Samsung QN90A series QLED TV review (2021): Closer to OLED than ever

OLED TVs still have the best picture quality I've ever tested, but Samsung's QN90A comes closer than ever. This QLED TV is brighter than any OLED TV, yet still manages to maintain contrast and black level to a degree I've never seen on any other OLED TV before. If you crave that brightness or are watching in a bright room where ambient light is a big issue, you need to definitely consider this TV over a comparable OLED.

LikeBest non-OLED picture quality we've ever testedIncredible brightness with minimal bloomingSleek, feature-rich design

Don't like Expensive Contrast, lag and uniformity slightly worse than OLED

New for 2021, Samsung's top QLED models like the QN90A are called Neo QLED and feature a new mini-LED based full dimming local backlight array. Samsung has made its LEDs 40 times smaller than conventional LED units , allowing more to be packed into the TV, and added a "quantum matrix" to help direct the LED light more precisely. The result is improved HDR highlights with minimal blooming (flare lighting that passes from light to dark areas), as well as better shadow detail.

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All of these improvements were visible in my side-by-side tests. I pitted the QN90A against the best OLED TV I've ever reviewed, the LG G1, and the brightest TV I've ever measured, the Vizio PQX- H1.Overall, I liked the LG a bit better than the Samsung - it's very bright itself and perfect black levels, superior contrast for mixed scenes and better off-angle viewing gained by a nose - but the QN90A looked better in some scenes, especially bright HDR. Meanwhile, its precise light control and resulting contrast handily beat the Vizio. In summary, it's the better TV LCD I've ever tested and a great high end alternative to OLED.

Floating bracket design, solar remote control

One TV looks a lot like another, but Samsung still manages to make the QN90A look luxurious. The most obvious design upgrade is the stand: centered, with a small footprint, it looks cleaner and sleeker than the dual legs found on most TVs. My favorite aspect is how it suspends the large panel above my credenza, appearing to float without touching. As expected, the edge around the image is super thin, although not as minimalistic as the “infinite screen” found on the flagship, 8K resolution Q900A.

From the side, you can appreciate its one-piece shape, as well as the fact that it tilts the whole screen back a few degrees. The back has a cable management system that allows you to channel power and HDMI from their ports along the rear and through the stand for a cleaner look.

On the back, the remote control has a solar panel.

David Katzmaier/CNET

And yes, the remote has a solar panel on the back. I haven't tested Samsung's claim that leaving it under indoor lighting is enough to charge, but I liked that it didn't have no batteries needed. If I owned this TV I would probably use the USB charging port instead when it ran out of juice.

Samsung's remote is one of my favorites to use, with minimal buttons and the right feel in hand. Channel and volume buttons click up and down, ambient mode has its own button, as does the Voice mic and even the Netflix and Amazon app shortcut keys are nicer than on other remotes: they lack the garish colors and just match the rest of the wand. .

Ambient Mode is designed to display things on screen when you're not watching TV. This is a nice feature if you don't like the big black rectangle of an inert TV and can display your photos, your artwork, weather, titles and even adjust backgrounds to match your wall.

The voice assistant can be summoned from the remote or hands-free by saying "Alexa" or (if you prefer, for whatever reason) "Hi, Bixby."

David Katzmaier/CNET Choice of voice assistant, optional webcam

Voice control is built in, and you can choose between Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, or Samsung's homebrew Bixby. Whichever you choose will be available when you press the mic button on the switcher. With Amazon and Bixby (but not Google) , you also have the option to just say "Alexa" or "Hi, Bixby", allowing you to issue hands-free commands and unlike last year the mic is located in the TV itself, not the remote. And like most TVs, you can also pair the QN90A with separate Alexa or Google speakers.

Samsung's health app debuted on its TVs in 2020 and this year it's expanding to offer guided personal training. Plug in an optional webcam (Samsung has a list of recommended cameras, all from Logitech) and the app will track your workouts and give you comprehensive coaching with celebrity personal trainers like Jillian Michaels.

You can also use this webcam for video chat with the Google Duo app, which lets up to 12 other people join the chat. And if you don't have a camera hooked up, you can mirror Duo on your phone on the TV and use its camera. It's not Google's most popular Meet software, but at least it's web chat on the big screen.

