Samsung 65Q9F (QE65Q9FNAT): the best Qled TV

Presentation

The Samsung QE65Q9FNAT television has a 10-inch VA 100/120 Hz 65-inch (≈165 cm) VA panel with an Ultra HD resolution of 3 840 x 2 160 px. The structure of the VA sub-pixels changes slightly compared to that of the Q9F in last year, but Samsung mainly opted for a Full Led backlight system composed of 480 zones. A very high figure which should - at least on paper - limit blooming (halo effect around luminous objects on a black background). Samsung announces a very high brightness peak of 1600 cd / m², twice as much as an Oled TV, and 99% DCI-P3 color space coverage, like the Oled. The television is also equipped with the Ultra Black Elite filter which protects it from reflections as much as possible. It is compatible with HDR10, HDR10 + (competing standard of Dolby Vision carried by Samsung) and HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma). In terms of the audio part, the TV has a 4.2 system delivering 60 W. Finally, the Tizen home system is still in operation.

This Samsung QE65Q9FNAT TV is sold for around € 4,000. It is also available in version 55 (≈140 cm / QE55Q9FNAT) around € 3,000 and 75 inches (≈190 cm / QE75Q9FNAT) around € 6,000.

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

Samsung has unveiled its new range of QLED televisions whose high prices have nothing to envy those of Oled televisions. Yet the ...

---

Image quality

The sub-pixels of the VA panel of the Samsung QE65Q9FNAT are slightly different from those of last year, without having any real impact on their characteristics. The viewing angles are not better and remain similar to those found than other VA panels. We thus measured a loss of brightness of up to 70% at 45 ° on the sides, and between -37 and -75% of brightness at 45 ° above and below. This phenomenon is very visible with light objects on a black background and the slightest variation in angles increases the blooming all the more. The filter is quite good and eliminates a good part of the reflections. In addition, the very high brightness of the panel means that the television can be easily placed in a very bright room and masks reflections in passing.

In Cinema mode, the Samsung 65Q9FN television offers beautiful colors that can be considered as faithful, since the average delta E is 2.7 (therefore below the threshold of 3 below which the human eye no longer perceives any difference between the displayed colors and the expected colors ). On the other hand, several shades exceed this famous value and even come to flirt with a delta E of 4.

We measured the average gamma at 2.54, which is above the reference value (2.4). The curve also lacks stability due to the dynamic backlighting system which must manage variations in gray levels while adjusting the brightness.

Same thing on the side of the temperature: if the average temperature is established at 6,880 K, rather close to the 6,500 K of reference, the curve also lacks stability there, always because of the difficulty to manage a system of dynamic backlighting.

The Full Led backlight system works very well and provides virtually endless contrast. This contrast value is obtained with a white at 150 cd / m² on the target at 35% and at 85 cd / m² on the target at 1% white, which results in an average of 118 cd / m² on the white and 0.01 cd / m² on black. This good contrast underlines the deep blacks obtained on this television. On the other hand, the impossibility of deactivating dynamic backlighting results in a rather annoying pumping effect, especially when there are subtitles or in certain scenes. Finally, we measured the maximum brightness at 1,560 cd / m² in HDR, compared to only 1,187 cd / m² for last year's Samsung 65Q9F.

The engine for scaling HD content to Ultra HD is fine, nothing more. It just smooths out certain details, which generates solid visible effects. The final result is very soft with some blurring effects. Fortunately, it does not distort the original source and does not produce any artifacts; as for the AutoMotion Plus motion compensation system, it is still as efficient and contributes to producing - thanks to the 120 Hz panel - a sharp image in motion. The rendering with setting AutoMotion Plus to "Automatic" is good, but it is preferable to use the custom settings in order to limit the camcorder effect. The television also offers a scanning of the Clear Motion Led backlight which unfortunately causes a flickering of the clearly visible image.

---

HDR

With a maximum HDR signal of 10,000 cd / m², Samsung's Display Tone Mapping is doing quite well. There is little clipping, but Samsung has chosen to significantly increase the brightness in HDR in order to produce a brighter image without necessarily following the recommendations of the standard. Samsung in any case perfectly exploits the high brightness of the panel, which can reach a peak at 1,599 cd / m², the highest that we have measured in the laboratory and well above the 800 cd / m² recorded on Oled televisions (LG 55C8 and Panasonic 55FZ950). On the other hand, with an HDR signal at 1000 cd / m², the Samsung TV does not respect it at all and stretches the curve up to 1600 cd / m² to exploit the capacities of the TV, even if it is not what what the director wants.

We also measure the color accuracy in HDR mode. We chose HDR Cinema mode, which offers the best colorimetric rendering. The average delta E is measured at 4.4, quite far from the recommended threshold of 3. No other mode allows better colorimetry.

The Samsung 65Q9FN television has 74% coverage of Rec.2020. This is the best Rec.2020 coverage we have measured to date. This television is certainly still far from being able to reproduce all the colors promised by the Blu-ray Ultra HD standard but fortunately, all of the Blu-ray Ultra HD uses the DCI-P3 color space and the television covers 95% of this space , enough to restore the artistic vision of the director.

---

Video games

The Samsung QE65Q9FNAT displays a remanence time of 12 ms. If it can't compete with the Oled TVs that drop below the millisecond, it can claim to be one of the most responsive LCD TVs. Combined with the best display delay on the market (15.5 ms), this makes it a great companion for gaming. Samsung has also added a Motion Plus Games option, to activate the fairly efficient motion compensation engine in racing games.

