Samsung Q80/Q80T QLED Review (QN49Q80TAFXZA, QN50Q80TAFXZA, QN55Q80TAFXZA, QN65Q80TAFXZA, QN75Q80TAFXZA, QN85Q80TAFXZA) (2024)

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Design

Style

Curved No

The Samsung Q80T has a simple and minimalist design with thin bezels on all sides. It's center-mounted on a pedestal-style stand.

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Design

Stand

The stand is a mix of metal and plastic. It provides decent support for the TV, but there's still a fair amount of wobble. Luckily, it's fairly small and doesn't take up much space, making it easier to place a soundbar in front.

Footprint of the 55 inch stand: 15.4" x 10.3".

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Design

Back

Wall Mount VESA 200x200

The back of the TV is plastic, and it's plain except for the fine horizontal texture etched into it. The inputs are side-facing and are easily accessible when the TV is wall-mounted, and grooves guide the cables towards the stand, which is hollow and serves as cable management.

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Design

Borders

Borders 0.35" (0.9 cm)

The bezels on the Samsung Q80T are thin and aren't distracting.

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Design

Thickness

Max Thickness 2.46" (6.3 cm)

Update 06/23/2021: We've updated the thickness of the TV to include the thickness of the power plug, as it sticks out a bit from the back panel of the TV.

The TV is quite thin without the stand and shouldn't stick out much when wall-mounted.

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8.5

Design

Build Quality

Build quality feels excellent. It's mostly plastic, but it feels well-built and sturdy overall. The TV does wobble when nudged, mostly due to the design of the stand.

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Picture Quality

8.1

Picture Quality

Contrast

Native Contrast

3,042 : 1

Contrast with local dimming

4,225 : 1

The Samsung Q80T has a great native contrast ratio, but it's lower than typical for a VA panel. This is likely due to the implementation of Samsung's 'Ultra Viewing Angle' layer, which improves viewing angles at the expense of contrast ratio. The contrast does improve when local dimming is enabled, but blacks can still appear grayish in some scenes.

The 49 inch variant doesn't have the 'Ultra Viewing Angle' layer and is expected to have a higher native contrast ratio.

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LEARN ABOUT CONTRAST

8.2

Picture Quality

SDR Brightness

Real Scene Peak Brightness

427 cd/m²

Peak 2% Window

537 cd/m²

Peak 10% Window

709 cd/m²

Peak 25% Window

682 cd/m²

Peak 50% Window

465 cd/m²

Peak 100% Window

424 cd/m²

Sustained 2% Window

529 cd/m²

Sustained 10% Window

685 cd/m²

Sustained 25% Window

667 cd/m²

Sustained 50% Window

463 cd/m²

Sustained 100% Window

422 cd/m²

Automatic Brightness Limiting (ABL)

0.030

Update 11/02/2021: We retested the SDR peak brightness in the regular picture settings, outside of Game Mode, after firmware update 2016.1. It improves the real scene brightness by about 20 nits, which isn't a significant difference. The highlights are also slightly brighter, but they're within margin of error and not enough for us to change the results for the peak and sustained windows.

Great SDR peak brightness. It's more than enough to fight glare in bright rooms, but there's quite a bit of variation in brightness when displaying different content.

We measured the peak brightness after calibration, using the 'Movie' Picture Mode, with Brightness set to maximum, and Local Dimming set to 'High'.

If you don't mind losing a bit of image accuracy, you can get a brighter image by setting the Picture Mode to 'Dynamic', Local Dimming to 'High', and Brightness to max. We achieved a peak brightness of 761cd/m² in the 10% window with these settings.

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LEARN ABOUT SDR BRIGHTNESS

7.0

Picture Quality

Local Dimming

Yes

Backlight

Full-Array

Update 06/23/2021: We've added two new videos demonstrating the local dimming feature with real content.

This TV has a decent full-array local dimming feature. The implementation has been tweaked to light up more zones at once, which has the effect of reducing intense blooming around bright objects but also causes a larger section of the screen to appear grayish. That said, it isn't as noticeable in real content, and subtitles are handled well. It's still a bit slow in reacting to changes and can sometimes cause the corners of the screen to flash when the whole screen is gray. The performance is very close to that of the Sony X900F.

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LEARN ABOUT LOCAL DIMMING

6.0

Picture Quality

Local Dimming In Game Mode

Local Dimming

Yes

Backlight

Full-Array

Update 10/28/2021: We retested the local dimming feature in 'Game' mode with firmware 2016.1. Local dimming is a bit better than before, as the TV appears to be doing a better job at averaging out bright areas across multiple zones. There's actually a bit more blooming than before, and bright objects don't stand out as much, but overall it's a bit better.

Update 06/23/2021: We've added two new videos demonstrating the local dimming feature with real content.