I didn't test the webcam features for this review, but I did test out the personal trainer earlier this year – and I broke a sweat, as shown in the video below.

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Beyond voice and webcam, Samsung's in-screen smart TV system is excellent, with quick responses and plenty of apps - I'd take it over the LG or Vizio systems I still like Roku better and Android/Google TV (found on Sony TVs) overall, however, as they have even more apps. Just like most TVs today (including Roku), Samsung has the Apple TV app and works with Apple's AirPlay system.

Samsung's homepage is displayed at the bottom so it doesn't obscure what you're looking at.

David Katzmaier/CNET (Plus) presents in abundance

Samsung sells a few high-end TVs, including 8K resolution models as well as very expensive Micro-LED TVs, but the Q90A is still packed with picture quality extras. powered by mini-LED with full local dimming. Local dimming improves LCD image quality by making certain areas of the image darker or brighter in response to what is on screen, dramatically increasing contrast. Judging by Samsung's murky "Quantum HDR" spec, the QN90A has more dimming zones and brighter images than the step-down Q85A, and fewer zones than the 8K models, but Samsung isn't saying exactly how many zones (or what brightness).

Main characteristics

Display technology

LCD LED

LED backlight

Full range with local dimming

Resolution

4K

HDR-ready

HDR10, HDR10+

Smart-TV

Tizen

From a distance

standard voice

Like all QLED TVs from Samsung, as well as most high-end TVs from Vizio and TCL, the QN90A's LCD panel is augmented with a layer of quantum dots - microscopic nanocrystals that glow with a specific wavelength. (i.e. one color) when receiving power. The effect is better brightness and color compared to non-QD equipped TVs. The QN90A uses a true 120Hz panel, which improves the motion performance of TVs.

The set supports high dynamic range content in both HDR10 and HDR10 Plus formats. It lacks the Dolby Vision HDR support found on most competing HDR TVs. I haven't seen any evidence that one HDR format is inherently "better" than the other, so I certainly don't see the lack of Dolby Vision as a deal breaker on this TV - it performs like a champ without that format.

Gaming functionality is one of the QN90A's strengths. Its four HDMI inputs are compatible with variable refresh rate, including AMD's standard FreeSync and VRR formats, as well as ALLM (aka Auto Game Mode), which allows it to automatically switch to game mode to reduce input lag when it detects that you are playing a game. Only input 3 handles eARC.

Input 4, which is conveniently marked with a little game controller icon, also accepts 4K/120Hz with and without HDR. None of the other inputs handle 4K/120, which should only be a problem if you have multiple devices outputting it - like a PlayStation 5 and an Xbox Series X (you know who you are…), or one of those consoles and a high-end graphics card. It's worth noting that each entry on recent LG OLED TVs supports 4K/120.

Read more:

Best TV for PS5 and Xbox Series X, Series S in 2021

The top input, Input 4, has the best specs for gaming.

David Katzmaier/CNET 4x HDMI inputs2x USB portsEthernet port (LAN)Optical digital audio outputRF input (antenna)Remote port (RS-232) (EX-LINK)

The list is mostly solid, unless you have a legacy device that requires analog video (component or composite) or audio. Like many new high-end TVs, the QN90A lacks analog, audio, or video inputs entirely .On the other hand, it's one of the few TVs with a built-in ATSC 3.0 tuner for Next-Gen TV signals.

Image quality comparisons

The Samsung QN90A has the best picture of any non-OLED TV I've tested, and the best picture in a bright room. It's extremely bright, but capable of delivering deep black and inky levels with minimal blooming , even with the most difficult HDR hardware. However, it can't beat the contrast and theatrics of competing high-end OLED models like the LG G1 overall, and it also lacks a bit of uniformity and performance off-angle. If I had to choose a TV to watch every day, it would still be an OLED, but it's very close.

