Samsung QE65Q70R: a Qled TV with good value for money

Presentation

The Samsung QE65Q70R comes with a 65-inch 10-bit 100 Hz VA panel with an Ultra HD resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 px. If the Samsung QE65Q60R had somewhat tarnished the Qled name with a peak of brightness limited to 400 cd / m², the Samsung Q70R is supposed to do much better thanks to its Full Led backlight system composed of 48 zones. Like the Q60R, it is equipped with a dual TNT tuner (DVB-T / T2), cable (DVB-C) and satellite (DVB-S / S2), with Sound Mirroring which allows you to use your smartphone to listen to the TV sound (through headphones), recording on USB media, a remote control with integrated microphone and compatibility with Alexa, Google Assistant and Bixby, as well as the Tizen home system, but it has a system slightly more muscular audio (2 x 10 W + Woofer 20 W) and a basic cable management system.

The Samsung QE65Q70R TV is sold for around € 1,800. The 55 (140 cm), 75 (190 cm) and 82 inch (208 cm) versions are at approximate prices of € 1,300, € 3,200 and € 3,990, respectively. Please note, there is also a 49 inch version, but, according to our information, it does not use the same slab since it is limited to a refresh rate of 50 Hz, which has an impact on the fluidity of the compensation motor. of movement.

All the brightness and colorimetric measurements mentioned in this article were carried out with a SpectraCal C6-HDR probe and the CalMAN Ultimate software.

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Image quality

The Samsung Q70R TV does not use the same panel as the Q60R. It is still a VA (Vertical Alignment) type LCD panel, but the structure of the sub-pixels differs slightly. As we will see, the two televisions do not offer the same performance at all. VA technology allows you to benefit from good native contrast at the expense of viewing angles which are narrower than those observed on TVs equipped with an LCD, IPS or Oled panel. We measured a loss of brightness of approximately 67% at 45 ° on the sides, a rather classic figure on these televisions and higher than that measured on the Q85R which benefits from a particular filter improving the viewing angles.

As often, Cinema mode offers the best image quality and it is the one that has the best factory calibration. In this mode, we measured an average delta E of only 1.3, a value well below the threshold of 3 below which the human eye can no longer tell the difference between ideal colors and displayed colors.

By default, the TV displays a relatively well calibrated picture with a gamma at 2.34 slightly above the reference value, but the curve lacks stability on light grays. This is the consequence of the use of a dynamic backlight system which sometimes has difficulty in finely managing the gray levels.

The color temperature is close to perfection with an average measured at 6,660 K over the entire spectrum - a value close to the 6,500 K reference - and above all a perfectly stable curve over the entire spectrum.

As usual with Samsung, it is impossible to deactivate the dynamic backlight system. The darker the overall image, the lower the brightness. This results in a blank at 151 cd / m² on the target containing 35% white and at 58 cd / m² on the target containing 1%. The television displays an average white of 105 cd / m² and a black of 0.02 cd / m². The average contrast ratio is therefore 4,540: 1, a very good value for an LCD television which allows you to enjoy sufficiently deep blacks. Please note, this contrast is only valid from the front and it decreases a lot when you leave the axis. In addition, the Full Led backlight system composed of 48 zones does not prevent blooming (phenomenon of luminous halo around light objects on a dark background) which is very present, especially on subtitles. The Q70R does not have the Ultra Black Elite anti-reflective filter of the Q85R which makes it possible to greatly reduce this phenomenon.

The scaling engine has not been updated since last year. It allows you to resize SD, HD and Full HD content so that they appear correctly on this Ultra HD panel. The engine is very soft and smooths out the textures a lot. This system does not distort the original source and we have not observed any artifacts, but, in return, it does not offer improved clarity. Thanks to the 100 Hz panel that allows efficient scanning of the backlight, the Auto Motion Plus motion compensation system is quite effective and improves the sharpness of moving objects, but it does not do as well as the Qled models. higher end, better on this point.

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HDR

The Samsung UE65Q70R is compatible with the HDR10 used by the PS4 and Xbox One consoles as well as films (Blu-ray Ultra HD and online streaming on Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.), HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma), HDR standard adopted by television channels, and HDR10 +, a dynamic metadata standard competing with Dolby Vision.

