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Review Of Samsung Q80A QLED 4K TV

Herbert Huffner

The Samsung Q80A TV Does Not Perform Very Well In Terms Of Contrast And Black Depth; But With A Fast User Interface And A Wide Viewing Angle, It Compensates For These Weaknesses To Some Extent. Check Out The Samsung Q80A QLED.

Samsung Q80A QLED 4K TV, Although 4K content is not yet widespread, many movies, TV series, and games are still running in Full HD; But the ability to display 4K content is well on our shopping list. On the other hand, the intelligent capabilities of TVs have become an integral part of the entertainment experience; Being able to relax on the living room sofa and use the TV to run various entertainment applications has its charm and, of course, its advantages.

Samsung Q80A TV Browser
Aside from intelligent capabilities and support for 4K content, the first things we pay most attention to when buying a TV are image quality, color depth, and freshness, contrast, and brightness; All of these parameters depend directly on the technology used in the TV panel. Samsung, the world’s largest TV maker, unveiled in 2017 the QLED technology (QLED or Quantum Dot LED) as a competitor to OLED. QLED technology almost follows the rules of LCD TVs, except that tiny crystals, or quantum dots, act as filters to produce brighter, purer colors than traditional LCD panels.
As a replacement for the Q80 and Q80T series TVs, the Samsung Q80A Smart TV uses Cold technology to brighten and color its ADS panel and play 4K content. The Q80A is Samsung’s mid-range product, behind Korea’s expensive Neo QLED TVs. In terms of price, the LG C1 OLED TV can be considered a serious competitor to the Q80A. Check out the Zomit Q80A below to see the advantages of the Samsung Cold TV over its OLED رق competitors.

Design and ports of Samsung Q80A TV

The Samsung Cold Q80A TV replaces Samsung’s 2020 Q80 and Q80T models, evident in the design. On the front, the slim 9mm bezel and minimalist TV metal frame enclose the QLED panel, giving it a modern look.
The Koreans adhered to their traditions in designing the Q80A base and used the same familiar rectangular and metal base. The base is of adequate height and relatively high weight and holds the TV well in place. On the back of the ground, a separate plastic cover is used to hide the cables. From the author’s point of view, the rugged, rectangular base of the Q80A does not fit well with the slim bezels and minimalist design of the TV, reducing its visual appeal.
The Q80A‌ is available in 85, 75, 65, 55 and 50-inch models, and depending on the model, you can attach it to the wall with 200 ۰ 200, 300 ۰۰ 400, ‌ 400 × 400 and 400 ۰۰ 600 mm VESA mounts to If you are not as satisfied with the basic appearance of the TV as you are or you have little space, do not have a problem. There’s also a physical button on the bottom edge of the frame to turn on / off, switch channels, image signal source, and volume under the Samsung name.
Because Cold panels are a type of LCD and use lighting equipment, they are expected to be thicker and heavier than OLED panels. For review, we had the 55-inch Q80A, which measures 25 x 6 x 78.2 x 122.6 cm and weighs about 21 kg. The integrated TV is 6.2 cm thick; Therefore, the Q80A can be considered a slim TV. The back panel of the sex TV is completely plastic; But in general, we believe the quality of the materials used to it is desirable.
In terms of ports and connections, the Q80A offers a reasonably complete and common combination. Four HDMI ports, two USB 2.0 ports, optical audio output, antenna input, and Ethernet port make up the Samsung Cold TV port. All of these connectors are located on the right edge of the TV.
Unfortunately, only one of the HDMI inputs is HDMI 2.1, which can support a 4K signal at 120Hz refresh rate and AMD’s Free-Sync standard, and the rest of the ports are HDMI 2.0. For comparison, all four HDMI ports on the LG C1 TV provide HDMI 2.1 connectivity. On the other hand, none of the ports are G-SYNC compliant; Therefore, using the Q80A TV as a monitor for computers equipped with Nvidia graphics would not be a logical decision.
Another HDMI port on the TV supports the ARC / eARC standard, which can transmit Dolby Atmos and 5.1 Dolby Digital audio via an HDMI cable to an external audio system such as Sandbar without the need for additional equipment; But the ability to transfer DTS: X audio is not intended for the Q80A. In the case of 5.1 Dolby Digital audio, you will not be limited to just one HDMI port, and you can also receive this audio standard through the optical port.
Another good thing about the Q80A ports and connections is the CEC support, and if you have a game console connected to a TV, you can control the console menu using the TV remote. The Koreans have equipped their Cold Smart TV with Bluetooth 4.2 and WiFi 5, which supports two frequency bands of 2.4 and 5 GHz.

