Samsung QE65QN94A - roneyribeiro

Verdict

With its Mini-LED backlight, Samsung's Neo QLED is a light cannon with 4K HDR content. of picture.

Advantages

Ultra-bright 4K HDR performance

Fast gaming performance

Excellent build quality

Solid app selection

The inconvenients

good dear

No Dolby Vision/Atmos decoding

Not the most compelling motion

Main characteristics

Quantum Mini-LED backlight

Features Samsung's latest backlight technology for even higher brightness

Class-leading latency

Offers the fastest latency for game consoles/PC

HDR

Supports HDR10, HLG and HDR10+ adaptive formats

introduction

that of Samsung

2021 QLED range

marks its biggest TV refresh in quite some time with the addition of the

Mini

–

LED backlight.

Despite a recent thaw in relations and even rumors that Samsung was looking to buy OLED TV screens from LG, you get the impression that Samsung doesn't like OLEDs.

Thus, the QN94A Neo QLED, armed with its Mini-LED backlight technology, not only aims to justify why Samsung considers its QLED technology as

be the best

, but to beat OLED at its own game.

Samsung pushes its chips across the table with a confident hand. Does the Samsung QE65QN94A Neo QLED 4K TV have a winner though?

The QN94A is exclusive to the UK market, with Samsung offering three variants with similar specifications (QN95A and QN90A).

Specs-wise, there's little difference between this and the QN95A we've already reviewed, other than the fact that it doesn't have the One Connect box and sheds a few hundred pounds in the process. .

Design

Minimalist looks

Excellent build quality

Includes anti-glare screen technology

Another year, another Samsung QLED – and another very similar TV. While everything changes inside, the exterior appearance is virtually identical to previous models. It's another high-quality, minimalist set built to exacting standards. the highest.

Samsung encourages comparisons to OLED TVs, given that most OLED sets aren't as thin as the marketing suggests. At 25.9mm, it'll pretty much lean against a wall, but LG has opted for Samsung's Neo QLEDs with a depth of 23.1 mm.

Anyway, the QN94A has the same depth as the QN95A model that comes with the One Connect external box. same way. Although not the case here, the One Connect box brings significant differences which I will come back to later.

The bracket that supports the QN94A is one of the heaviest things I've brought up. If you're inclined to mount this set on the wall, I suggest you assemble the bracket anyway and use it for the home workouts. It's so heavy.

There is a slight tilt towards the back of the screen which is only noticeable from the side. This is not a problem and it works for the best considering that you wouldn't want the screen to lean in forward, lest it tip over.

Samsung has shifted its branding to the side to firm up the minimalist tastes of the set, while the bezel that frames the screen highlights the images the TV (spoiler alert) creates rather wonderfully.

The screen also supports Samsung's anti-glare technology. In my eyes, I'd say it minimizes the intensity of glare better than the Q95T. With bright lights there is a slight glare, but for the most part, staring into a bright room offered few distractions.

Interface

Supported UK catch-up apps

Boosted Samsung TV Plus free content

New “smart” remote control

Unlike LG's webOS 6.0, Samsung hasn't revamped its Tizen 6.0 OS. The nips and kinks are obvious as the OS promotes features better than the 2020 models.

The Tizen/Eden based interface covers most major apps such as Apple TV, BT Sport, Spotify, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and

Disney+

.A few are left out, like

Tide

and the fitness-focused Peloton (I'm sure Samsung will argue that its Health app is an adequate alternative). In terms of numbers, it's beaten by

Google TV

, and Samsung doesn't have as many exclusives anymore, but the coverage and breadth of offerings are good enough for most.

Samsung does not support

DTT reading

, but all the UK catch-up apps are there. Additionally, Samsung is pushing its TV Plus service with its built-in electronic program guide as an alternative to Freeview. Like Freeview, it's free to watch and requires no subscription.

TV Plus also curates content from a number of apps and services (even UKTV), and there's a

Okay

selection of movies and TV shows that range from the good (Haywire, Natural Born Killers) to the dodgy (recent films by John Travolta and Nicolas Cage). There's also a channel apparently dedicated to Baywatch reruns.

Multi-View returns and actually has a prominent space in the Smart Hub. Like its implementation on 2020 TVs, you can watch multiple sources simultaneously (the QN94A supports dual screens) – one example being watching the information while streaming a fitness video in the other window.

The feature has evolved to create presets that you can easily invoke. which can be boring.

