Samsung - Samsung QE65Q9F

Samsung

Samsung QE65Q9F, the highest-end 2017 TV in Korea

Aprox. 2900€

See specifications

The Samsung QE65Q9F is the new flagship of the Korean manufacturer. It embeds all the latest technologies from Samsung and especially the new quantum dot filter supposed to offer a perfect image.

Positive points

Design.

Contrast.

Effective motion compensation.

Fluid and pleasant interface.

Efficient remote control.

High-performance multimedia player.

Reduced consumption.

Bad points

Viewing angles.

External housing not always practical.

Blooming visible.

Recurring pumping effect.

Our review

Presentation

The Samsung QE65Q9F thus has a 10-bit 65-inch panel displaying an Ultra HD definition, an Edge Led backlight system, a quantum dot filter to cover 100% of the DCI-P3 color space (against 96% for last year), HDR compatibility and a quad-core processor. The audio system consists of four 20-watt speakers, paired with two 20-watt woofers too. It also has a dual HD DVB-T tuner, satellite and cable (to record while watching another channel).

The Samsung QE65Q9F is sold for around 5,500 €, a little more expensive than the LG Oled 65C7V, which is sold for around 5,000 €. Samsung therefore has a lot to do to compete with Oled televisions with its LCD TV with quantum dot, and it is not on the price that Samsung intends to make the difference.

Nanotechnology, we've been talking about it for years, but you've never seen it, and yet it is already used in ...


Image quality

The PSA type panel - the Samsung equivalent of VA technology - provides very good contrast, to the detriment of viewing angles which are more reduced than on an IPS or Oled panel. This year, Samsung has slightly changed the structure of the subpixels, whose grooves are a little more pronounced. On this model, we noticed a loss of brightness of up to 63% at 45 ° on the sides and between -30 and -77% of brightness at 45 ° above and below. These variations are identical to those we measured on KS models last year. Contrary to what Samsung announces, the viewing angles have not been improved. On the other hand, the high brightness of the slab compensates for the drop in brightness in the corners. If the screen is bright, the anti-reflective treatment is quite effective and the reflections are limited.

The contrast is good for an LCD TV (4,240: 1), but not better than that of last year's models. As with the KS models, it is impossible to deactivate the dynamic backlight. This contrast value is obtained with a white at 153 cd / m² on the target at 35% and 101 cd / m² on the target at 1% white, which results in an average of 127 cd / m² on the white and 0.03 cd / m² on black. This good contrast allows you to enjoy deep blacks. On the other hand, the impossibility of deactivating dynamic backlighting results in a rather annoying pumping effect, especially when there are subtitles. Finally, we measured the maximum brightness at 1,187 cd / m² in HDR (920 cd / m² on the KS9000).

As often, the "cinema" mode offers the best colorimetry, but - something rare with Samsung -, the average delta E is greater than 3, a threshold below which the human eye can no longer distinguish anomalies in color shades. The colors displayed by this television cannot therefore be considered as perfect here.

Maintaining a stable gamma curve with a dynamic backlight system is a feat that only the best manufacturers can achieve. Samsung manages to maintain an average of 2.3, but the curve lacks stability. The very light grays are slightly blocked.

The average temperature (6,720 K) is close to the expected 6,500 K, but the curve lacks stability. Grays containing more than 50% white provide a slightly too cold rendering. The overall rendering remains acceptable, but it is not perfect and it is especially worse than the models from last year.

We measured the remanence time at 13.5 ms, a figure higher than the 11.5 and 12 ms noted respectively on the 55KS8000 and 55KS9000. This reactivity remains fairly good for an Ultra HD television. Above all, the excellent AutoMotion Plus motion compensation engine does wonders: the moving image is sharp. The rendering with the AutoMotion Plus setting to "automatic" is good, but it is preferable to use the custom settings in order to limit the camcorder effect.

In cinema mode, the delay in display is measured at 76 ms, a very average value. Fortunately, the game mode allows the input lag to drop to only 21 ms, which corresponds to less than a frame and a half of delay. Last year, Samsung was the only manufacturer to offer televisions with a display delay of 20 ms, but this year it is joined by LG and Panasonic. The Samsung 65Q9F television will therefore be perfectly suitable for players, even if it is still impossible to activate only BFI (Led Clear Motion) in game mode.

The engine for scaling HD content to Ultra HD is not the most efficient on the market. It just smooths out certain details, which generates solid visible effects. In the end, this produces a very soft rendering, but still close to the original source and without artifacts.