The picture quality of the Samsung Q80A TV

Samsung Q80A TV uses a 10-bit ADS panel with QLED technology, 120Hz refresh rate, and 4K UHD resolution or 2160 x 3840 pixels. This panel is a significant setback compared to the previous generation VA panel. ADS panels, unlike VA panels, have a lower contrast ratio and make black appear grayer. However, the viewing angle of ADS panels is more comprehensive and, therefore, can be a better choice for use in homes with wide furniture.
Samsung claims to have used its most potent 4K processor in the Q80A, called the Quantum Processor 4K, which uses machine learning to convert any frame of non-4K video content to 4K. In addition, the Koreans say that the Q80A can streamline 4K content at 120Hz using Motion Xcelerator Turbo + technology as smoothly as possible so that the details of moving images, such as next-generation games or sports competitions, are clear and unbroken. Observe. The Q80A supports HDR image standards, including HDR + 10, HDR 10, and HLG; But it is not compatible with Dolby Vision content.
In LCD TVs, the light of the blue LEDs is colored by passing through a kind of liquid crystal filter. This filter is modified in QLED technology and replaced with a membrane of quantum dots to improve the accuracy of the colors produced. Quantum dots are nanocrystals that absorb light of one wavelength and convert it to the light of another color. The color of the new light depends on the dimensions of the quantum dots; Larger dots emit near-red colors, and smaller dots emit near-green colors.
Despite quantum dot technology, QLED TVs also suffer from the problem of blooming around the subject, common in LCD panels, when displaying light content with a dark background (such as subtitles). It is not the case with OLED TVs, where each pixel is turned on, off, bright, or dimmed individually, independent of the other pixels. However, due to the nature of OLED panels, quality QLED panels can surpass them in terms of lighting.
The Q80A TV offers five different picture modes for displaying SDR and HDR images. Unfortunately, the TV automatically shuts off the FILMMAKER MODE‌ mode, which provides high color accuracy when displaying still images, and only four other image display modes are available to you. Samsung claims that FILMMAKER MODE can give the experience closest to the director’s intended content. By connecting the computer to the TV with an HDMI cable, the same profiles are no longer available and are replaced by two profiles, Entertain and Graphic.

SDR image display modes

HDR image display modes

Given that up to 25% of the panel space is white in most videos, we use a 10% scale to compare the maximum brightness of SDR and HDR‌ modes. In addition, since SDR content is more pervasive for us Iranian users, we measured the brightness of the TV when displaying this type of content in all modes (except FILMMAKER MODE, of course).
Regarding the various image display profiles, it should note that the Q80A uses the Standard profile by default, and the default brightness of the said profile is set to 38 out of 50. To measure the intelligence of the Movie profile, we also found that its brightness is at a level of 29 out of 50. We have obtained the numbers listed in the table with the same default brightness levels.

