Samsung Q50/Q50R QLED  TV Review

The Samsung Q50R is a bit of a strange model. Its closest competition is mainly 4k monitors, like the LG 27UK650-W, as there are no other 32" 4k TVs on the market. The closest TV competitors are the TCL 3 Series (S325 and S327) and the Samsung N5300, but these are vastly different models.

The Q50R has a great design. It looks very similar to the higher-end, larger Samsung QLED TVs, like the Samsung Q60R, but it has a slightly thicker frame. The feet are placed at either end, but due to the small size of this TV it shouldn't be an issue. Like the Q60R, it has decent build quality but is mostly made of plastic. It has only basic cable management. 

The feet are set at either end of the TV, and don't prevent it from wobbling.

Footprint of the 32" stand: 25.5" x 6.1"

The back is plain, and has a slightly different texture than the other 2019 QLEDs we've tested. There is only basic cable management through a clip on the back legs.

The borders are relatively thick, given the small size of the TV, so they're a bit more noticeable.

This TV is very thin, and doesn't stick out much if wall-mounted.

The Samsung QN32Q50R has decent build quality. It looks very similar to the Q60R, and is almost entirely made of plastic. There are no obvious areas of concern in its construction.

Like most VA TVs, the Q50R has an excellent contrast ratio. This results in deep blacks, which is especially noticeable in a dark room.

The Q50 doesn't have a local dimming feature. The above video is provided for reference only.

Decent SDR peak brightness. Unfortunately, like most Samsung TVs that don't have a local dimming feature, dim scenes are dimmed by the TV's frame dimming feature (also known as CE dimming). This can be distracting with some content.

We measured the SDR peak brightness after calibration, with the 'Movie' Picture Mode. The 'Dynamic' picture mode is slightly brighter.

Disappointing HDR peak brightness. Small highlights in some scenes don't pop the way they should. Like with SDR content, the TV's frame (CE) dimming feature artificially dims some scenes, which may be distracting.

We measured the peak brightness with the default settings in the 'Movie' Picture Mode. 'Dynamic' is slightly brighter, but not noticeably.

The Q50R has very good gray uniformity. The sides of the screen are noticeably darker, but there is little dirty screen effect in the center, which is great for sports fans.

Like most VA TVs, the image degrades when viewed at an angle. Due to the small size of the TV, this effect is more noticeable, but it's better than the Hisense H8F.

The Q50R has decent black uniformity, slightly worse than the Q60R. This results in cloudy blacks in dark scenes, which can be distracting.

Overall, the Samsung QN32Q50R has good reflection handling. Bright reflections aren't diffused much across the screen, so they might still be distracting in a bright room.

Out of the box, the Samsung Q50R QLED has decent accuracy. Gamma doesn't follow the target, so most scenes are displayed a bit brighter than they should. There are some noticeable inaccuracies in shades of gray, but most people won't notice any issues with most colors.

After calibration, the Q50 has outstanding accuracy. There are no noticeable errors in colors or shades of gray, and gamma is nearly perfect.

See our recommended settings here.

480p content looks great, and looks similar to the Q60R.

720p content, including cable TV, is upscaled well, and looks great.

1080p content looks almost as good as native 4k content.

4k content is displayed perfectly, with no noticeable pixel issues.

The Q50R has a very good color gamut, similar to the Q60R, and it can display a wide color gamut, important for the latest HDR content.

Unfortunately, the TV doesn't track the target EOTF PQ curve, and all scenes in HDR are displayed darker than they should be. Unfortunately, 'Game' mode is even worse, as shown here.

If you find HDR content too dim, setting Contrast Enhancer to 'High' improves EOTF tracking significantly, as shown here.

Decent color volume. Although it has a very good color gamut, colors aren't as bright as pure white, especially blues, which is common for LED TVs.

The Q50R QLED has good overall gradient handling, very similar to the Q60R. Some significant banding can be seen in dark shades, though, which can be distracting. Setting Digital Clean View to 'Auto' improves gradient handling, but can cause a loss of fine details in some scenes.

There are no signs of temporary image retention, even immediately after displaying our high-contrast, static test image for 10 minutes.

We don't expect VA panels to experience permanent image retention, as the VA panel in our long-term test appears immune.

The Q50R has a great response time overall, and there is very little blur behind fast-moving objects. There is noticeable overshoot in some scenes, though, which causes inverse ghosting in some scenes. This can be seen in the above photo as a white shape to the left of the logo.

Like most Samsung TVs, the backlight of the Q50R flickers at all backlight settings below max. In movie mode, the backlight flickers at 240Hz, which most people won't notice. In game mode, or if Auto Motion Plus is enabled, the flicker frequency changes to 120Hz, which is more noticeable, and can cause noticeable duplications in motion.

The Q50R has an optional black frame insertion feature that can improve the appear of motion. Unfortunately, like the Q60R, the pulse timing isn't very good, causing some strange motion artifacts, including the strange duplications seen in the above photo.

See here for the setting that controls this TV's BFI feature.

This TV can interpolate low frame rate content up to 60Hz.

See here for the setting that controls this TV's motion interpolation feature.

The slightly slower response time results in good overall stutter performance. Some stutter can still be seen in some content, though, especially slow, panning shots in movies.

Like all 60Hz Samsung TVs we've tested, the Q50R can't remove judder from any source.

The Samsung QN32Q50RAFXZA has a 60Hz refresh rate, and it doesn't support any of the advanced gaming features found on the larger Samsung TVs.

The Samsung Q50R has outstanding low input lag, resulting in an extremely responsive gaming experience. In 'Game' mode, these results are almost as good as most 60Hz monitors.

This TV also supports auto low latency mode, so you don't have to worry about enabling game mode each time you launch a game on a supported device.

The Q50R supports most common resolutions, including 1440p, but only at 60Hz. It can display chroma 4:4:4 content properly in all modes, which is important for clear text when using the TV as a PC monitor.

Like all recent Samsung TVs, the Q50 can't passthrough DTS audio over ARC.

The Q50R has disappointing sound quality. The low-frequency extension (LFE) is high, resulting in bass that lacks thump or rumble and has very little punch. Most dialog is clear, but it lacks airiness due to the sudden drop in the treble range. This TV can get very loud, but produces significant pumping and compression at max volume.

Decent distortion performance. Total harmonic distortion is decent at 80dB SPL, and it doesn't increase considerably at max volume.

The interface is identical to other Samsung TVs we've tested this year. It's easy to use and fast, and the quick settings menu makes it easy to quickly change the most common settings.

Unfortunately, there are ads in the app store and on the home menu bar, and they can't be disabled.

Samsung's content store has a huge selection of apps, and almost all of the most common streaming services are available. This model doesn't support the Ambient mode found on other Samsung TVs.

The remote is very similar to the one found with the other 2019 Samsung QLEDs, but a few of the buttons have been changed, due to the removal of ambient mode on this TV.

There is a single physical button located under the bottom edge of the TV in the center.

• User Manual
• Remote
• Quick Setup Guide
• Batteries