Review on Enhance Entertainment: SAMSUNG Q90 Series 65-Inch Smart TV with QLED 4K UHD, HDR and Alexa Compatibility - 2019 Model by Lucas Hale

I have two 65 inch 4k OLED TVs and wanted something more; but I didn't want to spend almost $5,000 on a 75-inch OLED that would eventually burn out. It lasted five years of regular use, but in contrast to the temporary image burn-in, one of my OLEDs showed very slight pixel dimming where the bright white channel logos were "burned out": I only noticed that when cleaning the screen. I couldn't remove what I thought was a stain. I have to admit that until recently I always thought of QLED as a literal scam, replacing the "O" in an OLED TV with a "Q" that looked very similar (despite the TVs using completely different technologies). However, the Samsung Q80R is the first LED/LCD TV that actually rivals (and in some ways surpasses) my OLED TVs. There were two main reasons I never thought of buying an LED/LCD TV for my large family room: 1. Dirty blacks. in dark scenes. 2: Poor image quality when viewed from an angle. My guests and I have been enjoying perfect blacks and vivid colors everywhere with the OLED HD TV for the past five years, but I wanted a bigger screen to fill the room. without spending a fortune. To my surprise, the latest Samsung Q80R and Q90R (not the Q60 or Q70) offer deep blacks and vivid tones at wide viewing angles with very vivid images. I was really amazed to see a good picture on the LCD TV. at an 80 degree angle! The special filter introduced by Samsung on the Q80R (and Q90R) is a game changer! I was also very impressed with the deep blacks and high contrast ratio of my new Q80R. Given the choice between the 82-inch Q70R and 75-inch Q80R (in the same price range), I'm glad I went with the Q80R: the ULTRA - VIEW ANGLE feature (not available on the Q70R) is a must for those spoiled for OLED. I like the smaller stand of the Q90R, but I don't think the slight improvement in image quality was worth the premium price. (IMHO). I'm also not a fan of 8k TVs as there isn't a single TV on the market (that I know of) that even offers an ATSC 3.0 (4k) tuner. When I first set up my Q80R I was very frustrated with the poor picture quality with the default settings and started to regret my purchase. It took over a week to adjust the unusual picture settings, but I can confess that I don't miss the OLED display (which is now in the spare room). Unlike other TVs I've calibrated, the numeric settings and scales on the Q80R are very different: for example, the brightness ranges from -5 to 5 (compared to 0 to 100 on most other brands). This difference is confusing and very unfamiliar. To help, I've posted my favorite settings below: I've disabled "automatic" image settings because they degrade image quality. I also disabled "Contrast Enhancer" for the same reason. I set "Digital Clean View" to "Auto" for OTA and to "Low" for my ROKU and limited ambient light dimming to at least 20 (out of 50) Backlight: 38 Brightness: 2 Contrast: 32 Sharpness: 12 Color: 32 Hue: G8 Gamma 2.2 White Balance: 2 points Red Gain: -2 Green Gain: 6 Blue Gain: -4 Red Offset: -2 Green Offset: 6 Blue Offset: -4 Color Space Settings: CustomColor RedRed 50Green 54Blue 46 These settings look ATSC on all inputs and on the built-in tuner 2.0 looks great. FYI: This TV is very bright and (if you're not careful) tends towards overly bright whites that lose all detail: ie. Mattresses lose their padding and the snow loses color and structure. It's the complete opposite of the dirty black that's prevalent on most LCD TVs (not a problem with the Q80R). PS I gave the Smart Features 3/5 stars because I had to disable the pesky "Smart Hub" by default. I also gave the remote 3/5 because it lacks features found on other remotes (such as a numeric keypad or picture adjustment button). Luckily I have a Harmony 650 universal remote (which I really like). I don't like the very wide stance that you see on most big TVs these days. To accommodate my full size entertainment center I bought the Rfiver Universal Swivel TV Stand Desktop TV Stand: the 75 inch Q80R is supported very well and I love the swivel feature! As I mentioned before, I prefer the Q90R base but didn't want to pay the higher price just for a smaller stand. BTW, BEWARE OF UNVERIFIED REVIEWS FROM BOTS AND TROLLS I only comment on items I've actually purchased. I still love my OLED TVs, but don't be fooled: they're 10-bit panels, so they can't display Dolby Vision in 12-bit color (there are no 12-bit panels right now). Hopefully my next TV will be a 12-bit Micro/Mini LED 4k with an ATSC 3.0 tuner and passive 3D.