From the minute theSamsung S95D OLED made its first appearanceat atomic number 58 2024 , I ’ve called its anti - glare , anti - reflection engineering a secret plan - changer for OLED television receiver . But the moment those word left my backtalk , concern that this technology might somehow take down the movie quality part up .
Since then , I ’ve go steady the S95D in a couple of other setting , but I ’ve always enunciate I would reserve my terminal opinion until I decently survey the TV . And I ’m prepared to be proven wrong .
Well , that time has fare . So … was I wrong ? Is the S95D ’s unique ambient clean abatement technology a net positive or a final negative ? Let ’s find out . But first , there are a couple of thing I necessitate you to cognize .
For those of you watching our video of this television receiver , it ’s perhaps the most challenging matter we have ever shot at Digital Trends — at least from the perspective of trying to show you , through our camera , and YouTube ’s condensation , and whatever it is you are watching this video on , what it is we see here . It is already extremely unmanageable to capture with a tv camera something that at least represents what we see with our eyes . But show reflexion — or more accurately , showing non - reflection and non - glare ? It ’s next - level challenging . honestly , you probably will not be capable to see what we see here . To see what this TV does , you have to see it in person .
The other thing I need you to know is that all this comes ahead of our full inspection of this TV because ( and this is a small spoiler ) the discussion around this TV ’s anti - glare is a misdirection from the appraisal of the TV ’s overall performance . And so we ’re count at those thing severally .
So , with all that in idea , allow ’s dig in .
Why is this even a thing?
countenance ’s start with a little context . Why does this TV exist ? For as long as OLED television set have been around , there have been two reproducible complaint that have prevented them from being a corking campaigner for nearly any consumer with the means to buy them . First is that they struggled to get lustrous enough to compete with LED - backlit LCD idiot box . And second is that they struggled to keep up their native contrast in lustrous elbow room due to a combining of brightness limitation — and reflections of ambient light elements , stimulate in part by the crank used in the panel .
All that was leave behind was to plow with the reflectance issue .
The last couple of years have seen flagship OLED television that go toe - to - toe with all but the most intensely brilliant LCD telly . So , that ’s problem one addressed . All that was pass on was to deal with the reflectivity issue .
Now , to be exculpated , OLED idiot box have seen several different type of anti - glare and anti - reflections efforts over the past few year . But while those efforts were helpful toward preventing the TVs from essentially functioning like a dark-skinned mirror in your living room , none of them managed to curb reflections and glare well enough for those OLED TVs to safely be referred to as so - called “ bright elbow room TVs . ”
That is to say that if you have an OLED TV in your living elbow room , and that living way gets generous amounts of light — natural light from windows or artificial lightness from lamp — the OLED television ’s otherwise gorgeous picture quality was significantly curtailed .
That ’s why the S95D was so exciting when it was announce . Samsung had the S95D positioned in a very convincing demonstration outer space at CES , right next to Samsung ’s own S95C from the year before , indicate folks how the light coming through an side by side windowpane was fundamentally a non - payoff . It seemed that the S95D would be the first OLED television set that could maintain its contrast and colour in harsh environments .
But then the headache started pouring in . Folks start peach about “ matte screens ” and loss of sheen , and compromise baseline smutty levels . And to an extent I may be responsible for at least some of that concern , as I raised questions like that in my initial coverage . But since then , I ’ve seen the S95D in a number of surround and retain fast my attitude that the S95D ’s performance was awesome everywhere I ascertain it .
How the glare disappears
The S95D deal inward luminousness by scattering it . It ’s not a black pickle — it ca n’t absorb spark and make it go away , as coolheaded as that would be . But the effect it has on brightness level is as near to that as we ’ve ever seen . Still , in the end , the light is being scattered . So instead of seeing a mirror - like thoughtfulness of light — even reduce a bit — you’re able to still see make out a clear range of a function of a light bulb or some other objects in your room . The S95D scatters that light so that at worst you get a gentle sorting of radiance , or peradventure a sort of haze . Words do a piteous caper describing it , actually .
If you know anything about studio apartment light ( reckon picture taking or videography ) , it ’s sort of like how we dampen harsh lighting . We do n’t just move around down the brightness — we diffuse the lightness through something .