Samsung Kold Q80A 55-inch TV screen brightness
Image modes/percentage of template whiteness
2 percent
10 percent
25 percent
50%
90%
100%
SDR
Dynamic
582
560
550
494
465
463
Standard
455
436
425
185
330
328
Natural
474
546
531
414
260
230
Movie
183
187
201
200
200
195
HDR
Dynamic
–
1352
–
–
–
–
Standard
–
752
–
–
–
–
Natural
–
582
–
–
–
–
Movie
–
724
–
–
–
–
FILMMAKER MODE
–
718
–
–
–
–
According to the UHD Alliance, the minimum standard brightness for displaying HDR‌ content on LCD panels should be 1000 nits. According to our measurements and taking into account the UHD standard, only the Dynamic profile of the Q80A TV with a brightness of 1352 nits was able to provide the expected performance when displaying HDR content, and the illumination of other profiles did not reach more than 750 nits, which is about 40% of the C1 TV. LG is less. The Dynamic profile displays SDR‌ content at 560 nits and produces more brightness than other modes.
As mentioned earlier, expensive cloud panels can outperform OLED panels in terms of lighting. Looking at the numbers obtained in the brightness tests of the LG C1 display previously performed by Zomit, it can be seen that such a scenario is not valid, at least for the Q80A, and that Samsung’s product lags behind other Korean companies in competing with OLED TVs.
Since the Dynamic profile provides more brightness than other image modes, we used the same shape to measure the image’s contrast. The Q80A offers an image contrast of 497.2, which is not great considering the nature of the LCD panels; But the result is good.
HDR videos of color spaces DCI-P3 and Rec. 2020 to display content; Therefore, a TV that supports HDR image standards should cover these two color spaces well to provide the best experience. To measure the color accuracy of the various profiles of the Q80A TV, we connected our laptop wirelessly to the TV to have four main image display modes. Naturally, we also used an HDMI connection to measure the color accuracy of the Graphic and Entertain profiles. Unfortunately, in this section, we could not measure the color accuracy of the FILMMAKER MODE profile.

Performance of Samsung 55-inch Kold Q80A TV in covering colorful spaces
Image mode / color space
sRGB
DCI-P3
Rec. 2020
Cover
Average error
Cover
Average error
Cover
Average error
Dynamic
99.5
13.3
86
13.4
63.2
14.8
Standard
99.5
10.3
86.5
11.6
63.5
13.2
Natural
99.5
9.5
86.1
10.5
63.2
11.7
Movie
98.5
3
75.6
4
53
6.3
Graphic
99.3
8.3
85.9
9.8
63.1
11.5
Entertain
99.7
10.5
86.5
11.5
63.5
12.6
According to the results of our review, the Q80A TV shows extremely cool colors in all picture modes, which is more severe in the Dynamic way than in other profiles, and Movie mode shows the least amount of coolness in colors. The white color error in the Q80A is very high, and the white colors tend to be blue.
All picture modes of the Samsung Q80A TV cover entirely the sRGB color space; But at best, the larger DCI-P3 and Rec.2020 color spaces cover 86% and 63%, respectively. It means that the Q80A also performs moderately well in terms of displaying HDR content colors. Movie mode also has the lowest error in terms of average color error, i.e., and it provides the most accurate colors in all three color spaces. If you want to experience the colors as close to reality as possible, remember to use the Movie profile.
The results obtained for the color accuracy of the Q80A TV are reported with the default settings of each image mode. Fortunately, for those who want more control over the image mode specifications, in the settings section, there is an option called Expert Settings in which you can change various parameters such as brightness, white balance, contrast, and color to your liking. . Based on our experience working with Expert Settings, changing colors such as color intensity, temperature, and white balance can help bring colors closer to reality.
Local Dimming is also available through Expert Settings. Local Dimming is included in LCD TVs to improve the depth of black and thus provide better contrast, and as the name implies, diminishes the dark areas of the image to show a deeper black color and increase the contrast of the picture. This feature does not work well on the Q80A, and instead of dimming dark areas, it appears to darken the entire image, making the viewing experience worse.
Thanks to the ADS panel, the Samsung Q80A TV has a wide viewing angle of around 60 to 70 degrees, making it an excellent choice for home and seminar use.
The free-Sync capability allows variable refresh rate (VRR) to be implemented in various resolutions, including 4K, and in the range of 20 to 120 Hz for systems with AMD graphics cards and ninth-generation consoles. When you connect the device to the TV via HDMI 2.1 input and enter Game Mode, Free-Sync is activated automatically, and you can enjoy games in 4K resolution and variable frame rate up to 120 frames per second, without the occurrence of Screen tearing; Of course, there is no Nvidia G-Sync technology, so if you plan to use the Samsung Cold TV as a monitor for a computer with an Nvidia graphics card, keep this in mind.
One of the problems that can be annoying for gamers is the high input delay (Input Lag), which indicates the uncertainty of the TV in receiving input signals and displaying content. Fortunately, entering Game Mode, the Samsung Q80A TV offers very little input latency and will continue to perform well even if the resolution and refresh rate is higher. According to studies, the Q80A input latency in 4K resolution with a refresh rate of 120 Hz is about 5.3 milliseconds, promising gamers an enjoyable experience while playing games.

