Samsung QN900D review: An AI-powered 8K HDR maestro

The Samsung QN900D is the brand’s latest flagship Neo QLED 8K TV and one of the most advanced televisions on the market. While a quick look at the specs would suggest it’s not that different to last year’s QN900C, take a closer peek under the hood and you’ll realise this TV is packing substantially more processing power.

That’s thanks to the new NQ8 AI Gen 3 chip, which uses a staggering 512 neural networks and enables the QN900D to deliver better upscaling, motion enhancement and audio than its predecessor. It also offers numerous customisation options and advanced gaming features, making it an 8K TV to be reckoned with. 

Samsung QN900D review: Key specifications

Samsung QN900D review: What you need to know

The Samsung QN900D is the flagship 8K (7,680 x 4,320) model in the company’s 2024 Neo QLED range. It uses a VA LCD panel with a quantum dot filter and Mini LED backlight, is powered by the updated NQ8 AI Gen 3 processor with 512 neural networks and utilises Quantum Matrix technology for improved contrast and better energy consumption.

Tizen OS is the smart platform of choice as it is with all Samsung TVs, and HDR format support extends to HDR10, HLG and HDR10+ – Dolby Vision remains notably absent. PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and high-end PC gamers can benefit from a wide range of current-gen gaming features, including 240Hz support, while Samsung’s Object Tracking Sound Pro and onboard Dolby Atmos decoding should help keep cinephiles happy.

The QN900D range includes 65in, 75in and 85in screen sizes, and for this review, I’m evaluating the 75in Samsung QE75QN900D.

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Samsung QN900D Neo QLED review: Price and competition

Samsung has told me that the 75in QN900D will cost £6,699 at launch. The manufacturer hasn’t revealed pricing for the other two sizes, nor has it said when they will be available to buy in the UK.

Samsung’s main 8K competition typically comes from LG and Sony but neither has revealed whether it’s launching new 8K models in the UK this year. Sony decided against updating the Z9K in 2023 so it’s perhaps due an update, but the older model is still available to buy, with the 75in option priced at £7,499.

LG released the Z3 in 77in and 88in last year and both sizes are currently in stock at various retailers. Whether you can afford one is an entirely different matter, however. The Z3’s OLED panel makes it incredibly expensive, with the 77in variant priced at £14,999 and the 88in behemoth priced at an eye-watering £24,999. 

Samsung QN900D review: Design, connections and control

The Samsung QN900D uses the Infinity Screen design, with virtually no bezel and a slab-like chassis with a total of 10 speakers and two woofers with three drivers each inside. As with all of Samsung’s 8K TVs, the QN900D comes with Samsung’s One Connect Box, which is attached to the panel by a single cable and houses all the connections.

This makes wall mounting tidy, though if you’re thinking along these lines you’ll need a solid bracket and wall because the QN900D is very big and heavy. This isn’t just because of the 75in screen size, but also because this is an extremely well constructed and beautifully finished TV.

The stand is equally robust and is below the centre of the screen, which makes positioning it on narrow surfaces easier. The front of the stand’s support is mirrored to make it look like the panel is floating in mid-air, and there’s a choice of locating the One Connect Box away from the TV or attaching it at the back.

The connections in the box include four HDMI 2.1 inputs, one of which supports eARC, and all are capable of handling HDR (HDR10, HLG and HDR10+), plus 8K/120Hz, 4K/240Hz, VRR and ALLM. The latter support makes the QN900D one of the best-specified gaming TVs you can buy.

In terms of other physical connections, there are also two USB inputs, twin terrestrial and satellite tuners, a CI (common interface) slot, an optical digital output and an Ethernet port; while wireless connectivity is represented by dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Apple AirPlay 2.

The QN900D ships with two remotes: a standard black zapper and the Solar Cell controller. The latter offers a pared-back choice of buttons but still covers all the key functionality while providing direct access to Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ and Samsung TV Plus.

