Samsung QN85A QLED 4K UHD TV 75 Inch

So I would highly recommend this item. The picture is amazing. Even more important is the way it combats reflection issues especially for folks who have that problem. It is stunning even when the sun is shining directly on the screen! It’s a new adventure in happy viewing!
On the other hand, please beware that Samsung support is rather lacking. I tried 3 times to get an answer to how I would set up audio through my Yamaha and B&W surround sound. The first “expert” told me to use a cable with a 3.5mm plug. (Okay, that’s funny). I had to explain to her that I was not attempting to plug in my phone or a tablet. She literally couldn’t fathom what else I might want to do. I asked is there audio out? She asked if I could “hold please?” 30 mins later she said I would need to connect thru HDMI. I did, but there is no HDMI out. 2nd call got a new “expert” who did not know if audio out existed, and after a few minutes on hold, came back to say I must connect thru HDMI eARC plug. (NOPE). 3rd call and I asked “Looking for audio out, how would I wire in a soundbar? “Do you have a Samsung soundbar?” No, I don’t have a soundbar, I’m simply asking how it would be done. Must be an audio output somewhere.” (Expert: “OH, Samsung soundbars are the best! You Should get one!”
Bottom line those soundbars are bluetooth, and the Experts have no idea how to connect to a far superior surround system.
HOWEVER! I figured it out, without their help, or perhaps despite their responses, and you must use the older style optical cable, the switch to optical output in the Expert sound settings. Never fear all is well, if your do so. Buy the NEO QLED it’s fabulous. And buy a Samsung soundbar if you do not have a nice surround system. Or, if you do have a sound system go get an Optical cable and save yourself a lot of silliness with the “Experts.”

A pretty okay upgrade, but in some ways not really better than my last Samsung TV with pseudo HDR. It occasionally gets stuck pixels that fix themselves and it’s a larger screen so I HAVE to sit further back or pixelation is noticeable around the edges of text or menus. The judder is also more pronounced and I can’t make out whether it’s because it has similar processing power, but due to the Smart Features and HDR it can’t keep up or because it’s a larger screen and it’s just more noticeable. Another step up and you get the super smooth motion from Samsung, I’ve seen it in my family’s tvs, so I’m guessing it’s 60hz on all but one input, but I can’t be fully certain aside from being allowed to select 120hz 1440p on my PC. That port is also the only port that seems to properly switch to 50hz in my Apple TV when watching PAL content. Otherwise it’ll show 60, even if it’s compensating. Cool thing about 120hz mode is no screen tearing in games, even when the frame rate isn’t over 60fps without Freesync.

After a bit of fiddling, I find setting it to game mode is the only thing that allows it to match content frame rate and thus eliminates or reduces judder. It’ll still get bright and it seems to handle high dimming better than the regular mode. With game mode and judder reduction it can still be smooth, frame blur can also be set to something less than max without introducing more tearing.

Where my old TV was sometimes stunning, this is often stunning aside from the judder. Really does take it to the next level being a lot brighter and darker aside from shows like Sabrina that are way too dark even on my OLED iPhone. Bumping up the color saturation basically matches OLED, but the gradients on OLED are a bit better, so bokeh looks more natural there.

One thing I like and don’t like are the smart features. Apps included actually outperform my Apple TV 4K first generation in image processing, but the apps themselves don’t use Airplay 2 to use apps like a remote to control with any Apple device. Alexa is cool and has more features than Google, but she’s not nearly as intelligent. It all feels convoluted and imperfect. Not a Fire TV, not Android TV. No Siri. Samsung keeps getting closer to the perfect TV, but uses their leverage to push their own ecosystem, but I can respect that. That’s the flaw with the remote. I keep pressing Amazon Prime instead of Home and TV Plus instead of Play. I like that’s it’s rechargeable and hands free capable, but it’s got too much stuff I’ll never use. And what’s the deal with the split view that can only watch YouTube or TV plus? When is that ever going to be necessary? If I could browse the web or use my pc while using my Apple TV or even let you use X-ray while watching Amazon Prime I’d use it. Now it’s just pointless. Even video calling while watching TV would have been useful. It works with Airplay, so maybe when universal controls is released on Macs and iPads will make it useful for me.

Big debate is whether I want to replace my TV as often or more often than an iPhone if OLEDs really only last a bit past your extended warranty. As it stands, needing to adjust so many settings is annoying. Instead of pushing the TV past it’s limits, let it do what it does the best. Maybe in a few years we can have 4K 1080p 4-way splitscreen. Now I’d settle for a default setting that detects source frame rate and better HD upscaling, perhaps using AI.