Samsung Q900R 8K QLED TV review: Breaking new ground again

It's raining 8K TVs from Samsung

Samsung makes a ton of UHD (ultra-high-definition) TVs, and the company brands them differently to differentiate their place in the market.

At the most basic level, you’ve the standard ‘UHD 4K TV’ range, which is made up mostly by the NU7000 and RU7000 models. Then there’s the loosely categorised ‘premium’ UHD TV, which can be anything from better specced RU7000 models to the RU8000 series to even the top-end QLED TVs.

And right at the top of the pile, we’ve the QLED TV. Stuffed with the latest hardware innovations and software features that Samsung’s TV department can come up with, this is the only line to pay attention to if you want to get the best Samsung TV.

But even within the QLED TV range there’s a split. And it happened earlier this year when the Korean company released a slew of 8K models. For Samsung, there’s no such thing as standard 8K UHD TVs — the new models are all QLED branded because they, like the QLED 4K models, use quantum dots to get a vastly improved picture quality that’s otherwise not possible with typical LCD-LED tech. I’ve written about what’s so special with these tiny semiconductor particles before, so check it out if you need a crash course:

• Samsung’s QLED TV tech is designed to overcome OLED’s long-held advantages

Samsung Q900R 8K QLED TV

The Q900R 8K QLED TV is the most premium TV that Samsung offers right now. Announced earlier this year at CES, you can get it in five screen sizes in Singapore: 55-inch, 65-inch, 75-inch, 82-inch and 98-inch.

The one that I’ve tested is the 75-inch model (QA75Q900RBKXXS), chosen because that’s the size that best fits my viewing habits and testing requirements. Having tested numerous TVs at HardwareZone for several years now, I believe that to truly enjoy the depth and resolution offered by an 8K TV, it's best that you invest in a screen size larger than 55 or even 65 inches — the additional pixels will basically ensure that the picture remains sharp when you up the screen size. If you’re wondering what else you must know when buying an 8K TV today, here's another article:

• Buying an 8K TV: The most important things to consider

But back to the Q900R. The biggest difference between this and the Q90R, which is Samsung’s highest-end QLED 4K TV, is the resolution. To create an image dimension of 7,680 x 4,320 (8K), the Q900R’s panel packs nearly 33.2 million pixels — four times the amount of 4K (which has 8.3 million).

Like how a 32-megapixel photo will look better than an 8MP photo because it’s able to show more details, the whole point of the Q900R is to up the realism notch to another level. Now, TV manufacturers have been using the term ‘true to life’ to describe their TVs since the Full HD 1080p days, but remember, the other half of the realism equation is size. At a viewing distance of 3 metres, 4K resolution on a 100-inch TV only looks passable to me because the details are lacking on such a big screen. And 8K content on a 55-inch TV is simply a mismatch. But 8K on a really big TV (say, 75-inch and up) — now that’s what I call true to life.

But putting an 8K image on a 8K screen is no easy task, and is without doubt even harder if the content isn’t 8K to start with. I’ve written about the component upgrades and new features that you’ll find on Samsung's 8K QLED TVs, but if you haven’t read that yet, here’s a summary of the key points:

1.) 8K Quantum Processor, 8K AI upscaling

Samsung’s 8K QLED TVs come with something called 8K Quantum Processor. This is the chip responsible for processing the picture, including upscaling of non-8K content (yes, even standard-def) to near-8K quality.

According to Samsung, its 8K Quantum Processor uses machine learning to analyse the incoming signals and convert them to the optimal resolution in real time. And it doesn’t just stretch the picture to fit the 8K resolution — instead, the processor draws from a large onboard database derived from millions of content to classify aspects of a scene (e.g., textures, edges) so that it can upscale different parts of the image in the best possible way.

2.) AI sound

The 8K Quantum Processor is also used for sound processing. Like how it treats video, audio in each screen is analysed and optimised to flesh out more details and enhance realism. For instance, dialogues are given more focus for news and TV shows, while background noises are emphasised for sports programmings.

3.) Direct full array backlighting

All the 8K QLED TVs support direct full-array local dimming (FALD), which means LEDs are placed directly behind the screen (instead of to the sides pointing at an angle) to light up the picture. In my experience, the best FALD implementation always trumps the best edge-lit method, so being the cream of the crop in the whole lineup, it’s no surprise that all the 8K QLED TVs support FALD.

For what it’s worth, this feature on the Q900R is called ‘Direct Full Array 16X’, with the 16X being a loose description of the control finesse, which is typically determined by the algorithm and number of backlight zones. To give you an idea, the Q90R 4K QLED TV also touts this same Direct Full Array 16X but the Q75R only has Direct Fully Array 4X.