In 'Game' mode, the local dimming doesn't do much, especially with real content. There's very little black crush or other noticeable flaws with the local dimming, but there isn't much noticeable improvement in dark scenes. For instance, the local dimming barely reacts to subtitles. When there is a long stretch of dark content, it may dim the scene a little but not by much. Because it's less aggressive, transitions between zones are quite smooth and not very noticeable. However, sometimes the local dimming seems to behave differently, as with the moving circles where it dims the background more aggressively, and zone transitions become more visible. However, it quickly goes back to its more ineffective behavior. What all of this means is that you likely won't notice the effects of local dimming much when in 'Game' mode.

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7.5

Picture Quality

HDR Brightness

Real Scene Highlight

719 cd/m²

Peak 2% Window

528 cd/m²

Peak 10% Window

739 cd/m²

Peak 25% Window

607 cd/m²

Peak 50% Window

461 cd/m²

Peak 100% Window

438 cd/m²

Sustained 2% Window

522 cd/m²

Sustained 10% Window

717 cd/m²

Sustained 25% Window

603 cd/m²

Sustained 50% Window

460 cd/m²

Sustained 100% Window

436 cd/m²

Automatic Brightness Limiting (ABL)

0.029

Update 11/02/2021: We retested the HDR peak brightness in the regular picture settings, outside of Game Mode, after firmware update 2016.1. It improves the real scene brightness by about 20 nits, which isn't a significant difference. The highlights are a bit dimmer, but they're within the margin of error and not enough for us to change the results for the peak and sustained windows.

Good HDR brightness. HDR content looks especially good if you're watching in a dark to moderately-lit room. Overall, scenes are a little brighter than they should be, but very bright highlights don't quite pop as intended. As with SDR, there's quite a bit of variation in brightness depending on the content.

We measured the HDR peak brightness before calibration, using the 'Movie HDR' Picture Mode, with Local Dimming set to 'High', and all other image processing disabled.

If you find HDR too dim, you can make it brighter by setting Brightness and Contrast to maximum, set ST.2084 to maximum, and set Contrast Enhancer to 'High'. Using these settings, you can make HDR appear significantly brighter, as you can see in this EOTF. If you want a TV with higher HDR peak brightness, check out the Sony X950H.

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LEARN ABOUT HDR BRIGHTNESS

6.7

Picture Quality

HDR Brightness In Game Mode

Real Scene Highlight

534 cd/m²

Peak 2% Window

208 cd/m²

Peak 10% Window

616 cd/m²

Peak 25% Window

608 cd/m²

Peak 50% Window

472 cd/m²

Peak 100% Window

393 cd/m²

Sustained 2% Window

206 cd/m²

Sustained 10% Window

602 cd/m²

Sustained 25% Window

598 cd/m²

Sustained 50% Window

470 cd/m²

Sustained 100% Window

392 cd/m²

Automatic Brightness Limiting (ABL)

0.064

Update 10/28/2021: We retested the HDR Brightness in 'Game' mode with firmware 2016.1. It's slightly brighter overall, but the 2%, 50%, and 100% slides are a bit dimmer than before.

In 'Game' mode, the HDR brightness is okay. It's a bit more consistent across content but doesn't get as bright overall and highlights don't stand out as much. The replacement to this TV, the Samsung Q80/Q80A QLED, gets significantly brighter in 'Game' mode.

We tested the brightness in the 'Game' Picture Mode, using the 'Warm 2' Color Temperature, with Local Dimming set to 'High', Color Gamut on 'Auto', Dynamic Black Equalizer set to '2', and Sharpness set to '0'. Motion interpolation and other additional settings were disabled.

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7.3

Picture Quality

Gray Uniformity

50% Std. Dev.

3.356%

50% DSE

0.199%

5% Std. Dev.

0.500%

5% DSE

0.096%

The Samsung Q80T has decent gray uniformity, although this can vary between units. The corners of the screen look darker, and there's a bit of dirty screen effect throughout the screen. Luckily, uniformity is much better in darker scenes.

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LEARN ABOUT GRAY UNIFORMITY

7.9

Picture Quality

Black Uniformity

Native Std. Dev.

0.824%

Std. Dev. w/ L.D.

1.253%

The Samsung Q80T has great black uniformity, but this can vary between individual units. There's a bit of clouding throughout the screen, and the overall image looks a bit more grayish. With local dimming enabled, the clouding is less noticeable, and there's a bit less blooming around the test cross.

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LEARN ABOUT BLACK UNIFORMITY

7.1

Picture Quality

Viewing Angle

Color Washout

37°

Color Shift

45°

Brightness Loss

45°

Black Level Raise

70°

Gamma Shift

20°

The Samsung Q80T has decent viewing angles for a VA panel TV. It has Samsung's 'Ultra Viewing Angle' layer, which improves viewing angles at the cost of a lower contrast ratio. Gamma shift happens rather quickly once you move off-center, but black level remains fairly consistent until you reach moderate viewing angles. To take our measurements, we had to perform two runs, one with local dimming set to 'Low' to measure color, and the other with local dimming disabled to measure lightness, black level, and gamma. Overall, viewing angles are better with the local dimming disabled.

