Samsung QN800B (QE65QN800B) 8K Neo QLED TV Review & Comments

I'm surprised 8k TVs are still a thing. And at this price with all those 'not so good' points, why would anyone buy this? I suppose footballers have to spend their money on something.

4k has hit a sweet spot with so much content available, I don't know why companies are developing 8k at all. Do we think 8k broadcasts are going to be available anytime soon? Like, the next decade? I don't. Not streaming, not TV, nowhere.
 
8K is a pointless product category. Other than a few videos on YouTube, there's no 8K content.
 
So was 4K, until it wasn't.

Not for me personally, but I'm not offended by it existing either. All else being equal I'd rather have an 8K TV than a 4K one.

Relatively near-field PC gaming could be an interesting use case, given enough GPU horsepower to throw at it, of course.
 
Unless the display is utterly massive 8K is pointless. Ever hear anyone come out of the cinema and complain that the image is only 4K? Case closed.
 
People convince themselves of all sorts of things about fancy cables, ultra-high-res audio etc, so why not resolution as well.
 
The only thing that would make me buy an 8K TV is if 4K 3D became a thing with an official format for it. So a new 8K / 4K 3D disc format. The physical resolution of 8K is meaningless at normal sizes but passive 3D with true 4K resolution per eye would likely be utterly stunning.
 
Trying to work out how this managed to score a 7 :p

  • Very expensive
  • Blooming
  • Local dimming dims peak highlights and APL
  • Slight black crush
  • Slight Dirty Screen Effect
  • No Dolby Vision
  • Video processing adds too much sharpening
  • Build quality average for the price
  • No perceivable resolution difference from normal seating distance vs. a 4K screen
 
Other than a few videos on YouTube, there's no 8K content.
And guess what, even though I bought one of the first 8k TVs, the Q900R.. I've still never seen a native 8K picture on it. The early 8K Samsungs never updated to work with Youtube 8K and the less said about E-arc the better. My Q900R obsolete the moment I purchased it. All said and done though, regardless of the early adopter issues, and the time the main board burnt out, and I had to remove it off the wall and send it back for repair.. (not an easy task for a 75).. it's been a good overall TV and great for gaming.
 
If and when 8K content becomes a thing, then and only then should people contemplate buying a TV set that supports it.

There’s absolutely no certainty at all that an 8K TV set purchased today will support future 8K broadcast (if that ever happens) or streaming service requirements…

Codecs and formats evolve and manufactures are increasingly reliant on SoC solutions to handle all the decoding. The SoC is baked in at the factory and is not replaceable.

Crazy to buy 8K anything until the industry agrees on the standards…

Regards,
James.
 
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And guess what, even though I bought one of the first 8k TVs, the Q900R.. I've still never seen a native 8K picture on it. The early 8K Samsungs never updated to work with Youtube 8K and the less said about E-arc the better. My Q900R obsolete the moment I purchased it. All said and done though, regardless of the early adopter issues, and the time the main board burnt out, and I had to remove it off the wall and send it back for repair.. (not an easy task for a 75).. it's been a good overall TV and great for gaming.

I’m sorry to hear that. But it is no surprise, unfortunately.

You have an 8K TV but you can’t play 8K videos from YouTube because your TV can’t handle the codec.

This is exactly the reason why no one should buy 8K devices until the standards are thrashed out.

Regards,
James.
 
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I’m sorry to hear that. But it is no surprise unfortunately.

You have an 8K TV but you can’t play 8K videos from YouTube because your TV can’t handle the codec.

This is exactly the reason why no one should buy 8K devices until the standards are thrashed out.

Regards,
James.
But but but upscaling......... 😂
I agree until there's an actual 8k standard with actual content there is literally no point to 8k
 
And guess what, even though I bought one of the first 8k TVs, the Q900R.. I've still never seen a native 8K picture on it. The early 8K Samsungs never updated to work with Youtube 8K and the less said about E-arc the better. My Q900R obsolete the moment I purchased it. All said and done though, regardless of the early adopter issues, and the time the main board burnt out, and I had to remove it off the wall and send it back for repair.. (not an easy task for a 75).. it's been a good overall TV and great for gaming.