4.) 4,000 nits peak brightness for HDR

Another big feature of the Q900R is ‘Quantum HDR 4000’. To break it down, what Samsung is trying to say is that this quantum dot-enhanced TV is able to offer exceptional HDR picture quality with a peak brightness of 4,000 nits. For comparison, the Q90R 4K QLED TV only boasts peak brightness of 2,000 nits.

On paper, the Q900R is going to be brighter than the Q90R, which can only be good news if you watch a lot of HDR content and want the highlights to be rendered as close as possible to its real-world brightness (true to life, remember?).

Of course, the Q900R supports HDR10+.

5.) Ultra Viewing Angle

The Q900R continues to use Samsung’s VA panels. For the uninitiated, one of my main gripes with previous VA-type LCD TVs from the company is their limited viewing angles. This is mostly solved by the new ‘Ultra Viewing Angle’ tech that’s on the Q900R and some of Samsung’s other 2019 QLED TVs. In a nutshell, Samsung has added another layer to the LCD ‘sandwich’ to better direct the backlight to the individual pixels.

6.) One Invisible Connection, One Connect Box, One Master Remote

The Q900R inherits many features we saw from past QLED TVs, including One Invisible Connection, the thin translucent optical cable that carries both A/V signals and power from the One Connect Box (which is the external box you connect your various devices to) to the TV. In addition to reducing the number of cables that snake out from the back of the TV to just one, the One Connect Box gives you the flexibility to place your TV away from your A/V rack or power socket.

There’s also One Master Remote, which allows you to navigate the TV, search content and control multiple peripherals in your A/V setup (e.g., set-top boxes, game consoles, speakers) with just one remote control. Whenever you hook up a new device, the TV will attempt to detect, connect and label it automatically. If you use Samsung SmartThings, you can also use this remote to control your smart home gadgets.

7.) HDMI 2.1, FreeSync

The One Connect box has four HDMI ports but only one of them (port #4) supports HDMI 2.1. Through this HDMI 2.1 port, the TV is able to do 8K at 60 fps and 4K at 120 fps. This is a futureproofing spec, because HDMI 2.1 sources aren't available in market yet.

The Q900R continues to support FreeSync and VRR (variable refresh rate).

8.) Apple TV app, AirPlay 2

Since May, all 2019 Samsung smart TVs sold here have the new Apple TV app and support AirPlay 2.

This Apple TV app enables you to access your existing iTunes library as well as buy or rent new movies and TV shows. The app will also integrate with Samsung’s smart TV services, such as the new Bixby on TV and search.

Samsung smart TV users will be able to enjoy the Apple TV+ original video subscription service through this app. At the moment, Samsung TVs are the only TVs to have this new Apple TV app; the newest TVs from the other brands are expected to get this app sometime in the future, but no firm dates are announced yet.

AirPlay 2 is a feature that lets you easily and quickly share videos, photos and music from your Apple devices to the TV. That's a big plus you won't be needing a separate Apple TV box to enable this functionality.

9.) Magic Screen

Last but not least, there’s Magic Screen, which is a feature that lets you set the screen’s background to something else when you aren’t using it. There are built-in patterns and photos of artwork to choose from, but you can also use your own photos — such as a photo of your wall to make it look like the TV blends in with its surroundings. You can overlay it with info like date and time, too.

Performance

Like the 2017 and 2018 Q9F, I found the Movie preset to be the best picture mode on the Q900R 8K QLED TV. I recommend this mode for most content, including live TV and Blu-ray movies.

For those interested, I continue to leave the Local Dimming setting at High, as I found it to draw out details in highlights very effectively, especially in darker scenes. When watching 24p content, make sure that Auto Motion Plus, which governs motion interpolation, is set to Custom and that both the Blur Reduction and Judder Reduction values are dialled down to 0.

It's worth repeating that you should enable Game Mode (General > External Device Manager > Game Mode Settings) when playing games (be it console or PC) on the Q900R. Here's also where you find other gaming-related settings such as Game Enhancer, Dynamic Black Equaliser, Game Motion Plus Settings and FreeSync. As its name suggests, Game Motion Plus deals specifically with motion interpolation in Game mode — you should adjust the settings to taste. Turn on FreeSync if you've a supported system such as an Xbox One or a PC with an AMD GPU.

Finally, under General > Intelligent Mode Settings, disable Adaptive Brightness if you don't like the brightness to change automatically based on the content. You can increase the Backlight setting to get a brighter picture (HDR will default to max).