Dim light:

Watching the basic 1080p SDR version of The Desolation of Smaug Blu-ray in a darkened room, the Samsung QN90A came as close to the LG OLED as I've ever seen on an LCD TV. Its black levels were essentially perfect - or close enough that I couldn't visually distinguish them from the OLED - in most scenes, even in the letterbox bars and shadows. When Gandalf meets Thorin in the prancing pony prologue , for example, it was really hard to tell the two apart, while the black levels on the Vizio, in comparison, were brighter and created a flatter, less three-dimensional look. In rare cases, for example titles on a black screen, Samsung's black levels seemed brighter (worse) than LG's.

Shadow detail was excellent on all three TVs, although again the Vizio looked a little less realistic due to its slightly brighter overall black levels. Looking at SDR, I saw no evidence blooming or lens flare on the Samsung or Vizio with normal video. The exceptions were graphical elements, e.g. the play/pause icons my Blu-ray player had placed in the top left created a faint halo against the mailbox bar on the Samsung.

Bright lighting:

The QN90A is extremely bright, especially compared to OLED models. The Vizio PX measured slightly more brightness overall and also held peak brightness better on its brightest setting.

Light output in nits

TV

Brightest (SDR)

Accurate Color (SDR)

Brightest (HDR)

Accurate color (HDR)

Vizio P65QX-H1

2.017

1287

2780

2064

Samsung QN65QN90A

1,622

1283

2596

1,597

TCL 65R635

1,114

792

1292

1,102

Sony XBR-65X900H

841

673

989

795

Samsung QN65Q80T

664

503

1,243

672

LG OLED65G1

377

334

769

763

As usual, Samsung's brightest setting, Dynamic, was woefully inaccurate. For precise SDR measurements, I used the Natural picture mode in combination with the warm color temperature setting (the temperature by default for Natural is quite blue). If you want an even sharper bright room image, you can choose Film or Filmmaker mode and set the brightness control down to 50 (the maximum), which measured 620 nits. Either way, I prefer Vizio's approach of a dedicated, accurate bright room picture mode.

The QN90A maintained stable HDR light output over time in Film and Filmmaker modes, but in Dynamic mode with HDR and SDR it fluctuated considerably, starting at around 2500 nits but dropping almost immediately to around 500 - a massive decrease five times. I've seen this behavior on older Samsung TVs as well and it seems designed to gain prominence in graphics like the one you see above. It's worth noting that the Vizio PX, among many other non-Samsung TVs I've tested, retained its brightest images much more consistently over time, without drastic fluctuations. do not recommend using this mode anyway.

Samsung's light-rejecting screen is the best on the market, maintaining contrast and punch in bright lighting and reducing glare, better than the Vizio and LG. The screen, combined with the prodigious light output of the QN90A , actually the best TV I've ever tested for bright rooms.

The Samsung's screen was excellent at rejecting glare.

David Katzmaier/CNET

Color Accuracy:

All three high-end TVs measured color extremely well before and especially after calibration, and watching The Hobbit Blu-ray, I couldn't quite pick a winner. Colors from Galadriel's delicate complexion to Mirkwood's green and brown to the gray of Gandalf's cape looked true. The LG showed a slight advantage in near-black grayscale where the Samsung had a slightly blue streak, but the difference was subtle.

Video processing:

As usual, the Samsung passed my tests in this category, delivering true 1080p/24 film frame rate with film-based sources and great motion resolution (1000 lines) with video sources. got both results with a custom picture clarity setting with blur reduction at 10 and noise reduction at 0, so if I had this TV I would 'set it and forget it' right there. Note that the setting Filmmaker mode's default is to turn off image clarity, which results in less motion resolution, but you can adjust this to your liking.

You can also add more smoothing or soap opera effect by increasing noise reduction or choosing Auto instead of Custom. insertion of a black frame, at the expense of flickering and a darker image.

Uniformity:

The QN90A's screen was worse than the Vizio and LG's at maintaining even light distribution throughout, with slight variations visible in full-screen test patterns, particularly along the edges and in the top center .In the moving test patterns, the QN90A showed a slightly more noticeable dirty screen effect, but it was still quite mild.

From off-angle, the Samsung was slightly better at preserving contrast and color than the Vizio, even when the latter's 'enhanced viewing angle' mode was enabled, but the differences were minor and the two as usual , were significantly lower than the off-angle fidelity of OLED.

