XIAOMI A PRO 2026 vs Samsung R85H / R86H

If you are hoping for a cinematic HDR effect in the new Xiaomi A Pro 2026, you better quickly cool your expectations. This TV is simply too dark to fully convey the capabilities of contemporary movies or series prepared for the highest quality picture. Our measurements showed brightness in the range of 200-300 nits, which are values that suit SDR content more than ambitious HDR productions. In practice, this means that most movies look okay, but they definitely won’t give you the "wow" effect that other TVs deliver. Fortunately, not everything is lost – a plus here is the use of the PFS LED filter, which is a solution similar to the quantum dot known from QLEDs. Thanks to this, the coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut reaches about 94%, resulting in vibrant, saturated colors in the vast majority of materials.

If it’s about brightness, the R85H performs really well. In most of our test scenes the TV reaches around 800 to 900 nits, and with larger bright elements it can break 1000 nits. These aren't, of course, levels on par with the most expensive Mini-LEDs, but they're more than enough for watching movies and TV series in HDR, and the effect can be quite noticeable. The problem shows up again in more demanding scenes where there's a small bright element on a very dark background. Here the TV can significantly reduce its brightness so it doesn't illuminate too much of the screen. In our measurements such small highlights dropped to around 200 to 250 nits, so you can see that a limited number of local dimming zones combined with the specific behavior of the algorithm has its consequences. Fortunately, it's not something that bothers you all the time. In typical mixed HDR scenes the R85H looks good and can deliver appropriate image dynamics. You just can't expect the same punch from very small points of light as you get with TVs that have many more zones or with OLEDs.

What we saw in Filmmaker mode surprised us greatly – and unfortunately not in a good way. The mode advertised as Hollywood standard resembled more of a display in a store window. The white balance was shifted towards blue, leading to huge color errors and the effect of washed-out scenes in SDR content. It was a little better, though far from perfect, in HDR materials. There, problems were also visible – color saturation and the entire palette consistently shifted towards cooler tones, which made the image appear more artificial and cold rather than cinematic. In other words: even in Filmmaker mode, which should be the showcase of this television, we got a result far from expectations.

In Filmmaker mode our R85H sample performed adequately in SDR, but a few things immediately showed up in the measurements. In the white balance, as brightness increased more red crept in while blue decreased. As a result, the brighter parts of the image had a slightly too warm tint. On top of that, gamma only held to the target value at the start. It then gradually fell, making most of the image a bit too bright. The combination of the two also affected colors — errors grew especially in the brighter, more saturated samples. It didn’t look bad, but for Filmmaker mode we expected a bit more accuracy. Interestingly, in HDR our unit handled things noticeably better. White balance was much more even and, for most of the range, the individual RGB components stayed close together. Only in the brightest areas did red begin to fall short, causing the white point to shift slightly. The EOTF curve looked very good, tracking the target luminance values across almost the entire range. That doesn’t mean HDR colors were perfect. The ColorChecker still shows some deviations, particularly in some of the more saturated hues, but the errors are clearly smaller than in SDR.

Even though Xiaomi is not a brand associated with top-of-the-line televisions, it must be acknowledged that even in a budget model like the A Pro 2026, the manufacturer left quite a few calibration settings. After a few adjustments, the SDR picture gained a completely new character. The colors stopped veering into blue tones, the whites became more natural, and most errors dropped to a practically invisible level. As a result, SDR content looked very good, surprisingly so for this price range.

It was somewhat different with HDR material. Here, it was immediately noticeable what we had already mentioned - the overexposure of bright scenes and issues with balance control. Calibration only helped partially because the limitations of the panel itself played a role. However, it should be emphasized that in the case of SDR, the television transformed beyond recognition, and in a decidedly positive direction.

After calibration the R85H shows it has impressive color reproduction capabilities. It performed best in SDR, where the white balance was brought almost perfectly into line and the gamma stays very close to the target across most of the range. That also translated into very low errors in the ColorChecker, so there's really little to fault here. HDR also shows a clear improvement, although some issues can't be corrected as well. At peak brightness the character of the backlight itself starts to show and the individual components of the white balance begin to diverge. The same goes for the most saturated colors, which don't always land exactly where they should. Despite these limitations, overall the image is significantly more accurate than on the factory settings, and the biggest difference is clearly in SDR. However, there's one thing calibration can't fix. With highly saturated elements, color can subtly bleed onto adjacent bright parts of the image. It's easiest to notice this on white, which can pick up a slight tint from a neighboring hue. It doesn't occur in every scene, but when the content is demanding the effect can be visible. This is more a characteristic of the way the RGB backlight works than an issue with picture settings.