1.) Bright vs. dark room

The 2019 Q900R performs very well in both bright and dark room settings. As I mentioned earlier, the new ‘Ultra Viewing Angle’ tech, which is a layer that Samsung added to the panel to better focus the backlight, has meaningfully widened the TV’s viewing angles. This is great because it means those not sitting directly in front of the TV can still get roughly the same picture quality as those who sit at the sweet spot.

Being an LED-lit LCD TV, the Q900R can’t switch its pixels off like an OLED TV, which means blacks still aren’t true blacks. That said, the Q900R’s local dimming performance is very good (though still aggressive like past few years’ TVs), which translates to very little 'blooming' and some pretty deep blacks at the expense of some details.

2.) Colours

The quantum dot-enhanced Q900R offers very good wide colour gamut performance, and is able to cover the majority of the DCI-P3 colour space. Better yet, it didn’t suffer much when I cranked up the brightness level.

That said, if you’re used to the colours from the 2018 Q9F, you may notice the Q900R’s colours to be a touch less rich. The difference is very, very slight though, and some might actually think that it looks more natural that way. But coupled with a slight dip in contrast, I see this as a slight regression. My best guess is that the 8K resolution has somewhat tipped the previous balance. Or maybe it's that extra layer in the panel.

3.) 8K & HDR

Like last year’s 4K Q9F, the 8K Q900R is very good at producing realistic and bright specular highlights, even when the overall scene is dark.

In fact, the Q900R surpassed both SDR and HDR peak brightness numbers I’ve gotten with the Q9F. Considering the bigger screen size and the considerably higher pixel count, this is no small feat — Samsung must have packed some high power LEDs in the Q900R’s backlight unit.

Is there anything to nitpick? Well, yes: while the brightness easily crosses the 1,000-nit mark in HDR mode, it never went past 2,000 nits (even with a small test window), much less 4,000 nits. It’s entirely possible that it can hit 4,000 nits, but that’s likely to be for a very, very, very small segment of the screen and for a very, very, very short period of time. Now, don’t take this as a knock against the Q900R, because such peak brightness performance is something that current OLEDs can only dream of.

4.) Motion

Like all other QLED TVs, the Q900R’s Auto Motion Plus (AMP) settings control how the TV handles motion images. As always, for 24p content, I used the Custom option for AMP and turned the Blur Reduction and Judder Reduction values all the way down — effectively turning off motion interpolation — to minimise the soap opera effect.

For other types of content though, it’s perfectly fine to leave AMP to Auto and let interpolation smooths the image automatically.

The AMP menu also has an option called LED Clear Motion. This strobing of the backlight may increase visible flicker (to some people) but the upside is that motion will look clearer and the image sharper. The only time that I can think of when this should be turned off is if you’ve true 100 or 120fps high frame rate content.

5.) Gaming

Samsung’s QLEDs traditionally had fast response times, and the Q900R, even with an 8K panel, is no different.

The Q900R also supports FreeSync, so when gaming at 1080p or 1440p, the QLED TV is able to match the source’s refresh rate in real-time up to 100/120Hz. It’s worth noting that since the TV supports HDMI 2.1, its refresh rate range can, in theory, go as high with a 4K @ 100/120Hz input.

Additionally, the Q900R offers gamers a very low input lag. In fact, this is the first time I got under 20ms for both 1080p and 4K gaming at standard 50/60Hz for a Samsung TV. With higher refresh rates and FreeSync, it dips even further. Top marks here, really.

6.) Sound

The Q900R sports built-in 4.2-channel-type speakers with a total output of 60W RMS. Thanks to the decent woofer drivers, the TV speakers sounded good across different types of content. Bluetooth audio and Dolby Digital Plus formats are supported natively, but HDMI eARC (enhanced Audio Return Channel) for Dolby Atmos passthrough via Dolby TrueHD is missing.

If you want better audio, you should be looking at getting external speakers or at least a soundbar. An equally high-end option is the Samsung Harman Kardon HW-Q90R, which is a 7.1.4-channel soundbar with upward-firing speakers to render Dolby Atmos and DTS:X surround soundtracks more convincingly.

Conclusion: Go big or go home

The Samsung Q900R QLED TV is an excellent TV. Its greatest strength is its extremely high brightness, which means the picture will look good whether you’re using it in a bright family room or in a dark man cave. And of course, if you watch a lot of HDR content, this increased brightness can only be a good thing as it enhances realism.

Like Samsung’s flagship QLED TVs in the past few years, the Q900R offers a class-leading local dimming performance. Coupled with the Ultra Viewing Angle tech that solves these TVs’ narrow viewing angle problem, this is the most OLED-like (in terms of black levels) Samsung TV I’ve tested to date.

