Verdict
Samsung has rewrite the tycoon - sized TV principle book with the QE98Q80C. It combines an heroic 98 - inch screen with a high calibre venire , powerful processing and splendid local dimming light controls to bring a truly cinematic experience to your living room for a antecedently unthinkably belligerent price .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
While truly Rex - sized tv press in around 100 - in have been around for years , they ’ve always belonged in the “ if you have to enquire , you ca n’t afford them ” territory .
merrily , though , the ambition of a movie theatre - sized telecasting at home has at last started to become more palpable in recent months , with numerous brands launch king - sized TVs you do n’t need an oil colour well in your garden to give .
The 98 - in Samsung Q80C is one such relatively affordable monster screen , which delivers a full array with local dim precede gore and Samsung ’s premium 4 one thousand processor alongside its unmixed outrageousness for just £ 4,999 .
The only potential downside is that if there ’s anything wrong with the QE98Q80C ’s pictures , the size of its screen will forget those problems brutally expose …
Availability
Thanks to the recent arrival of a98 - inch TV from TCLthat costs less than £ 2,500 , the QE98Q80C ’s £ 4,999 price no longer looks as heart - catchingly adept value as it did before .
The 98Q80C does put up some potentially important upgrades over that ground - break TCL – upgrade that have the voltage to make a real carrying out difference . Especially with a silver screen this grown , where any strengths – and weaknesses – will inevitably be inflate .
While it ’s a significant characteristic step up from TCL ’s entry - level 98 - inch TV , the Q80C series actually sits roughly in the eye of Samsung ’s latest range . So there are limits to its specification – for instance , it does n’t get the Mini LED light of Samsung ’s bounty LCD models .
It should be point out that while the QE98Q80C is unusually low-priced for a such a big mid - range video , if you ’re prepared to sacrifice 13 - inches , at the fourth dimension of reexamination Samsung ’s QE85Q80C is £ 2,399 .
The QE98Q80C is wide available across all major AV territory , coiffure up a big new push of super - sized TVs that Samsung and others are lining up for 2024 .
Design
It should be pretty clear to anyone thinking of buying a 98 - in TV that there ’s no way it ’s drop dead to await subtle , no matter how big a elbow room it ’s go in . But sure that ’s not the point ? The 98Q80C ’s ability to completely dominate your view like a picture palace screen does is the whole ground you want one , right ?
The 98Q80C does take a few steps to at least make certain it does n’t take over your room more than it has to . So the bezel around the screen is surprisingly narrow study how much screenland land area it supports , and its rear only joystick out 48.4 mm at its deep level .
Again surprisingly little for a TV that a ) carries such a huge screen and b ) uses a direct lighting system , where its LEDs sit around flat behind the screen rather than around its edges .
The astonishingly slim rear cause the 98Q80C well suited to fence hanging . furnish you ’ve got a wall open of supporting its 56.3 kg weight .
Also particularly welcome is Samsung ’s Ambient Mode , where or else of your room being left faced with a gaping black pickle when the TV ’s off , you could execute any of a serial of digital art or video ( or even your own photos ) on the screen in a low - power manner until you ’re ready to watch again .
The QE98Q80C ship with two distant controls . The standard one is rather plasticky and button heavy , but still care to be easygoing to utilise . The other wise one is your best wager for day to 24-hour interval use , thanks to its stripped back button tally and , best of all , built - in solar panel , meaning you ’ll never have to replace its batteries .
Features
The Samsung QE98Q80C give you a 98 - inch screen for £ 4,999 is far from the only thing it ’s got pass for it .
Its panel specs are promise for such an affordable TV monster . Its high contrast VA control board is shed light on by a direct LED lighting system of rules , where the LEDs sit behind the screen – a set up that systematically delivers well light control than the alternate approach path of place the LED around the boundary .
There ’s a local dimming system of rules in looseness too , where dividing line is enhanced by unlike sectors of the firing system output different levels of brightness . As you might ask with the Q80C series mid - range status , it deploy far fewer dim zones than Samsung ’s agio idiot box : 120 versus 1344 on Samsung ’s flagshipQN95C4 K LCD TV . But provided its applied intelligently enough , any dimming can make a massive difference to picture quality .
The intelligence in the 98Q80C comes via Samsung ’s Neural Quantum 4 K Processor . This is the same processor in Samsung ’s flagship TVs , complete with AI and inscrutable pick up elements to help the screen recognise and optimise playback of any source thrown at it . The processor has a particularly big part to recreate in the screen ’s upscaling of HD sources . With the screen ’s 98 - inches , no upscaling or reservoir blemish will remain unobserved .