The audio and audio experience of Samsung Q80A TV

The Q80A‌ TV uses 2.2.2-channel speakers with 60 watts of output power, which, like most camouflaged TVs on the market, are built into the bottom and throw sound down. Samsung says that the subject’s voice is tracked as the image moves and is played realistically and three-dimensionally using OTS technology.
If you use compatible soundbars, the Q80A can deliver sound in perfect harmony with your TV and soundbar speakers. Samsung calls this feature Q-Symphony. In addition, the SpaceFit Sound feature selects and adjusts the sound profile based on the environment in which you are located to have a better sound experience.
The Samsung Q80A TV produces a powerful, clear sound that can separate into frequencies. However, at high frequencies (low sounds), you will hear some distortion. If you want to use the TV indoors, you will not need to buy a soundbar, and you will be satisfied with the sound quality and volume of the Q80A speakers.

Software and control of Samsung Q80A TV

The Samsung Q80A Smart TV uses the 2021 version of the familiar Tizen user interface. The new version of Tizen is attractive and minimal, it runs smoothly, and we did not encounter any delays or bugs while working with it. Entertainment apps like Netflix and Amazon Prime are pre-installed on the Q80A, and a few games are available from the start.
Unfortunately, the Samsung App Store is not very rich in various applications and does not even have some typical applications such as Spotify in its library. However, you will not feel short of entertainment and media-based applications. The Q80A‌ is compatible with Amazon Alexa Assistant, Google Assistant, and Bixby and supports Samsung’s popular Smart Things app to connect your other smart devices to it quickly.
One of the good features of the Q80A UI is the Game Mode, which displays information such as frame rate, input latency, and refreshes rate when playing games via console or PC. Spheres For when you need to view two windows simultaneously, they have a Multi Window feature that you can use to increase or decrease the size of the windows.
Two thousand twenty-one models The Samsung Cold TVs are equipped with a redesigned remote control of previous models; We had a great experience working with the Samsung remote control. The Q80A controller has a lightweight, compact plastic body. As the nature of smart TVs dictates, there are no additional buttons other than the shortcut buttons for Netflix, Prime Video, and a few other common shortcuts.
Since the Q80A TV controller is equipped with rechargeable batteries and does not use conventional replaceable batteries, you can charge it using a USB-C cable or via a solar panel on the back of the remote. Fortunately, the Q80A control supports voice commands for opening apps, changing gateways, and settings, but you can’t use the voice command to search for specific content in apps.
The only downside to the Q80A remote control is the lack of support for a Magic Mouse-like feature and a scroll wheel, making scrolling and selecting options difficult in apps like the browser.

Conclusion

The Samsung Q80A TV is one of the top mid-range products of the Korean company, which tries to compete with OLED TVs in terms of panel quality. Still, it can not produce the brightness, color accuracy, and depth of black and its competitors, and this is also the case with the DNA of LCD TVs. The most important strength of the Q80A against its all-time rival, the LG C1, is the lack of burn-in risk.
The Q80A can become a viable option for ninth-generation console gamers, thanks to its support for variable refresh rates and multiple HDR formats, low input latency, and of course 4K‌ content display; Of course, you can get the same performance and features from the LG C1 OLED TV in the Q80A price range.

Positive points

Cons

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