The Game Bar pop-up window provides instant access to game information.

David Katzmaier/CNET

Game:

The QN90A is a gaming powerhouse. When I first plugged in my Xbox Series X, the TV automatically detected it, switched to its input, and implemented gaming mode, with a popup at the bottom that Samsung calls the Game Bar - long play/pause on remote calls raise it at any time. The left side of the bar consists of a status display listing input lag, FPS (frames per second), HDR, VRR and audio output, while the controls on the right provide a shortcut to game settings as well as aspect ratio and screen position (the latter only active with PC sources , which I have not tested).

Samsung continues its tradition of excellent input lag in gaming mode with a score of just over 10 milliseconds with 1080p and 4K HDR sources – the best I've measured. You can choose to enable smoothing, aka Auto Motion Plus, in game mode, but it increases input lag up to 26ms, depending on what level you choose. I would leave it off.

Comparing Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, the Samsung looked excellent, brighter than the LG (as expected) and the Vizio, which looked duller and more washed out. I still preferred the look of the LG in overall with this theatrical game, as it preserved more contrast especially at night and underground while still allowing me to see quite well in the shadows. Samsung offers a special shadow detail control called "Dynamic Black Equalizer" which you allows for even more exposing/erasing of shadows, but it doesn't have any specialized gaming picture modes like LG. Whether you miss them depends on how much you want to tweak the picture - personally I like having the option.

HDR and 4K video:

Like all high-end LCDs, the QN90A can get brighter than even the brightest OLED TV, but it does a better job of delivering deep black levels and minimal bloom than any non-OLED TV you'll find. I tested.

I started my HDR comparison with the Spears and Munsil HDR Benchmark edit and the brightness advantage of the Samsung QN90A over the LG G1 was immediately apparent. The Q90A measures twice as bright as the G1 and in my side by side comparison side, it looked even brighter, especially in areas like snow-capped mountains, skies and clouds. bright objects, while LCD brightness varies less depending on image area. The Samsung also looked brighter and more punchy in highlights such as the middle of a Ferris wheel at night, sure, but in larger areas it was more apparent.

Meanwhile, the LCD-based Vizio, despite its superior measurements, seemed darker than the Samsung, although a little brighter than the OLED. Spot measurements confirmed these impressions. Sunset at 2:08 a.m., per example, measured 427, 522, and 887 nits on the LG, Vizio, and Samsung, respectively. For their part, colors were superb on the Samsung, saturated but accurate in areas like flowers and bugs at 3:27, and brightness extra gave an extra touch.

As usual, the OLED maintained perfect black levels while the Samsung and Vizio looked ever so slightly brighter, but in many scenes - objects against a black background, for example - the Samsung was so good that it was difficult to choose the OLED.

I saw a little more bloom than with the SDR, as expected, but again it was very well controlled on the Samsung. In the dipper at 2:49, for example, the black background around the honey betrayed a slight glow, as did the pause icon on my Blu-ray player (again) - but both were less noticeable than on the Vizio and just a tad worse than the non-blooming OLED. The mixed scenes, for example the nighttime cityscape at 4:26, showed more benefit for OLED, which was able to keep dark areas darker for more pop, but the Samsung still looked excellent.

I didn't notice any banding or similar artifacts in the LG or Samsung, both of which looked very clean, but there were on the Vizio. It showed up in the sky during the initial fade out of black, for example, where bands of varying brightness appeared where there should be a smooth transition. The Samsung showed minor variations in brightness caused by the backlight structure (especially near the edges), such as the blue sky above. above the satellite dish at 5:29, but they were quite subtle.

I also checked the 4000 nit edit and the Samsung lagged the LG. There was less detail in bright areas like snowy pastures and the side of the cliff, which made the QN90A look a bit more flat despite its superior brightness. However, this is not a huge disadvantage, since a content of 4000 nits is relatively rare.

