Samsung is, if anything, even more
impressive. There’s not the absolute
confidence in evidence as with 4K
material, naturally enough – edges
can shimmer, slow-panning
movement lacks a little certainty, and
picture noise escalates from a rumour
to a mild, but definite, fact.
But consider this: the Q950TS is
taking just over 2 million pixels’-
worth of information and turning it
into a picture of over 33 million
pixels. Bear that in mind and the
slight softness and relative lack of
detail in these images is trifling.
Design & usability
The design of the Q950TS is notable
for a couple of reasons. Of course, all
anyone wants from their pricey new
TV is as much screen as they can
accommodate and little of anything
else – and the Samsung delivers.
Its bezel is an astonishingly brief
2mm wide, which means it is – to all
intents and purposes – invisible when
you’re sitting an appropriate distance
from the screen.
And the depth of the chassis is
almost as remarkable. Because
Samsung’s QLED technology requires
backlighting, it will never be as
eye-poppingly slim as the OLED
alternatives it wishes to usurp. But
because Samsung has taken as much
of the electrical gubbins out of the
frame and put it in the One Connect
box instead, there is no OLED-style
bulge or extrusion here. Instead, the
Q950TS is a consistent 15mm deep
across the whole of its chassis. So
while it’s not phone slim, it’s slimmer
than a laptop.
Control is via a small, weighty
remote control featuring only as
many buttons as is essential. It feels
upmarket in the hand, and Samsung
has somehow managed to make the
button-presses feel expensive, which
is no easy feat. And it’s also possible to
operate the Q950TS using Amazon
Alexa voice-control, with Google
Assistant in the pipeline too.
No matter how you choose to
operate the screen, though, you’ll be
accessing one of the most agreeable
user interfaces in all of TV-land. This
OS is logical, rapid, intuitive, sensibly
laid out and easy to customise – and it
features each and every worthwhile
catch-up TV/streaming service app
(up to and including Apple TV with
AirPlay 2, and Disney+) as well as a
stack of less high-profile alternatives.
There’s no doubt the Samsung
Q950TS is a niche choice. It’s madlyexpensive and it’s specified well in
excess of any mainstream standard of
stream or broadcast.
And yet the Q950TS makes a
compelling case for itself: it’s big,
yet discreet by the usual big TV
standards, and it makes 4K content
look better than the majority of
flagship 4K TVs can manage. As
promised, it is the best 4K TV on the
planet right at this moment – being
an 8K TV too is almost a bonus. It’s a
stunning demonstration of the
current state of the TV art.WE’RE IMPRESSED Endlessly watchable
images; superb 4K upscaling; incredible HDR.
WE’D IMPROVE Frighteningly expensive;
sounds unyieldingly hard and thin.
THE LAST WORD Expensive, but you can see
it all on-screen. Elevates movies to a new level.VERDICT
Find the best deals for the Q950TS at:
bit.ly/T3Q950TSMAY 2020 T3 63Samsung Q950TS
Samsung’s ‘Object
Motion Tracking +’
is intended to offer
bigger sonic
presentation and a
degree of audio
trackingSOUNDING OFF
Despite its array of eight
speaker drivers arranged
around the screen, audio is
bright and brittle – the set’s
one bum note