Televisions

This is largely because the QE65S95B is the brightest OLED TV I've encountered. It hits measurable brightness peaks of around 1,060 nits on a 10 per cent white HDR window, which is higher than the figures you'll get from 'regular' OLEDs. It then builds on this with a remarkable level of fullscreen brightness – ...Fury Road's daytime desert scenes pack a serious punch. Samsung itself makes premium LCD TVs that can go significantly brighter still. This QD OLED model has an ace up its sleeve, though. By delivering the self-emissive pixel benefits of OLED, but enabling each pixel to run brighter than ever without polluting its neighbours, the QE65S95B delivers genuinely unprecedented local contrast. The extraordinary intensity with which stars twinkle in the sky in Alien's opening credits starscape (4K BD) is mesmerising, and even when there are peak HDR whites in the middle of very bright content, such as sun reflecting off the cars in ...Fury Road, the TV's local brightness breaks new ground.

Colour Richness
In addition to unpicking a new dimension of HDR picture quality, the QE65S95B packs jaw-dropping colour saturations and dynamism, again due to its QD/OLED tech mashup. I can only deduce it's the removal of pure white from the OLED colour engine that lifts its colour subtlety and vibrancy, as shown by the sun-drenched skies, sun-baked desert sands, sun-tanned skin tones and searing explosions of the Mad Max movie. And switching to an 'aggressive' HDR game such as Call Of Duty Black Ops: Cold War, or HDR animated fare such as Inside Out on 4K Blu-ray, really rams home the QE65S95B's colour abilities. Sure, Samsung has been unable to resist the urge of pushing it too far with some presets, but it's ultimately the set's colour richness that becomes the new QD OLED technology's most defining strength.

Normally near the top of any Samsung TV review I'll make a reference to image sharpness, but here this element of performance isn't the first thing that hits you. Move beyond the TV's contrast/colour talents, however, and you'll discover an emphatic 4K experience that brings out every detail from the ...Justice League 4K Blu-ray's phenomenally crisp imagery. Yet Samsung hasn't, sadly, fixed its messy out-of-the- box motion processing for the QE65S95B. Setting it to a custom mode with judder and blur reduction components reduced to around their three or four level rectifies the situation, leaving the clarity you get with static images largely intact during action scenes.

Dialling It Down
As noted earlier, there's a bit of a 'demob happy' feel to some of the QE65S95B's default settings, particularly with regards to colour. Thankfully, the Movie mode, as expected, provides a pretty effective shortcut to a more natural/accurate picture performance while retaining a good sense of the QD OLED screen's noteworthy vibrancy – but even this Movie setting doesn't stop a few tones, especially skin tones, looking a bit OTT on occasion.

One other niggle is occasional brightness 'jumping' during bright shots. This can be stopped by turning off the TV's Contrast Enhancer, but doing this reduces the picture intensity that's such a key attraction.

Samsung also seems to have sacrificed some sound quality on the altar of the QE65S95B's ultra-thin design. The OTS system does still do an almost freakishly effective job of making sounds appear to be coming from the correct place on (and just off) the screen, but volume levels and bass depths are limited, and sustained heavy bass sounds are prone to distortion if you have the volume high. These imperfections all feel minor, however, for what is after all the debut appearance of a brand-new TV technology. At the first time of asking (and at a cheaper price than expected, too) QD OLED has introduced colour and local contrast thrills the like of which we just haven't seen before.

HCC Verdict

Samsung QE65S95B

Price: £2,799
www.samsung.com/uk

We say: This is a blistering debut for QD OLED technology, and one that's less a warning shot across the bows of regular OLED and mini LED TVs than a direct hit.

Overall: 5/5

Specifications

4K: Yes. 3,840 x 2,160 HDR: Yes. HDR10; HDR10+; HLG TUNER: Yes. Freeview HD CONNECTIONS: 4 x HDMI inputs; 3 x USB; Ethernet; digital optical audio out; 3.5mm 4K/120 PLAYBACK: Yes SOUND (CLAIMED): N/A BRIGHTNESS (CLAIMED): N/A CONTRAST RATIO (CLAIMED): N/A DIMENSIONS (OFF STAND): 1444.3(w) x 831.7(h) x 39.9(d)mm WEIGHT (OFF STAND): 21.2kg

FEATURES: Built-in Wi-fi and Bluetooth; Neural Quantum Processor 4K processing engine; Tizen smart system with Alexa, Google Assistant and Bixby voice control support; Object Tracking Sound audio system; Game Bar gaming interface; eARC; ALLM; HDMI 2.1 on all inputs; QD OLED panel technology; 'LaserSlim' design