I have never , in all my years as a tech reviewer , see such intense feeling over a television receiver . That TV , of course , is the Samsung S95D QD - OLED — Samsung ’s flagship OLED tv set for 2024 . We ’ll get to the arguing and ballyhoo in a moment , but first things first : the Samsung S95D is one hell of a TV , one of the vivid — and definitely one of thebest of the year .
Everyone who passed through the studio apartment while I was play on this revaluation was blow off by the S95D. All around , its characterisation is splendid . With or without the lights on its luminosity capabilities excel , color truth is great and well - saturated , and its high spot just pop . It boast Samsung ’s One Connect box ( that I ’m a big fan of ) , which allows a single - cable association to the idiot box to massively reduce cable clutter , and some sizeable built - in phone for a television set with backside - firing speakers and eight basso transducers lining the back .
It ’s a well - rounded , premium TV . So what ’s all the argument about , then ? Unveiled atCES 2024 , the Samsung S95D demonstrate off a feature that has since stimulate quite an uproar , albeit mostly among TV enthusiasts who have mucked up the conversation around this boob tube : itsanti - glare / anti - reflective technology . design to aid dissipate any ambient visible light reflecting off the covert , the tech distribute it out across the screen ’s surface , making for a less - harsh viewing experience , specially in bright rooms wheretraditional OLEDstend to struggle . However , the dispersal does have an effect over the integral projection screen , and there ’s a vocal minority that would favour a more localized outcome like in most other TVs .
These are all valid points of survey , to be sure , and I ’m going to get into all of this in the review . So , let ’s get started .
Video review
Overview and features
Before I get into characterisation character , let ’s comprehend some basics . The S95D is aQD - OLED TV , which means it can essentially bring about higher people of color purity and a slenderly wider color gamut , with good chroma in very shiny colors than a WRGB OLED panel . That enhanced performance is not something so easily see on its own . But if you put this TV next to , say , an LG G4 , you’re able to see the departure in some cases — especially in the manner it handles loss . Whether youlikethat is up to personal preference . But from a measurements view , this television engineering science does have the ability to produce arresting and precise people of color .
The S95D comes with Samsung ’s One Connect box , which ( long the bane of many custom - installation professional ) allows for a individual - cable’s length connection to the TV . Power , telecasting , everything . One cable . This can be an reward , so long as you may hide it the box itself , but it does allow you to reduce cable television service clutter and makes for a neat and hefty setup . I ’ve been a buff of the One Connect box seat for some time , but it is n’t always a boastful help to everyone . Butthat ’s how this TV come , so there it is .
The S95D runs on Samsung ’s proprietaryTizen smart TVoperating organization , of which I have never been a big sports fan . Some of that is because it aim too many clicks to get to picture options and such — a problem suffered more by reviewer than the average drug user . That say , I will give Tizen points for being really snappy . The TV boot up speedily , and the sassy goggle box interface is immediately operational , which is more than I can say for the experience you get from the LG G4 running webOS .
But for my review , ultimately , I connect an Apple TV 4Kstreaming box , even if the telecasting doesnotsupport Dolby Vision . ( No Samsung TV does . ) I just favor the experience on the Apple TV over what ’s built into Samsung tv set , which , no-good Samsung , that ’s just how it is for me .
The Samsung S95D number with the company’ssolar - rechargeable remote . It ’s kind of lowly , but never having to interest about shelling is pretty slap-up . It ’s also somewhat little , which is good , but , that makes it a little easier to misplace . to boot , the button are not backlit , although there really are n’t many buttons to seek to keep running of anyway .
I also did n’t enjoy assemble the stand that fall with this TV . But once you ’ve jumped through those hurdles , it is extremely solid and supports the TV really well . Oddly enough , though , it does have just the fragile lean back — at least the test building block we were sent does .
Sound quality
In a deal of our TV review , we usually recommenda good soundbarto couplet with your TV , because most TVs have dreadful sound out of the box . The speakers built in to the S95D , however , storm me . On the back of the television are panel of rear - firing speaker lining the edges as well as eight bass transducers that deliver some decent low terminal .
This speaker system works well if the telecasting is wall - climb on . ( I ’ve take heed it that way , and it is impressive . ) But it also can work well if the TV is stand - mounted , too . It just helps if the telecasting is come out in near proximity to the wall behind it , because it trust a great business deal on reflection of the audio wave to sound its best .
alas we have heavy - absorbing slat - wall fabric in the inspection studio apartment , so we didnotget the best sound out of the S95D. Fortunately , I still have Samsung ’s flagship Dolby Atmos soundbar , which remains one of thebest soundbar systemsyou can buy . And it , along with Samsung ’s Q - Symphony audio utilize the telecasting loudspeaker as enhancement , render one hell of an at - home cinematic experience .
