Samsung S90H / S92H (QD-OLED) vs TCL RM7L

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.

The TCL RM7L is a bright TV. In our measurements its peak brightness hovered around 1600 nits. That's clearly less than the C7L, which can approach 2600 nits, but in real movie scenes the difference between the two models isn't that big. In less demanding shots with many bright elements on screen, the RM7L can hold around 1000 nits, and sometimes a bit more, approaching 1500 nits. It performs worse in dark scenes with small highlights; then their brightness can fall to around 500 nits. However, this behavior is not accidental. The TV intentionally dims small elements to better control the backlight and maintain higher contrast. This comes at the cost of their intensity, but it's typical behavior for local-dimming TVs in a similar price bracket.

Color gamut coverage

In HDR it's not only brightness that matters, but also color. And here the RM7L has a lot to show. Colors are strongly saturated, and a wide color gamut is one of its bigger strengths. In measurements it reached about 96% of DCI-P3 and around 83% of BT.2020. It's worth remembering, though, that on a TV with this kind of backlight the result can vary depending on the scene. On test patterns colors look best, while in movies their saturation can be a bit lower than on SQD Mini LED or QD-OLED TVs. The backlight construction itself is also interesting. The RM7L doesn't use the classic red, green and blue diode set. TCL used two green diodes and one blue, and obtains the red color using a PFS phosphor. You can see this in spectrometer measurements, but it doesn't have a major impact on the picture. Colors are still produced correctly.

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.

We checked the factory colors in Filmmaker Mode, the best picture setting available to the user. TCL has been using it in its TVs for two years, and its purpose is to present the image as faithfully as possible in line with the creators' intent. On the RM7L this was indeed the best-calibrated mode, although it wasn't without flaws. The biggest issue was the white balance. An excess of red and blue caused the picture to take on slightly pinkish tones. This was visible in both SDR and HDR. Additionally, the luminance response was slightly boosted, which made the image appear a bit brighter but also less contrasty than it should have been.

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.

Thanks to a fairly extensive calibration menu, we were able to correct the vast majority of the errors described earlier. The biggest change was to the white balance. After calibration it looks very good, so the image lost its pinkish cast and became much more neutral. The luminance response itself also improved. Both the SDR gamma and the HDR EOTF curve are now much closer to the reference values. The image is no longer unnecessarily brightened, and darker areas look more natural and have more depth. Better luminance accuracy also affected the colors, which after calibration are noticeably more accurate. Not everything could be set perfectly, though. In HDR material the RM7L still interprets part of the signal its own way and does not always follow the reference curve exactly. This is most apparent in some darker scenes, where the TV can either slightly lift the shadows or darken them completely. That was the source of the earlier impression of a slightly brightened, less contrasty image. Even so, the calibration delivers a very good result here. It removes the most visible errors and, above all, makes the image much closer to how it should look.

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.

Upscaling and digital image processing are not the RM7L's strong suit. TCL used a MediaTek Pentonic 700 SoC here, designated MT5896, which isn't among the best processors at handling lower-quality content. The biggest problems show up with heavily compressed material from YouTube or regular broadcast TV. The processor can't effectively hide posterization and the characteristic color banding. The feature meant to smooth them does little here, and it often interferes too much with the picture, smoothing faces or fine textures, for example. For that reason, it's best to simply leave it off.

Straightforward upscaling to 4K looks better. Lower-quality sources remain reasonably sharp and retain enough detail. It's not on par with the best processors on the market, but for everyday viewing the result is entirely acceptable.

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 RM7L uses a 144 Hz VA panel, so right out of the box it's a TV well suited for sports, gaming, and other fast-moving content. The high refresh rate also gives the motion interpolation engine more room to work, allowing it to generate extra frames. On the RM7L it works well, and with the right settings it can noticeably improve motion smoothness without causing an excessive soap opera effect.

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.

You can say almost nothing but good things about the RM7L when it comes to gamer features. The TV supports ALLM, VRR, Dolby Vision Gaming and works correctly with HGiG, so it’s hard to point out any major omissions in that area. In practice this means automatic switching to low-latency mode, a smoother picture with variable frame rates, and accurate brightness reproduction in HDR games. There’s also a handy Game Bar. From it you can quickly check the frame rate, VRR status, signal format, and aspect ratio, and change key settings without leaving the game. TCL also added a few extra options, like a crosshair and brightening of dark parts of the image, which can be useful in some titles. The biggest downside comes from the use of the Pentonic 700 processor. Only two of the four HDMI ports support the full HDMI 2.1 standard. With a single console this won’t matter much, but when connecting two consoles and a PC you may run out of space. Especially since one of those ports may also be needed for eARC and a soundbar.