The central processing unit will drive the 98Q80C ’s dimming zones – as well as the filmdom ’s Quantum Dot colour organization . There ’s even an challenging Supersize Picture Enhancer feature that specially tweaks the noise reduction , sharpness , contrast enhancement , and upscaling mental process to reach pictures better suited to such an heroic sieve .
Quantum Dot colour system are capable of delivering wider gamut and more colour volume than regular LCD colour filters . So it ’s good to find the 98Q80C potentially getting proficient value out of this wide colour volume potential difference with a peak luminosity mensuration ( on a 10 % HDR window ) of more than 1000 nit .
While I ca n’t help oneself but inquire if Samsung might have been capable to crowd the 98Q80C even brighter had its hands not been connect by the late EU TV power regulating , a thousand nit is still enough to produce some serious impact . As is the 770 nit the screen stay capable of delivering for full screen luminance . NoOLED TV technologycan presently get near that tier of full screen brightness .
The 98Q80C boasts generous play support for a mid - range TV . Its HDMI inputs can all handle 4K/120Hz refresh rates , as well asvariable refresh rates(including the AMD FreeSync VRR ) and HDMI 2.1’sAuto Low Latency Mode , where the TV automatically hold out into its game modality when your console or PC fires up a biz .
This fast response mode father input lag – the metre the TV takes to return artwork – down to a severely nifty 10.7ms . you’re able to opt to sacrifice response speed ( lag increase to 27.1ms ) for a little motion smoothing if you ’re play a game that does n’t depend too much on reaction .
This Game Motion Plus mode is accessible along with a few other gaming aids , and information from the gaming signals the television set receives can be viewed via a dedicated Game Bar menu . Plus there ’s a Gaming Hub in the 98Q80C’sTizen interfacethat bring together gambling source and game streaming apps into one commodious place .
As with all Samsung TVs , the 98Q80C does n’t back up gaming – or video playback – inDolby Vision HDR . The onlyHDR formatsit supports are HDR10 , HLG andHDR10 + .
enfold up the 98Q80C ’s features is a full version of Samsung ’s tardy Tizen - based fresh system . This is comprehensively pack with apps , with really every catch - up and cyclosis service present and right . The only slight shame is there ’s noFreeview Playumbrella app for the UK ’s telluric broadcaster see up services , though all the service are there individually .
The user interface is a trivial unintuitive in its layout and some of its navigation choices , but it ’s an improvement on the 2022 version if you learn your room round its idiosyncrasy over time .
Picture Quality
Far from brutally unwrap flaw , the QE98Q80C ’s gigantic screen makes it easier to revalue just how undecomposed its picture quality is .
worry that 120 dimming zones might not be enough to deliver good contrast are rapidly scatter . Dark scenes actually appear with excellent bootleg level by LCD TV standards , Even better , this astonishingly inky , greyness - free darkness is n’t mishandle by backlight clouding up as I ’d feared it might be . you’re able to just about make out a faint bloom of superfluous luminosity in really extreme circumstances , where a bright white object appears against an almost totally black ground , but for the most part Samsung ’s dimming zone algorithms are almost uncannily in effect .
The 98Q80C does n’t even have to dim stomach - out bright objects anywhere nigh as much as some of Samsung ’s in high spirits - end Mini LED TVs do to stop blooming from becoming obvious , creating the sort of uniform screening experience anyone who buys a 98 - inch TV is sure explore for .
One final sign of how intelligently this monster concealment is able to distribute its light finds it retaining impressive amounts of trace detailing in dark scenes . Again , it does this more effectively across all of its delineation presets than many tv set that have far more dim zone at their disposition .
So much so I found myself reflecting that , anticipate to expectations , using fewer dimming zones might be a good thing for a king - sized blind . Provided that concealment is of a good native lineament and the processing driving the dimming is up to the problem .
lease ’s not draw a blank that the 98Q80C delivers its sullen scenes so efficaciously despite being brilliant than I ’d expect such an low-priced braggy screen to be . With bright HDR highlight not dip as powerfully as require , and full - screen bright snapshot pop off the screen with more than twice as much brightness as on anOLED tv set , the 98Q80C delivers a seriously impactful HDR experience . As long as you remember to throw out of its nonremittal Eco picture preset .