Samsung Qled TVs of 2018 introduce a Motion Plus game mode which activates a new compensation engine with an impact ...

We are now evaluating the color fidelity in Game mode. By default, the rendering of the Samsung TV is not good at all, with a delta E greater than 10. To find a faithful display, you have to go to the expert settings to to deactivate the enhancement of the contrasts, set the color nuance to "Warm2" and the local attenuation to "High", then choose the automatic color space. Once these adjustments have been made, we obtain a delta E at 4.5, closer to the recommended threshold of 3.

---

Clouding

We said at the opening of this test, the Full Led backlighting system from Samsung is unprecedented by the very high number of zones which constitute it: approximately 480 zones. This is less than on the Sony ZD9, but still considerable for an LCD TV. The risk of clouding is less than on an Edge Led model because the filter (which can be damaged during transport) plays a less important role in the distribution of light. Finally, we did not notice any light leakage on our test model; on the other hand, the blooming is sometimes annoying, in particular on the subtitles and more generally on all the clear objects on a black background.

The average difference in uniformity of white over the entire slab is measured at only 10% (the eye does not detect anything below 20%); a very good figure, especially for a 65-inch LCD panel, which is explained by the use of a homogeneous Full Led backlight.

---

Ergonomics

The base of the Samsung 65Q9FN television is impressive by its width, but ultimately remains fairly discreet on the TV stand. However, it clearly prevents the installation of a sound bar. For the rest, the design is quite sober with very discreet black and fine screen edges. The finishes are excellent - but we expect no less from a high-end TV.

Excluding the stand, the TV has a thickness of only 3.9 cm, uniform across the entire slab, which allows it to be placed fairly easily on the wall. However, the foot of the 65Q9FN, quite deep (35.5 cm), is just at ease on our reference piece of furniture 40 cm deep.

At the back, Samsung does a faultless with an impeccable back devoid of any connection. The latter is deported to the One Connect box, which this year incorporates the power supply for the television.

Where previously two cables were needed (one for power and one for display), the new OneConnect system uses only one cable. This is a small feat in terms of integration, which greatly facilitates the installation of the TV on the wall: there is only one very discreet cable to run along the wall.

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. You can connect a headset to your smartphone and retrieve the sound from the TV using the SmartThings app for iOS and Android. Note that the OneConnect box now includes the TV's power supply, and is therefore much more impressive than last year.

The Tizen system developed by Samsung is still as effective as ever. The interface is clear and particularly fluid. The applications launch without slowing down and we find the main players in the world of TV (Netflix, YouTube, myCanal, Prime Video, Rakuten, Google Play Video, SFR Sport, Molotov, etc.). Content doesn't have to be ashamed of Android TV. Like last year, all settings can be changed by voice. For example, you just have to say "Activate Game Mode" so that the input lag changes to 15.5 ms. It's much simpler than having to dig through the settings.

It takes approximately 5 seconds to switch on the television, either for the first start or for the following. The QE65FNAT also takes less than a second to shut down. Finally, it consumes less than 1 W on standby, even with a restart in less than 3 s. Samsung is clearly in the lead on this point.

Samsung takes back the simplified remote control launched with Qled TVs of 2017. Although it does not give direct access to all the functions, this remote control is very pleasant to use in everyday life and especially 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. In addition, the 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. The numeric keypad disappears in favor of a system which memorizes the most watched channels in order to find them more quickly, while the 123 key located at the top left displays a numeric keypad on the screen.

---

Audio

Updated 07/02/2018 at 10:05

The Samsung QE65Q9FN TV we tested initially had a defective audio system. So we ironed a second copy to the test bench and the audio rendering is much better, as shown by the frequency response curve. The television perfectly covers the frequencies between 70 and almost 10,000 Hz by pushing slightly on the bass. The overall rendering is excellent, which allows the TV to earn an additional star in audio.

The 60 W audio system consisting of four speakers and two subwoofers is not really convincing. The default setting "Optimized" produces very poor results. You have to go back to Standard mode to find a normal sound reproduction. The television exaggerates on the bass with a very significant distortion at 150 Hz, to the detriment of the treble which is recessed. On this point, we expected much better, especially for a TV in this price range, especially since the Samsung Q9F from last year was not bad.

---

Consumption

We measured consumption at 87 W on our target with a white set at 150 cd / m². Relative consumption drops to 75 W / m², which is far below the average of the televisions tested (around 100 W / m²). It is slightly higher than that of televisions equipped with an Edge Led backlighting system, including the Sony KD-65XD9305 (which is limited to 69 W / m²), the Sony 65XF9005 (71 W / m²) or even the Samsung UE55KS9000 (72 W / m²), but remains very limited for a Full Led TV equipped with as many zones. In comparison, the Sony 65ZD9 achieves a consumption of 120 W, or 103 W / m².

Standby consumption is always less than 1 W.

---

Conclusion

Samsung finally offers a Qled model equipped with a Full Led backlight system displaying beautiful colors and beautiful contrast. If this QE65Q9FNAT still suffers from problems related to LCD technology, including a blooming very present in dark scenes, it also offers a very high brightness which allows to enjoy HDR content in a bright room. Associated with a delay in the record display, this luminous peak will delight players. The fact remains that Oled televisions are still a notch above - especially this year - thanks to an irreproachable calibration.

---