This is the second year in which Samsung presents an OLED range, which expands the one that was already released in 2022. For a long time, the Korean company has maintained a strong rivalry in image reproduction systems on televisions with its compatriot LG, apostle of OLED technology, compared to QLED, its flagship system. Each one has its advantages and disadvantages. The first is known as the “pure blacks”. The second is that of high brightness and the best color range. But Samsung has found a way to hit the table to take advantage of the best of both worlds through a method that allows you to also take advantage of the technical benefits of QLED. It’s called QD-OLED.
The highest quality TV in Samsung’s new OLED range is the S95C, in sizes 55, 65 and 77 inches. The model tested for this article is the latter. It is a 4K HDR screen, with a 70 W sound system that uses a system of self-luminescent dots to produce the image, which follows the original OLED line: they can be turned on and off individually, so blacks are represented differently. Perfect shape, being dull pixels.
In traditional OLED, the sub-pixels that make up each of the three basic colors are made up of white light that passes through red, green, and blue filters to form any color. On the other hand, in Samsung’s QD-OLED the light that is generated for each sub-pixel is blue and, when passing through some red and green nanoparticles -blue is not necessary because it is already like that-, these three colors are made up.
What is gained with this technology is that the colors are more reliable because their gamut is wider, in addition to the brightness of the panel, which can also be greater than in the original OLED. The system used by Samsung allows greater viewing angles, because the emission of light is done right in the part closest to the surface. The brightness is applied directly to the color, not to the white light, as in the traditional system, which gives it a lot of naturalness.
The 77-inch Samsung S95C is an impressive screen, not only because of its size -which doesn’t fit into every room- but also because of its design and image quality. It is a television with very refined lines and a very solid construction. Its central metal base system is completely firm and stable, since it weighs around 10 kilos. Assembly is quite simple, although two people are necessary to do it.
So far, all the theory. It’s time to switch on and we find the new One Remote, which is even smaller and lighter than the previous generation, with the same ability to control not only the television, but also other accessory devices. Like last year’s model, it charges with sunlight and Wi-Fi radio frequency, as well as having a USB-C connection.
Once the power button is pressed, the Samsung configuration menu is faster and simpler than that of 2022 and, in addition, the recognition of devices connected by HDMI, such as the Movistar decoder or Apple TV, is almost instantaneous and No misidentifications. It has an option to load the same configuration that the user had on a previous Samsung Smart TV, thus avoiding the always cumbersome process of downloading apps from favorite streaming platforms and identifying yourself on each of them. The One Remote’s preconfigured buttons are Samsung TV Plus, Netflix, Prime Video and Disney .
Samsung’s high-end televisions have enjoyed the One Connect system for a few years: the television connection ports are grouped in an independent box that can be placed on the back of the television base – this model has a very simple shape placing it- or in any other part, such as inside a piece of furniture, although it is preferable to be in a place with good ventilation.
Between the Slim One Connect module (thinner every year) and the screen there is only one fiber optic cable through which everything passes, including power supply. This component, which allows you to hide cable connections very efficiently. The box has four HDMI connectors that comply in all cases with the 2.1 standard, something essential in a high-end television, since it is the one that provides the highest screen refresh, for example, for game consoles.
On the aesthetic side, thanks in part to the design of the Slim One Connect, the fine screen of the Samsung S95C stands out, very stylized, and its practically frameless format, called Infinity One. The anti-reflective layer that the Korean company has applied is very effective to the screen, which improves the experience of watching TV in rooms with a lot of natural light. Samsung has added a treatment to the surface to facilitate the removal of fingerprints, a slight drawback of this type of screen. It is very easy to clean with a slightly damp cloth.
With the TV already set up, comes the best. The image quality of Samsung’s new QD-OLED is overwhelming. And at 75 inches it offers a permanent feeling of a movie theater. The contrast provided by its OLED matrix is ??superb. Samsung has gotten an image depth enhancer from the artificial intelligence work of its Neural Quantum 4K processor, to the point that it creates a feeling that objects and the background are three-dimensional.
To all this we must add its full color range and its high level of brightness, which exceeds 1,500 nits. Samsung has used a new electroluminescent material in its 2023 QD-OLEDs that achieves 30% more brightness than in previous generations. Quite a show. The high dynamic range (HDR) standards that Samsung offers on its televisions are HDR 10, HDR 10 and HLG, although not Dolby Vision, which would make the experience much more complete for content recorded with this format. In any case, this lack does not detract from the outstanding behavior of this television with any light source.
The dark scenes in which there are intense lights in some points are very remarkable, but when the great brightness predominates, the scene seems to envelop the room. The color has been very careful in this television, which has the certification of the Pantone firm for 2,030 precise colors and for 110 different tones of human skin, one of the elements that is usually more difficult to reproduce with all its nuances and plurality. on a screen.
The best image results are obtained, in addition to the characteristics of the panel, by the processing that is done on it. In the case of the Samsung S95C, the Neural Quantum 4K chip uses 64 neural networks, which is more than triple the 20 neural networks in the 2022 range to process the image. The processor is not only responsible for selecting the best parameter settings for each image frame, but also for upscaling all images that are not in the original 4K format of the screen. He does it wonderfully.
With sound, Samsung has taken a leap with respect to the previous generation in the QD-OLED of 2023. Its six rear speakers (two upper, two lower and two central) gather 70 W of immersive sound power (4.2.2) compatible with Dolby Atmos and with its own Object Tracking Sound (OTS) technology, which makes the sound distributed spatially as the people and objects that generate it move or appear on the screen. The entire system is combined with Q-Symphony, which allows the use of a sound bar of the same brand that distributes the sound sources in a combined way, without canceling any of them.
Those who also use the television for video games will enjoy this screen. In addition to the Gaming Hub, Samsung’s center for access to games, either online or via console, the Korean company has the Motion Xcelerator Motion Pro function, which allows the screen to reach up to 120 Hz refresh rate in 4K and up to 144 Hz in connection with a PC with a high-performance graphics card. Finally, a screen of this level could not lack compatibility with the AMD FreeSync Premium Pro standard for an optimal HDR experience in demanding games.
The second generation of QD-OLEDs show Samsung’s enormous innovative capacity in a sector in which it has been a leader for years. With many customers inclined towards some of the OLED potential, it has been able to respond with a superb model like this S95C. The quality of the image is formidable, but beyond the technical aspects analyzed, in consumer technology it is necessary to have an element that is often despised although it is usually the most important: the user experience. And in this generation of televisions, the Korean company has combined multiple technologies in a perfectly meshed way so that the experience is complete.