The TV's local dimming can't be disabled through the normal settings menu. To turn it off, you must first disable PC Mode Dimming within the TV's service menu, and then activate PC Mode.

The 49 inch variant of this TV doesn't have the 'Ultra Viewing Angle' layer, and we expect it to have worse viewing angles.

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LEARN ABOUT VIEWING ANGLE

9.4

Picture Quality

Reflections

Screen Finish

Glossy

Total Reflections

1.3%

Indirect Reflections

0.8%

Calculated Direct Reflections

0.5%

Superb reflection handling. The screen's anti-reflective coating performs remarkably well at reducing the intensity of reflected light, making it a great choice for fairly well-lit rooms. However, the light scatters across the screen, creating a rainbow-like effect. This can be most noticeable in rooms with a lot of light, especially when you're watching dark content here. You can see examples of it from Reddit here.

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LEARN ABOUT REFLECTIONS

8.8

Picture Quality

Pre Calibration

White Balance dE

1.68

Color dE

1.47

Gamma

2.13

Color Temperature

6,365 K

Picture Mode

Movie

Color Temp Setting

Warm 2

Gamma Setting

2.2

The Samsung Q80T has excellent color accuracy out-of-the-box. There are only minor inaccuracies that are very difficult to spot with the naked eye, and white balance is also fantastic. However, the color temperature is a bit on the warm side, and gamma doesn't follow the target all that well, causing most scenes to appear brighter than they should. Note that color accuracy can vary between units.

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LEARN ABOUT PRE CALIBRATION

9.6

Picture Quality

Post Calibration

White Balance dE

0.23

Color dE

0.89

Gamma

2.20

Color Temperature

6,503 K

White Balance Calibration

20 point

Color Calibration

Yes

Update 09/30/2020: We've changed the status of the Auto-Calibration function from 'Untested' to 'Undetermined', as the Samsung Q80T isn't yet listed as being compatible with CalMAN.

After calibration, color accuracy is incredible. White balance, gamma, and color temperature are right on target, and any remaining inaccuracies shouldn't be noticeable without the aid of a colorimeter.

You can see our recommended settings here.

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LEARN ABOUT POST CALIBRATION

8.0

Picture Quality

480p Input

480p content like DVDs is upscaled without any obvious artifacts, and it looks very similar, if not identical, to the Samsung Q70/Q70R QLED and the Samsung Q70/Q70T QLED.

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8.0

Picture Quality

720p Input

720p content such as cable TV is upscaled well, with no signs of upscaling artifacts.

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9.0

Picture Quality

1080p Input

There are no issues upscaling 1080p content.

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Picture Quality

4k Input

Native 4k content is displayed perfectly.

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Picture Quality

8k Input

The Samsung Q80T can't display an 8k signal.

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Picture Quality

Pixels

Type LED

Sub-Type

The pixels are a bit blurry due to the 'Ultra Viewing Angle' layer. It is, however, much clearer than what we had observed on the Samsung Q80/Q80R QLED. You can also see the filter in this photo.

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8.0

Picture Quality

Color Gamut

Wide Color Gamut

Yes

DCI P3 xy

88.53%

DCI P3 uv

92.29%

Rec 2020 xy

66.17%

Rec 2020 uv

73.79%

The Samsung Q80T has a great color gamut. It has excellent coverage of the DCI P3 color space, which is used for most HDR content, and it has decent coverage of the wider Rec. 2020 color space. If you want a TV with a wider color gamut, check out the Vizio P Series Quantum X 2020.

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LEARN ABOUT COLOR GAMUT

7.8

Picture Quality

Color Volume

Normalized DCI P3 Coverage ITP

86.9%

10,000 cd/m² DCI P3 Coverage ITP

42.6%

Normalized Rec 2020 Coverage ITP

68.6%

10,000 cd/m² Rec 2020 Coverage ITP

33.5%

Good color volume. It's slightly better than the Samsung Q80/Q80R QLED, but it can't reproduce dark colors as well due to its lower contrast ratio.

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LEARN ABOUT COLOR VOLUME

7.9

Picture Quality

Gradient

Color Depth

10 Bit

Red (Std. Dev.)

0.111

Green (Std. Dev.)

0.125

Blue (Std. Dev.)

0.110

Gray (Std. Dev.)

0.098

Very good gradient performance. The most visible banding is with the color green, but there's also some fine banding when displaying shades of gray, red, and blue. If this bothers you, enabling Noise Reduction in the Picture Clarity Settings menu can remove most of it, although it may cause the loss of some fine details.

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LEARN ABOUT GRADIENT

Picture Quality

Temporary Image Retention