Samsung Neo QLED 4K QN95B TV review: One of the best premium TVs money can buy - Technology News

2022-06-18 18:54:15 By : Ms. kelly liao

Samsung has some of the best TVs that use QLED technology. In fact, it is the biggest manufacturer and seller of such televisions. But the company’s own ingredient to the mix that takes things up a notch is Neo QLED technology, which brings an OLED-like experience for a comparatively less price. The latest in Samsung’s Neo QLED lineup is the QN95B, which comes in sizes starting at 55-inches and has a modern approach to installing and watching your television. But despite being cheaper than regular OLEDs, it is not for the masses.

The new Samsung Neo QLED 4K QN95B costs Rs 2,14,990 for the 55-inch model, while the top-end 65-inch model retails in India at Rs 2,79,990. This is a premium television, so it is meant to bust your wallet. Samsung’s latest Neo QLED television packs some of the best features that are available for televisions. You get an impossibly bright, shockingly thin, and a set of impressively intelligent features on the TV that will surely make you forget its price — at least for a few moments. So, if you are looking for a high-end television for your home, Samsung Neo QLED 4K TV is definitely an option, but does it deserve that nearly Rs 3 lakh of yours? Let us find out.

What is your general idea of what a television set looks like? Most answers would depict a screen either mounted on a wall or sat on a tabletop with the help of a stand. There will be wires running to the posterior of the television. But you cannot call this setup minimalistic, if not the simplest. Samsung’s new Neo QLED TV is the exact opposite.

It is a flat screen that is rid of all those ports except for one that uses an HDMI cable to connect to the One Connect box. You get a tabletop stand in the box, but it is hard to find a table that long. If you have a big room or if you are planning to insert a large television into the decor of your living room, getting the Samsung Neo QLED TV wall mounted would be a better choice. That is because the QN95B is meant for slim wall mounting wherein there is almost no gap left between the wall and the TV’s back panel. Samsung will send support to your place for wall mounting for free. So unless the person comes, do not try unboxing the TV on your own because it is quite heavy.

Heavy, however, does not mean it is chunky. In fact, this is one of the most impressively crafted televisions I have seen by far. And when that panel goes on the wall, it gives it a refreshing look to it. The One Connect box, which is chunky, needs to be placed in the vicinity of the TV because it features all the ports, as well as Bluetooth connectivity for the remote control. In case you are opting for a tabletop, the One Connect box will rest on the back of the stand. If you manage whatever few wires there would be properly, the Samsung Neo QLED TV will offer minimalistic aesthetics that you will appreciate.

You get a total of three HDMI 2.1 ports on the One Connect box, but only one of them supports eARC, which lets you control other devices with the TV remote. That means you can control a soundbar but not anything more than that. Speaking of soundbars, the Samsung Neo QLED 4K TV supports Q-synchornise feature, the latest version of which lets you connect to a soundbar wirelessly and manage output on both the TV and the soundbar. Samsung’s Q-synchronise feature works only with compatible Samsung soundbars and supports Dolby Atmos, as well.

Samsung Neo QLED QN95B 4K Smart TV review: Amazing picture quality but average sound

The best thing about the new QN95B TV is its screen. It uses Samsung’s proprietary Quantum Matrix technology that replaces the regular light-emitting diodes (LED) with Micro LEDs, which offer greater flexibility in terms of light control. Since Micro LEDs are smaller, their quantity for the area a regular LED takes up is always more. As a result, a scene with both bright and dark scenes will allow the Micro LEDs underneath to give different levels of luminance.

(Note: Spoiler alert for Stranger Things Season 4 Part 1)

I enjoyed watching Stranger Things Season 4 on the Samsung Neo QLED 4K TV, especially during the scenes of Upside Down when Vecna trapped Max. That bright red was pleasing to eyes, while the shades of blue in the scene gave depth to the scene. Samsung told me that it recognises objects in a scene and tries to create different levels of contrast for each layer. I quite liked how the gooey pillars with withered dead bodies in Vecna’s mindtrap looked, while things moving in the same scene appeared smooth.

Samsung uses Motion Xcelerator to offer smoothness in action sequences by estimating and inserting frames to the content source. So whenever there is a sudden movement in the scene, for instance, the Hawkins gang cycling in Stranger Things, the smoothness makes it look pleasing, if not fluid. But there are certain scenes where the algorithm struggles to identify the movements and results in judders. This particularly happens when Intelligent Mode, which is Samsung’s one-stop solution to controlling picture and sound settings automatically, is turned on. I am nitpicking.