Samsung continues to provide two remotes – a standard model and a less cluttered, more ergonomic version with volume and channel rockers. The latter is the preferred remote; it is pleasant, simple and intuitive to use, and has been of an eco-responsible redesign for 2021.

Flip it over and there's - for lack of a better term - a solar panel that allows the remote to charge itself by absorbing ambient light. Quick-access buttons include the usual suspects in Netflix and Prime Video, while Samsung TV More replaces Rakuten TV.

Features

Class-leading latency

Single HDMI 2.1 input

Multi-View delivers multi-screen action

There's the same array of features in the QN94A that we've come to expect from high-end Samsung TVs over the past few years.

Smart modes adapt the picture and sound by recognizing the content being played as well as the environment around the TV. They include Adaptive Picture, Adaptive Sound+, Active Voice Amplifier and Adaptive Volume. You can enable/disable each of them in the settings, and out of the bunch I'd say Adaptive Sound+ is worth a shot, but the others aren't entirely necessary. drastic.

In terms of digital assistants, Samsung included Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant from the start, alongside Samsung's Bixby.

Filmmaker Mode returns, continuing to reassure Hollywood creatives that you're watching their movies the way they want by turning off TV processing. This and Film Mode are the most accurate options, so if you want the best picture with a calibration, one of these two will be perfect.

From a gaming perspective, Samsung was usurped by LG in terms of the number of features, but when it comes to latency, Samsung still leads the class. Latency at 1080p was 9.4ms and 9 .1ms at 4K. Since the QN94A supports refresh rates up to 120Hz, its peak performance could drop much, much lower.

Samsung's alternative to LG's Game Optimizer is evident in its Game Bar. It performs a similar function by giving gamers quick access to settings and information such as frames per second, HDR support and latency in a bar at the bottom of the screen. It can be called up by pressing the play/pause button on the 'smart' remote.

The Super UltraWide game view expands the picture to 21:9 and 32:9 screen ratios and is only possible when a PC/Laptop is connected. And you would also need to be seated close enough to screen to achieve the desired effect.

Game Motion Plus improves picture quality, but is better suited to games that aren't fast or have a more competitive element. Latency here is still better than the majority of TVs (13.7ms at 1080p/ 13.9ms at 4K), so you don't lose much. HGiG HDR for better tone/picture mapping quality with supported games is also touted.

The Samsung QN94A supports ALLM (

Automatic low latency mode

) to automatically switch to the TV's lowest latency mode, VRR (

Variable refresh rate

) to match TV refresh rate to console/PC refresh rate for less tearing and stuttering, while high frame rate goes up to 4K/120Hz. However, only HDMI 4 – the “game” input so to speak – supports these features.

This is where the difference between the QN94A and

QN95A

is the most obvious.One Connect slim external case supports

HDMI 2.1

(ALLM, VRR, HFR) through

all

its HDMI inputs, so you can connect a

Xbox series X

and one

PS5

into one of the QN95A's HDMI inputs. While Samsung continues to offer Dolby Vision the widest of berths,

Dolby Vision for gaming

isn't coming to their TVs anytime soon.

Connections are four HDMI (HDMI 3 supports eARC to pass high quality audio to soundbars), Ethernet, optical, a CI+ 1.4 connection, 2 x satellite tuners, plus an air port and two ports USB 2.0.Bluetooth 5.2 as well as Wi-Fi and DLNA compatibility are integrated.

Image quality

Incredibly bright

Excellent black levels

Impressive scaling

The addition of Quantum Mini-LED backlighting works wonders. The Samsung QE65QN94A is a showcase for bright, striking contrast and 4K HDR performance.

But it is also suitable for upscaling lower quality sources. Although the QN94A does not boast the advanced neural network upscaling of 8K models, its upscaling offers a excellent sense of detail, crisp, healthy colors and sharply etched lines that bring out more definition with HD sources.

Standard-definition content predictably suffers from a lack of sharpness, detail, and clarity. Noise is prevalent, though not particularly bothersome with SD content, and both HD and SD sources benefit from the brightness and wide color output of the QN94A. I would say that LG's upscaling technology extracts more detail from faces in SD content, but it's still a very consistent performance nonetheless.

SD SDR

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

HD SDR

I'm less convinced of its 'Picture Clarity' motion processing. Samsung doesn't offer a whole host of options: just Auto, Custom and Off. frayed edges, which can distract sportsmen.

