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Sat head-on, there’s slight blooming to night-time scenes like the opening of the She-Hulk episode Ribbit and Rip It. I can see a slight haze surrounding the lights in the car park as Leapfrog tries (and fails) to take on a couple of robbers. Move off-axis and the blooming becomes more noticeable. When it comes to gaming the QN90B is not as all-consuming as the LG C2’s feature set but you’re still getting a tremendous number of features whether you’re a console or PC gamer. I measured latency at 10.1ms – faster than the LG C2 (13.1ms) – and with Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) that can drop down to neglible amounts.
Also, an irritating bugbear is that upon start-up the TV lands on the Media hub, and the interface will go straight to the last channel/input you were on. With a PS5 plugged in, it constantly switched it on every single time. You need cat-like speed to stop it from happening, but with the sluggish response of the smart remote, I frequently failed. Features Experience shows, though, that blooming issues with local dimming LCD TVs are typically much more pervasive and consistently distracting than the QE50QN90B’s occasionally obvious dimming activities, so it’s hard to argue with the logic of Samsung’s approach. Even though the brand does also want to have its cake and eat it, to some extent, by making the QE50QN90B exceptionally bright with light HDR images. There are four HDMI inputs (HDMI 3 supports eARC for passthrough of audio to a soundbar), digital optical out, CI+ 1.4, two satellite tuners, an aerial antenna, two USB ports and an ethernet for hardwired connection to the internet. If you want to connect wirelessly to the TV there’s Bluetooth 5.2 and Wi-Fi, along with DLNA and Samsung’s Wireless Dex support. Picture Quality All of the QE50QN90B’s high-end picture features are marshalled by the latest version of Samsung’s Neo Quantum 4K video processor, complete with improved upscaling and the accumulated knowledge of numerous neural networks that have been busy crunching through countless image types in Samsung’s labs to develop a vast database of picture optimisation shortcuts. We discovered a flaw with the equipment used to force an HDR signal when measuring color volume and the color gamut. We've switched to a new tool and updated our measurements. The color gamut and volume have changed slightly.
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That pricing puts it in among the LG OLED55C2, Philips 55OLED807 and Sony XR-55A75K as competing options. Design
We uploaded the brightness measurements and uniformity photos after running the TV for two months in our Accelerated Longevity Test. The QE50QN90B continues Samsung’s tradition of delivering ultra sharp and detailed 4K pictures too, despite the screen being relatively small by today’s standards. What’s more, while the screen is obviously at its best with native 4K content, Samsung’s AI-assisted upscaling is also outstanding, adding detail and sharpness galore to HD sources without exaggerating noise or generating unwanted side effects. Apart from its screen being smaller, the Samsung QE50QN90B’s picture specifications are close enough to those of the previously tested QN95B 4K flagship TV to make differences nigh on impossible to spot. Which is no bad thing given how much we like the QN95B’s pictures. Starting out viewing test patterns via a 4K signal generator and the Spears & Munsil UHD HDR Benchmark disc, a full-screen 100% white pattern and a lower-level gray one both showed a slight amount of color tinting and non-uniform brightness, though I can’t say I noted the same issue when watching regular programs. Better news: the QN90B was able to retain brightness and color vibrancy at viewing positions up to 45 degrees off from center, proving the effectiveness of the Ultra Viewing Angle feature. I was also impressed by how good pictures looked with overhead lights on – that anti-glare screen in action – though I did most of my evaluation with room lights switched off.
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The only notable app absentee is Freeview Play – though Samsung does support the separate catch up apps of all of the key UK terrestrial broadcasters. Samsung’s revision of its Tizen interface has caused a few ruffles. I don’t dislike it, which sounds like damming it with faint praise, but given the number of features and options available, it makes sense for Samsung to go down dedicated hubs to give everything space. But there are some quirks. What’s more, despite the sophistication of its processing engine and lighting system, the QE50QN90B manages to get the time it takes to render images in its Game mode down to a hugely impressive 9.6ms (with 1080p/60Hz signals). Samsung’s Game Bar does, though, provide the option to sacrifice a bit of screen response speed in return for better, processing-assisted picture quality, along with other game-related adjustments such as the ability to raise the brightness of dark areas without impacting the rest of the picture so that you can more easily see enemies lurking in the dark. Its biggest audio issue, though, is the way its sound struggles to project forward, leaving film and TV audio mixes sounding rather swallowed and as if everything is happening somewhere behind the screen. Not surprisingly this can leave you feeling rather distanced from what you’re watching. Verdict That remote carries more buttons but is still practical enough to control if you’ve got small enough fingers to press the smaller buttons. The smart remote is the less cluttered option for those who don’t like to be assaulted with buttons they’ll never use. It also comes with a solar panel that absorbs ambient light to charge itself or can be charged via USB-C.
While a certain type of AV fan will always be drawn to the greater light stability and pixel-level light control you get with OLED TVs, the QE50QN90B’s combination of higher HDR-friendly brightness, peerless (by LCD standards) light controls and impressive image flexibility ensures it has more than enough charms of its own to make a convincing case for itself. Especially for people looking for a TV able to take on a bright room environment. With an HDR signal, the QN90B shows a peak brightness of 612.132cd/mThe QN90B's glare-resistant screen lets it look good even with overhead room lights on (Image credit: Future / Al Griffin) Design and features We updated the text with new information on the number of dimming zones. The 75 inch model has been confirmed to have around 900 zones, but we don't know how many zones the other sizes have.
The problem with Samsung Smart TV is its menu structure. It buries most settings, apart from a few very specific presets, two or three layers down from where other TV interfaces put them. It also seems to constantly nudge users away from any granular controls. Switching among inputs is also more complicated than it should be; the remote has a multiple-source split-screen Multi-View button, but no simple input-switcher button.Samsung describes the QE50QN90B as a Neo QLED model, alerting us to the fact that it uses Quantum Dots to generate its colours rather than colour filters. This should, if other aspects of the TV are also up to snuff, result in a wider and more subtle colour gamut well suited to the extra colour range that typically accompanies high dynamic range content. The QN90B is a second gen Neo QLED Mini LED TV, and it’s another exceptionally bright effort that boasts wide-ranging colours. I do think, however, there’s a case to be made that too much brightness is not always a great thing. We uploaded the initial brightness measurements and uniformity photos for the Accelerated Longevity Test. While the QE50QN90B joins other Samsung 2022 smart TVs in excelling on content quantity, though, it also labours under the same unhelpful new interface design. This can be sluggish when the TV is first switched on, can be confusing to navigate, and has a tendency to highlight content most people won’t actually be interested in. Rounding out the QE50QN90B’s impressive feature count is its Tizen-based smart interface. This remains as good as ever when it comes to content, with pretty much every streaming app you can think of present and correct, bolstered by Samsung’s increasingly impressive (due to it being more carefully curated) TV Plus system of fully streamed TV ‘channels’.
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