Clouding

The Samsung QE65Q9F uses an Edge Led backlight system using two bars located on the sides of the panel. This system allows you to deactivate the backlight at the top and bottom when watching a film in cinemascope format, but this also results in a pumping effect if the subtitles are activated. The hot spot in the center of the slab is due to the presence of the power supply. In addition, we did not find any clouding problem on the model we tested.

The average difference in uniformity of white over the entire slab is measured at only 19%; a very average figure, but which remains below the 20% beyond which the eye perceives a difference.


3D

Like all Samsung TVs since 2016, this model is not compatible with 3D.


Ergonomics

This year, Samsung has opted for a massive design and the central leg gives way to two eccentric legs. The finish is excellent and the television exudes seriousness. The logo is backlit, but it can be turned off in the settings.

In profile, this television is only 2.5 cm thick, a constant value over the entire perfectly flat panel. Placed on a TV stand, the TV is always linked to the depth of the feet which is 30.6 cm here. It is therefore necessary to provide - as in our laboratory - a TV cabinet at least 40 cm deep. New this year, Samsung offers optional feet.

The rear is completely stripped, there are only two hatches. The largest allows you to attach a stand designed by Samsung or the manufacturer's wall mounting kit while the second hides the power connector and the One Connect connector for connection to the external box.

All of the connectors are therefore present on the One Connect box, connected using a single 5-meter optical cable to the television. This allows you to mount the TV on the wall and group all the rest of the audio-video equipment in one place. Behind the TV, a small hatch provides access to the Ethernet port, the PCMCIA port (CI + Common Interface), a USB 3.0 port and the connector for the external box. The connection consists of four HDMI 2.0a inputs HDCP 2.2 and HDR compatible, three USB 2.0 ports, an optical digital audio output, an Ethernet port, a PCMCIA (Common Interface CI +) port and the TNT, cable and satellite antenna sockets. The TV also has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (proprietary). Samsung has overlooked the component and composite inputs as well as the headphone output.

The Tizen interface allows quick access to settings and applications.

The Tizen home operating system provides a smooth and pleasant interface. The setting menus are particularly effective, with no frills. New this year, Samsung allows you to control the TV settings by voice using voice recognition: it sounds like nothing, but it is a significant plus. For example, just say "Activate game mode" so that the input lag goes to 20 ms. It's much simpler than having to dig through the settings. The SmartHub offers quick access to different sources and applications. All the main applications are available (Netflix, Deezer, Stotify, YouTube, Molotov, Canal +, etc.). The media player is doing very well, since it accepts a very large number of file types, including content in Ultra HD in H.264, H.265 (HEVC) and VP8 / VP9. We were thus able to read an Ultra HD H264 file with a bit rate of 98 Mb / s without any jerking and an Ultra HD HEVC file at 51 Mb / s, again perfectly smoothly. For their part, ISO files are still not compatible.

Samsung is trying a rather risky bet with its high-end televisions which are only supplied with a single simplified remote control. No more numeric keypad to directly access the desired channel, place a joystick which allows to accelerate the zapping. Tizen also stores the most watched channels in order to find them more quickly. If it does not allow access to all functions directly, this remote control is very pleasant to use on a daily basis and above all benefits from an exemplary finish. Samsung even has built-in buttons to eject the batteries without having to use your fingernail. The Tizen interface is clear enough to access all the features easily and quickly. This remote control has a microphone for voice searches, especially on YouTube or the Internet, which is always more pleasant to use than a virtual keyboard. The keys are still not backlit, which isn't necessarily a problem since there aren't many. Finally, the sources are automatically detected and each associated with their name (provided they are in the Samsung database): the PlayStation bears its name in the choice of source just like the Xbox One, for example.


Audio

The audio part of the Samsung QE65Q9F is quite good. The television offers a very good frequency response between 150 and 15,000 Hz. This translates into a good presence of low mids as well as intelligible voices. Samsung has slightly improved the rendering of its TV since last year, but it is not enough to replace a dedicated system. Obviously, to get the most out of a film, a clip or a video game, it is better to go through an external sound bar type system, PC speakers, or a Home Cinema system.


Consumption

The Samsung QE65Q9F consumes 100 Watts on our test pattern, representing a relative consumption of 86 W / m². Standby consumption is always less than 1 W. Finally, the maximum consumption reaches 253 W (at 1,123 cd / m²) and drops to at least 57 W. This consumption does not take into account that of the external box.


Conclusion

Timid development, the Samsung QE65Q9F unfortunately does not do better than the Samsung UE65KS8000 of last year, except for a slightly higher light peak. In fact, it stands out above all by its design, the choice of foot and its aluminum remote control. For now, the Samsung UE65KS8000 remains a better deal, especially around € 1,800.


Specifications