Nit Nerds, activate!
Those of you who are familiar with my video recording reviews , I wish to do a thick dive into a TV picture execution with a section I call number for Nit Nerds . But if you are n’t concerned with such things as peak nit and delta E number and white-hot balance erroneousness , feel free to skip this segment . I ’ll be getting to the moving picture character takeaway in a consequence . But , for you nit nerds out there , I think you ’re go to witness this pretty interesting .
The S95D measure very well . I did demand to change the color temperature background in movie maker mode to Warm 2 to get the best white balance , so I evoke you do the same if you want the most accurate picture . But in SDR Filmmaker Mode I got about 200 nit , and of course of study you’re able to seriously brighten that up if you want .
snowy balance was admirable — a little heavy on blue , so a bit cool , but no horrific errors . Color truth was excellent , too . And grayscale , on the whole , was quite near . In HDR , again , dark room for measuring . I got about 1,450 nit from a 10 % and 5 % blank window — a small lower than some measurements I ’ve seen elsewhere .
When the lights are up , really up , you may notice that black areas are n’t as inky as OLED television made with WRGB type OLED panel .
EOTF tracking was firm top to bottom under normal testing conditions . ( you’re able to state I ’m alluding to something , veracious ? ) HDR coloration accuracy was majuscule , and the grayscale was very honorable , if not the best we ’ve seen from an OLED TV . colour gamut in HDR was outstanding — 100 % of DCI P3 and about 90 % of BT . 2020 and the coloring material volume was super impressive — even the bright colors remain really concentrated . That ’s that QD - OLED tech at work .
Another thing I find is that when quiz this TV ’s peak brightness : The TV maxes out its capabilities when it see a window pattern . But when the whole covert is get down up , I do n’t think you ’re sire 1,400 nit peak highlighting . Also , this TV does limit the cleverness after about 20 second with an torturous mental test pattern like this . you could see it dimming aggressively if you press it too hard . And you may see that it does get hot when pushed severely — I measured a temperature addition of about 50 degrees Fahrenheit before the TV started to ram a dimming down .
And this intense test window also get a bit of image retention , though it last away moderately speedily . Again , real content is not likely to cause this . This is a torturing - test reaction . But if you see , say , hockey , with the TV set to be the brightest it can be , so the APL is super high , and you hesitate it , or the epitome hang around a bit , you might get auto luminousness clipper coming in briefly until the characterisation move again .
For more discerning watcher , there are a match of things to look at . When the ambient Inner Light are up , really bright , you may find that mordant surface area are n’t as inky as OLED television set made with WRGB type OLED instrument panel . candidly , it ’s never bothered me . Once the screen is light up with mental object , the contrast is still so honorable that I can look past large swathe of dark areas not being as inky . The advantage of pixel - stage dimming is still plain , making it a more contrast - yttrium pic on the whole than most LCD - found television set with backlights .
Anti-glare coating
With the nerdy numbers out of the way , let ’s address the elephant in the elbow room . The S95D ’s anti - glare technology , which some care to describe as a “ matt coating ” or “ lusterlessness ending , ” isnota lusterlessness complete in the sense that the panel appears to have texture to it , like Samsung ’s The Frame TV does — a trick that helps that boob tube ’s image really look like art on canvas .
No , this anti - glare applied science does n’t go that far . It does , however , keep the goggle box screen door ’s surface from face like a dark mirror .
I think it makes sense that Samsung would want to pop the question an OLED television receiver that could look great in status under which OLED TVs typically meet — namely rooms with a lot of twinkle in them . Part of the root to that challenge was to make a bright OLED TV , which Samsung has done with the S95D. ( More on that by and by . ) The other part was to dissipate ambient visible light , rather than have it direct - think over , by ditching the mirror - like effect common on OLED idiot box .
The result is the following : Whether the light source is verbatim and concentrated — like a bright tripping bulb or sunshine - flooded window sitting right behind you — or more generalize , elbow room - filling Christ Within , the S95D pass around that light over a large amount of blind surface area , thus having a more gentle , less invasive core . But it occurs over most of the screenland .
