Samsung S90D/S90DD OLED (QD-OLED) TV Review

The Samsung S90D has impressive HDR brightness. It gets bright enough for highlights to really stand out and delivers an impactful HDR experience. Unfortunately, large bright scenes are significantly dimmer than smaller specular highlights due to the TV's aggressive Automatic Brightness Limiter (ABL).

The TV's Automatic Static Brightness Limiter (ASBL) is surprisingly aggressive with the sustained 10% window, so small bright highlights are dimmed considerably when they're on screen for more than a few minutes. This behavior is not noticeable with real content.

These measurements are after calibrating the HDR white point with the following settings:

• Picture Mode: Filmmaker
• Brightness: 50 (Max)
• Contrast: 50 (Max)
• Contrast Enhancer: Off
• HDR Tone Mapping: Static
• Color Tone: Warm2
• Color Space Settings: Auto
• Peak Brightness: High

There's no noticeable difference with HDR brightness while in Game Mode.

These measurements are after calibrating the HDR white point with the following settings:

• HDR Picture Mode: Game Mode
• Game HDR: Basic
• Brightness: 50 (Max)
• Contrast: 50 (Max)
• Contrast Enhancer: Off
• HDR Tone Mapping: Static
• Color Tone: Warm2
• Color Space Settings: Auto
• Peak Brightness: High

The Samsung S90D has okay SDR peak brightness, and it's bright enough to fight glare in a room with some ambient lighting.

These measurements are after calibration with the following settings:

• Picture Mode: Movie
• Brightness: 50 (Max)
• Contrast: 45
• Gamma: 2.2
• Color: 25
• Peak Brightness: High
• Color Tone: Warm2
• Color Space: Auto

The Samsung S90D OLED has remarkable contrast and a nearly infinite contrast ratio. Due to OLED's self-lit pixels, the TV can display bright highlights next to perfect inky blacks, making it very impressive in a dark room.

Since OLEDs don't use lighting zones and instead have individual pixels that can be lit up to their maximum brightness next to pixels that are turned off, there's no blooming when bright elements are surrounded by deep blacks.

The Samsung S90D is an OLED and doesn't have a backlight, so its self-lit pixels give it the same performance as a TV with perfect local dimming and no zone transitions. We still film the zone transition video on the TV so you can see how it compares to a TV with local dimming.

Although Game Mode slightly over-brightens the image, there's no other difference in dark scene behavior between the calibrated picture modes and when the TV is set in Game Mode.

Because OLEDs can turn off individual pixels, the TV has incredible black uniformity with no blooming or halo effect around bright objects.

The Samsung S90D has outstanding SDR color volume, and its coverage of the DCI-P3 color space is essentially perfect. It doesn't cover the entire range of colors in the wider BT.2020 color space, but its coverage is still impressive. However, it does struggle more with blues, cyans, and greens within the BT.2020 color space.

The Samsung S90D has fantastic HDR color volume. The panel shows very bright colors, and it also displays dark, saturated colors very well.

The Samsung S90D has great pre-calibration SDR accuracy. Gamma is very close to the 2.2 target, but everything is a bit brighter than it's supposed to be, and the white balance is excellent, with blues being only slightly overrepresented. The color temperature is excellent and is only a bit cooler than our target of 6500K. Colors are very accurate across the board, but cyans do lean towards blue.

After calibration, the TV has exceptional accuracy. White balance, color temperature, and color accuracy have no noticeable issues. Gamma is almost perfect, but very dark scenes are still displayed a bit brighter than intended.

See our full calibration settings.

The TV has great HDR pre-calibration accuracy overall. There's too much blue in most shades of gray, giving the TV a noticeably cooler color temperature than 6500K. Colors are accurate for the most part, but there are mapping errors throughout, and reds and blues are a bit undersaturated.

The TV has outstanding HDR accuracy after calibration. There are some minor errors with white balance, but they're barely noticeable, and the TV's color temperature is now very close to 6500K. Colors are more accurate now, but there are still some minor errors, most notably in reds. However, most viewers won't notice these.

The Samsung S90DD has very good PQ EOTF tracking, so content is mostly displayed at the correct brightness level. Darker shadows and midtones are a bit brighter than intended by the content creator, but the TV follows the curve closely until it reaches the TV's maximum brightness. With content mastered in 600 or 1000 nits, there is a very slight roll-off to preserve some detail in highlights. With content mastered at 4000 nits, there is a more gradual roll-off to preserve detail in very bright highlights.

The TV's low-quality content smoothing is decent. It does a very good job at preserving detail, but there is still noticeable macro blocking in dark scenes.

The Samsung S90D does a very good job at upscaling low-resolution content like DVDs or lower resolution streams. Details are clear enough, but small hard-coded text is hard to make out.

