T3 - UK (2020-05)

MAY 2020 T3 61

Samsung Q950TS

As far as features go, the 75Q950TS
is as fully loaded as you’d expect a
flagship TV from a global brand to be.
The Samsung has dual-band Wi-Fi
on board, of course, and as far as
physical connections go you’re
looking at four HDMI inputs (one of
which is HDMI 2.1-compliant), three
USB sockets, RF and satellite TV aerial
posts, an ethernet input and a digital
optical output. What’s especially
pleasing and convenient about them,
though, is the fact that Samsung has
taken them off the TV.
All connectivity and related
hardware, including power, is housed
in a fairly big box called One Connect,
which joins to the screen itself using a
single, slim umbilical cable. So the
Q950TS is less problematic to
wall-mount, and looks less cluttered
once it’s up there, than any other
massive TV you care to mention.
There is actually a variant of the
Samsung Q950TS series called the
Q900TS, which will be available in
the UK. It’s exactly the same for
image quality and technology, but
doesn’t include the external One

Connect box – instead, all the ports

are on the TV, like with most sets.

This makes the TV a bit thicker, but it

will also be cheaper – that set isn’t out

yet, but we’ve seen retailers list it for

£6,999 for the 75-inch version and

£4,999 for the 65-inch version.

Every HDR standard bar Dolby

Vision is catered for here, and the

Samsung’s ability to control each of

its 480 zones of backlighting down to

an individual level means the Q950TS

has the best chance of delivering

deep, lustrous black tones and bright,

clean whites even if they’re sharing

the same scene.

As far as sound goes, Samsung has

taken steps to address criticism of the

audio quality of its 2019 8K TVs. Here

it’s deployed something called ‘Object

Motion Tracking +’ – it’s basically an

array of eight speaker drivers

arranged around the screen. The idea

is to offer a bigger sonic presentation

than is usually associated with

flatscreen TVs, and offer a degree of

audio tracking of on-screen motion at

the same time. Of course, anyone

with £8K for a TV burning a hole in

their pocket really ought to be

budgeting for a sound system,

especially since these speakers prove

to be the TV’s only misstep – they’re

hard, flat and bright to the point of

discomfort. This uncompromising

sonic signature is about as

inappropriate for the luxuriousness

of the images it accompanies as it’s

possible to imagine.

Picture performance

As already mentioned, native 8K

content is conspicuous only by its

absence. So the fact that the few

minutes of USB-mounted 8K stuff

this review TV came with looks

stunning in its detail levels, strength

of contrasts and effortlessly

controlled motion is, frankly,

neither here nor there. What this

needs to do is upscale 4K and Full HD

content to the sort of standard that’s

going to make a £7,999 price tag seem

reasonable. And it does.

No matter if you feed in 4K stuff

from Netflix, from Amazon Prime

Video or via an Ultra HD Blu-ray

player, it absolutely maximises the

CUTTING EDGE

Samsung has long been

trimming bezels in its

flagships but the Q950TS’s

are just 2mm wide, making

them effectively invisible at

the normal viewing distance

While 8K material

is rare, the Q950TS

upscales 4K

footage superbly