Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsQuite pleased with the QLED panel in the 50" size
Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2021
Update Dec 2022 - 2 years later. Still love the TV. Two minor problems have surfaced. Intermittently (occurred 2x in past month) it has a small group of pixels that are stuck on white near lower portion of screen. When I turn off the set over night, it doesn't come back the next day. Also , every time we use it, sometime during our viewing (we normally watch for 2-3hr 1x/day) the audio drops for 5 s. I believe it is the TV but it could be the sound system. It is odd. It just occurs once each time it happens and at different times after turn on.
Besides those items picture is still great, its smart features work well, and I am very pleased.
Original Review (Feb 2021)
This TV replaced a 40” high-quality 2008-vintage LED. I wanted something slightly larger so I purchased a 50”, the ideal size for my room. I was also interested in blacker blacks and a bit more brightness. Additionally, my old set was not a smart TV and after 12 years was probably not performing at its optimum. Also, I like a sharp picture and wanted the possibility to view 4k content, although at my 8.5’ viewing distance detecting that additional clarity is marginal.
The difficulty in replacing the old TV was that it had a matte finish which is impossible to find today. I guess for the blackest blacks and sharpest pictures the glossy screens are required. I view the TV in a living room/sun room area with large windows on a wall perpendicular to the set that get morning sun and has no blinds. The wall opposite the side has small clerestory windows with blackouts. In that environment, viewing during daylight hours can be challenging with a high gloss screen. I purchased a 50” Samsung three years ago, the best at the time, and it was like a mirror; very unacceptable and I returned it. So, I had to do a fair amount of research to find the TV that would work. I was interested in OLEDs (also quite glossy) but my research suggested that the best option would be this Q80T QLED set. I gave up the wide viewing angle and quicker speed screen (especially since the 50” version is 60 Hz and not 120 Hz) for better reflections. I am pleased. This set is more reflective than my old matte TV but is acceptable, and at night with the room lights off the picture is everything I had hoped for. Perfectly black blacks to my eyes, great brightness and clarity. A real joy to watch.
During daylights hours the viewing is good, but even with the brightness turned up a bit, not everything I would like. However, quite serviceable.
The build quality on the TV seems quite good. The packaging and installation are great. I like the single-center-support base and styling of the set. Its sound quality is much better than prior LED sets I have used, but I have the set integrated with a Bose home theater system so its audio quality is irrelevant.
The smart features work well and quickly. I like the simple small remote. It has two negatives however. The main one is that it is not backlit. Very disappointing. Also, its voice controls are not as functional as those on my Comcast remote.
I experienced one set-up problem regarding wifi connectivity. All worked well except that when I turned the set off and on, it would lose the wifi; next time it would regain it. Alternatively, I could reboot my router. I called Samsung support; easy to reach. They did over-the-air trouble shooting and suspected that I had a bad wifi card and arranged for in-home service. All very nice, but in this age of Covid I really did not want a technician in my home. So, I dug further into the problem. I had originally connected my router via my router’s home network – 5g with a strong password. I decided to connect via the guest network, still 5g and with the same router just to see what happened. The guest network has slightly different settings. Voila, problem solved.
Bottom line – I’ve had the unit for 45 days and it works great and I am very pleased with my purchase.
For those who are interested here are my settings that have worked great: Picture Mode – movie, brightness 30, contrast 45, sharpness 5, color 27, tint R4, Clarity judder 3, Clarity clear motion off, Clarity noise reduction on, local dimming std, contrast enhancer off, film mode off, color tone warm 1, and the remaining settings at default or 0.
