Samsung Q85R 4K QLED TV Review & Comments

Great review. It's seems to me that the drawbacks of LED/LCD have been mitigated to an extraordinary degree by Sammy. They should be commended for the efforts they've made in advancing the technology. They could do a bit more with accuracy out of the box but it seems like a great all round, everyday use TV. Especially for gamers, 15ms input lag is excellent. Bit pricey at the moment right enough and I'm not convinced by the stand (minor quibble) but it's great to have some decent alternative sets to OLEDs.

Oh and the one connect box is great. Have it on my Mu7000 - it's disappointing that they've removed it on all but the upper mid/high end.
 
Excellent review. Looks as if there's not a lot of difference in picture quality between this and the 55in Q90R. Will be interesting to see how the 8k 55in Q950R fares against both - the specs on Samsung's website suggest it has a lot more dimming zones.
 
@Phil Hinton any chance you could test the Q85R and Q90R for (inverse)ghosting with HDR content when in game mode? My Q90R is being replaced for this, although I'm not convinced it isn't an issue with the screen/current firmware in general. I'd consider the Q85R if I could get some confirmation it doesn't suffer from the same. Thanks.
 
@Phil Hinton any chance you could test the Q85R and Q90R for (inverse)ghosting with HDR content when in game mode? My Q90R is being replaced for this, although I'm not convinced it isn't an issue with the screen/current firmware in general. I'd consider the Q85R if I could get some confirmation it doesn't suffer from the same. Thanks.
The Q85R has been returned. I do have the 65-inch Q90R here but it'll be a while before I get it set up again as I have a few OLEDs for review at the moment. But I can certainly check when I can.
 
The Q85R has been returned. I do have the 65-inch Q90R here but it'll be a while before I get it set up again as I have a few OLEDs for review at the moment. But I can certainly check when I can.
Really appreciate it, thanks.
 
@Phil Hinton what was the measured black level in nits when calibrated to 120 nits white brightness? I'm curious how the measured back level differs to the Q70R considering the wide angle/anti glare filter on the Q85R
 
Many thanks for the review, as I think I’m going to purchase this. Was going for the Q80R at first, but I did wonder if the extra £300 for the Q85R was worth it?.....
 
Hi Phil,
Putting you on the spot , on picture alone which is the better tv? The q85r or the Sony XG9505. I know it’s a lot to ask but you have reviewed both sets.both were given a 8 out of ten. And I know you’re not keen on the Sony Android system, but for viewing which is the better. Thankyou.
 
Hi Phil,
Putting you on the spot , on picture alone which is the better tv? The q85r or the Sony XG9505. I know it’s a lot to ask but you have reviewed both sets.both were given a 8 out of ten. And I know you’re not keen on the Sony Android system, but for viewing which is the better. Thankyou.
I would encourage you to try and demo both and concentrate on HDR which is where the Sony is let down by the lack of dimming zones and poor dimming control, as it lights up the black bars of films constantly. Also look at the Q85R dimming as it can, on occasions, crush some black detail. Between the two personally, I think the Q85R would be less distracting for me as I can accept some crush at the lowest end of the image, against brightening of the black bars constantly. The Q85R has better viewing angles and screen filter, they are about the same in terms of HDR brightness. Samsung out performs Sony when it comes to Smart TV and OS. As ever, it will be up to you and the compromises you are prepared to make.
 
Thanks Phil much appreciated.to put another spanner in the works I was also thinking of the pana gz950 or the Sony ag8 as they are near in price to the Samsung.but my one concern is I watch quite a bit of Sky sports on a weekend and I’m worried about screen retention on the OLEDs, am I overreacting on this issue. Sorry if I’m a pain but I’m an old fart with a bit of OCD . Ha ha ha
 
Thanks Phil much appreciated.to put another spanner in the works I was also thinking of the pana gz950 or the Sony ag8 as they are near in price to the Samsung.but my one concern is I watch quite a bit of Sky sports on a weekend and I’m worried about screen retention on the OLEDs, am I overreacting on this issue. Sorry if I’m a pain but I’m an old fart with a bit of OCD . Ha ha ha
If it was me I would go with the GZ950. I wouldn't worry about the burn-in issue as long as you are not using the Vivid viewing mode and pushing panel luminance at full at the same time. Use it in the professional modes and make sure the set does its compensation cycle on standby and you should be fine. But obviously that's just my point of view, you should still go and see all of these potential sets and pick the one you think will be best for your use.
 
If it was me I would go with the GZ950. I wouldn't worry about the burn-in issue as long as you are not using the Vivid viewing mode and pushing panel luminance at full at the same time. Use it in the professional modes and make sure the set does its compensation cycle on standby and you should be fine. But obviously that's just my point of view, you should still go and see all of these potential sets and pick the one you think will be best for your use.
Thanks once again Phil, I’ve got a Surround system so not particularly worried about crackle gate.
 
I take it this has the same audio sync issues as the Q90R though? 5.1 being fed to the TV is out of sync. Really noticeable with SkyQ. Would be good to actually get this in a review and downmark the TV because of it and get Samsung to actually acknowledge and fix the issue.
 
If I may just ask..how does the LG 55SM9800PLA (NanoCell) compare to the Q85R...as the LG is much cheaper, but is that for a reason.

Appreciate any info :)
 
If I was going to buy a new TV tomorrow to replace my 65KS8000, it would be the 65" Q85R. Calibrated, the quality of my KS8000 still amazes me sometimes, so I can only imagine this would be even better. Unfortunately, I'm not planning on buying a new TV tomorrow!
 
Got this TV a month ago. Bought it because it came with a free q70r soundbar. Did not want to go for the 90r, the 90r was 800 Eur more.

Upgraded from sony x900e. Nothing mindblowing but the local dimming manages to keep the black bars inky black even at an angle, something my old sony was not able to do.

The limited selection of settings is a bummer. I really miss smooth gradation that the Sony had.

And I can see banding on large patches of colours in game mode. The banding dissapears once I switch to a different picture preset mode but that increases input lag.

I could continue blabing.. So to sum up, I really, really like the soundbar. The TV is ok.
 
How much of an issue is it not having the other/extra HDR options like Dolby Vision?
 
It’ll be a year until I’m up for a new tv, so I’m just gathering info.

But... how do massive manufacturers like Samsung send out their stuff with such poor out of the box performance?
 
It’ll be a year until I’m up for a new tv, so I’m just gathering info.

But... how do massive manufacturers like Samsung send out their stuff with such poor out of the box performance?

Because it looks better to the average joe than correctly calibrated settings.
 
Am I right in thinking the only difference between the 85 & the cheaper 80 is the connect box thing.
sounds a lot of brass over the 80 for just a connection box or am I incorrect and there’s more to the Q85 over the Q80.
 
Am I right in thinking the only difference between the 85 & the cheaper 80 is the connect box thing.
sounds a lot of brass over the 80 for just a connection box or am I incorrect and there’s more to the Q85 over the Q80.

The Q85R also has twice the amount of dimming zones as the Q80R and gets brighter. It's a decent upgrade.
 
Does anyone know if it crushes blacks too like Q70R does? I just bought a 75 inch q70r and not happy with how dark the screen is, HDR is terrible.
 

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