Samsung QN95A (QE65QN95A) Neo QLED Mini LED TV Review & Comments

[Mark0409mr01]

I have a brand new one of these but the 55in version (QE55QN95AATXXU) en-route from Samsung UK as a replacement for a failed 2020 model (QE55Q95TATXXU) it will not be opened and will have a Samsung 5 year warranty included. I intend to sell here on the classifieds as I have already bought a replacement and no longer have a use for it. I will of course create a dedicated classifieds listing once it arrives (due next week hopefully) but what is it worth?

 

[Paul7777x]

Panasonic TX-65JZ1500B (2021) OLED HDR 4K Ultra HD Smart TV, 65 inch with Freeview Play & Dolby Atmos, Black

Buy Panasonic TX-65JZ1500B (2021) OLED HDR 4K Ultra HD Smart TV, 65 inch with Freeview Play & Dolby Atmos, Black from our View All TVs range at John Lewis & Partners. Free Delivery on orders over £50.

www.johnlewis.com

Buy one of the above. Save yourself £700.

Panasonic JZ1500 (TX-65JZ1500) 4K OLED TV Review

Review of the Panasonic JZ1500 (TX-65JZ1500) 4K OLED TV which offers the custom professional OLED panel found on the flagship JZ2000 model.

www.avforums.com

And better calibration out of the box. And OLED.

 

[Paul7777x]

The QN95A seems to be an instant white elephant.

 

[BRAKKUS1]

The QN95A seems to be an instant white elephant.

I wouldn't advise you to put a white elephant up on the QN95A, might be a good blooming test going forward though!

 

[ozzzy189]

Another pointless Samsung TV without DV has to be the most pointless TV manufacturer these days and for a very long time before this. They need to get over their Dolby licensing issues and give themselves a chance.

Their target audience is different. Old Elsie and Sid aren't bothered about dobly. Neither are Joe and Margaret as their son dave works at a 'computer place' and he said Samsung are great.
Yeah man.
About that......

 

[SonOfSJ]

I will be buying a large Sony X95J or Samsung QN65A LCD television next year, when prices have fallen to their minimum just before going out of stock (although I'm fully aware that neither range is perfect, but I can't quite stretch to OLED prices). Hence I have been following the prices of both ranges quite closely over the past four months.

The (as usual, excellent and detailed) review states that the SRP of this Samsung 65QN95A is £2999, and indeed the final point in the "Not so good" column of the initial summary is "Expensive". I'm not sure how old that price is (I think the machine was released in about April), but its presence in the review now does the television a considerable disservice. I went to the Richer Sounds website (and John Lewis's prices will be the same, though in this instance I've not checked) and using the comparison tool, we can see the current prices of the Samsung, the Sony 65X95J and the Panasonic 65JZ1500 OLED, as in this screen save:

We see that the Samsung was £2399 four weeks ago, but is now £2199, so cheaper than the Panasonic OLED (which is only right and proper!) and £800 below the Samsung's SRP. That may be low enough for the Samsung 65QN95A to no longer be judged as expensive.

 

[Paul7777x]

Perhaps, but the Sony is still £400 less expensive and the Panasonic is still a superb standard setting OLED.

Therefore I’d say the the Samsung is a bit pointless. A noticeably better tv for a negligible amount more or a similar one for a £400 saving.

 

[ozzzy189]

You can usually get an LG 65 inch oled for around 1600 quid when they hit rock bottom, not sure how much these lcd TV's are in comparison but it's worth thinking about it because unless you watch TV in a conservatory, lcd is just horrible. To my eyes at least.

 

[Dhyde00]

That zone count is absolutely ridiculous, the new Macbook Pros offer 2000 zones 1600nits, 1000nits fullscreen, and it runs off a battery, over a 14 and 16" screen AND it is a computer.... it is an amazing experience and compared to the G1 OLED I have, holds up very well with no highlight dimming. How on earth is 800 zones over a huge screen like that ever gonna be enough? This is the point of Mini LED, Sony and others have been almost cramming that amount in over the years, and they were regular/large LED's.....very poor tbh, and embarrassing that a product which isn't even a dedicated TV/monitor, is showing the way.

