The Samsung Q900R is a great 8k LED TV with impressive picture quality. It can very bright both in SDR and in HDR. Although it has a VA panel, it has wide viewing angles due to the 'Ultra Viewing Angle' layer that maintains an accurate image when viewed from the side at the expense of lower contrast. Despite the low native contrast ratio, dark room performance is greatly enhanced by the very good local dimming support. It has great HDR performance and very good reflection handling. The Q900 has excellent motion handling and a very low input lag. Finally, just like all premium Samsungs since 2018, the Q900R has FreeSync variable refresh rate support.
Our Verdict
The Samsung Q900 is a great TV for mixed usage. It has an impressive picture quality with good dark room performance that also remains accurate when viewed from the side. It has remarkable motion handling with very little motion blur and fast-moving content, like sports, is crisp. The input lag is very low and the TV responds immediately to your actions, which is great for gamers and those who will use it as a PC monitor.
- 8k resolution.
- Wide viewing angles, great for a VA panel.
- Great local dimming and dark room performance.
- A lot of dirty screen effect is evident on the screen.
The Samsung Q900 is a good TV for watching movies. Although it can't display the deep blacks that most VA panel TVs can, it has a great local dimming implementation that allows it to greatly improve dark room performance. It upscales most common resolutions to 8k very well and has remarkable motion handling that delivers a crisp image. It can remove judder from any source and can interpolate older content to 120fps.
This an impressive TV for watching TV shows. It has great reflection handling, although the 'Ultra Viewing Angle' layer creates a little more indirect reflections, while at the same time greatly improving the TVs viewing angles. It can get very bright and it is suitable for a bright room where it will not have any issues with glare. Upscaling from 720p or 1080p to 8k is done just as good as on the previous 4k premium Samsung models.
The Samsung Q900 is a great TV for watching sports. It can handle reflections well and has a fast response time that allows it to display fast-moving content with minimal blur. It can get very bright, so you can comfortably place it a room with lots of ambient light and the good viewing angles, thanks to the 'Ultra Viewing Angle' technology, making it suitable for a room with a wide seating arrangement. Unfortunately, some sports fans might be disappointed at the amount of dirty screen effect the Q900R has. The darker areas of the screen will be visible when displaying a hockey arena or a soccer field.
This is an excellent TV for playing video games. It has a remarkably low input lag in most resolutions. It is packed with gaming goodies like FreeSync support, auto low latency mode, and low input lag with motion interpolation (although not as low as without). The Q900 has a very fast response time, thus displaying a crisp image with little blur, which you can make even crisper by introducing flicker through the use of the optional Black Frame Insertion feature.
The Samsung Q900 is a good TV for watching HDR movies. It has a good dark room performance mainly due to the good local dimming implementation and good black uniformity. The TV has a wide color gamut and can get very bright in HDR, thus HDR content is full of vivid colors and bright highlights. Although it is an 8k TV, it has no problem displaying 4k content very accurately.
The Samsung Q900 has great HDR Gaming performance. The input lag is remarkably low when in HDR mode and this makes the TV very responsive. This, in conjunction with the fast response time, the good dark room performance, the wide color gamut, and the excellent HDR peak brightness allow the TV to deliver a great HDR gaming experience.
The Samsung Q900 is an excellent TV to use as a PC monitor. It has a multitude of inputs, a low input lag, and an excellent response time that make it very responsive. The great viewing angles, thanks to the 'Ultra Viewing Angle,' ensure that you will not experience uniformity issues at the sides of the screen when sitting up close. Since it is an LED TV, you should not worry about permanent burn and our unit showed no signs of temporary image retention.
Changelog
- Updated Jul 27, 2020: Retested the VRR range.
- Updated May 21, 2020: Converted to Test Bench 1.5.
- Updated Feb 21, 2020: Converted to Test Bench 1.4.
- Updated Jan 24, 2020: After comparing the Q900R to the LG SM9970, we've decided to decrease the 4k upscaling score slightly. Some of the usage scores on the Q900R have decreased slightly.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the 65" (QN65Q900RBF) version FA01/QRQ900B. For the most part, we expect our review to be valid for the 55" version (QN55Q900RBF), 75" version (QN75Q900RBF) and the 82" version (QN82Q900RBF).