Samsung QN900D review: Smart TV platform

The Samsung QN900D runs Tizen OS, which has had a bit of a facelift this year. There are now three sub-tabs near the top of the home screen titled ‘For You’, ‘Live’ and ‘Apps’.

The ‘For You’ tab includes all your recently watched content, recommendations based on your accumulated viewing habits, a row of apps and layers of additional content that use your watch history to create a more personalised viewing experience.

The ‘Live’ tab unsurprisingly offers all the live TV content for you to browse, along with access to the electronic programme guide (EPG), which remains well-designed. Finally, there’s the ’Apps’ tab that includes various recommended applications curated by Samsung.

The Media section contains a huge range of streaming services and displays connected HDMI devices such as Blu-ray players, soundbars and game consoles. There’s also a dedicated Gaming Hub, which provides access to several cloud gaming services and serves as another portal to connected consoles.

Whatever your preference when it comes to video streamers, the QN900D has you covered. All the big names are present and correct, including Netflix, Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+, Now, Rakuten, YouTube and all the UK catch-up services.

You’ve also got plenty of choice when it comes to voice controls. Samsung’s smart assistant Bixby is built-in, but the QN900D also works with Amazon Alexa and Siri is accessible via Apple AirPlay 2 you can even access Siri thanks to support for Apple’s AirPlay 2.

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Samsung QN900D review: Image quality

The Samsung QN900D is an 8K TV, and while native content remains relatively limited, it’s what the processing does with the 33 million pixels that counts. The new NQ8 AI Gen 3 processor brings its 512 neural networks into play, adding a previously unseen level of imaging potential.

This AI-enhanced powerhouse draws out an incredible level of detail regardless of the native resolution and flawlessly upscales anything below 8K to deliver finely rendered images free of any banding or compression artefacts. The result is a picture that always looks superb, even on a 75in screen.

The processor doesn’t just handle the 8K AI Upscaling Pro feature, it also adds other benefits such as Real Depth Enhancer Pro which gives images greater dimensionality, and the new AI Customisation Mode that optimises the picture settings based on your personal preferences. There’s also the AI Energy Mode, which intelligently analyses your surroundings, behaviour and content to save energy. 

The TV ships in the Eco Mode and this has excess blue energy in the greyscale, a fluctuating gamma, and oversaturated colours. Filmmaker mode corrects this, producing DeltaEs (errors) around two for the greyscale and the colour gamut, while the gamma is tracking 2.4 correctly. Using the calibration controls it’s possible to improve the overall accuracy, with an average greyscale error that was down to 0.8.

The Mini LED backlight is another key factor in the QN900D’s ability to deliver class-leading picture quality for an LCD TV. The VA panel offers good uniformity, despite its size, with deep blacks and excellent definition just above black.

Using a moving dot test pattern reveals there are 60 horizontal and 32 vertical zones, giving a total of 1,920 independently dimmable zones. This is a big increase on last year, and, when combined with Samsung’s effective local dimming algorithms, delivers exceptional contrast.

The screen filter is effective at absorbing direct light, as well as rejecting ambient light from the room, thus producing an equally impressive contrast during the day. The off-axis performance is also very good, there is some slight blooming when watching HDR at extreme angles, though.

Motion handling is another area that benefits from the improved AI processing, with the new AI Motion Enhancer Pro capable of sharpening and smoothing out moving objects and text. The result is fluid movement that’s free of any judder or unwanted artefacts and this is especially useful if you’re watching sport.

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Samsung QN900D review: HDR performance

The Samsung QN900D is equally impressive with HDR content and delivers some of the most impactful images in terms of dynamic range and colour gamut you’ll see from a TV. The brightness hits a massive 2,300cd/m2 on a 10% window, and 586cd/m2 on a full-field pattern.

This is especially impressive given the sheer size of the screen and means the QN900D can accurately display 1,000 nits HDR content without resorting to much tone mapping. When it does require tone mapping, it precisely tracks the PQ target with grades using 1,000, 4,000 or 10,000 nits.