The Display Tone Mapping used by Samsung on HDR10 content works quite well. Even if the delivered brightness is a little below that of reference, the television follows the curve of reference until 65% of luminance since the signal is smoothed up to 100%, which avoids clipping.

Finally, here is the worthy successor to the Samsung QE55Q6F 2018 which reached 749 cd / m². Indeed, the Samsung QE65Q70R displays a brightness peak of 723 cd / m², a brightness equivalent to that measured on Oled TVs. In our opinion, it is from 700 cd / m² that the dynamics of an HDR image begins to express itself correctly, and this is the case on this Samsung model. Of course, this peak of brightness is still far from that displayed by the best LCD models like the Samsung QE75Q900R or the Sony 85ZG9 which exceed 2000 cd / m², but it is enough to appreciate HDR content.

As in SDR, Cinema mode offers the best color rendering in HDR. We measured an average delta E of only 2.2, which simply translates into perfect colors on the screen.

The Samsung Q70R covers 68% of the Rec. 2020 space, it's better than the Q60R which is content with 62%, but this remains fairly close to high-end televisions which do not exceed 70 to 75% of Rec coverage. 2020.

With 88% DCI-P3 coverage, the Samsung Q70R is even better than the Q60R at 82%. The Q70R competes directly with the Samsung QE65Q85R which displays 89% of the DCI-P3 space, but it remains behind Oled TVs which can reach 97% coverage of the DCI-P3 like the Panasonic TX-55FZ800 (now sold under the name of Panasonic TX-55GZ950). Remember that the DCI-P3 is more important than Rec. 2020 since it is the color space used by the cinema industry.

This television allows you to benefit from a good HDR image and is one of the very rare mid-range LCD televisions to deliver a peak of brightness having a real impact on the image.

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Video games

The remanence time of 16 ms of the Samsung TV is between that of the best LCDs on the market, like the Samsung QE65Q85R and Sony KD-75XG9505 which go down to 11 ms, and that of entry-level televisions like the Samsung UE55RU7405 remanence time of 18 ms. Objects that move quickly on the screen are followed by a slight blur.

Fortunately, the Samsung TV displays a delay of only 15.5 ms, which results in less than one image delay from the source (at 60 Hz). There is thus no lag between an action on the joystick and its repercussion on the screen. The Samsung QE65Q70R is also FreeSync compatible between 48 and 60 Hz in Ultra HD and between 20 and 120 Hz in 1080p. As a reminder, the FreeSync allows you to adapt the refresh rate of the TV to the number of images per second sent by the graphics card or the console in order to avoid tearing of the image (tearing) and micro-slowdowns (stuttering). Currently, it only works with Xbox One PCs and consoles. Samsung still offers the Motion Plus Games option, which allows the motion compensation engine to be used in games at the cost of a slight increase in display delay. Finally, new for 2019, the Dynamic Black Equalizer function allows you to unblock dark areas. We then lose loyalty, but this is not the most important thing for competition.

Recommended article: Lab - Samsung Games Motion Plus: display delay and compensation

After some adjustments, the rendering of the game mode in HDR is very good. To benefit from this image quality, you must go to the settings to change the color nuance to "Warm2", choose the automatic color space and deactivate the Auto contrast enhancement. You must also go to the game mode settings (Settings> General> External device manager> Game enhancement> Deactivate). We then find a temperature closer to 6,500 K and just colors.

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Clouding

The use of a Full Led backlight system limits the risks of clouding (appearance of grayish spots on a uniform background), but this defect can still occur if the light distribution filter is damaged during transport. On our test model, we did not find any particular problem. The homogeneity of the brightness on the panel is good, and the average difference is measured at only 12% on this 65-inch panel. This result is good, especially for a model of this diagonal, and no variation in the homogeneity of the white is visible to the eye.

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Ergonomics

The design is very classic for a Samsung TV. This year, the Korean manufacturer opted for offset feet separated by 110 cm. The feet raise the TV about 7 cm, which translates into a fairly airy design that leaves room for a sound bar.

