Samsung Q80/Q80A QLED Review (QN55Q80AAFXZA, QN65Q80AAFXZA, QN75Q80AAFXZA, QN85Q80AAFXZA) (2024)

Curved No

The Samsung Q80A has a sleek yet simple design. It looks very similar to 2020's Samsung Q80/Q80T QLED with its center-mounted stand. The back panel is textured plastic, and there are tracks for cable management. Overall, it looks like a premium TV and will look good in most setups.

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Wall Mount VESA 200x200

The back of the Samsung Q80A looks like other Samsung models. It has textured plastic, and there are tracks for cable management. You can also remove the back of the stand to run cables through it. The inputs are side-facing, so they're easy to access with the TV wall-mounted.

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Borders 0.35" (0.9 cm)

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Max Thickness 2.44" (6.2 cm)

The panel itself is thin, but because the power plug sticks out, you'll need spacers with your mounting bracket so you can mount it properly.

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The Samsung Q80A's build quality is excellent. It wobbles a bit, but it's not too noticeable. It's mainly plastic, which still feels solid, and there isn't any noticeable flex. Unfortunately, the unit tested has three pixels that display purple during a dark scene (see Black Uniformity). We've seen other people online experience the same thing, but this is a quality control issue, so your experience will be different.

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Native Contrast

Contrast with local dimming

The Samsung Q80A has a low contrast ratio, which is typical of ADS panels, and it's not anywhere close to the contrast of VA panels. The contrast with local dimming enabled is lower than expected because the local dimming turns on all the zones in the checkerboard pattern, which results in this low contrast ratio. It displays deeper blacks in real content with large areas of dark colors, but if there are a lot of bright areas, like in the checkerboard, blacks won't be as deep. With a full-white and full-black screen, it has a contrast of 12,390:1. The native contrast varies a bit between individual units, but it won't be much higher for an IPS-like panel. Note that the 50 and 85 inch models have VA panels, meaning they have better contrast.

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Real Scene Peak Brightness

Peak 2% Window

Peak 10% Window

Peak 25% Window

Peak 50% Window

Peak 100% Window

Sustained 2% Window

Sustained 10% Window

Sustained 25% Window

Sustained 50% Window

Sustained 100% Window

Automatic Brightness Limiting (ABL)

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Local Dimming

Backlight

The Samsung Q80A has a mediocre local dimming feature. There are 50 medium-sized zones, and it crushes blacks, causing a loss of details in scenes with shadows, and small highlights don't pop, like in a starfield. There's also visible blooming around bright objects, and the screen doesn't look uniform as entire horizontal zones light up at times. There's noticeable blooming around subtitles, and it gets worse when viewed at an angle, which is distracting. The dimming zones are slow to turn off when there are fast-moving objects, but it also turns on zones prematurely, so overall, objects don't transition between zones well. Overall, its performance is disappointing compared to the Samsung Q80/Q80T QLED, and it doesn't improve the picture quality in dark scenes.

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Local Dimming

Backlight

The local dimming in Game Mode is poor. It's similar to outside of Game Mode, except the entire screen seems to light up more, meaning blacks look even more gray. There's less blooming, but that's because entire zones light up when there's a bright object on the screen. Small highlights are actually over-brightened now, to the point where they lose details. Zone transitions are still visible, although it's better than outside of Game Mode.

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Hallway Lights (~1950 cd/m²)

Yellow Skyscraper (~700 cd/m²)

Landscape Pool (~300 cd/m²)

Peak 2% Window

Peak 10% Window

Peak 25% Window

Peak 50% Window

Peak 100% Window

Sustained 2% Window

Sustained 10% Window

Sustained 25% Window

Sustained 50% Window

Sustained 100% Window

Automatic Brightness Limiting (ABL)

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Hallway Lights (~1950 cd/m²)

Yellow Skyscraper (~700 cd/m²)

Landscape Pool (~300 cd/m²)

Peak 2% Window

Peak 10% Window

Peak 25% Window

Peak 50% Window

Peak 100% Window

Sustained 2% Window

Sustained 10% Window

Sustained 25% Window

Sustained 50% Window

Sustained 100% Window

Automatic Brightness Limiting (ABL)

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600 Nit Tracking Delta

1000 Nit Tracking Delta

4000 Nit Tracking Delta

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Color Depth

Red (Std. Dev.)