Now , as many commenters correctly pointed out in myAnti - glare vs. Glossy OLEDvideo , I did n’t talk about how the Samsung S95D depend in those dim , light-headed - controlled conditions . And perhaps that was a mistake . I wanted to talk about the S95D ’s merit as a bright - way TV on its own ( it ’s become my daily machine driver , actually ) , figuring I would get to the dimmed or dark - way execution here in this followup . And I will below .
Picture quality
Let me get with a little summary that ’s going to put the S95D into perspective . Every single person I show this TV to has been nothing short ofgobsmacked — just smacked all up in their mariner — at how gorgeous the pic quality is . I brought in admirer , sept , neighbor , and professional videographers and imaging professionals , and theyallwere like,“Dayum , that TV looks awing . ” With the lightness on , in total wickedness , everyone says this TV is straight fire .
I guess that fairly represents what most folks are going to mean of the S95D. The idiot box tends to be a bit brighter than what ’s considered accurate in SDR , even in its Filmmaker Mode picture preset . And then of course you’re able to really juice up the light by picking a brighter picture musical mode or just turning up the OLED light level .
Samsung has also introduced a new color friend mount which , again , strays from accuracy by juicing up coloration saturation , but that ’s a look a lot of common people like , so it ’s overnice to have the alternative available . And as a incentive , it does n’t just all toss truth to the wind — it ’s just a little extra pizzaz that is likely to delight a lot of TV audience .
And as for the S95D ’s anti - glare performance in really promising suite goes , the treatment makes the range more watchable than with glossy screen , I think . But there ’s no denying that the TV will mislay some of its contrast as the lighting is scattered . But I maintain that in harsh lighting conditions , this is still the most watchable OLED television on the market .
Everyone I showed this TV to think it was unbelievable .
In faint room ( with , I ’d say , about 70 % to 75 % of the kindling scenario I tried ) while moving light sources around to various place in the elbow room and varying the volume by three unlike levels , I base the S95D lookedgreat . We ’ll investigate how it looks compared to an OLED TV like the LG G4 ( ride out tuned ) , but black layer looked inky , contrast was outstanding , and the image has splendour .
Is that sheen slenderly , marginally less than competing glossy OLED TVs ? Yes , it is observable in a comparability . But in isolation I recall the S95D look first-class in most scenario . It may not be the brightest OLED telly on intermediate ( I suppose that award will have to go to the LG G4 ) , but it is more than sufficiently bright for dim - way applications .
HDR highlights have soda , and colors are bright and well - saturated . More to the level , most of the time I watched this goggle box I did not see an obvious hazy , smearing effect even though the measure show objectively that it is happening .
I ’m going to keep find out and examination , but the motion resolve on this TV has n’t bothered me yet . After around three weeks into watching this TV , I ’ve just delight it a bunch .
But what ’s Game Mode like on the S95D ? The motion picture may be a little over - lighten , first-rate - enjoyable on balance . I ’m not a big gamer and I ’m not go to pretend to be qualified to say that this is anexcellent gaming TV . But I ’ll say that I mean the game mode and game splashboard is pretty corking .
Final thoughts
So , is the Samsung S95D a reference book - grade OLED TV ? No . Is this TV going to summarily gain ground gunplay catch with other OLED idiot box under the most ardent of expert scrutiny ? Probably not . But is it an excellent television receiver that is likely to land in more homes than other similarly price OLED tv ? Yeah , I think it will .
In regards to the S95D ’s anti - glare feature film . I was untimely if I ever said that the anti - glare silver screen on this TV was operate to be indistinguishable from a showy OLED TV in most condition . In a totally dark-skinned room , I think most would have a difficult time discover it . But when light is involved , you could see a difference if you have a keen eye . So , for the phonograph record , I let in it : The anti - glare screen does visibly alter the range in many different viewing scenarios .
But I place upright by my take that the anti - glare is a net positive inmostsituations and is going to be a welfare to the most amount of customer . But I also agree with the many commenters of my Anti - glare vs. Glossy OLED picture — that a rendering of the S95Dwithoutthe anti - glare treatment would be a great idea ( Samsung , we ’re looking at you ) .
But let ’s be clear : We ’re talking about Samsung ’s flagship QD - OLED TV here . It begin at a baseline of awe-inspiring . After that , the scrutiny has to go deep to find its flaws . And I ’ll do my good to show you those when I put this up against the LG G4 and perhaps some other OLED goggle box . On the whole , though , it is beautiful .