That ’s what the S95D does with ambient light . It scatters and diffuses it so importantly that the intensity level is reduced down to a floor where it ’s really easy to just ignore . Then you could give up yourself to get absorbed into the content , because the ambient illumination is now no longer a distraction .
There was n’t a single scenario in which the S95D was n’t more pleasant to watch than the TV next to it .
And , I think that ’s a key point that not enough reviewers are talking about . The stage to which our minds are able to separate out something out is directly affected by how acute or acute that matter is . you’re able to block you have a low - grade headache if you get busy , but a crisp , stabbing pain sensation is always go to disorder you . Your brain can permeate our a low - grade , dull airstream of air sound , or drone low - frequency speech sound , but a acute piercing sound is not something you’re able to dismiss — like the difference between the noise inside an aeroplane and a police siren .
So the S95D get hold of light and mute it down such that your judgment can just ignore it .
If you are actively face for a reflection in this TV , you will always see it . But , most family line are n’t actively looking for a job when they find out television . They are get into the content . What ’s unhinge is when something pierces through that veneer . The S95D does n’t appropriate that piercing to happen .
I ’ve heard some folks talking about how the S95D ’s light abatement performance really depends on what kind of light , or the location of the light . I do n’t accord with that . I put a extensive array of varying saturation of lights , in unlike color temperatures , coming from just about every imaginable angle in our review space . I even opened up the massive service department room access and deluge the studio with sun . There was n’t a undivided scenario in which the S95D was n’t more pleasant to watch than the boob tube next to it .
Light from the TV itself
So what about what happens with the light coming from the Samsung S95D ?
I wager that 99.6 % of viewers would never be able to describe the difference between the hopeful highlight intensity , brilliancy or wetness , or sheen of the image coming from the S95D versus the LG G4 unless they were comparing them side by side . The difference of opinion insignificant , by a long shot . There is a threshold , yes , and the differences between these two boob tube with regard to factors considered relative to the S95D ’s so - called “ brilliance - free ” applied science do not pass that doorsill . If you model a thousand people in front of this TV , 999 of them are gon na be like , “ that is an awesome - look TV . ”
I ’ve heard folks tattle about there being a Saint Elmo’s light or halo around bright objects on dark backgrounds , and that ’s just your eyes toy tricks on you . It ’s the same as when you ’re driving at night . Headlights from oncoming vehicle do n’t search like pinpoints of light , they look awash , and the elbow room your retina beguile that light get a glow around the acute unclouded source . Camera lense do the same thing . It ’s like lens flare , but it ’s your eyes .
But it’s not for everyone
I ’m not say the S95D is for everyone . Some folks just like glossy concealment . Some folks are n’t ever hold out to look on their television set in anything other than a darkened way , and do n’t need anti - glare technology at all . If that ’s you , you do n’t necessitate to buy the S95D.
But for those whose only reason for not buying an OLED in the past has been the thwarting that comes with having what is essentially a dark mirror on their wall ? The S95D is for them . And that ’s a huge potential segment of customer . It get hold of a raw market . And for that reason , I just do n’t think you could successfully argue that the origination of the S95D was a high-risk business enterprise move on Samsung ’s part .
To those of you who require the brightest OLED Samsung make up because you want the Samsung , you want the Tizen operating system — you need the brightest Samsung Tizen - powered QD - OLED ? Well , for you guys in that comparatively tiny club , I ’m deplorable . Samsung did not have you in judgement when making the S95D , and I ’m afraid that they will never make a disjoined , lustrous reading of this TV , because that would be a pitiable business decision .
In the end , money is going to cast the terminal vote on whether Samsung does this again . If piles of the great unwashed bribe the S95D because they love what it does , then Samsung is going to keep piss anti - glare telecasting like this . If this TV ends up being a flop , then I reckon Samsung wo n’t be doing it in a year or two , and glossy flagship QD - OLEDs will be a matter again .
In the interim , I reckon this was a good thought . It ’s not a sodding TV . But anything that makes OLED photo quality more accessible to phratry is a smart move in my script .
