The QN90A from Samsung was awarded our Editors Choice Award for High-End LCD TVs in 2021 due to its bright panel, large color range and wide variety of features. QN90B is the company's next-generation LCD TV. It features an LED backlight that has more light zones than its predecessor. The QN90B is capable of producing a near-blemish-free image and OLED-like black levels. The new model produces better pictures than any LCD TV we have ever seen. Although it isn't as bright and the colors don't go as deep as in the greens as the QN90A, the white balance is more precise and the picture quality is still excellent. We give the Samsung QN90B (65-inch model, $2599.99) our Editor's Choice Award for LCD TVs. However, the LG C2 OLED TV (65-inch model), remains our number one overall choice due to its near perfect colors and easy-to-use interface.
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A Solar Remote with Simple Design
The QN90B is almost the same front as the OLED TV S95B. The panel's active image is enclosed by a black border of quarter inch. A narrow strip of gray metal wraps around the screen's edge. The TV's bottom edge is covered by a thin, metallic strip. A small area in the upper-right corner houses the far-field microphone and an infrared sensor. There is also a power-input switch. The QN90B sits on a rectangular, flat metal base similar to that used by the S95B. However, the actual width will vary depending on how large the TV is.
The LED-backlit TV is a thicker than the S95B. It measures half an inch thick from the sides and gradually increases in width to one-inch. All of the connections to the television's physical components, except the power cable, are located on the TV's back. There are four HDMI ports (1 eARC), two USB ports and an Ethernet port. The TV also has a 3.5mm EXLINK port. An antenna/cable connector is included.
The clever Samsung Eco Remote is standard for the company's high-end TVs. It's a dark gray, rectangular wand with a built-in rechargeable battery. You can charge it via the USB-C port on the bottom or the solar cells on its back. (Simply place it under sunlight.) A large, circular directional pad is near the top with a pinhole microphone as well as microphone, Multi-View, power, and settings buttons above it. Channel and volume rockers, menu and playback buttons, and dedicated video streaming buttons for Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Netflix, and Samsung TV Plus reside below the pad.
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Tizen Troubles
Samsung's Tizen-based smart television platform is still frustrating, but it does have some positive aspects. It unlocks most streaming services, such as Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV. Hulu, Hulu Max, Hulu and Netflix are all available. However, Crunchyroll, Twitch, and Crunchyroll are not supported. The device supports Apple AirPlay 2 streaming from iPhones and iPads as well as Macs. However, it does not support Chromecast streaming from Android phones. The far-field microphone allows for operation with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa voice assistants.
The problem with Samsung Smart TV is its menu structure. It buries most settings, apart from a few very specific presets, two or three layers down from where other TV interfaces put them. It also seems to constantly nudge users away from any granular controls. Switching among inputs is also more complicated than it should be; the remote has a multiple-source split-screen Multi-View button, but no simple input-switcher button.
Perfect Black Levels for an LCD
Samsung QN90B 4K LCD TV has a 120Hz refresh speed. The QN90B supports HDR10+ and HDR10+ high-dynamic range content. It also supports hybrid loggamma (HLG) content. Samsung is still avoiding Dolby Vision support for its TVs, it seems. The QN90B has an ATSC 3.0 tuner that can pick up 4K and 1080p over-the-air broadcasts if available.
Tests of TVs were done using the Klein K-80 colorimeter (Opens new window), Murideo SIX-G signal generation (Opens new window), as well Portrait Displays' Calman software (Opens new window). Although the QN90B has a very good picture quality, it is not as strong as the QN90A. One exception to this rule is Portrait Displays' Calman software.
The peak brightness for Movie mode, with the local dimming turned up and an SDR signal applied, was 343.498cd/m2 when there is a white full-screen field. It reached 984.527cd/m2 when there is an 18% white background. Although the peak brightness of 18% is higher than that of the QN90A (869.032cd/m2) the QN90A's peak brightness was slightly lower (407.806cd/m2) for the QN90A), it is still more than 100cd/m2.
The peak brightness for the QN90B with an HDR signal is 612.132cd/m2 if there's a white full-screen field, and 1,700.159cd/m2 if there's an 18% white area. This is 200cd/m2 less than the QN90A, in both cases (886.17cd/m2 & 1,910.161cd/m2, respective).
The QN90B excels at black level and therefore total contrast. This is impressive considering the QN90A's black level of 0.007cd/m2 when using an SDR signal or 0.005cd/m2 when using an HDR signal. The QN90B has a mini LED array that can dimming and turning off light in more precise areas than the QN90A.