Green (Std. Dev.)

Blue (Std. Dev.)

Gray (Std. Dev.)

The gradient handling is great. There's a bit of banding, but it's limited to dark grays and greens, so not everyone will notice it in scenes with gradients, like sunsets. Setting Noise Reduction to 'Auto' does a good job at removing any banding, but that comes at the cost of losing details with high-quality content, but it smooths out gradients with low-quality content.

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50% Std. Dev.

50% DSE

5% Std. Dev.

5% DSE

The Samsung Q80A has okay uniformity. The edges are visibly darker, and there's dirty screen effect in the center. It can get distracting with large areas of bright colors, like while watching sports or using it as a PC monitor. Uniformity is much improved in near-dark scenes, but as mentioned in the Build Quality section, you can see the dead pixels on an all-black screen. However, it's just an issue when displaying black, as you don't see it with the 50% gray image. Uniformity varies between units, but it's unlikely it will be significantly better than this.

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Native Std. Dev.

Std. Dev. w/ L.D.

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Color Washout

Color Shift

Brightness Loss

Black Level Raise

Gamma Shift

This TV has wide viewing angles, which is normal from an ADS panel. Although you may notice the screen is darker when viewing at an angle, the image remains accurate, and it's good for wide seating arrangements. Note that the 50 and 85 inch models have VA panels, so they have worse viewing angles.

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Screen Finish

Total Reflections

Indirect Reflections

Calculated Direct Reflections

The Samsung Q80A has good reflection handling. Unlike other high-end Samsung TVs, it has a semi-gloss finish. It results in more reflected light; it's good enough for a room with a few light sources, but you shouldn't put it opposite a window with direct sunlight.

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White Balance dE

Color dE

Gamma

Color Temperature

Picture Mode

Color Temp Setting

Gamma Setting

The out-of-the-box accuracy is unremarkable. White balance and most colors are inaccurate, but it's hard to notice for most people. Color temperature is on the cold side, resulting in a blue tint. Sadly, gamma does a bad job at following the target as most bright scenes are too bright.

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White Balance dE

Color dE

Gamma

Color Temperature

White Balance Calibration

Color Calibration

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480p content like DVDs is upscaled without any issues.

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The Samsung Q80A upscales 720p content like cable TV well.

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This TV displays 1080p content almost as good as native 4k.

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The Samsung Q80A displays native 4k content perfectly and without any issues.

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This is a 4k TV that can't display an 8k signal. If you want an 8k TV, then check out the Samsung QN800A 8k QLED.

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Subpixel Layout

Type LED

Sub-Type

Like the Samsung QN85A QLED, this TV uses an Advanced Super Dimension Switch (ADS) panel. It's an IPS-type panel with many of the same characteristics, but it's technically different. It has an RGB subpixel layout, which is different from the BGR layout on most VA panels like the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED. Although this doesn't affect picture quality, it renders text more clearly when using it as a PC monitor.

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Wide Color Gamut

DCI P3 xy

DCI P3 uv

Rec 2020 xy

Rec 2020 uv

The Samsung Q80A has a very good color gamut. It has excellent coverage of the commonly-used DCI P3 color space, but it has more limited coverage of the wider Rec. 2020. This means it's not very future-proof as more content is produced in the Rec. 2020 color space instead of DCI P3 because Rec. 2020 can display a wider range of colors.