The HDR greyscale measurements are very accurate, tracking red, green and blue almost exactly, while the HDR colour performance also reveals exceptional fidelity. The DCI-P3 gamut coverage measures 95%, with the colour tracking of DCI-P3 within BT.2020 hitting all its saturation targets.

The HDR tone mapping adds even more details to dark and bright scenes thanks to Quantum Matrix Technology Pro, which controls the Mini LEDs and redirects energy from darker parts of the picture to the brighter ones.

The QN900D also includes Neo Quantum HDR 8K+ to get the most out of all HDR content, with support for HDR10, HLG and HDR10+. While there’s still no Dolby Vision, it’s no great loss as the benefits are limited on a TV that can deliver peak highlights this bright.

What does all this mean in practice? It means you’re getting HDR images with clean whites and accurate colours, while superior processing, increased resolution and great motion deliver exceptional clarity. As a result, the flying scenes in Top Gun: Maverick look stunning.

There’s no clipping in the highlights, and the blacks are deep but retain nice shadow detail. The full-screen IMAX sequences pop, with the whites of the snowy mountains during the final canyon run looking especially impressive as the jets bank and swerve their way through them.

To test the Samsung QN900D we used Portrait Displays Calman colour calibration software.

Samsung QN900D review: Gaming

The Samsung QN900D is an awesome gaming TV that supports every gaming feature imaginable apart from Dolby Vision. The huge screen delivers an immersive gaming experience, while the 8K panel and peerless processing reveal every detail in today’s AAA titles.

In terms of gaming features, this TV is genuinely impressive. There’s support for 8K/120Hz, Freesync Premium Pro and Motion Xcelerator Turbo Pro 240Hz for PC gamers, while next-gen console owners can also enjoy features like 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM.

The input lag in Game Mode is a lightning-fast 9ms, resulting in super smooth and incredibly responsive gameplay. The AI-enhanced motion handling is also impressive, with no obvious signs of tearing or other artefacts.

Samsung’s Game Bar provides quick access to all the main gaming settings and information in one easy-to-access place and enables users to personalise their gaming experience to a commendable degree. Gamers who want the TV to do all the work for them can engage AI Auto Game mode – a new addition this year – which selects an appropriate setting based on the type of game being played.

Other new Game Bar features include Mini-map Auto Detection, which eliminates the hassle of manually searching for a mini-map by automatically finding it through frame analysis and then zooming in to the selected location. If you use Hue lighting, you can also easily control light syncing by having the Hue Sync icon automatically added to the Game Bar.

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Samsung QN900D review: Sound quality

The Samsung QN900D sounds amazing thanks to a 6.2.4-channel speaker layout – quite how all those drivers are crammed into a panel 13mm deep is a mystery to me. But the result of the combination of all those speakers creates a huge soundstage to complement the size of the screen.

The inclusion of height speakers is particularly impactful and benefits the articulation of Dolby Atmos soundtracks no end. This, in combination with Samsung’s Object Tracking Sound Pro processing, results in a highly immersive audio experience. Sounds move in tandem with action on screen, and there’s plenty of power thanks to 90W of amplification.

Other AI-enhanced audio features include Active Voice Amplifier Pro, which uses AI processing to emphasise dialogue, and Adaptive Sound Pro, which seeks to render audio exactly as the creators intended.

Samsung QN900D review: Verdict

The Samsung QN900D remains the brand’s technological zenith, incorporating every cutting-edge feature imaginable, headlined by the NQ8 AI Gen3 processor. This allows the TV to make the most of its 8K panel and deliver some of the best SDR and HDR images you’ll see from a TV this year.

The Mini LED backlight plays its part as well, using nearly 2,000 zones to ensure supremely effective local dimming, while the image accuracy and AI-enhanced motion handling are equally impressive. The sound quality matches the impressive picture, with the audio proving genuinely immersive.

The QN900D is also an attractive-looking TV and includes Samsung’s One Connect Box, which remains very useful. Once you add the responsive smart platform, comprehensive choice of apps and class-leading gaming features, you’ve got an 8K TV that’s very hard to beat.