The result is—and I'm surprised to say this—a perfect black level with no discernible light bloom to cloud the picture, produce halos around bright objects, or otherwise require me to qualify that it's not as good as an OLED. If you are physically near the TV, there might be some light reflections around them, but otherwise it provides more or less perfect black levels.
My eyes were blown away by the QN90B's ability to create darker blacks than Samsung’s OLED TV S95B. The OLED panel can adjust how bright each pixel emits light, but the S95B has a quantum dots layer which reflects as little ambient light as possible. It appears slightly brighter than what it actually emits when it is shown black levels. Although black levels of zero are not effective for calculating contrast, visual contrast between the QN90B and the S95B is higher.
Unfortunately, the QN90B's color performance doesn't hit the same ranges as the S95B and QN90A. The above chart shows color levels with an SDR signal compared against the Rec.709 broadcast standard color space and color levels with an HDR signal compared against the DCI-P3 digital cinema color space, out of the box in the Movie picture mode.
SDR performance is very close to spot-on, with a bit of color drift across the board. HDR performance is a bit undersaturated in the greens, an issue the QN90A didn't have. The S95B, for comparison, showed nearly perfect colors with both signals. To its credit, though, the QN90B reaches deeper into the reds and shows ideal white balance; the other two TVs' whites run a little bit more green or magenta than they should.
An Experience of Vibrant Viewing
Although the greens were slightly less saturated when tested with HDR, BBC's Planet Earth IIlooks great on the QN90B. The plant hues look vibrant without being too saturated, and the blues in the water and sky are similar. This picture has a well-balanced contrast. Fine details like fur and bark are clearly visible in the shade, and it doesn't look too bright.
In the overcast scene that opens Deadpool, Deadpool's red costume is balanced and saturated. It is bright, and shows off the sun's rays in the car sequence. The cool grading doesn't seem to be affected. There is a lot of texture in the flames from the lab fight, as well as a variety in the colors of the fire's flickering oranges. Bright flames show shadow details clearly, but they still look quite dark.
The dazzling party scenes of The Great Gatsby demonstrate just how bright and strong the QN90B is. Local dimming is set high to make the bright white balloons and lights stand out while black suit cuts and contours are clearly visible. These shadows can become slightly blurred if you adjust local dimming settings to standard. Natural skin tones are evident, with the little bits of color that pop in otherwise monochrome photos.
Plenty of Gaming Features
The QN90B is a great gaming option due to its many features and low input latency. It supports variable refresh rates (VRR), via AMD FreeSync Premium and an auto-low-latency (ALLM) mode. Even though we are frustrated with Samsung's Smart TV platform the pop-up Game Bar can be very useful. It shows the TV's current refresh rate and which games features it is playing.
Although the input lag seems very low, because of testing conditions we used equipment that is not normally used to measure latency. To evaluate the QN90B, we decided to use a Leo Bodnar 1080p video signal tester (Opens new window). It showed 9.8 milliseconds input lag in Game mode. This is just below our threshold of 10ms to make a TV suitable for gaming. Due to the way the aging device functions, the Leo Bodnar test tends to have higher input lag that the Diva. We are therefore confident that this TV's latency is low enough for gamers.
A High-End Television with Quirks
With a miniature LED backlight system, the Samsung QN90B makes a great successor to its predecessor. It offers incredible contrast and is worthy. Although the QN90B has a lower color range than its predecessor, it produces an amazing picture and can compete with any flagship OLED model from other manufacturers, such as Samsung's S95B or LG C2. Because it seems to reflect less ambient light, the contrast of the QN90B is better than that of the S95B. This TV is a very bright and excellent model, which earned it the Editors Choice Award for top-end LED models.
The LG C2 is still our favorite choice due to its stunning colors and intuitive smart TV platform. However, the QN90B may be better if you have a lot natural light. The Hisense U8G (65-inch version at $1,299.99) and the TCL 6-Series 4K YouTube TV (both 65 inch versions at $1,299.99 each) are strong options, although they offer lower contrast.
- Amazing contrast, with blacks that are visually flawless and very little light bloom
- Perfect white balance
- Voice assistants for hands-free use and Apple AirPlay 2
- Solar-powered, rechargeable remote
- Peak brightness and color aren't as vibrant as they were in the past
- Samsung's interface for smart TV is difficult to use
- There is no Dolby Vision support
Samsung QN90B has a mini LED backlight that produces a brilliant picture. However, brightness and color can be improved.