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1,000 cd/m² DCI P3 Coverage ITP

10,000 cd/m² Rec 2020 Coverage ITP

White Luminance

Red Luminance

Green Luminance

Blue Luminance

Cyan Luminance

Magenta Luminance

Yellow Luminance

The color volume is decent. Due to its low contrast ratio, it can't display dark colors, but it displays bright colors well, thanks to its high peak brightness.

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IR after 0 min recovery

IR after 2 min recovery

IR after 4 min recovery

IR after 6 min recovery

IR after 8 min recovery

IR after 10 min recovery

There are no signs of temporary image retention. This may vary between units, but it's rarely an issue on modern TVs.

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Permanent Burn-In Risk

Although some IPS-like panels can suffer from temporary image retention, this doesn't appear to be permanent as seen in the long-term test.

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80% Response Time

100% Response Time

The Samsung Q80A has a great response time. For the most part, motion looks smooth, but there's some motion blur in dark transitions due to overshoot. This is very similar to the Samsung QN85A QLED.

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Flicker-Free

PWM Dimming Frequency

The Samsung Q80A uses Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) to dim the backlight, but it flickers at such a high frequency of 960Hz in 'Movie' mode that most people won't notice it. However, it flickers at 120Hz in the 'Dynamic', 'Standard', 'Filmmaker', and 'Natural' Picture Modes. It also flickers at 120Hz with Picture Clarity set to 'Auto', and it can go down to 60Hz with LED Clear Motion enabled. Normally, it flickers at 120Hz with Game Mode enabled, but it still flickers at 960Hz on this TV. It's likely a bug that may be fixed in a firmware update, and it flickers at 120Hz with Game Motion Plus enabled.

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Optional BFI

Min Flicker For 60 fps

60Hz For 60 fps

120Hz For 120 fps

Min Flicker for 60 fps in Game Mode

The Samsung Q80A has an optional backlight strobing feature to try to reduce motion blur, known as black frame insertion. It flickers at 120Hz or 60Hz, depending on the setting you're using. Unfortunately, it creates image duplication that can get distracting. Keep in mind that the BFI score is based on its flickering abilities and not its actual performance.

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Motion Interpolation (30 fps)

Motion Interpolation (60 fps)

There's a motion interpolation feature known as the 'Soap Opera Effect'. It doesn't look that good overall as there are artifacts in fast-moving scenes, which is distracting.

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Frame Hold Time @ 24 fps

Frame Hold Time @ 60 fps

Due to the quick response time, lower-frame rate content can appear to stutter as each frame is held on longer. You can try enabling the motion interpolation feature if it bothers you.

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Judder-Free 24p

Judder-Free 24p via 60p

Judder-Free 24p via 60i

Judder-Free 24p via Native Apps

The Samsung Q80A automatically removes judder from all sources, and there aren't any settings you need to enable.

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Native Refresh Rate

Variable Refresh Rate

HDMI Forum VRR

FreeSync

G-SYNC Compatible

4k VRR Maximum

4k VRR Minimum

1080p VRR Maximum

1080p VRR Minimum

1440p VRR Maximum

1440p VRR Minimum

VRR Supported Connectors

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1080p @ 60Hz

1080p @ 60Hz Outside Game Mode

1080p @ 120Hz

1080p @ 144Hz

1440p @ 60Hz

1440p @ 120Hz

1440p @ 144Hz

4k @ 60Hz

4k @ 60Hz + 10-Bit HDR

4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4

4k @ 60Hz Outside Game Mode

4k @ 60Hz With Interpolation

4k @ 120Hz

4k @ 144Hz

8k @ 60Hz

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1080p @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4

1080p @ 120Hz

1080p @ 144Hz

1440p @ 60Hz

1440p @ 120Hz

1440p @ 144Hz

4k @ 60Hz

Resolution 4k

4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4

4k @ 120Hz

4k @ 120Hz @ 4:4:4

4k @ 144Hz

8k @ 30Hz or 24Hz

8k @ 60Hz

The Samsung Q80A displays all common resolutions up to 4k @ 120Hz. If you're using it as a monitor, it displays chroma 4:4:4 at 1080p and 4k, but it can't with 1440p content. This helps it display clear and legible text while you're using it as a PC monitor. If you want it to display chroma 4:4:4, use HDMI 4, which supports HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, and label the input as 'PC'.

