The Samsung QN85D succeeds the Samsung QN85C and is Samsung's lowest Neo QLED offering in 2024, sitting below the Samsung QN90D/QN90DD QLED and the Samsung QN95D. It features a Mini LED backlight, allowing for high levels of brightness and fine control over the TV's local dimming zones. It carries Samsung's Auto HDR Remastering technology, which uses AI to convert SDR content to the HDR color space. It also has an integrated microphone on both the TV and the remote, allowing for hands-free voice control through Bixby or Amazon's Alexa. It comes with Samsung's 2024 NQ4 AI Gen2 Processor, which powers the TV's image processing capabilities, as well as its Dolby Atmos sound processing. It's a fully featured gaming TV with four HDMI 2.1 bandwidth ports for up to 4k @ 120Hz gaming and support for every variable refresh rate (VRR) technology. We bought and tested the 65-inch model, but it also comes in 55, 75, and 85-inch sizes.
Our Verdict
The Samsung QN85D is good for mixed usage. It's good in reference conditions thanks to its fairly deep blacks and vibrant colors, and turning your lights on barely impacts those, which is great. Furthermore, it has more than enough SDR brightness to fight glare, but it does struggle with direct reflections. HDR content has impactful highlights, but it's dimmer in Game Mode, so you have to trade off brightness for the best performance. Still, it's a decent option for gamers due to its modern gaming features, but its slow pixel transitions means motion lacks sharpness. Its viewing angle is good enough for a consistent image from a slight angle, but it worsens quickly from aggressive angles, limiting its usefulness in large living rooms.
Good HDR brightness for impactful highlights.
Excellent SDR brightness means it overcomes glare from indirect lighting.
Good color vibrancy in HDR.
Slow pixel transitions in Game Mode leads to blurry motion.
Direct reflections are very visible on the screen.
The Samsung QN85D is good for a home theater. The TV has good HDR brightness and decent enough black levels for highlights to stand out well against darker backgrounds. The brightness of HDR content has excellent accuracy, staying true to the filmmaker's intent. Although colors lack some brightness, they're still vibrant enough to stand out in most content. It has good upscaling capabilities to make low-resolution content look sharp, but its low-quality content smoothing isn't strong enough to completely eliminate artifacts in heavily compressed content. The TV has some visible stutter in shots with slow camera movements, but not everyone will be bothered by it. Unfortunately, it doesn't support Dolby Vision or DTS audio passthrough, which is a downside for those with a physical media collection.
Good HDR brightness for impactful highlights.
Good upscaling capabilities.
Excellent PQ EOTF tracking for accurate brightness in HDR content.
Good color vibrancy in HDR.
Good lighting zone precision keeps blooming to a minimum.
Low-quality content smoothing is okay, but noticeable artifacts are still present.
- Doesn't support Dolby Vision and DTS.
The Samsung QN85D is very good for a bright room. It has amazing SDR brightness, so it overcomes glare from indirect lighting with ease. Unfortunately, it has inadequate direct reflection handling, so it's not a good option if you have lamps, windows, or other light sources directly opposite the screen. Fortunately, the TV maintains deep blacks and its color vibrancy in a bright room, so picture quality remains mostly unaffected by light.
Excellent SDR brightness means it overcomes glare from indirect lighting.
Blacks remain deep and colors barely lose saturation in a bright room.
Direct reflections are very visible on the screen.
The Samsung QN85D is very good for watching sports. Its amazing SDR brightness lets it easily overcome glare from indirect lighting. However, its direct reflection handling is inadequate if you have any lights placed opposite the screen, since they're very visible on the screen. The TV has true-to-life colors, motion is smooth, and it does a good job of upscaling. All of this leads to a mostly pleasant viewing experience. Unfortunately, there's some dirty screen effect towards the center of the screen, and the TV doesn't eliminate artifacts very well from compressed feeds, so the image isn't entirely clean-looking. Furthermore, there are some color artifacts around the edges of fast-moving objects and players. The TV's viewing angle is wide enough if you have friends watching from a slight angle and want them to see a mostly consistent image, but it's not quite wide enough for wide seating arrangements.
