficient. Color errors therefore show up in measurements, but the image itself does not look bad.

We have far bigger reservations about how the UR8S manages image brightness. In SDR the gamma stays around 1.9 to 2.0 for most of the range instead of the target 2.4. In practice this simply means the image is too bright, especially in the midtones. Shadows are lifted too much, so the image loses some depth. A similar trend is visible in HDR. The EOTF curve sits above the reference value for a large portion of the range, so the UR8S again brightens the image more than it should. This is not a matter of the TV lacking brightness; it has plenty of it. The issue is how it manages that brightness. As a result, HDR material can look very striking, but not always exactly as it should.

Okay, but you know we wouldn’t be ourselves if we didn’t check how much more we could squeeze out of the S90H with professional calibration. And there was no big surprise here: since the out-of-the-box settings were already very good, there wasn’t a huge reserve. Even so, we managed to refine the picture almost to perfection. After calibration the average color reproduction errors fell below the threshold of perception, reaching Delta E values under 2 for both SDR and HDR material. We also improved the brightness response, so the image more faithfully reflects the creators’ intent and maintains proper tonality across the full brightness range. Not necessarily, because the factory settings already deliver a very high level. If you want the most accurate image and want to squeeze absolutely everything out of this panel, the S90H offers that potential. After professional calibration it’s simply an almost reference display.

Will the difference be spectacular for everyone? Not necessarily. It depends a lot on the individual unit. Our sample was very well tuned straight out of the box, but that doesn’t mean every S90H will perform at the same level. Even identical models can vary in their factory calibration. That’s exactly why professional calibration makes sense: it lets you bring a specific unit to the highest possible accuracy instead of hoping for a bit of luck when buying.

Hisense offers quite a few calibration options, and in SDR you can achieve a really good result with them. After calibration, the white balance is practically uniform across the entire range, and color errors drop to very low values. The UR8S can be adjusted very precisely here. HDR looks a bit different. The white balance itself can also be noticeably improved, although at the highest brightness levels larger deviations start to appear. What's most interesting, however, is the behavior of the EOTF curve. Even after it is properly set on test patterns, the UR8S can still interpret brightness its own way during movie playback. Depending on the scene, parts of the image are slightly brightened while others are darkened compared to how they should look. This shows that the algorithms responsible for backlight control have a fairly large impact on the final image. So calibration can greatly improve colors, but we can't completely "turn off" the way the UR8S manages brightness in HDR.

In this regard Samsung has practically changed nothing compared with last year’s model, which is actually pretty good news. The function responsible for smoothing tonal transitions still very effectively reduces posterization. You should remember, however, that it works quite aggressively, because besides removing artifacts it can also eliminate film grain and slightly soften fine image details. As always, it’s a matter of compromise and personal preference. If you want the most faithful reproduction of the source, we recommend leaving this function turned off.

There’s also no revolution when it comes to upscaling. The S90H uses the same proprietary NQ4 Gen3 image processor as its predecessor, so scaling quality has remained virtually unchanged. The TV handles lower-resolution content well, effectively improving sharpness. The overscan issue still hasn’t been solved, though. With some older material, especially archival footage, parts of the image at the edges may be cropped. It’s a minor flaw, but it’s a shame Samsung left this problem unchanged for another year running.

A major advantage of the UR8S is its MediaTek Pentonic 800 processor, and digital image processing is one of this model’s strengths. The TV handles smoothing tonal transitions very well, especially with lower-quality sources. The feature responsible for this effect works effectively without overly interfering with the picture. Even at the medium setting it can noticeably reduce visible banding and unevenness without heavily blurring details. Upscaling also performs very well. Lower-resolution content is displayed cleanly, edges look natural, and the image isn’t overly sharpened. The UR8S simply copes very well with weaker signals, and in that respect it’s one of its clear strengths.

In terms of motion smoothness, the S90H delivers a very high level. New here is a panel with a 165 Hz refresh rate. In practice, when watching movies or sports broadcasts it's hard to notice any difference, because that kind of content doesn't use refresh rates higher than 120 Hz. The extra 165 Hz will be appreciated mainly by PC gamers who can generate that many frames per second. Samsung equipped the TV with advanced motion settings. You get two sliders (judder reduction and blur reduction) that make it easy to tailor the picture's character to your preferences. You can easily get very smooth motion for sports, but you can just as easily preserve a more cinematic feel with the typical 24 fps. It all depends on which effect you prefer.

The UR8S is equipped with a panel that has a native 180 Hz refresh rate, so it already offers great potential for smooth motion. The panel itself performs really well, though some limitations typical of VA panels are still visible. Smearing is relatively low for this type of screen, but with faster motion (especially on darker backgrounds) it can still be noticed, particularly when compared with the same image on OLED TVs.

From the start the Samsung S90H feels like a TV designed with gamers in mind, and honestly... it's hard to blame them. The manufacturer equipped it with everything you’d expect from a gaming TV. You get four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, support for ALLM and VRR, and very high refresh rates. There’s also a clear Game Bar that lets you quickly check key picture parameters or change settings without leaving the game. Another very welcome improvement is that HGiG now works properly. Last year it could cause a lot of issues, but on the S90H it behaves exactly as it should.

Samsung’s real ace, however, is its proprietary Game Motion Plus mode. The feature works similarly to the motion smoothing known from movies, improving animation smoothness in games while keeping input lag at a very reasonable level. For titles running at 30/60 fps, with the right settings, input lag did not exceed 40 ms in our tests. That’s a very good result, especially since enabling similar features from many manufacturers can end up increasing lag three to four times. It’s a feature that partly makes up for the lack of Dolby Vision Gaming. A smoother image often provides more noticeable benefits than the HDR format itself, so for many gamers this will be a far more valuable addition.

In terms of gamer features the UR8S performs really well. The TV supports practically everything you’d expect from a modern console or PC display. It offers ALLM, VRR, and 4K at 120 Hz. It also supports Dolby Vision in game mode, so when using an Xbox Series X you don’t have to give up that HDR format. PC gamers get even more options. The panel can run at 4K/180 Hz, and dropping to Full HD can raise the refresh rate up to 330 Hz. There’s also a Game Bar that lets you quickly view key information and change gaming-related settings. The only clear shortcoming is a proper implementation of HGiG. With it enabled the TV still interferes with HDR brightness mapping, so we don’t get the effect intended by that standard. Aside from that, the UR8S is very well prepared for both consoles and a powerful PC.