Under UK law, you may have a case under ‘the Fit for propose’ stipulation.

Regards,
James.
 
And guess what, even though I bought one of the first 8k TVs, the Q900R.. I've still never seen a native 8K picture on it. The early 8K Samsungs never updated to work with Youtube 8K and the less said about E-arc the better. My Q900R obsolete the moment I purchased it. All said and done though, regardless of the early adopter issues, and the time the main board burnt out, and I had to remove it off the wall and send it back for repair.. (not an easy task for a 75).. it's been a good overall TV and great for gaming.
That's Samsung all over, as far as their TVs are concerned. Very much a caveat emptor attitude - they are very poor at keeping their products up to date, or adding features, unlike the likes of LG or Panasonic.
 
Trying to work out how this managed to score a 7 :p

  • Very expensive
  • Blooming
  • Local dimming dims peak highlights and APL
  • Slight black crush
  • Slight Dirty Screen Effect
  • No Dolby Vision
  • Video processing adds too much sharpening
  • Build quality average for the price
  • No perceivable resolution difference from normal seating distance vs. a 4K screen
It's easy. You take the 7 and turn it upside down and get it tattoo'd on your forehead when you buy one.
 
I bought a Sony 75ZH8 8K TV in mid 2021 when the price dropped to less than half price. I thought it was worth it at that price and the 'expert' reviews said it was worth buying on the brightness alone. It peaks at 2100 nits and watching Mad Max Fury Road and The Greatest Showman is certainly impressive. As for 8K content I'm not holding my breath and I don't really notice the 8K upscaling but on a positive note I've heard Amazon have joined the 8K association...
 
Fair review :thumbsup:
 
I bought a Sony 75ZH8 8K TV in mid 2021 when the price dropped to less than half price. I thought it was worth it at that price and the 'expert' reviews said it was worth buying on the brightness alone. It peaks at 2100 nits and watching Mad Max Fury Road and The Greatest Showman is certainly impressive. As for 8K content I'm not holding my breath and I don't really notice the 8K upscaling but on a positive note I've heard Amazon have joined the 8K association...

There are a number of very notable absences from the list of 8K Association members:

Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-List:

Sony
LG
LG Display
Hisense
Dolby

Disney+
NetFlix
BBC
NHK

AMD
Nvidia


Regards,
James.
 
Again another pointless TV from the train crash of a company that is Samsung they are a joke of a company.
 
Again another pointless TV from the train crash of a company that is Samsung they are a joke of a company.
I'm an LG fan myself but I wouldn't go that far about Samsung. Combining quantum dot with OLED is quite a development. Yes, support and production quality are issue but LG have not been guilt free in that respect either and I think Samsung still sell more TV's than anyone else.
 
With so many issues caused by Dolby Vision on different models I personally see it as an advantage to don't have it on a TV.
Dolby Vision was supposed to ensure creators intent but more often than not it only leads to black crushing which for me is the worst kind of artifact. I'd rather have slightly lifted blacks with more shadow detail than loss of shadow detail for the sake of the deepest blacks.
 
I suppose if you want no-nonsense, straight to the point reviews AV Forums is the place to be. You can guarantee that this TV and the 65QN95B will get glowing reviews on most other review sites.

8K Pointless
Expensive for what it currently offers
Artificially sharpening the image simply to give the impression that the 8K resolution is making a difference

Case closed for Samsung once again. Two 7/10 awards - must do better. You won't find these honest reviews on most other sites and Samsung won't be using any of the content to sell their prestige products this year.
 
With so many issues caused by Dolby Vision on different models I personally see it as an advantage to don't have it on a TV.
Dolby Vision was supposed to ensure creators intent but more often than not it only leads to black crushing which for me is the worst kind of artifact. I'd rather have slightly lifted blacks with more shadow detail than loss of shadow detail for the sake of the deepest blacks.

So many issues caused by Dolby Vision?

Correlation does not imply causation. Sounds like a problem with a specific implementation of Dolby Vision. Dolby Vision as a system isn't defective.

Regards,
James.
 

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