Good upscaling capabilities.
Excellent SDR brightness means it overcomes glare from indirect lighting.
Excellent SDR pre-calibration color accuracy.
Minimal motion blur.
Some noticeable dirty screen effect towards the center of the screen.
Direct reflections are very visible on the screen.
Low-quality content smoothing is okay, but noticeable artifacts are still present.
Fast-paced scenes and sports have visible color artifacts.
The Samsung QN85D is just decent for gaming. It supports HDMI 2.1 bandwidth for 4k @ 120Hz with VRR and has low input lag. Unfortunately, it's held back by its slow pixel transitions; this isn't the TV to get if you want crystal-clear motion. In terms of picture quality, it's decent overall, with deep blacks and colors that are vivid enough for most people. Unfortunately, it's dimmer in HDR when using Game Mode than in the other picture modes, so you have to trade some brightness for the best possible gaming performance.
Good HDR brightness for impactful highlights.
HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, 4k @ 120Hz, VRR, and low input lag.
Good color vibrancy in HDR.
Loses HDR brightness in Game Mode.
Slow pixel transitions in Game Mode leads to blurry motion.
The Samsung QN85D has very good brightness overall. Its SDR brightness is excellent, so it easily overcomes glare from indirect light sources. Its HDR brightness is good, so highlights in most HDR content stand out well.
Good HDR brightness for impactful highlights.
Excellent SDR brightness means it overcomes glare from indirect lighting.
The Samsung QN85D has decent black levels. With local dimming enabled, blacks are mostly uniform and are deep enough that they don't look gray. Its lighting zone precision is good, but there's some visible blooming around subtitles and highlights.
Good lighting zone precision keeps blooming to a minimum.
The Samsung QN85D has good colors overall. Its SDR color volume is okay for most SDR content, but it's not good enough for rare content mastered in wider color spaces, or for using a wider color space to increase color vibrancy in video games. Its HDR color volume is good, so most HDR content is well-saturated and vibrant. The TV's SDR color accuracy is excellent, and even enthusiasts will be pleased. That's not the case with HDR color accuracy; most people will be pleased, but those who care about the most accurate colors possible will need to get the TV calibrated.
Excellent SDR pre-calibration color accuracy.
Good color vibrancy in HDR.
The Samsung QN85D has decent motion handling when watching different types of content. The TV is completely free of judder and micro-judder, except for 25p content sent via a 60p signal, so you only see jittery motion if you're watching some European content from an older device. It has a good response time, so motion blur is kept to a minimum. However, there are color artifacts around the edges of objects and people in fast-paced scenes and sports, which affect the clarity of motion. There's not a significant amount of stutter, but you might still notice some choppiness in slow panning shots.
Removes judder from almost all sources.
No micro-judder from most sources.
Minimal motion blur.
Fast-paced scenes and sports have visible color artifacts.
Visible stutter in slow panning shots.
The Samsung QN85D has satisfactory responsiveness in Game Mode, but more hardcore gamers will likely want to look elsewhere. It has HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, 4k @ 120Hz, VRR, and low input lag. However, its slow pixel transitions mean motion lacks clarity, which is a disadvantage if you play competitive titles.
HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, 4k @ 120Hz, VRR, and low input lag.
Slow pixel transitions in Game Mode leads to blurry motion.
Note: We're in the process of improving our tests related to image processing, but this score should give you a general idea of how a TV performs overall with its image processing capabilities.
The Samsung QN85D has good image processing overall. It has excellent PQ EOTF tracking and gradient handling, so it stays true to the colorist's intent when it comes to HDR brightness accuracy, and there's very minimal banding in color gradients. It also does a good job of upscaling low-resolution content. The TV's low-quality content smoothing is okay, but there are still artifacts present in heavily compressed content.
Good upscaling capabilities.
Excellent PQ EOTF tracking for accurate brightness in HDR content.
