AUGUST 2020 T3 51Mid-range 4K TVs
SAMSUNG Q80T
The Samsung Q80T is perfect for daylight viewing, or in rooms with high
levels of light, thanks to being an exceptionally bright HDR performer
ights, colours, action! The cheapest 2020
QLED TV to offer a full-array backlight, the
Q80T offers all the familiar attributes of
Samsung’s QLED models. It’s natively bright
and wondrously colour rich. It also produces a convincing
black level performance, thanks to its full array backlight
with local dimming.
Samsung won’t confirm how many zones there are on
this set, but we strongly suspect there’s around 50,
comparable to last year’s Q70R. This isn’t enough to
completely control backlight blooming, and we noticed
some splodges of light from bright objects on black
backgrounds. Last year’s Q80R model performed more
strongly in this area – with that model currently selling
for around £1,000 less than this version, it’s a shame that
the backlight dimming performance isn’t a bit stronger.
But if the Q80T has one talent that sets its apart from the
competition, it’s the ability to believably upscale low-res
sources. Indeed, it probably offers the best upscaling of any
4K screen we’ve seen to date. Whether you watch low-res
streams, or spin your favourite Blu-rays (or even DVDs), it
effortlessly reduces jagged edges, smooths gradations, and
makes things just look silky.
Gamers can maximise image performance, but keep lag
down by using Game Motion Plus. Even with this cocktailL
It effortlessly reduces
jagged edges and makes
things just look silky
switched on, image lag is an entirely respectable 19.7ms
(1080/60). Switched off, for maximum gaming, image lag
plummets to just 8.7ms, blisteringly fast for a telly.
There’s still no compatibility with Dolby Vision
(Samsung refuses to play ball), but we do get support for
rival format HDR10+, as favoured by Amazon Prime. And
while there’s no Freeview Play tuner for UK users,
Samsung has gathered together all the mainstream UK
catch-up channels, plus Netflix, Prime Video, Apple TV,
Rakuten TV, Disney+, BT TV and YouTube, amongst others.
Overall, the Q80T is a formidable 4K model that
warrants a premium price tag overall. It’s an intrinsically
bright HDR performer that’s absolutely perfect for
daylight viewing, or in rooms with generally high levels
of ambient light. Our issue with giving it an even stronger
recommendation is the wider context in which it’s been
released. Its screen tech is actually slightly behind last
year’s (now) cheaper Samsung Q80R model. And while
it’s an excellent set – not to mention up to £500 cheaper- it still doesn’t quite rival the CX’s gaming prowess.
SAMSUNG
Q80T
PRODUCT 03:
Brings high-spec 4K QLED features at a
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