Review: Samsung QN95B 'Neo QLED'
QN95B is Samsung's new flagship "Neo QLED" 4K LCD TV for 2022 and the successor to last year's QN95A. It comes with a new design and a completely revamped Smart TV user interface – now in fullscreen. It also features the external One Connect box for connecting HDMI and other cables. In addition to Europe and other regions, QN95B will this year also be available in North America. We are testing the 55-inch model. Also read: Samsung 2022 TV line-up
First impressions | Functionality | Calibration | Measurements | Picture quality | Conclusion | Debate Price and retailers:
First impressions
Samsung QN95B is a heavy yet elegant TV that comes with a tabletop stand included in the box whereas the slim wall mounting solution is optional. The completely flat back, which has a textured look, allows you to mount it very close to the wall. The miniLED backlight and LCD panel are lowered into the cabinet with very tight tolerances, and surrounded by a metal frame with nicely chamfered edges. The frame is silver in Europe and black in North America. HDMI and other cables must be connected to the external One Connect box, which can rest on the back of the tabletop stand or be placed separately in a cabinet underneath or near the TV, providing some flexibility. Only Samsung's QN95B and 8K LCD TVs come with the One Connect box so there are other options for buyers who want a fully integrated design. The tabletop stand, which is fixed in place (no swivel or likewise), is heavy and provides a stable foundation. The One Connect box is thinner than last year's version but still too big for our taste. One of the reasons is that it also holds the power supply to feed the energy-hungry miniLED backlight. As such, it connects to the TV with only a single cable that carries both video, data and power. The cable has also gotten significantly thicker compared to the first version of the One Connect. We hope Samsung will make further efforts to shrink the box – may we suggest a version without legacy ports such as optical and without tuners.User experience & features
Samsung has given its Tizen operating system a completely revamped user interface in the 2022 Smart TVs. The bottom bar has been replaced by a fullscreen user interface divided into three hubs:
Samsung's upcoming Gaming Hub on 2022 Smart TVs. Photo: Samsung
We sometimes experienced situations were Tizen UI would freeze for a short time or persistently until we changed to, for example, an HDMI input and returned to the homescreen. This is likely a software issue that can be fixed.
There are some things that we like about the refreshed UI such as the Ambient section and features – except for the NFT ads – and Samsung's relatively wide selection of streaming apps (although some local apps that were available on 2021 models are missing at the moment). The TV is also quick to boot up from standby.
However, the refresh does not represent a step forward in our opinion and Tizen still doesn't feel like a vibrant and inviting TV platform like Google's Android TV or Apple's tvOS. Instead the latest version feels more like a way for Samsung to tighten control of its Smart TVs and which partners have access to its platform and customers, in an effort to increase earnings through targeted ads and sponsored content. And that's a shame.