Characterised by a very low input lag (which drops to as low as 6 - 7ms with 100/120Hz refresh rate), FreeSync/VRR support and excellent motion handling, the Q900R’s top-notch gaming performance also deserves a shout-out. It’s no high-end gaming monitor yet, but if Samsung keeps this up, I’ve no doubt that future QLED TVs will be spoken in the same breath as, say, an ASUS ROG gaming monitor. My only wish is that it supports NVIDIA G-Sync too. Samsung's (and other TV makers') push in this area will mean that Big Format Gaming Displays from NVIDIA and its partners are increasingly going to be a tough sell.

Does the 8K resolution matter?

The Q900R is both Samsung’s first 8K TV and the first 8K TV to arrive in the market. Being first has its own set of pros and cons; and the most obvious pro I can think of is that the Q900R is arguably the best option for those who must buy the most premium, most future-proof big-screen TV today as it supports both 8K and HDMI 2.1.

But the caveat is obvious, too: true 8K content is as good as non-existent at the moment, which means if you have a Q900R, you’re pretty much only getting upscaled, 8K-like quality from existing 4K, HD and SD content. To be fair, the TV’s AI upscaling tech is pretty good — at the very least, I didn’t go yucks when it was upscaling Channel 8 HD. That, to me, is important because I don’t expect OTA (over-the-air) channels to jump to 4K transmission anytime soon (much less embrace 8K).

Additionally, it’s worth pointing out that the TV currently relies on an onboard database when doing the upscaling, and the algorithms are sort of like Samsung’s best guess on how 8K should look. According to a Samsung engineer I spoke to earlier this year, as true 8K content becomes more readily available, this database will grow and the company will be looking to improve its processing algorithms and push any improvements to its 8K TVs via firmware updates.

It’s also worth noting that while the Q900R supports HDMI 2.1, only one port on the One Connect box has it. Additionally, while this port can do high refresh rates at 4K (100/120Hz), without an HDMI 2.1 source, you will at best get 30Hz at 8K. That said, don’t see this as a knock against the Q900R — in the real world, PC gamers I’ve spoken to all said they will take 4K/120Hz over 8K/60Hz for practical reasons. The lack of HDMI eARC is kind of weird, especially when LG's and Sony's flagship TVs all have it. But whether this limitation matters depends on whether you intend to send lossless Dolby Atmos or DTS:X to a compatible A/V receiver or soundbar now or down the road.

What about its OLED competitors?

The Samsung Q900R QLED and the LG Z9 OLED are the only 8K TVs you can get in Singapore right now. Of the two brands, Samsung offers more options in that you can buy the Q900R from as small as a 55-inch screen size all the way to 98-inch. On the other hand, LG’s 8K OLED TV is only available in an 88-inch screen size and it costs an eye-popping S$60K. (Comparatively, the Samsung 82-inch and 98-inch Q900R has an S$30K and S$100K SRP respectively.)

Another option is to just get a 4K TV, and in this regard, I feel that the Q900R faces the stiffest competition from LG’s and Sony’s 4K OLED TVs, namely the LG E9 and the Sony A9G.

If you're going the LG 4K OLED route, you’re basically trading the Q900R’s versatility, no danger of burn-in, high brightness and everything related to 8K for OLED’s perfect black level performance. And unlike the early QLED TVs, the black levels on the Q900R have advanced quite a bit that I think most people won't notice they're missing out on OLED's inky blacks unless they can do a side-by-side comparison.

For PC gamers, note that you’re also giving up 4K @ 100/120Hz as the LG E9 can only do the high refresh rate up to 1440p if you don’t have an HDMI 2.1 source. The E9 does support G-Sync, though, which is a plus if you’ve a PC system running an NVIDIA graphics card.

The story is similar if you were to go for the Sony A9G. Like the LG E9, black performance is the Sony OLED TV's strongest suit, and it too supports Dolby Vision in addition to standard HDR10 as well as eARC. However, the A9G lacks HDMI 2.1 so you definitely won’t be able to game at 4K @ 100/120Hz. The comparatively higher input lag across all resolutions and lack of VRR support (no FreeSync, no G-Sync) combine to make the A9G the worst gaming display of the lot.

Last but not least: price. The LG E9 only comes in 55- and 65-inch screen sizes, priced at S$5,099 and S$6,999 respectively. For Sony, the A9G is available in 55-, 65- and 77-inch sizes, priced at S$7,999, S$11,999 and S$27,999 respectively. Looking at the table below, purely from a pricing standpoint, the LG E9 offers the best bang for the buck if you just want a high-end 4K TV no bigger than 65 inches. (The W9 is, for the most part, a more premium E9 with a wall-mount-only design and a separate soundbar.) For the 75-inch and above class however, the Samsung Q900R 8K QLED is the runaway value leader.

Now you know.

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