Samsung U8000F (IPS) vs Samsung S85H

Better does not mean good – and that perfectly summarizes the capabilities of the U8092F when it comes to displaying bright movie scenes in HDR mode. The brightness of the panel is just under 250 nits, which is definitely too little to enjoy any lighting effects. An interesting situation was noted during the measurement of the fourth scene from the movie Sicario 2 – the television clearly dimmed the entire screen in an attempt to achieve better black levels (which are still weak). One could even suggest that the device uses some form of "global dimming," but unfortunately, the results are still very poor. To make matters worse, the television does not support a wide color gamut – the coverage of the DCI-P3 space is about 80%, so there’s no hope for truly vibrant colors. HDR images here look rather like lightly brightened SDR, and that's the form we would suggest sticking to when it comes to this television.

Interestingly, the new WOLED SE panel has brought a slight improvement in brightness to the S85 series. In the same movie scenes the previous year's model stayed closer to about 700 nits, while the S85H can reach around 800 nits. Of course this isn't a change that completely transforms the HDR experience, but that extra headroom is noticeable especially with small highlights, reflections, and stronger special effects. Around 800 nits is already a very good result for an entry-level OLED and in most films it's enough for HDR to have the right impact. Bright elements can clearly stand out from perfect black, and that contrast still does most of the heavy lifting here. You should remember the typical limitation of organic technology, though. When a very bright scene covers a large part of the screen, brightness can drop by almost half. This is the result of the panel's protection mechanisms, which limit its power with large bright areas.

Colors

The S85H can produce very pleasant, saturated colors and in most HDR films it looks really good in that respect. We measured roughly 95% DCI-P3 coverage, so the palette most often used in movies is reproduced to a very large degree. Skin tones, greens, and stronger reds still have appropriate intensity, and during normal viewing it's hard to fault them. Only when you look more broadly at BT.2020 do the limitations of the new WOLED SE panel become apparent. Coverage was around 70%, a bit less than in previous-generation WOLEDs and noticeably less than in QD-OLED panels. In films this isn't a major loss, because most productions rarely use such highly saturated colors. You notice it more often in games, where developers are much more likely to employ more intense colors.

The Samsung U8000F was tested in the best possible picture mode built into the TV, which is Filmmaker Mode. This mode should – at least in theory – offer a cinematic, reference-quality image without unnecessary enhancements. For SDR content (mainly HD/SD), the TV performed surprisingly well straight out of the box. White balance errors hovered around a value of 3, which is roughly at the threshold of perception. The only complaint could be about brightness management – the gamma chart showed a slight tendency to brighten or darken certain areas, but overall it performed quite well for this price segment.

Unfortunately, it looks much worse in HDR mode. Although the white balance wasn't terrible, the TV had significant color errors – particularly noticeable on the Color Checker chart, where almost every sample landed outside the target point. The HDR image simply looks unnatural, and colors can be shifted, dull, or too cool. This largely stems from the fact that the U8000F does not support a wide color gamut (DCI-P3). The TV is physically incapable of displaying accurate colors in HDR standard – and this unfortunately shows in every more demanding material.

To evaluate color we, of course, selected Filmmaker mode, and in SDR our S85H unit was very well calibrated out of the box. The biggest deviation appears in the white balance, where a bit of blue drops out as brightness increases. In practice this means whites and grays have a slightly warmer tint than they should. It's not a major error and during normal viewing it generally isn't very noticeable. Gamma also stays close to the reference value, so the image is neither overly bright nor unnecessarily dim. The S85H's SDR picture quality is therefore very good straight out of the box. A few more imperfections show up in HDR. Here the white balance shifts more as brightness increases, with blue becoming dominant and the red component noticeably lacking. That also leads to larger errors in some colors. These aren't yet distortions that completely change the character of the image, but compared directly with the reference the difference is easier to spot. Overall, Filmmaker mode is a very good starting point before professional calibration.

Although the U8000F offered quite a decent picture in SDR right out of the box, we were able to adjust it a little more. We managed to eliminate a slightly purplish tint and calibrate the gamma to a more reasonable level. However, the television still tends to overemphasize the smallest and brightest parts of the image – the gamma chart shows a characteristic "dip" that is difficult to completely correct.

Unfortunately, the situation looks worse in HDR. It's hard to talk about any significant improvement here – the television is simply not designed for HDR content. We tried to adjust the picture in the advanced settings, but despite everything, the color errors remained quite large – a delta E above 7 indicates noticeable deviations. It's a bit of a shame, but that's the charm of a budget design. In SDR, the U8000F performs just fine, while HDR is simply not its league.

Calibration yields very good results on the S85H. First, the white balance can be set almost perfectly, which removes the slightly too-warm image cast that was visible earlier in SDR. Color reproduction itself also improves significantly; most errors drop to a very low level, and in everyday viewing it's hard to notice any visible inaccuracies. You can also improve a lot in HDR, although some issues remain due to the TV's inherent characteristics. The S85H doesn't always perfectly follow the brightness curve. The darkest areas are slightly boosted, and as you approach the panel's limits you can see small deviations in the brightest highlights. On top of that there's limited coverage of the wider BT.2020 gamut, which no calibration can of course overcome. Despite this, the end result is very good, and after calibration the S85H can deliver a well-tuned, natural image.