Operation
2020's 4K flagship, Samsung Q95T, came with an exquisite remote control made from metal but last year's QN95A and this year's QN95B, as well as cheaper Samsung models, come bundled with a redesigned black remote that is made to look like brushed metal. It is actually black plastic. There are solar cells on the back to let the user recharge the remote using indoor or outdoor light, in addition to a USB-C charging port. The 2022 version can also harness a small amount of energy from radio waves in your home (WiFi router or similar) but it has to be very, very close to the source. However, as noted last year, if Samsung really cares for the environment it should first and foremost take a good long look at its miniLED-based LCD TVs in general as these are highly inefficient in converting energy into light and color. The 55-inch QN95B has an average energy consumption of around 170 Watts in HDR, based on our testing, and HDR is increasingly what people watch and stream from Netflix, Disney+, Apple etc. The remote control now has four sponsored buttons, up from three in 2021. These are Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Disney+ and Samsung TV Plus. Samsung's remote control is still one of our favorite TV remote controls but it is a shame about the sponsored, non-configurable buttons and the downgrade to plastic. If there was a source button and the four sponsored buttons were exchanged for logo-free reconfigurable buttons, the functionality would be close to perfect.TV audio
QN95B has a 4.2.2-channel 70W speaker system built in. It uses Samsung's Object Tracking Sound technology to deliver wider sound with dimensionality where it sounds as if voices are actually coming from the person on-screen. It manages to do that effectively sometimes, and voices are clear for the most part. On the other hand we did not really hear any overhead effects despite our testing facility being a perfect square room with a flat ceiling. For the first time, 2022 Samsung TVs also support Dolby Atmos. There has been a lot of confusion around Dolby Atmos in Samsung TVs in the past so here is the situation:Calibration
Samsung's 2022 "Neo QLED" LCD TVs have 5 picture modes (Dynamic, Standard, Movie, Filmmaker and Game Mode). The 'Game' mode can be enabled from Connection -> Game Mode Settings. As you can see in our measurements to the right, 'Dynamic' is extreme and 'Standard' is quite exotic too. 'Movie' and 'Filmmaker Mode' are very similar but the latter has been set to lower brightness.Other picture modes
Click the title to expand the view
Standard (SDR) |
Dynamic (SDR) |
Movie (SDR) |
Filmmaker Mode (SDR) |
Game (SDR) |
Standard (HDR) |
Dynamic (HDR) |
Movie (HDR) |
Filmmaker Mode (HDR) |
Game (HDR) |


Measurements
In our "measurements" section we include all measurements and our suggested calibration settings. If you want to learn more about our test methodology click here. Note: Starting last year, we implemented a new method for measurement of average power consumption in SDR and HDR, meaning that earlier measurements are not 1:1 comparable. The new method will be used in all TV reviews going forward.
Picture quality
Last year, Samsung launched its first LCD TVs with a miniLED zone dimming backlight. QN95B replaces QN95A as the 4K flagship LCD TV and despite its refreshed design, the miniLED and LCD technology inside remains mostly unchanged, as confirmed to FlatpanelsHD by Samsung's picture engineers at CES. As always, some of the most important factors in determining LCD picture quality is the type of panel (VA or IPS) and zone dimming capabilities so let's look at these elements first. We counted 36x16 dimming zones for a total of 576 zones in the 55-inch model, which is the same as in last year's QN95A. Samsung says that it has employed a new system called 'Shape Adaptive Light Control' in an effort to reduce blooming but we did not find any meaningful changes. Backlight control is still limited mainly by the relatively low number of dimming zones. As such, QN95B still suffers from heavy blooming in many situations, especially high-contrast scenes or when viewed from the side. In some dark scenes it gets a sort of hazy look, which is a side-effect of blooming. We covered this in more detail in last year's Samsung QN95A review. We do not have access to QN95A any longer but if we had to compare the two we would say that blooming is as evident or a tad more evident on this year's QN95B. One thing that we did want to elaborate on is peak brightness. As discussed and demonstrated the calibration section, QN95B detects a 10% window and changes its picture output; not just color and grey tone tracking but also peak brightness which gets boosted momentarily by up to 80%. So we wanted to examine how it behaves with actual content. Is peak brightness closer to 1300 nits (9% window testing) or 2300 nits (10% window testing)? Curiously, we did not find a single scene from our own pool of testing videos, YouTube HDR demos, HDR games or HDR test discs where QN95B went beyond 1300 nits in highlights, according to our measurements. While we cannot rule out that there are some examples, it seems to us much more likely that this represents its actual performance, which is actually not higher than the latest OLED TVs – and QN95B still suffers from heavy blooming at these levels. Where QN95B still has a brightness advantage over OLED TVs is in fullscreen brightness or larger segments of the picture, but this is not where you usually see high brightness in real movie and game scenes. QN95B can produce quite contrasty pictures but not with the same sparkle in bright highlights and intensity in blacks as OLED. Other than that QN95B is very similar to last year's QN95A. The dimming system still tends to get confused about how to