Custom allows manual adjustment of De-Blur and De-Judder settings as well as playing with noise reduction. De-Blur and De-Judder are set to 10 and 3, but to my eyes there is no difference between enabling or disabling this option. If there is an effect, it is very slight.

The local dimming system consists of 792 dimming zones and its precision is impressive. When watching movies, bright objects close to the upper and lower black bars show no bleeding, while bright HDR objects also show no bloom. The only noticeable bloom was when I viewed the playback status bars on a predominantly black screen.

The Samsung QE65QN94A is capable of spectacular brightness

The issue with the 2020 models where the brightness of small objects was reduced is not seen here; so the scene where Chris falls in Sunken Place retains the same consistent brightness throughout. Samsung's dimming algorithms do not are not as sophisticated with subtitles, with some words brilliant and others less so.

There's some argument that its brightness dominates the picture. The game mode is very bright – with my PS4's yellow background, I actually squinted when the console started up. Browsing through a few channels, I I noticed that switching between low and standard dimming could turn a cloud-covered shot into a bright day.

Samsung offers a choice of Dynamic, Natural, Standard, Movie and

Director

Samsung QE65QN94A

picture modes. The last two are the most accurate with little or no difference between them.

Dynamic is the most sinister option, with its blue hue but bolder, more vibrant colors, while Natural exacerbates greens and whites, and Standard is the most balanced of the three. Standard isn't as punchy as the natural, which seems to me more suitable for sport, but I prefer a more balanced and natural image.

With 4K HDR content, the Samsung QN94A kicks things up a notch. Highlights are incredibly bright but don't sacrifice detail. The QN94A delivers some of the most impactful, vibrant and colorful 4K HDR images I've seen.

And it does this while producing black levels very close to OLED. Images burst with three-dimensionality; whites are intensely conveyed, with varied colors that are bold and expressive. Give it as much 4K HDR content from from any source and the Samsung QN94A delivers on the promise of HDR. Wide angles are also impressive, retaining color saturation and depth the same as

OLED TVs

This Samsung also has a knack for nailing the texture and quality of objects, characters, and surfaces, with a very sure hand in a series like Black Narcissus (4K

HLG

) on iPlayer or with the 70mm/IMAX combo scenes in Tenet (4K HDR). The QN94A's sense of contrast helps the TV produce beautifully natural yet vivid images.

There's no

Dolby Vision HDR

, but I wonder if it's absolutely necessary with this level of brightness. Looking at the opening of John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, there didn't seem to be a huge difference between this one and the

LG G1 OLED'

s Dolby Vision performance.

Given the continued absence of Dolby Vision (I imagine Samsung doesn't like its idea of picture quality dictated to it) you might consider this a win for LG as it can achieve similar levels with less brightness. But it's not all Dolby Vision, and Samsung's high brightness means even standard HDR10 content is rendered terrifically bright.

Sound quality

Clear and detailed sound

No built-in Dolby Atmos decoding for apps

Flat soundstage

The Samsung QE65QN94A's sound system is surprisingly punchy. I'd still suggest pairing it with a capable sound system - potentially, a Samsung soundbar given the shared specs and tech - but it does quite well. Continuing the lack Dolby support from Samsung, the QN94A does not seem to decode

atmosphere

from streaming apps.

The TV only handles Standard and Amplify sound modes, but it delivers powerful, powerful sound without harshness. more precise effects.

It's crisp, but not overly so, and detailed and clear with the streamed content. adding more weight to a scene in Tenet where a building simultaneously explodes and is put back together.

There's also a good sense of space, with the OTS+ system placing sounds up and down the screen as Thanos' hordes attack Wakanda in Infinity War. Amplify mode makes it sound bigger and louder, but you can't escape the flatness of the soundstage.

Dialogue is delivered with precision and easily decipherable, although there is a flatness and therefore lacks emotion. The bass is decent, but obviously lacks depth and extension. The QN94A sports a very competent for a TV, but

match it with a soundbar

will add an extra dimension.

Should I buy it?

For bright and expressive image quality full of contrast

Armed with its Mini-LED technology, the QN94A delivers always-bright performance for some of the most punchy and colorful images you'll see on a TV in 2021.

This Neo QLED TV isn't cheap

With an RRP of £2,899 - although its price has come down since launch - this TV is obviously very expensive and will stretch beyond most people's purse strings.

Verdict

With its Mini-LED backlight, Samsung's Neo QLED is a light cannon with 4K HDR content. image. It's expensive, but also very impressive.

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