Upscaling and digital image processing in the Xiaomi A Pro 2026 are not among the strengths of this model. One might expect that since the TV wasn’t designed to achieve record brightness levels, the manufacturer would have opted for a more robust processor and a set of features that would "enhance" lower quality images. Unfortunately – we were also quite disappointed here. On the plus side, there is reasonably decent upscaling that handles HD materials and elevates them to 4K in an acceptable manner. However, this is where the list of advantages ends. The TV does not offer any features to improve tonal transitions or smooth out digital imperfections, so in most cases, we get a raw image, exactly as we deliver from an external source. On a large screen, this lack of support makes lower quality materials look simply bland. An additional problem is the phenomenon of overscan. When watching older materials, it sometimes happens that part of the image is cut off, which only intensifies the impression that Xiaomi still has a lot to catch up on in this category.

In the R85H, image processing is handled by the Micro RGB AI Processor. The name is new, but in terms of upscaling lower-quality content, the TV’s behavior remains very similar to what Samsung has shown before. And that’s not a bad thing, since the company has handled this aspect quite well for years. Low-resolution material is displayed cleanly, edges don’t become overly soft, and the TV doesn’t try to artificially extract details at any cost. The result is simply balanced, and with regular TV or older recordings the R85H performs as you would expect from a Samsung at this level. The only minor drawback is overscan, which can’t be completely turned off at the lowest resolutions. A separate issue is the additional processing of weaker sources. The R85H can smooth posterization and tidy up heavily compressed footage a bit, but it’s worth stressing that it does so relatively aggressively. At stronger "noise reduction" settings it starts removing not only compression artifacts but also fine details and natural film grain. It’s best to use it only when the material actually needs it.

The motion fluidity in the Xiaomi A Pro 2026 is an interesting compromise that results from the hybrid matrix used here. At the native resolution of 4K, the maximum refresh rate is 60 Hz – sufficient for those who mainly watch movies and series. It is precisely for them that the manufacturer added a motion smoother, allowing users to adjust the image to their own preferences – one can opt for greater fluidity or leave the more "cinematic" frames depending on the settings.

R85H has a 144 Hz panel, so motion is really smooth here. Just remember that the extra hertz above 120 will mainly be used when connected to a PC, so in this category we don't treat them as a particular advantage. For movies and TV, what's more important is that the panel is fast enough to provide access to an advanced motion-smoothing feature, "Motion Clarity", which lets us set motion from more film-like to very smooth. The panel's response time is a bit weaker. Because this is a VA panel, fast-moving objects can leave a slight trail. On bright backgrounds that's not very noticeable, but the darker the scene, the more visible the smearing becomes. That's a typical characteristic of this type of panel, and it's easiest to spot in dark scenes.

Indeed – since Xiaomi has added the "Game Boost 120 Hz" feature here, one might expect that they would follow up with a solid gaming package. Unfortunately, reality quickly dampens that enthusiasm. Aside from this mode (which, it must be said, is a great addition in a budget build), we have just a rather bizarre player panel. It's hard to call it a fully-fledged "game bar" – it's more of a simple overlay on the TV Menu with limited options. And that would be about it. There is no ALLM, so the TV won't automatically switch to game mode. There is no VRR, so you can forget about smooth frame synchronization. We also won't find support for Dolby Vision in games or the HGiG format, which are becoming increasingly standard on consoles. In short: apart from Game Boost 120 Hz, which does indeed make playing more enjoyable in 1080p or 1440p, the Xiaomi A Pro 2026 offers nothing particularly appealing to gamers.

Samsung has been steadily expanding its gamer-focused features for several years, and the R85H really lacks nothing important in that area. The TV supports 4K at 120 Hz, VRR and ALLM, so you can easily take advantage of the capabilities of the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X. HGiG also works correctly, so with the right HDR settings on the console games retain proper brightness and you don't unnecessarily lose detail in the brightest parts of the image. The only major omission is Dolby Vision Gaming, which Samsung doesn't support on any of its TVs.

Game Bar is also very useful, a handy menu you can bring up without leaving the game. You can quickly check the frame rate, VRR operation, or change the most important picture-related settings. Samsung also adds a few less obvious features, such as the ability to change the aspect ratio or Game Motion Plus, which can further smooth games running at 30 or 60 fps. Of course, this comes at the cost of higher input lag (around 55 ms), but for slower-paced titles it may be an interesting option for some players.