set or control brightness in complex scenes or in scenes where bright objects flicker or move around. HDR occasionally shines, mainly in bright and colorful scenes that can look even better than on OLED TVs – but not accurate in luminance and colors – but in high-contrast scenes, scenes with small bright objects (stars, lamps etc.) and scenes that are darker overall QN95B is nowhere near in HDR picture quality to OLED TVs as raised blacks, visible blooming and halos take away from the otherwise good picture experience. QN95B's strengths lie in fullscreen brightness in brightly lit environments as its overall brightness is higher than OLED TVs' overall brightness. Some users may value that for sports or similar genres, although we personally still overall prefer OLED TVs in bright rooms all things considered. Samsung's 2022 TVs do still not support Dolby Vision. Samsung has a powerful "AI" video processor but most of the power is channeled into dynamic video systems that we prefer to deactivate to ensure accurate picture quality. In SDR mode, QN95B delivers much more accurate and balanced pictures than in HDR, partly because it can be set to respect the SDR standards and partly because the zone dimming systems does not have to work so aggressively to stay within SDR content's boundaries. Samsung's anti-reflective filter is the most effective in any current TV and most of the time it effectively manages to suppress reflections in brightly lit environments although it can sometimes produce rainbow effects, mainly if you have a window or lamp directly opposite the TV. These rainbow effects can be quite distracting. No glossy TV is reflection-free. Last year, we found that Samsung's ambient light sensor was persistent even though we deactivated it from the menu, which sometimes caused high-brightness flashes on the screen. Luckily, we did not observe this error on QN95B. The risk of burn-in on LCD is very low which should give users who want to use Samsung's photo frame features peace of mind. Some gamers opt for high-end LCD TVs over burn-in or longevity concerns during console gaming. However, there are other factors to take into account when gaming on zone-dimming LCD TVs such as QN95B, some of which are still not well understood. While QN95B lets you keep local dimming activated in Game mode, the zone dimming system still gets reduced to a very raw form where it delivers lower peak brightness and more crude backlight control as it is not fast enough to follow the fast action on-screen with real-time content (as opposed to packaged content like movies where the signal can be slightly delayed in order to analyze the picture on-screen so the zone dimming system has time to react in sync). This zone dimming degradation effect is exacerbated in VRR mode because the TV now disables almost all processing to let the input signal flow in sync with the game console or PC's output. The down-scaled zone dimming system, which makes the picture lose contrast and reduces peak brightness in HDR, coupled with Samsung's horrendous 'Game' picture mode, which is so oversaturated and overbright that it changes the look and atmosphere in many games, ultimately means that QN95B is not a great TV for console HDR gaming despite its low input lag (approx. 13ms in 60Hz). We provided examples last year in our QN95A review and encouraged Samsung to respect game creators' hard work to make games look as intended, but sadly Samsung has only toned it down a little in QN95B. We took an additional shot of Little Orpheus where the bright green sequences inside the whale's belly almost turn neon on QN95B and made it look as if there is something wrong with the TV. It looks terrible. Samsung's Game Bar on the other hand is a nifty tool that allows you to quickly change settings related to gaming and see details on the input signal (Hz, HDR, VRR, aspect ratio etc.). Some 2022 Samsung high-end TVs have also gained a 144Hz driving circuit and panel to refresh at 144Hz. At this time, it only works with a PC as game consoles such as PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X max out at 120Hz output. 4K 144Hz HDR10 is supported over HDMI in QN95B. We had a chance to examine Samsung QN95B side-by-side with Sony's first miniLED LCD TV, X95K, and while we do not intend to not reveal too much here (full Sony X95K review coming up later) we wanted to include a comparison shot similar to the one we took last year with Samsung QN95A and Sony X90J side-by-side. Samsung QN95B and Sony X95K were both set to their most accurate HDR mode with all dynamic systems and sensors deactivated. As you can see, Samsung's QN95B looks much brighter than Sony's X95K even though the picture should have the same overall brightness and look identical on both TVs, according to measurements. QN95B changes the scene to look almost like daytime. Last year, we ascribed this to Samsung's dynamic tone-mapping, which is technically correct, but the more precise explanation is that it is a result of Samsung's "AI" processor detecting our and others' 10% window test patterns used for measurements and calibration to change and mislead about the TV's actual picture output, as discussed earlier. Phew... Samsung QN95B (left), Sony X95K (right)
As mentioned last year, the miniLED backlight in Samsung's LCD TVs uses PWM (Pulse Width Modulation – meaning fast flicker) to control the backlight's luminance level which combined with persistent scanning backlights (black bar rolling down over the picture at a high frequency) that cannot be turned off produces a picture that can be a little straining to look at for long periods of time – at least for me. Last year, I started to look into it after wondering why my eyes got so tired after long viewing sessions and the same is true with QN95B.