When it comes to how the Samsung U8000F handles lower-quality materials, we have to admit that Samsung has made progress compared to its predecessor from last year – the DU7192 model, which theoretically occupies the same place in the lineup.

This year's model is equipped with a function to improve the fluidity of tonal transitions, which has been implemented much better than last year. Yes, the television still uses quite strong algorithms that can distort details or remove film grain, but even so – it can be confidently said that it works effectively.

However, not everything went perfectly. The U8000F has noticeable issues with slight frame cutting when watching very old content in very low resolution. If someone plans to play their old VHS tape, they should be prepared for the image to appear slightly “cut off.”

For the S85H, Samsung used the same proprietary NQ4 Gen2 AI processor as in last year’s S85F, and in terms of digital image processing it performs quite well. Upscaling is one of this model’s strengths. Lower-resolution content is well sharpened, edges look natural, and the image doesn’t feel overly artificial. Just bear in mind a common Samsung quirk: at very low resolutions you can’t completely disable overscan, so the TV may slightly crop the left edge of the image. The "noise reduction" function, which smooths weaker tonal transitions, also works very well. The processor can effectively remove posterization and other imperfections visible in lower-quality material. However, you need to be careful with the strength of this feature, because Samsung can be fairly aggressive here. When it’s enabled, along with unwanted artifacts, fine image details such as the texture of skin or clothing can start to disappear.

The Samsung U8000F is equipped with a 60 Hz panel, so right from the start, it’s clear that we shouldn’t expect any miracles. This is simply the standard in this class – sufficient for everyday viewing, but without any fireworks.

The TV offers one motion smoothing slider – a feature called "Motion Blur Reduction", which allows us to adjust the smoothness of the image in movies. Higher settings provide a more "theatrical" and smoothed effect, while lower settings help retain the original character of the film with a slight 24p effect. Interestingly, there is a feature called "Clear Motion LED", which is a BFI mode – that inserts black frames between the frames of the picture to improve motion clarity. However, in practice, the screen flickers significantly when activated, and it should be regarded more as an experiment than something that realistically enhances gaming comfort.

The S85H uses an OLED panel, so it performs excellently when it comes to motion blur. Pixels respond virtually instantly, so moving objects don’t leave the characteristic ghosting seen on some LCD TVs. This is especially noticeable with sports or fast-paced games, where the image stays very clean even during rapid motion. The panel runs at 120 Hz. That’s more than enough for movies, TV series, sports, or console gaming. It’s a bit of a shame Samsung didn’t include a higher refresh rate aimed at PC gamers, since more and more TVs now offer 144 or even 165 Hz at 4K. However, that doesn’t affect motion perception in films or sports. There’s also the classic motion smoothing feature with two settings, blur reduction and judder reduction. So you can choose whether films should keep their cinematic 24 frames per second or if you prefer to smooth them a bit. The S85H gives you plenty of flexibility here, and the interpolation works well and, with reasonable settings, doesn’t produce too many artifacts.

Samsung U8000F offers a basic set of features for gamers, which may still be sufficient for less demanding users. It includes an automatic game mode – when a game is launched on the console, the TV automatically switches to low latency mode, significantly improving response time. We also find the VRR feature, or variable refresh rate, which operates in the range of 48 to 60 Hz. This means that both Xbox and PS5 will not produce the “tearing” effect, as long as we stay within this range.

[UPDATE] We have updated our tests of Samsung TVs from the 2025 range due to the release of software version 1131, which restored the HGiG feature, crucial for gamers.

And unfortunately, that's about it when it comes to advantages. Additional features like Game Bar or higher refresh rates are reserved for higher models of Samsung from the 2025 line. In theory, the TV also supports the HGiG feature, which should adjust HDR image settings to the intentions of game creators. Unfortunately – despite the fact that this feature appears in brochures and advertising materials – its configuration on the Xbox console turned out to be... impossible in practice.

The Samsung S85H is very well set up for gaming, whether you connect a console or a PC. The manufacturer didn’t skimp on ports and all four HDMI inputs support full HDMI 2.1. That means you can use 4K at 120 Hz, VRR, and ALLM without worrying which input to plug your console into. With several devices that matters, because you don’t have to choose between a console, a PC, or a soundbar connected via eARC. The feature set itself is very comprehensive. The S85H supports VRR, FreeSync, and automatic switching to game mode, and Samsung offers its comprehensive Game Bar, which lets you quickly view key signal parameters and change settings without leaving the game. The only real omission is Dolby Vision, which will matter mainly to Xbox owners. That’s a typical trait of Samsung TVs. Game Motion Plus performs very well and is one of the features that have set Samsung TVs apart for years. It smooths motion in games running at 30 or 60 fps, but does so without as large an increase in input lag as traditional motion smoothing. In practice, with more relaxed games, racing titles, or action games this can really improve perceived motion, especially if you’re sensitive to low framerates.