There's a longstanding issue that has often made TV purists shun OLED TVs, at least for their brighter rooms, because the glare on the panel would just completely ruin the viewing experience. So those who wanted the benefits of OLEDs would only pick these TVs for darker rooms.
Samsung has tackled this problem head-on with a mission to provide all the benefits of an OLED without the glare. The solution? Samsung's S95D TV, which uses Samsung Display's innovative Quantum Dot OLED panels. You'll find out in this Samsung S95D review just how great this TV really is.
Samsung S95D: SamMobile video review
Setting up your new TV
Samsung has considerably simplified the process of setting up your new TV in recent years. Once you're over the initial awe of seeing the S95D out of the box, it's quick and easy to get the screen secured to the base plate. The fit feels secure and sturdy so you can have complete confidence that it won't be going anywhere. The One Connect box, which includes all of the inputs and the power supply, looks best when you have the TV mounted flush to the wall, otherwise it feels like yet another component you need to make space for on your console.
Design
There's no sugarcoating the fact that this is a stylish TV. The panel is nice and thin. When paired with the stand, it achieves a floating screen look which is precisely what Samsung was going for here.
The matte, smoked chrome bezels make the TV look more suave than you thought it could. The design is striking but in a subdued way, so it doesn't take anything away from the viewing experience and isn't distracting in the slightest.
You can buy the Samsung S95D TV in 55, 65, and 77-inch sizes with no obvious differences in the design across the entire lineup. The sizes on offer are a good range as they should suit most spaces that the average consumer would want to have a TV in.
Picture quality
Imagine you're watching TV in a very bright room and there's significant glare on the panel. It doesn't make for a very pleasurable experience. The S95D has been purpose built to solve that problem. You're going to love the glare-free finish, as Samsung calls it, on the panel, because it almost completely eliminates the impact of glare.
The image below was captured with three different lights behind the camera, which shows just how glare-free this TV is.
You're going to love watching content on this TV in a bright room. With that being said, when the light hits the panel directly, it can impact the contrast just a tiny bit and you sort of lose that feeling of it being an OLED TV. But that's something only the most discerning eye can pick up.
Conventional OLEDs often struggle with color reproduction, particularly with bright colors, and that's another issue the S95D solves with its Gen 3 Quantum Dot OLED panel. It displays bright colors remarkably and it's immediately noticeable that the actual quality of the screen is much better than a traditional WOLED, so there's less risk of you noticing a screen uniformity issue.
The S95D is no slouch when it comes to brightness either as it has been measured hitting an impressive peak brightness of 1,800 nits. That's awesome for HDR highlights and makes this TV a great option for gamers.
Speaking of HDR, the HDR color on the S95D is one of the best we've seen to date and if you want to add a bit more spice to it, you can use the new Color Booster option which emphasizes the color even more while keeping the image looking realistic. Yes, it's true that this TV doesn't have Dolby Vision, but we've compared both and the results are negligible, as you can see in the image above.
Truth be told, HDR10, which this TV supports, can often look better than Dolby Vision largely because of how the latter is implemented on most TVs. So don't be worried about the lack of Dolby Vision, you're not going to miss it.
Gamers will appreciate the support for 144Hz refresh rate and Game Motion+, which utilizes motion interpolation to make 30fps feel closer to 60fps. Usually with motion interpolation the input lag tends to increase, but Samsung's implementation of this feature keeps that lag super low, to the point where you hardly notice it. It's one of our most favorite exclusive features on the S95D.
Software
The Samsung S95D comes with the revamped Tizen OS which is now faster than ever before. The user interface feels very responsible and you obviously get access to all of the latest apps. There are tons of streaming options to choose from in addition to voice control through Bixby and Amazon's Alexa.
We particularly like the integrated trouble-shooter. You can use this feature to locate a setting or option that you don't quite know where to find in the user interface. Tizen OS also makes it possible to have multiple accounts on the same TV so if you're sharing it with your children, that's a great way to ensure they only get access to age-appropriate content.
Gaming Hub is one of the most useful features on Samsung's TVs. You can access console-free gaming streaming services like Xbox and GeForce Now. Couple that with all of the other gaming enhancements on this TV such as Variable Refresh Rate support, Auto Low Latency Mode, mini-map zoom, and multi-view to have YouTube open on the side and you've got a solid package for all of your gaming needs.
Performance and AI
As the flagship OLED TV in Samsung's 2024 lineup, the S95D comes with the company's latest NQ4 AI Gen2 chipset, which provides it with world-class image processing. Features like Real Depth Enhancer Pro, Intelligent Mode, and AI Sound use the capabilities of this chipset to significantly elevate the viewing experience. The audio quality in particular gets a great boost as AI processing makes dialogues particularly clear with incredible detail.
Samsung's 2024 NQ4 AI Gen2 processor powers the image processing capabilities of this TV. It's pertinent to note that this is the same chipset that you get with some of Samsung's more premium models, including its top-of-the-line S95D. So you're getting the full power of Samsung's TV chip even on a more attainable model. This chipset powers many new smart features, including AI Sound and Real Depth Enhancer Pro.
The AI Auto Game Mode is another notable addition, as it recognizes the genre of games you're playing and then automatically optimizes the TV settings so that you can jump right into the game and not have to spend so much time on getting all of the settings just right. What's perhaps the most impressive is the chipset's performance when it comes to upscaling content all the way up to 4K. Every nuance is fine-tuned and every detail enhanced to provide an output that's deserving of the richness of this QD-OLED panel.
Verdict
In our view, this is the best 4K TV you can buy right now and precisely what you need for the brightest rooms in your living space. The glare-free finish eliminates those pesky reflections, the display panel is in a league of its own when it comes to color reproduction and brightness, and the AI processing capabilities are some of the best you'll find on any TV on the market right now.
Creating something this capable isn't inexpensive and you see that reflected in the TV's price tag, with the Samsung S95D starting at $2,599. Think for a moment what all of that money gets you: a TV that provides exceptional clarity, vibrant and true-to-life HDR, great motion handling, and a great sound experience. It just doesn't get any better than this.