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Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM)

4k @ 120Hz

1440p @ 120Hz

1080p @ 120Hz

HDR

VRR

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Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM)

4k @ 120Hz

1440p @ 120Hz

1080p @ 120Hz

HDR

VRR

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HDR10

HDR10+

Dolby Vision

HLG

HDMI 2.0 Full Bandwidth

HDMI 2.1 Class Bandwidth

CEC Yes

HDCP 2.2 Yes (HDMI 1,2,3,4)

ATSC Tuner

USB 3.0

Variable Analog Audio Out No

Wi-Fi Support Yes (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz)

HDMI 4 is the only input that supports HDMI 2.1 bandwidth. This is disappointing if you need to connect more than one HDMI 2.1 device, but luckily, HDMI 3 still supports eARC, meaning you can connect your console and receiver to different inputs.

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HDMI 4

USB 2

Digital Optical Audio Out 1

Analog Audio Out 3.5mm 0

Analog Audio Out RCA 0

Component In 0

Composite In 0

Tuner (Cable/Ant) 1

Ethernet 1

DisplayPort 0

IR In 0

SD/SDHC 0

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ARC

eARC support

Dolby Atmos via TrueHD via eARC

DTS:X via DTS-HD MA via eARC

5.1 Dolby Digital via ARC

5.1 DTS via ARC

5.1 Dolby Digital via Optical

5.1 DTS via Optical

The Samsung Q80A supports Dolby audio formats, including Dolby Atmos via TrueHD through eARC, but you can't use it to pass DTS:X and DTS audio formats to a receiver. You'll need to ensure your content's audio is Dolby for the best sound experience possible.

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Low-Frequency Extension

Std. Dev. @ 70

Std. Dev. @ 80

Std. Dev. @ Max

Max

Dynamic Range Compression

The Samsung Q80A has a decent frequency response. It has a fairly well-balanced sound profile and gets pretty loud. It has better bass than some other TVs, but it doesn't deliver the true rumbling sound a dedicated subwoofer would.

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Weighted THD @ 80

Weighted THD @ Max

IMD @ 80

IMD @ Max

The distortion performance is decent. The total harmonic distortion is a bit audible when playing at its max volume, but it depends on the content, and not everyone will hear it.

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Smart OS Tizen

Version 2021

Ease of Use

Smoothness

Time Taken to Select YouTube

Time Taken to Change Backlight

Advanced Options

The updated 2021 Tizen OS interface is easy-to-use and feels smoother than previous versions. The TV didn't provide any bugs during testing.

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Ads

Opt-out

Suggested Content in Home

Opt-out of Suggested Content

There are ads on the home page and app store, and there's no way to disable them. They're not always present, so it's difficult to get a photo of them. You can see the ads on the Samsung QN90A QLED here.

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App Selection

App Smoothness

Cast Capable

USB Drive Playback

USB Drive HDR Playback

HDR in Netflix

HDR in YouTube

Samsung's app store has a large number of streaming apps available, and they run smoothly.

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Size

Voice Control

CEC Menu Control

Other Smart Features

Remote App Samsung SmartThings

Samsung's 2021 QLED models have a redesigned remote compared to the one from 2020. It has a different physical design with new brushed plastic, but the layout and quick-access buttons remain the same. It also doesn't require disposable batteries as you can either charge it through a USB-C cable, which isn't included, or with its solar panel on the back. The built-in voice control allows you to open apps, change inputs and settings, but you can't search for specific content in apps.

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There's one button underneath the Samsung branding in the center to change volume, channels, source, and turn the TV On/Off.

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Power Consumption 61 W

Power Consumption (Max) 195 W

Firmware 1054

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