Are you seriously comparing a 14" monitor to a TV that can be as big as 98"?

Not sure which have more than 800 zones, but this year's 95J has double figures I believe.

You believe wrong. Sony X95J 65" has just 60 dimming zones and 75" has 84, and it shows.

 

[BRAKKUS1]

Are you seriously comparing a 14" monitor to a TV that can be as big as 98"?

Are you seriously suggesting a 65/75/98 should be outdone on nearly all fronts by a 14" display?

Are you seriously suggesting a mini LED's zone count should be similar to old "large" LED TVs from 5 years ago, whilst showing next to no advantage? No surely not....

 

[Dhyde00]

Are you seriously suggesting a 65/75/98 should be outdone on nearly all fronts by a 14" display?

Are you seriously suggesting a mini LED's zone count should be similar to old "large" LED TVs from 5 years ago, whilst showing next to no advantage? No surely not....

Bro I really don't get what are you trying to say. This comparison makes zero sense.

Do you even have any idea how much would cost to fabricate a 98" or even a 55" screen with as many dimming zones per inch as your shiny MacBook Pro?

Following your ridicolous logic, I might say that it's "embarassing" that a 3000+$ computer only offers a 14" screen when there are TVs that for half of that price have 5 times bigger screen than that. That sounds stupid, isn't it?

 

[BRAKKUS1]

Bro I really don't get what are you trying to say. This comparison makes zero sense.

Do you even have any idea how much would cost to fabricate a 98" or even a 55" screen with as many dimming zones per inch as your shiny MacBook Pro?

Following your ridicolous logic, I might say that it's "embarassing" that a 3000+$ computer only offers a 14" screen when there are TVs that for half of that price have 5 times bigger screen than that. That sounds stupid, isn't it?

My logic works fine thanks! You do realise that there are sets on the market already that offer 10000 LED's with 2000 zones? (think TCL Vidrian) so those LED's are bunched into zones, if the processing power was there we could have 10000 zones.......my point being what is offered at the moment is pathetic, and there is an incredible amount being left on the table! Hell Samsung offering 2000 zones on a 65" wouldn't be anywhere near enough, but it would something, someone like you being happy with 800 zones are a part of the problem, maybe they'll give us 900 next year! Exciting hey.

 

[c__w]

You believe wrong. Sony X95J 65" has just 60 dimming zones and 75" has 84, and it shows.

Not sure on your understanding of maths, but 60 and 84 are what I would describe as "double figures"

 

[c__w]

I was referring to Sony's shining moment with the ZD series, where the 65" had 650 and 75" 850 zones, that was years ago too and the thing that is the MOST critical to LCD picture quality, I really hope the flagship LCDs come swinging next year, the tech is there! Need to stop squandering it, I've seen what could be done, and I've been floored with some of the stuff I've witnessed on the brilliant Macbook displays.

In that year Samsungs weren't far off with their Q9FN, but SONY have drastically decreased zone count recently to just double figures - whilst Samsungs have increased - so whilst I appreciate your argument they should all have more zones, Samsung seems to be leading the way in zone count currently?

I understand the QN900 have nearly 2000. It's frustrating because it's clear Samsung are pegging back the 4k TVs, and Sony are relying on superior algorithms with less zone counts. Both companies are capable of putting out multi-thousand zone tvs, but for reasons do not. Samsung want to push the 8k as flagship and Sony likely want to save OLED for their ultimate light control series.

 

[c__w]

Like always, it'll be dark room performance where it falls down, if you like a batcave just don't bother, if you don't see backlight problems at any given point, you'll be waiting till you do. Hideous frankly, with OLED that is completely removed, and you can just enjoy the damned thing.