When I switched from Spears and Munsil to The Desolation of Smaug the situation reversed and the LG was better overall than the Samsung. LG appeared just a little deeper, and its highlights, such as lamps and torches, appeared slightly brighter, for an overall high-contrast look that the Samsung - while excellent - could not quite match. However, both outperformed the Vizio, which had lighter black levels, resulting in a more washed out look. Switching to a brighter scene, inside Beorn's house (9:16), the G1 again sounded more realistic and rich than the QN90A.

As with Spears and Munsil, large area brightness scenes favored the Samsung. As the orcs chase the dwarves across a bright field at 7:50, for example, both LCDs (and especially the Samsung) appeared brighter and impressive. But like most cinema films, The Hobbit's scenes tended towards more blended and even darker scenes, where the OLED held a slight contrast advantage over the Samsung.

David Katzmaier/CNET Image settings, HDR ratings and graphics

CNET no longer publishes advanced picture settings for the TVs we review. Instead, we'll give more general recommendations for getting the best picture without listing detailed white balance or color management system settings. (CMS) that we were able to use to calibrate the TV. As always the settings provided are a guide and if you want the most accurate picture you should get professional calibration.

Prior to my calibration for this review, Samsung's Movie and Filmmaker presets were the most accurate, excellent in grayscale and gamma with just a slight reddish cast (but still within my delta 3 error target). than Filmmaker mode as it disables all image clarity settings including motion enhancement (see review for details) - although it enables ambient light detection by default, which I deactivated.

For calibration I changed the two-point grayscale to remove the red cast, reduced the light output to my target of 137 nits, and changed the gamma to target 2.2, but otherwise, I was left pretty good on my own. Grayscale and color were already so accurate on my Samsung-provided review sample that I didn't need to touch the multitouch or color management system.

Picture Mode: Movie Mode

Image Size Settings: 16:9 Standard (Fit to Screen: On)

Expert Settings:

Brightness: 13Contrast: 43Sharpness: 0Color: 25Tint (G/R): 0Apply Picture Settings: All SourcesPicture Clarity Settings: Custom (Blurred Red. 10, Choppy Red. 0, Clear Motion LED: Off, Red Disabled) Local Dimming: StandardContrast Enhancer: OffFilm Mode: Off [dimmed out; when on, Auto 1 is usually best] Color Tone: Warm 2 White Balance: [No adjustment, see above] Gamma : 2.2

HDR Notes:

As with SDR, Samsung's Film and Filmmaker modes were the most accurate for HDR sources. Both were noticeably more accurate than Dynamic, the brightest mode, and still bright enough at over 1500 nits. The QN90A followed closely behind. close to the EOTF in both modes but was a bit better in Filmmaker, so that's what I'd choose for the most accurate HDR. Its advanced color measurements were superb, with Color Checker and the stricter ColorMatch HDR all two well below a delta error of 3. The LG G1 OLED was worse on both counts. In terms of gamut coverage, QLED lagged OLED by a few percentage points, but it was still above my 95% threshold - and much better than the 2020 Q80.

Geeky box

Test

Result

Goal

Black luminance (0%)

0.001

Good

Peak white luminance (SDR)

1622

Good

Mid.gamma (10-100%)

2.22

Good

Avg Grayscale Error (10-100%)

0.38

Good

Dark gray error (30%)

0.15

Good

Light gray error (80%)

0.41

Good

Avg Color Checker Error

1.20

Good

Saturation Scan Error Avg

1.42

Good

Avg Color Error

1.56

Good

red error

1.94

Good

Green error

0.54

Good

blue error

2.22

Good

cyan error

0.99

Good

Magenta Error

2.43

Good

yellow error

1.22

Good

Frame rate 1080p/24 (IAL)

Pass

Good

Motion resolution (max)

1200

Good

Motion resolution (dejudder disabled)

1000

Good

Entry delay (game mode)

10.27

Good

HDR10

Black luminance (0%)

0.002

Good

White luminance peak (10% gain)

2596

Good

Range % UHDA/P3 (CIE 1976)

95.52

Good

ColorMatch HDR error

1.90

Good

Avg Color Checker Error

2.19

Good

Input lag (game mode, 4K HDR)

10.20

Good

Samsung QN65QN90A by David Katzmaier on Scribd

Calman poster portrait

calibration software was used in this review.

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