The Samsung Galaxy S10 is a luxurious phone that features an incredible array of built-in speakers that enable Object Tracking Sound Pro and Dolby Atmos, Samsung’s fashionable Infinity One design, a slimline One Connect box to keep the wiring to a minimum, and other next-generation gameplay features. Additionally, there is a newly developed smart platform that provides vast streaming options and other features.
The Samsung QN900B Neo QLED 8K TV is a fantastic TV overall, but falls short of expectations for an 8K TV with a high price tag and poor performance. It has excellent response time, extremely minimal input lag, and support for variable refresh rate (VRR). However, its high price tag and poor performance make it difficult to recommend.
Design
The Neo QLED 8K flagship from a year ago was almost perfect in terms of industrial design, and the QN900B is even closer now. Once more, Samsung opts for a bare minimum design, offering a nearly bezel-free “Infinity” display that lets you concentrate solely on the media you’re watching without any jarring, obvious lines boxing it in. This strategy had us smitten in 2021, and it still has us smitten.
This change in speaker setup is likely due to the increased demand for sound quality in TVs that are now being used for more than just watching television. In addition to being used for gaming, movies, and other audio content, TVs are also being used to watch streaming services like Netflix and Hulu.
The QN900B comes with a stand that is almost identical to the QN900A from 2021, which is unquestionably a good thing. It is level, centred, and has an opening on the back for mounting Samsung’s attachable One Connect box, if desired. This year, Samsung’s game-changing One Connect box is back and gives users easy access to all of the QN900B’s ports. For power and data transfer, there is only one nearly transparent cable that runs back to the screen itself. This strategy is incredibly effective. ..
The One Connect box has four HDMI 2.1 ports, three USB 2.0 ports, an ethernet (LAN) port, an optical digital audio out port, and an RF input for your TV antenna or satellite connection. We found that when it comes to noticeable glare and reflections on the screen of last year’s top Neo QLED model, there is room for improvement. During darker scenes, we can still see reflections from our surroundings which appears to our eyes that the QN900B’s anti-reflection layer has only slightly improved. ..
Features
The QE75QN900B’s inherent 8K resolution and usage of a Mini LED lighting system are, at least on paper, its two key selling points. Four times as much resolution than a 4K TV is produced by the former utilising 7680 x 4320 pixels, while the lighting system uses thousands of LEDs that are one-fourth the size of standard LEDs to produce higher brightness and localised light control.
Samsung has a local dimming system that enables various intensities of light to emerge from 1920 different light control zones on its 75QN900B mini LED TVs. This figure is quite astounding. In contrast, Samsung’s flagship QN95B 4K Mini LED TVs only offer 720 dimming zones, which is still more than you get with the majority of Mini LED TVs from other manufacturers.
Despite its impressive dimming zone count, the 75QN900B falls short in comparison to OLED technology. Additionally, there is no noticeable hardware upgrade over the 75QN900A from the previous year, as it still uses the same 1920 dimming zones and Mini LEDs of the same size and quantity. ..
Samsung has made several technical improvements to its Mini LED results for 2022, the most significant of which is the addition of an AI system that uses a larger variety of image-analyzing neural networks. This has improved the Neo Quantum Processor 8K’s image processing and management, while also providing more precise control over how light appears in each dimming zone.
The Samsung 75QN900B TV uses metal-clad Quantum Dots to deliver its color, as is customary with high-end Samsung TVs. The benefits include the ability to maintain colour saturations at higher brightness levels, delivering more HDR-friendly colour volume, and the ability to achieve greater brightness and colour tone accuracy by avoiding the need to feed the backlight through conventional color filters.
Samsung QN900B Neo QLED 8K review: Software
The Samsung QN900B comes with Samsung’s Tizen operating system, which has been overhauled. The launcher bar at the bottom of the interface has been replaced with a new full-screen home page by the software. Samsung wants to present content and suggestions more effectively. The home page is designed to be more informative and helpful, with suggested content and quick access to frequently used features. ..
The TV supports a variety of wireless networking protocols, including AirPlay 2 and Google Cast. It also has a number of smart assistants, such as Bixby, Alexa, and Google Assistant. However, most of these assistants won’t support an 8K resolution. Instead, you’ll get a 4K image on most TVs.