Very minimal banding in color gradients.
Low-quality content smoothing is okay, but noticeable artifacts are still present.
Performance Usages
Changelog
-
Updated Mar 16, 2026:
We added text to our new Cinematic Motion Handling performance usage and our new Transition Artifacts and Stutter Reduction Via Interpolation test sections after converting the review to TV 2.2.
- Updated Mar 10, 2026: This review has been updated to TV 2.2. We've added new sections for Transition Artifacts and Stutter Reduction Via Interpolation, and updated the way we test Stutter. Additionally, we removed the 'Broken' disclaimer from our Motion Handling usage.
- Updated Feb 05, 2026: We added text to the new Micro-Judder section and refreshed the text in the updated Judder and Response Time Stutter sections after converting the review to TV 2.1.
- Updated May 08, 2025: Converted to Test Bench 2.0.1. We did this to fix an issue with our scoring in the Supported Resolutions section, since TVs with a refresh rate higher than 144Hz were being penalized for not supporting 144Hz.
Check Price
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the 65-inch Samsung QN85D (QN65QN85DBFXZA), but it's also available in 55, 75, and 85-inch sizes. Note that with Samsung TVs, the six letters after the short model code (DBFXZA in this case) vary by retailer and region; it's known as the QN85DBFXZC in Canada and the QN85DBTXXU in the UK. There's also a Costco-exclusive model, the QN85DDFXZA, but it performs the same as the model sold at other retailers.
There's also the QNX1D, which is exclusive to Samsung's web store. It has two feet instead of a center-mounted stand but uses an identical panel, the same processor, and the exact same features as the QN85D, so it should perform the same.
| Size | US Model | Short Model Code |
|---|---|---|
| 55" | QN55QN85DBFXZA | QN55QN85 |
| 65" | QN65QN85DBFXZA | QN65QN85 |
| 75" | QN75QN85DBFXZA | QN75QN85 |
| 85" | QN85QN85DBFXZA | QN85QN8 |
Our unit was manufactured in February 2024.
Popular TV Comparisons
The Samsung QN85D is a bright TV with a solid local dimming feature, giving it deep blacks with only minor blooming. However, if you're after a home theater TV, you're better off with a TV like the Sony BRAVIA 7 QLED, which offers better black levels, image processing, and Dolby Vision support. If you're looking for something versatile, it's outpaced by models from brands like Hisense and TCL, as both the Hisense U8/U8N and the TCL QM8/QM851G QLED offer better overall performance at a lower price.
For more options, check out our recommendations for the best TVs, the best QLED TVs, and the best Mini LED TVs.
The Samsung QN85D is a bit better than the Samsung QN80F, but the differences are minor. The older QN85D gets a bit brighter in some content, so HDR stands out a bit better, and it can handle more glare in a bright room. The QN80F, on the other hand, supports a higher refresh rate, but this is only beneficial for PC gamers.
The Samsung QN90D is a bit better than the Samsung QN85D. The QN90D supports up to 4k @ 144Hz for PC gamers, and has a wider viewing angle. The QN90D is brighter in SDR and has better reflection handling, so it overcomes more glare in a bright room. It's also brighter in HDR, so bright highlights stand out more in HDR content. However, the QN85D has better SDR pre-calibration accuracy and PQ EOTF tracking. The QN85D also has less banding in color gradients.
The Sony X90L/X90CL and Samsung QN85D are equally as good, with a few differences between them. The Samsung has the better contrast of the two, with far better black uniformity, so it's the clear winner for dark room content. Alternatively, the Sony has far superior image processing, so it's better than the Samsung when watching low-resolution or low-bitrate content.
The Sony BRAVIA 7 is better than the Samsung QN85D. The Sony is brighter in HDR and SDR, and has much better contrast. It's also more colorful and has better image processing than the Samsung. However, the latter is a better gaming option as it has faster pixel transitions, but overall, the Sony is the better pick for most people.
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
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for videos & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
for pictures & test results