Sharpness processing was calibrated with no over-sharpening for low-resolution content, with the following settings:

• Sharpness: 5

The Samsung S90D has exceptional HDR native gradient handling. There is no banding in any colors except dark greens, and even then, it's barely noticeable unless you specifically look for it.

This TV has incredibly low input lag when set into Game Mode, which ensures a very responsive gaming experience.

The TV supports most common resolutions up to 4k @ 144Hz. Chroma 4:4:4 signals are displayed properly with all supported resolutions when the TV's input label is set to 'PC,' which is important for text clarity. Unfortunately, even though it can display chroma 4:4:4 properly, text from a PC isn't clear due to the unusual subpixel structure (see the Panel Technology section of the review for more on this issue).

The TV supports all three types of variable refresh rate (VRR) technology to reduce screen tearing. It works well across a wide refresh rate range and supports sources with Low-Frame-Compensation (LFC), which ensures your games remain nearly tear-free even when your framerate drops very low.

Unfortunately, there is an issue when using NVIDIA graphics cards that effects frame rates above 120 fps. The TV essentially duplicates parts at the bottom of the screen.

The TV's CAD at its maximum refresh rate of 144Hz is outstanding. Pixels transition to their target RGB level almost instantly, so fast motion is incredibly sharp.

The TV's CAD at 120Hz outstanding. It displays fast-moving objects without noticeable blur, so fast motion is clear.

The TV's CAD at 60Hz is fantastic. Transitions from one RGB level to another are nearly instantaneous, but there's still some noticeable persistence blur due to the nature of a 60Hz refresh rate.

The TV is fully compatible with everything the PS5 offers, like 1440p @ 120Hz and 4K @ 120Hz, as well as HDMI Forum VRR. It also supports Auto Low Latency Mode, so you don't have to worry about switching to Game Mode to get the lowest input lag.

The TV is fully compatible with almost everything the Xbox Series X|S offers, including 1440p @ 120Hz, 4k @ 120Hz, HDMI Forum VRR, and FreeSync Premium Pro. It also supports Auto Low Latency Mode, so you don't have to worry about switching to Game Mode to get the lowest input lag. Unfortunately, Dolby Vision isn't supported on the TV, so gaming in Dolby Vision isn't possible.

Unfortunately, due to the nearly instantaneous pixel response time of the TV, there's stutter with low frame rate content, which is most noticeable during slow panning shots.

The TV automatically removes judder from all sources when watching movies or shows that are in 24p, even if they're in a 60Hz signal, like from a cable box.

Unfortunately, if you're using the BFI feature, you have to enable 'Judder Reduction,' which introduces motion interpolation.

The TV has a nearly instantaneous response time, which results in incredibly clear motion with almost no blur behind fast-moving objects. Due to the sample-and-hold nature of OLED technology, there's still some noticeable persistence blur at 60Hz, but it's hardly noticeable when watching content.

This TV isn't technically flicker-free, as a small decrease in brightness corresponds with the display's refresh cycle. This is very different from pulse width modulation flicker (PWM) on TVs with LED backlights, and it's not noticeable.

The TV has an optional black frame insertion feature (BFI) that reduces the appearance of persistence blur caused by the TV's nearly instantaneous response time. It can only insert black frames at a 60Hz refresh rate.

This TV has an optional motion interpolation feature to improve the clarity of motion. It does a good job at smoothing out slower scenes, but there are some noticeable artifacts present. In faster moving scenes, it can't keep up, and there are distracting artifacts and haloing.

The TV does a great job reducing the intensity of direct reflections, so you aren't overly distracted if you have a lamp or window opposite your screen.

The TV does a disappointing job displaying deep blacks in a bright room. Blacks look increasingly gray as your room becomes brighter, so the image looks washed out, and you lose the impactful picture quality this OLED has in a dark room.

The TV does an exceptional job with total reflected light. Its glossy screen finish significantly reduces the intensity of indirect reflections. However, due to the lack of a polarizer, the TV has a pink tint to it when exposed to light.

The TV has very good color saturation in a bright room. The perceived color volume of low-luminance colors does drop quite a bit in a room with ambient lighting, but mid-luminance and high-luminance colors retain their saturation very well. Although the TV’s perceived color volume does decrease noticeably in a bright room, you still get incredibly saturated colors, since its color volume is so impressive to begin with.

The Samsung S90D has an incredibly wide viewing angle that remains consistent from almost any angle, so it's an excellent choice for watching TV in a group setting.

The Samsung S90 has very good gray uniformity. If you look closely, there is some minor vignetting in the corners and very faint vertical lines on the panel, but these aren't noticeable from a normal viewing distance.