There are three Q900 models: The Q900RA, Q900RB, and Q950. Q900RA is the 2018 model and doesn't include an HDMI 2.1 port, comes with a silver remote (just like the Q9FN), and was only available in 85" in the U.S. Since the beginning of 2019, it's been replaced by the Q900RB in the U.S. and by the Q950 in Europe. These models have a black remote, one HDMI 2.1 port, and a new panel supporting the 'Ultra Viewing Angle' technology.
If someone comes across a different type of panel or if their Samsung Q900R doesn't correspond to our review, let us know and we will update the review.
| Size | Model | Model Short | US | Canada | UK |
| 55" | QN55Q900RBF | QN55Q900 | QN55Q900RBFXZA | QN55Q900RBFXZC | N/A |
| 65" | QN65Q900RAF | QN65Q900 | N/A | N/A | QE65Q900RATXXU |
| 65" | QN65Q900RBF | QN65Q900 | QN65Q900RBFXZA | QN65Q900RBFXZC | QE65Q950RBTXXU |
| 75" | QN75Q900RAF | QN75Q900 | N/A | N/A | QE75Q900RATXXU |
| 75" | QN75Q900RBF | QN75Q900 | QN75Q900RBFXZA | QN75Q900RBFXZC | QE75Q950RBTXXU |
| 82" | QN82Q900RBF | QN82Q900 | QN82Q900RBFXZA | QN82Q900RBFXZC | QE82Q950RBTXXU |
| 85" | QN85Q900RAF | QN85Q900 | QN85Q900RAFXZA | QN85Q900RAFXZC | QE85Q900RATXXU |
The 65" Q900R we tested was manufactured in Feb. 2019.
Popular TV Comparisons
The Samsung Q900 is a great TV. It is the first 8k TV we tested and has great local dimming and wide viewing angles. See our recommendations for the best TVs, the best HDR gaming TVs, and the best smart TVs.
For most people and uses, the Samsung Q80R is a better TV than the Samsung Q900/Q900R 8k QLED. The Q80R has much better contrast, better gray uniformity, better reflection handling, and better black uniformity. The main advantage of the Q900R is that it has an 8k resolution panel, though at the time of writing, there isn't much 8k content available, and most of what you're watching will be upscaled to that resolution. Overall, while both TVs perform excellently for most uses, the Q80R likely represents better value for most people, unless having an 8k panel is crucially important to you.
The Vizio P Series Quantum 2018 has similar overall performance to the Samsung Q900/Q900R 8k QLED. The Vizio P Series has better reflection handling for a room with multiple light sources, and also better dark room performance, which is great for watching movies. The Samsung Q900R, on the other hand, has an 8k resolution and wider viewing angles thanks to the 'Ultra Viewing Angle' layer. The Q900R supports FreeSync and is a better choice for use as a PC monitor.
The Samsung Q900/Q900R 8k QLED is better than the LG SM9970 8k in most uses. It has a better build quality, a significantly better contrast ratio due to its VA panel, and it can get much brighter in HDR content. The Samsung also has better black uniformity and color accuracy, but its upscaling isn't as good as LG's.
The Samsung Q900/Q900R 8k QLED is a bit better than the Samsung Q800T 8k QLED. The two TVs perform very similarly but the Q900R gets a bit brighter, handles reflections a bit better, has improved uniformity, much better out-of-the-box color accuracy, and much faster response time. The Q800T has a lower input lag and content stutters less on this TV.
We buy and test dozens of TVs yearly, taking an objective, data-driven approach to deliver results you can trust. Our testing process is complex, with hundreds of individual tests that take over a week to complete. Most of our tests use specially designed test patterns that mimic real content, but we also use the same sources you have at home to ensure our results match the real-world experience. We use two main tools for our testing: a Colorimetry Research CR-100 colorimeter and a CR-250 spectroradiometer.
Test Results
Older Test Bench: This product has been tested using an older TV test methodology, before a major update. Some of the test results below aren't directly comparable with other TVs. Learn more
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