Not a Q95 but I have an 85" QN85 and it's impressing me so far with really good contrast and light control, no blooming or glow. It is VA panel though, but it is able to display spot colour on a black screen convincingly for LCD, cinema bars are solid etc

 

[Dhyde00]

Not sure on your understanding of maths, but 60 and 84 are what I would describe as "double figures"

For some reason I read that as triple figures, my bad.

 

[BRAKKUS1]

In that year Samsungs weren't far off with their Q9FN, but SONY have drastically decreased zone count recently to just double figures - whilst Samsungs have increased - so whilst I appreciate your argument they should all have more zones, Samsung seems to be leading the way in zone count currently?

I understand the QN900 have nearly 2000. It's frustrating because it's clear Samsung are pegging back the 4k TVs, and Sony are relying on superior algorithms with less zone counts. Both companies are capable of putting out multi-thousand zone tvs, but for reasons do not. Samsung want to push the 8k as flagship and Sony likely want to save OLED for their ultimate light control series.

The QN900 is a huge TV though, and they have no choice but to drastically increase peak brightness and zone count, because of the pixel density, but still 2000 is not great considering its size, take the 100" ZD9, 5 year old 4K TV and that had 1600 zones, these mini leds are leagues smaller, and what we are seeing is cost saving, not pushing the envelope, which is why the reviews are like they are, and the same caveats apply, like they have from years past.

 

[SonOfSJ]

My local Richer Sounds in Edinburgh currently have Samsung and Sony LCDs, and an OLED, all in close proximity, though the models that they have are one grade down from the Samsung and Sony models that have been discussed here. I'll be going to see if the greater cost of the Samsung over the Sony is justified. @ozzzy189 in post #33 says that LCD looks horrible, admittedly to his eyes. I came to LCD televisions because I wanted bigger than the plasmas maximum size of 65". To me, my main LCD, the Sony 75ZD9 in the parlour, looks wonderful, and Mr Steve Withers of this parish said so after he calibrated it in 2018. I don't disagree with anyone who says that OLED is the superior technology, but I can't afford it at the moment. As I hinted in post #31, at the size I'm thinking of, the Sony OLED (although I notice that it has reduced from its initial price of seven grand) is still quite expensive (but I paid £5199 for my 75ZD9 in January 2018, so maybe I'm getting greedy now). I saw the Sony 83" OLED in John Lewis in London two months ago and it just looked wonderful though! Here's another price comparison, of the 83 and 85 inch sizes for the top 4K machines in Samung LCD, Sony OLED and Sony LCD.

 

[ozzzy189]

I think there's a legitimate reason why most pro Calibrators and videophiles (and gamers now too) choose oled.

 

[Tim2049]

I just heard that my brother picked up one of these and it's given him, his wife and his kids eye strain. Good old LED...

 

[SonOfSJ]

@ozzzy189 and @Tim2049 Nobody, certainly not all the people like FOMO doing reviews on YouTube. is denying that overall, save only for peak brightness, that OLED is superior to LCD. I just can't quite afford it at the moment. And I've been watching LCD televisions for the past four plus years and I've never had any discomfort. Perhaps I'm just not very sensitive (ha-ha) or perhaps it's because I've had all my televisions calibrated by Mr Steve Withers of this parish?

 

[atmoscinema]

What are the peak brightness differences of LCD v OLED?

 

[Boris Blank]

Max LCD would be pushing 1500 to 1800nits as I recall, OLED pushing 900 but these would all be top end sets and calibration normally would push these figures lower. Mid range sets, say 1000nits LCD and 600 OLED perhaps and calibration could agian push these lower.

 

[atmoscinema]

Would a 48in OLED screen be as bright as my Sony 50in HDR LCD?

 

[c__w]

Would a 48in OLED screen be as bright as my Sony 50in HDR LCD?

There are no brightness issues with any OLED on the market right now, buy one