HDR ’s extra light range is mean to help display more life - like images , so having such a convincing stab at it deliver by a screen that can also deliver more life - sized message is a mates made in heaven .
The 98Q80C bugger off good value out of its Quantum Dot colours too . The silver screen ’s impressive brightness always finger like it ’s unlocking more colouration volume rather than make believe colours look thinner and watered down in its brightest areas . The set ’s powerful central processor ensures there ’s slew of subtle toning and blending in the 98Q80C ’s color fork out too , ensuring that even the most vibrant HDR source do n’t bulge to look cartoony ,
Bright highlights of HDR picture similarly do n’t digest mischievously with clipping ( lose blending details ) , and all this persistent detail and refinement help the 98Q80C deliver an imposingly crisp 4 K feel . I ’d wondered if I might have felt the pauperism for 8 super C at the 98 - inch screen level , but the 98Q80C ’s picture talents are enough to make 4 atomic number 19 sense more than good enough .
This is particularly true with native 4 1000 images , which I ’d suggest you bung a TV of this sizing as often as you’re able to . Its muscular processor also does an effective job of remapping HD source to its mammoth 4 KiB screen . Mount Rushmore State sources stretch the upscaling a minute , but that ’s only to be expected .
There are a few reminders that the 98Q80C is a mid - range TV than a flagship model . The Movie andFilmmaker modepresets make backlight bloom more detectable than the Standard preset . So it ’s just as well the Standard preset is in the main very piquant . Backlight bloom becomes more noticeable if you have to view the television receiver from much of an angle too .
at long last , while the Standard picture preset is the one I ’d suggest most people stick with for most type of viewing , it can expose exaggerated luminousness shifting during sudden cuts between non-white and light slam ; its colour can start up to look a bit over - ripe when watching very aggressively mastered HDR rootage . And in rarified instances very small areas of bright color can become strangely desaturated by some quirk of the backlight management organisation .
Do n’t let these niggles put you off thinking big with a 98Q80C , though . For the vast bulk of the time its pictures are as engaging , vibrant but also subtle as they are massive .
Sound Quality
The QE98Q80C ’s sound is more of a mixed bagful than its pictures . In the plus column , its speaker system do n’t tend to distort or drop out even when pushed towards the TV ’s maximum volume .
There ’s enough quality in the speakers to prevent shrill treble sound from becoming uncomfortably rough , and dialogue commonly sound believable and , given how big the screen is , as if it ’s come from the pictures on the screen rather than the loudspeaker system below .
Placement effects are generally quite accurately lay on the 98Q80C ’s Brobdingnagian expanse of CRT screen , create the soundstage feels busy and detailed .
There ’s enough humble frequency presence to stop action scene sounding thin or lob - sided – though exceptionally deep , sustained grumble can do some unwanted buzzes from the 98Q80C ’s monolithic console from fourth dimension to time . The main topic is that the sound does n’t have the naked as a jaybird power behind it to either turn over the larger-than-life volume levels or generate the sort of legal stage graduated table such a screen giant really merit .
So while it sound good enough overall to answer for the short to mid term , you ’ll probably want to think about adding apowerful strait systemonce your bank counterweight has convalesce from the initial £ 4,999 striking .
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
Projector - sized mental image combine with the brightness , colour and contrast only a high quality TV screen can deliver at much lower Leontyne Price than you ’d probably expected .
While bum by 98 - inch television set standard , £ 4,999 is still a chunk of variety when you may get the 85 - inch version for well under half the price .
Final Thoughts
While the Samsung QE98Q80C faces firm competition from one or two similarly epic competition ( especially TCL ) and , arguably , its own much cheaper 85 - inch sib , if you really require aprojector - sized imagebut with the HDR brightness and counterpoint only good television can deliver , the 98Q80C is nothing unforesightful of a colossus .
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every television we go over thoroughly over an extended period of time . We apply industry stock mental test to compare features properly . We ’ll always tell you what we find . We never , ever , swallow money to review a mathematical product .
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FAQs
A FALD video is one which , like the Samsung QE98Q80C , uses lighting positioned at once behind the filmdom and can command specific areas or zone of those light severally of each other for any render shot , to meliorate direct contrast .
Quantum Dots are tiny pane used by some TVs to create colour , using the fact that different size of it dots produce dissimilar wavelengths and , therefore , unlike colours . This approach can rescue more color loudness and a panoptic colour gamut than normal colour filters .
Tizen is the home plate grown operating system Samsung uses on all of its wise television receiver these day .
