Samsung’s first two QLEDs of 2019 so far have been impressive. Now it’s time to check
out the third and see if the streak continues.
Hi I’m Carl with Abt, and in this video we’ll be taking a look at the Samsung Q80
series. The one we’ve got here is the 65 inch version, but we do carry it in other
sizes which you can check out at the link below in the description. It really only has
a couple notable upgrades over the 70 so we were interested to see if they really made
a difference and whether the extra cost was worth it.
First off, the design is almost the same as the 70. The size of the bezels are the same
however the 80 comes in what Samsung calls a carbon silver finish. So it’s a little
bit lighter in color than the 70 or 60. The pedestal’s a little different too. They’re
flat feet on this one, not the angled ones you see on the 60 and 70. They DO still have
some cable management built in, but it’s limited to, basically, one cable through each
channel. So be aware of that if you’re planning on hooking up more than a couple of sources.
Moving around to the back of the 80 you can see the inputs are exactly the same as the
60 and 70. You get 4 HDMI 2.1 connections, two USB “Type A” inputs, rs232c, an antenna
hookup and an optical audio output. Touching back on the HDMIs for a sec, yes, they are
2.1 however, they have the same limitations just like the other 4k QLED sets from 2019.
Your audio return channel isn’t eARC, but you can still send Atmos as long as your TVs
outputting Dolby Digital plus, and high frame rate content is gonna be limited to 2k at
120 frames per second. For gaming though you get freesync compatibility along with auto
low latency to help with screen tearing. And there’s support for dynamic metadata too.
We’re also happy to report that lag times were great again, just like we’ve seen on
the other QLEDs this year. You just have to make sure to turn off the Game Motion Plus
option to get the best times available.
We were getting about 40 milliseconds with game motion plus turned on and about 14 milliseconds with it turned off.
It auto defaults to that
setting the first time you turn on Game mode so make sure you check out our video on how
to turn that feature off to get those faster times.
Now, let’s take a look at the picture. Like the other TVs in the 2019 QLED lineup, the
80 can play back HDR, HDR 10 plus and HLG. Samsung’s also implemented a couple features
that are designed to enhance the viewing experience. The 80, along with the 90, has something called
“ultra black” technology. And it does exactly what it’s supposed to. It maintains
deep black levels in really bright rooms. You can tell when you shine lights directly
onto the screen that it’s softening the reflection quite a bit. But here’s the potential
downside, it seems like this causes the blacks to get crushed. Even watching HDR content,
I’m not picking up as much detail as I’ve seen on other models in Samsung’s lineup.
The whites, although in some tests a little dim, I’m finding are still getting sufficiently
bright, but the blacks can almost seem too dark sometimes. To me it’s very similar
to what you’d get on an OLED. Thankfully these QLEDs get a lot brighter. So it’s
not all bad. The other thing they’ve added here is their “ultra viewing angle”, which
does exactly what it says. The 80 does a terrific job of maintaining colors and brightness as
you move off to the sides. Again, similar to an OLED.
Motion was handled well on this one too, just like we’ve seen on the 60 and 70. I found
myself just leaving it on Auto mode and was happy with the results. Not much noticeable
judder and there was enough blur to make the motion seem natural.
As far as smart features go, this has the same as the rest of the QLEDs and all that’s
handled through Samsung’s Smart Hub. It’s easy to navigate and the menus are straightforward.
Nothing new there. What is new on the 2019 sets, and you may have heard me talk about
this in our other videos, is the ability to work with alexa and google assistant. You
have to add a piece like a home mini or echo dot, but they’ll allow you to use voice
commands on the TV if you choose not to use the built in Bixby assistant from Samsung.
Bixby does offer more in depth control of the TV though, like changing the picture modes
or getting into specific menus, but for people who already have alexa or google assistant
products around the house, you now have the ability to integrate these TVs into those
systems more easily. All in all, I like this TV a lot. With the
addition of ultra black and wide angle viewing you get black levels and viewing angles similar
to an OLED. But those features do add to the cost of the TV. I got just as much enjoyment
out of the 70 as I did the 80 and could make out more details in the dark scenes. So to
me, the 70s the better value. With that being said though, if you’re putting this TV in
a really bright room or you sit in a spot that isn’t directly in front of the set,
you’ll appreciate the upgrades the 80 offers. Which would you go with? Make sure you let
us know in the comments. As always, we appreciate you checking out
our video and don’t forget to subscribe so you get updated whenever we upload new
content.