Performance
We decided to take a closer look at the TV and see if we could find any solutions. We used a light meter to measure light bleed and found that it was generally quite low, but we did notice some occasional light bleed in specific areas of the TV. We also noticed that when watching movies with high brightness levels, some light bleed appeared in specific areas of the TV, but it was generally very low. We believe that this is because the diodes in the Neo QLED TVs are not as efficient as regular LEDs and can suffer from light bleed. We have since made changes to our manufacturing process so that all our Neo QLED TVs now use more efficient diodes, which should help reduce light bleed and improve black levels.
This year’s revision of the QN900A sees a dramatic decrease in light blooming around objects against darker sections of the display, after spending a lot of time with last year’s model. This is largely due to the updated Neo Quantum Processor 8K chip and its brand-new Shape Adaptive Light technology, which makes use of artificial intelligence to make sure that its backlighting more closely resembles the shapes of objects on-screen.
Samsung’s Real Depth Enhancer technology eliminated light bleed from the scene in the QN900A review on the QN900B display. The enhancements in depth and contrast were attributed to Samsung’s Real Depth Enhancer technology, which has four times as many levels of monochromatic color gradation. ..
Samsung QN900B Neo QLED 8K review: Image Quality
The Samsung QN900B is a fantastic 8K TV that produces excellent visuals for large screens. Its image processing is especially useful for screens larger than 75 inches. Even when viewing extremely bright HDR content, this TV produces deep blacks with almost no blooming. The QN900B has almost 2000 local dimming zones, but it’s not just how many there are that matters; fortunately, Samsung’s dimming algorithm is among the best in its class.
The 14-bit contrast mapping that highlights all the minute details in the shadows just above black while preserving a pleasing inkiness strengthens this contrast ability. The processing also renders mixed content admirably, guaranteeing that an image’s bright and dark areas are accurately rendered.
The screen’s tone mapping is flawless, utilising the extreme brightness and cutting-edge processing to create powerful HDR images with saturated colors, deep blacks, and finely detailed shadows. There are no indications of banding, the “dirty screen” effect, or color tinting anywhere on our review sample, indicating excellent overall screen uniformity. The motion handling is also excellent, and the absence of Dolby Vision support is really the only thing we have to complain about. ..
Audio quality
The 75QN900B is a flagship model that has a 6.2.4 speaker system that can play sound up, down, left, and right. This aids the TV in achieving the goal of the OTS+ sound system, which is to precisely place sound effects to match the action onscreen. The 75QN900B also has Dolby Atmos decoding in a sensible way so that you can enjoy surround sound without having to purchase an extra set of speakers.
The 75QN900B’s OTS sound engine produces better TV audio thanks to its multitude of widely spaced and diverse speakers. The OTS systems’ ability to place specific audio effects with such accuracy that it’s difficult to believe there aren’t a bank of speakers somehow integrated into the screen is particularly impressive. For instance, during action scenes, the sound produced by each moving object in the image is tracked independently and precisely. ..
The sound of movie soundtracks is amazing and spatial. It tracks objects even after they have left the frame and is even slightly off-screen. All of this contributes to the lively and engaging sound of movie soundtracks.
The set’s back features eight woofers that produce a respectable amount of bass. Unfortunately, they avoid “phutting” or crackling in the process. The immersive advantages of the OTS effects placement are undermined by the 75QN900B’s sound, which consistently feels as if all the audio action is taking place behind the screen. ..
Price and availability
Samsung has announced that the cost of each set in its second line of 8K Neo QLED televisions is a little bit lower than it was. Starting at $4,999 (£5,799 / AU$5,799) for a 65-inch model, the Samsung QN900B Neo QLED 8K TV goes up to $6,499 (TBA / AU$7,999) for a 75-inch model, and $8,499 (£10,999 / AU$11,999) for an 85-inch model. The QN900B is currently up for pre-order in the US, UK, and Australia. Delivery is scheduled for early May 2022. ..
Samsung QN900B Neo QLED 8K review: Conclusion
The Samsung QN900A is a great TV for a variety of uses. It is ideal for rooms with lots of light because it gets quite bright. Although local dimming enables it to offer deep blacks, there is also blooming, so it might not be the greatest option for watching movies in a dark room. It also has a poor native contrast ratio. Due to its excellent response speed, minimal input lag, compatibility for VRR, and HDMI 2.1, it is excellent for gaming.