The Samsung S90D (QD-OLED) uses a unique subpixel structure. Instead of having all three subpixels in a row, each pixel forms a triangle, with the larger green subpixel at the top. This leads to color fringing, which is noticeable when displaying any content with horizontal lines, and it's especially bad when you use the TV as a PC monitor. For example, on a bright window on a Windows PC, you might notice a green fringe at the top since that's where the green subpixel is.

Similarly, you can notice a purple fringe at the bottom of bright windows, as that's where the red and blue subpixels are. Furthermore, with this subpixel arrangement, text has just okay clarity on a PC, as Windows ClearType settings aren't designed for this subpixel structure and can't correct for it.

In North America, the 42-inch, 48-inch, and 83-inch sizes use a WOLED panel, which has a different subpixel structure than the other sizes of this TV. Internationally, the type of panel used varies by size and region.

The TV uses quantum dots to achieve high color peaks with excellent separation between blues, greens, and reds. This gives the TV great color purity and allows it to display an incredibly wide range of colors.

The Samsung OLED S90D supports the full 48Gbps bandwidth of HDMI 2.1 on all four HDMI ports. This allows you to take full advantage of multiple high-bandwidth devices, like if you own both current-gen consoles and a high-end gaming PC. Unfortunately, Samsung still doesn't support Dolby Vision and supports HDR10+ instead, which is similar but not as widely supported. The TV also has variable analog audio out, so you can change the volume of any plugged-in analog devices, like headphones, using the TV's remote.

Unlike the Samsung S90C OLED, the S90D doesn't support ATSC 3.0 for 4k over-the-air, as Samsung has dropped that feature on their 2024 4k models.

This TV supports many audio formats, including all Dolby Digital options. Unfortunately, it doesn't support DTS formats, which is disappointing, as many Blu-rays use DTS for their lossless audio tracks.

The Samsung QN65S90DAFXZA looks and feels like a premium TV. It's heavy and sturdy and held in place well by its small metallic stand. The TV is thin and feels modern and classy.

The stand is small but is solidly built from metal. It holds the TV very well and lifts the screen about 3.35 inches above the table, so almost any soundbar fits in front of it without blocking the screen.

Footprint of the 65-inch stand: 14.37" x 10.51"

The back of the TV is the same as the Samsung S90C OLED but with a matte finish. The central panel housing the inputs is made of smooth plastic, with included covers and clips that you can use to help with cable management. Like most TVs, the inputs are hard to reach if you have it wall-mounted with a fixed mount.

The Samsung S90D has good build quality overall. There's some wobble on the stand when the TV is pushed forward or backward, but it quickly settles and won't cause any problems. There is a bit of flexing on the plastic central housing on the back, but this is normal and isn't concerning.

What's more concerning is the misaligned HDMI ports on our unit, which make two of them unusable. Our panel is also slightly bent and bows outwards in the center, although it's hard to notice when watching the TV head-on. These issues are likely isolated to our unit, but it's a knock against the TV if these issues with build quality are more widespread.

Unfortunately, there have been numerous reports of failures on the 77-inch model related to the TV's power supply. We don't know exactly how widespread this issue is, but there have been enough instances of it happening that it's a cause of concern.

The TV runs the 2024 version of the Tizen OS, and it's fast and easy to use. Unfortunately, there is a problem when switching the input label from 'PC' to anything else. The label will change, but the TV is still stuck in 'PC,' so you're limited to the features that are available in 'PC' mode. To fix this, you can hit the home button or turn the TV on/off.

Like most TVs on the market, there are ads throughout the interface of the TV, and although you can disable targeted ads, there's no option to disable them completely.

The remote is identical to the one included with the Samsung S90C OLED. It's slim, compact, has quick access buttons for the most popular streaming apps, and is easy to use. The remote has a built-in rechargeable battery with a solar panel on the back of the remote. You can also recharge it via USB-C if it dies unexpectedly.

The TV is compatible with the Bixby and Alexa voice assistants, and its remote has an integrated microphone for voice commands. You can use your voice to launch apps, switch inputs, ask for the weather and time, and adjust certain settings like the TV's brightness.

A single button is located at bottom right of the TV. You can use it to power the TV on/off, change channels, adjust the volume, and switch inputs. You can control the TV hands-free with your voice using the TV's built-in microphone, but you can also turn the microphone off using a small switch located on the bottom right of the TV.

• Power cable
• Remote control
• Plastic covers
• User guide

The Samsung OLED S90D has a decent frequency response. It actually produces a bit of bass, the sound profile is very well balanced overall, and dialogue is clear. It still sounds pretty good at maximum volume, but the TV doesn't get very loud.