Our sample of QN95B had decent panel homogeneity overall but the edges tend to look a little darker than the rest of the picture, as shown below.
Samsung QN95B employs the company's wide viewing angles technology (Ultra Wide Viewing Angle), which is an active system designed to improve viewing angles by modulating the intensity of the sub-pixels depending on the colors in the picture. It works but comes at the expensive of effective resolution as discussed in previous reviews. As a result, QN95B cannot resolve full 4K resolution in all scenes.
While the viewing angles are impressively wide for a VA LCD panel, blooming is much elevated when not sitting directly in front of the panel.
Conclusion
Samsung QN95B is the successor to last year's QN95A and besides its sleek exterior design and the new fullscreen Tizen user interface not much has changed. It has the same number of dimming zones and delivers more or less the same picture quality with relatively high contrast, decent color saturation, and decent response time. We also want to thank Samsung for once again in 2022 abstaining from downgrading its high-end 4K TVs to make its 8K TV look more attractive.Ad:
However, like last year's QN95A, QN95B has a significantly overbrigthened picture in all of its HDR picture modes, a fact that Samsung's "AI" video processor tries to hide by detecting the pattern used by reviewers/calibrators and changing its picture output during measurements only to return them to other values after the measurements have been carried out – that's deception and cheating. In addition, Samsung QN95B suffers from heavy blooming in HDR and has a horrendous Game mode (both in SDR and HDR) that significantly changes the look of games.
Samsung's revamp of Tizen to a fullscreen user interface is in our opinion not an improvement and in addition to the occasional issues and freezes (most likely software issues), the new fullscreen UI feels as if it has been designed for Samsung rather than the end user, as it allows Samsung to show more ads and highlight content from its own services and partners. On the other hand most popular streaming apps are readily available. The Gaming Hub is not active yet and will be introduced through a software update later this year, which we look forward to as it will introduce Google Stadia and Nvidia GeForce Now apps. Samsung's remote control is still one of our favorites but the sponsored buttons must go. The TV speakers are better than average and Samsung's 2022 TVs finally support Dolby Atmos.
Samsung QN95B is one of the best LCD TVs on the market but that does not say much nowadays where OLED TVs are taking over the premium segment of the TV market. In our opinion QN95B should be cheaper than any 120Hz OLED TV to be competitive and unfortunately that is not the case.
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Change in test parameters: In 2018, we made a change to a test parameter that relates to the features score, following years of poor practice in the TV industry. Unless a manufacturer of a given "Smart TV" can provide FlatpanelsHD with assurance that the TV platform will be updated to the next major version, the feature score will be lowered by 10 points. We hope that our initiative can help highlight the problem, start a discussion, and change the practice.
Samsung has not been able to give us such a guarantee for Tizen.
Samsung has not been able to give us such a guarantee for Tizen.
Price and retailers:
Good SDR picture quality
TV speakers & Dolby Atmos support
HDMI 2.1 features
Sleek design
Heavy blooming
Revamped Tizen with ads, promoted content
Tizen not receiving updates
Horrendous Game mode
Loss of resolution due to wide viewing angles