The screen edges are quite thin, especially for a 65-inch model and, above all, the finishes are exemplary, which is a constant on the Qled range of TVs from the Korean manufacturer.

Despite the use of a Full Led backlight system, the TV has a contained thickness of 6.2 cm. The occupation on the TV stand is always linked to the depth of the feet which is limited to 29 cm, a very correct figure for a 65 inch TV. The Samsung QE65Q70R television is just at ease on our reference unit measuring 160 x 40 cm.

The back of the TV is rather neat with the use of a black plastic striped which gives a Premium side to the TV. The connectors are placed on the left while we find the power supply on the right.

The cable management system hidden in the feet is simple, but very effective. It allows you to run the cables at the end of the feet and thus avoid having a "spaghetti dish" at the back of the TV.

The connection consists of four HDMI 2.0a inputs HDCP 2.2 and HDR compatible, two USB ports, an optical digital audio output, an Ethernet port, a PCMCIA port (CI + Common Interface) and the TNT / cable and satellite antenna sockets. This TV has a dual DVB-T / T2 / C / S / S2 tuner. It also has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to connect a speaker or a wireless headset. Please note, there is no headphone output, but the TV benefits from the Sound Mirroring feature which allows you to use a smartphone to listen to the sound. In addition, this model ignores the component / composite video input.

Developed by Samsung, the Tizen system remains a model of clarity and fluidity. Access to the different settings is quick and the different instructions are clear. Access to the applications located in the lower banner is effortless and the interface is well designed. Tizen remains one of the most complete systems on the market, with many applications (Netflix, YouTube, myCanal, Prime Video, Rakuten, Google Play Video, SFR Sport, Molotov, etc.). On this point, Samsung TVs clearly do not have to be ashamed of Android TV models. This television also benefits from the Ambient mode which makes it possible to display a dynamic wallpaper imitating the famous The Frame.

The Samsung Q70R TV starts up in less than 6 seconds and turns off in less than a second. The recovery is not faster than the first ignition since it also takes about 6 seconds.

If it can be confusing at first, the simplified remote control is very pleasant to use in everyday life. Above all, Samsung masters both the Tizen software and the hardware, which allows it to deliver a very satisfactory experience. This remote control has a microphone which is essential for carrying out voice searches and also for changing settings quickly by voice (activating the game mode, for example). The keys are not backlit, but given their low number, this is not really a defect. New this year is the addition of the Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Rakuten TV buttons at the bottom of the remote control. Too bad all the same that this Q70R does not come with the Premium remote control from Samsung (supplied with the Samsung QE65Q85R) whose aluminum finish is significantly superior.

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Audio

The Samsung QE65Q70R television has a 2.1 audio system composed of two 10 W speakers and a 20 W woofer. The addition of a woofer improves the frequency response at the bottom of the spectrum, which then starts at 50 Hz. Finally, this TV delivers above-average sound and is perfectly suited for watching TV or playing a video game. As always, cinema lovers and the most demanding users will turn to a sound bar delivering better sound.

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Consumption

We measured consumption at 102 W on our target with a white set at 150 cd / m², which translates into a relative consumption of 87.6 W / m². If the Samsung QE65Q70R does not do as well as the most economical televisions in our comparison like the Sony KD-65XG8505, champion of the category with its 56 W / m², or the Samsung QE55Q6F 2018 and its 61 W / m², it does much better than the Oled models which consume around 100 W / m². Standby consumption is always less than 1 W.

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Conclusion

The Samsung QE65Q70R is the model we have been waiting for. Finally, it bridges the gap between entry-level LCD televisions delivering a too low peak in brightness and higher-end televisions, which are often more expensive. This mid-range LCD TV delivers a peak of brightness sufficient to deliver a beautiful HDR image. The image quality in SDR is also there and the 100 Hz panel ensures clear moving images. If we add to this the Tizen system still as well thought out, FreeSync compatibility for video game lovers and reduced consumption, the Samsung QE65Q70R has a lot of arguments to put forward. However, it is currently sold at the same price as a 65 "Oled TV from 2018 like the Panasonic TX-65FZ800, but it could benefit from an unbeatable quality / price ratio during the various promotions offered over the year (sales, Black Friday, etc.).

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