At the helm of all the processing is Samsung’s Neural Quantum Processor 4K, which analyses visual data from 20 neural networks to enhance details in the 4K content. This is particularly visible when you play 4K videos with HDR. I played some 4K HDR videos on YouTube to test this feature out, and I was impressed. So what happens is the processor inside the TV recognises the dark areas of the scene and dims the Micro-LEDs to create a stark difference from the brighter areas.

For a television that costs nearly Rs 3 lakh, Dolby Vision comes across as a must-have feature. But Samsung’s HDR10+ is a perfect substitute. In fact, the HDR quality of the Neo QLED 4K TV is so good, that I did not miss Dolby Vision at all. And in case, you need to dial up or down the HDR quality, you can visit TV settings and do that as per your preference. I would suggest you let the TV settings handle everything because the resulting quality is stunningly good.

The Samsung Neo QLED QN95B 4K Smart TV brings the magic of Dolby Atmos to its top-firing speakers that are located on the back of the panel. When your TV is wall-mounted, the sound strikes the wall and gets amplified, which is good for people who like crisp but loud sounds when watching TV. If you let the TV rest on a tabletop, the striking will not happen, so there might be some difference in the loudness. I got my unit wall-mounted, so I could not experience that difference. But it is not a big deal because of Dolby Atmos.

Kate Bush’s Running Up The Hill played in Stranger Things was groovy and loud even on a volume level of 15. Listening to music is also enjoyable, but only till you increase the volume beyond 70. After that, the sound tends to lose details, which is a little disappointing. But you would rarely crank up the volume to that level, so your experience is not going to be bad with the speakers.

Samsung’s QN95B 4K TV also follows characters and objects in the scenes to belt out sounds from associated directions. Stranger Things’ Vecna calling Max from the outside of the classroom — which was actually on the left — sounded exactly how a sound coming from the left direction would be perceived. I liked how Samsung paid attention to providing a holistic viewing experience that includes small, but nifty features like this.

Samsung’s smart televisions do not use Android TV but the company’s Tizen OS. Setting up the TV is easy. You can either use SmartThings on your Android or iOS device or use the remote control to proceed with the setup process. You are required to give access to WiFi or LAN connection to be able to access streaming services and internet-enabled platforms. After you are done with the process, the Media Hub unfolds on the screen with a new interface.

The banner on the top promotes movies and shows playing on Samsung TV Plus, which is the company’s free, ad-supported live TV service. There are streaming apps stacked below that banner and below that is the current tab that shows what is playing on Samsung TV Plus in a small window that keeps running. If you do not navigate around, the channel selected in the current tab will go full screen on your TV.

For navigation, you can use the physical remote control, as well as the SmartThings app on your phone. You can also use voice assistants for certain things. Samsung’s Neo QLED 4K TV supports Bixby, Alexa, and Google Assistant. I liked summoning Alexa on my TV sporadically to open apps and play music while I was baking cake in the kitchen. That is how good the microphone on the TVs are.

Besides doing what television is supposed to, the Samsung Neo QLED QN95B 4K Smart TV also doubles as a piece of art that either goes on your wall or on the tabletop. Samsung’s Ambient Hub tab brings to you a plethora of wallpapers and digital artworks that dynamically move and match the brightness level of your room to create a seamless decor. The Ambient Hub also has NFT artwork, but that catalogue is so wide this place feels almost like a storefront for them.

The remote control is very sleek and has hotkeys for apps such as Netflix and Disney+ Hotstar. But there is no hotkey for YouTube, which makes sense on Samsung’s part because it does not want to promote Google’s service, but was annoying for me because I use YouTube a lot. I had to navigate to YouTube through remote keys mostly if I was not alert enough to ask Alexa to do that. The remote control does not need batteries. It has three ways to charge though: a USB-C port, a solar charging panel on the back, and RF harvesting that catches radio waves from the surroundings to keep the battery charged.

For Rs 2,79,990, the Samsung Neo QLED QN95B 4K Smart TV is one of the best money can buy. It brings an impressive viewing experience that you will be spoilt for. The software experience is not just simple, it is also utilitarian and that is good. The speaker could have been better but if you keep your expectations a little low, it will not disappoint you. Samsung Neo QLED QN95B 4K Smart TV is one of the best premium televisions on the market and if you are ready to spend that money, this is worth considering.

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