Review: Samsung QN900C

8K TVs have been around for years, but the fancy display tech, which quadruples the pixels of 4K TVs for incredible resolution, still tows a rather obvious problem: content (or a lack thereof). You can’t just go to Netflix or Disney+ and pull up 8K videos, because there aren’t any. In fact, apart from a few YouTube videos, you’ll be hard-pressed to find 8K content anywhere.

The solution thus far has been to upscale, which uses picture processing to make 4K—and even 1080p resolution—video look more like 8K. Samsung has some of the best upscaling in the business, evidenced by the company’s new QN900C Neo QLED TV. This TV serves up great upscaling alongside pretty much all of Samsung’s best LED tech, including quantum dots for fabulous color, Mini LEDs and local dimming to compete with OLED displays for contrast, and white-hot brightness, all rolled into one really pretty, really expensive display.

The result is stunning picture quality across the board, including perhaps the best image clarity I’ve seen from a TV outside a CES hotel suite. With a price that’s well beyond the QN900C’s premium 4K cousins, let alone value options like the Hisense U8K (8/10, WIRED Recommends), it’s a lot of cash to blow when true 8K content is little more than a beautiful mirage. But if money isn’t a concern and you want the best picture available, the TV’s many spoils could make it worth the splurge.

Pulling the QN900C out of its packaging reveals a surprisingly thin display, bordered in latticed metal. It's very heavy, even in the 65-inch version we reviewed, but its depth of just over half an inch is impressive given that, unlike OLED displays, the QN900C requires a layer of LED backlights to power its imaging.

The miniscule depth is possible in part thanks to Samsung’s One Connect box, which harbors all the TV’s inputs in a separate panel that connects to the TV over a single cable. The box can be mounted on the back of the TV or set on your TV console. Like Samsung’s S95C 4K OLED (8/10, WIRED Recommends) display, the design combines with Samsung’s springboard-like pedestal stand and ultra-slim bezels for a picture that looks almost like it’s floating.

Once you’ve unpacked its sprawling package of accessories, the TV is fairly simple to put together. The pedestal stand is the only challenge–piecing it together is a bit of a click-it-and-clang-it situation, where you have to feel it as you go until it snaps into place. Once done, the rest of the TV’s assembly goes like clockwork.

As you’d expect for a TV of this stature, the QN900C is packed to the gills with features. That starts with four fully loaded HDMI 2.1 inputs to source video in 8K as well as 4K video at up to 144 frames per second for gaming content.

Speaking of gaming, the QN900C features Samsung’s fancy Gaming Hub, which offers an array of nifty gaming extras and modes, including the ability to stream content from the cloud from services like Xbox Cloud Gaming and Nvidia GeForce Now. Variable refresh rate to match fast-paced gaming and auto low latency mode for quick input response are also supported. Gaming Hub even lets you do things like create your own in-game crosshairs.

The TV supports most flavors of high dynamic range, with the exception of Dolby Vision, like all Samsung TVs. Prized for its scene-by-scene HDR adjustment, Dolby Vision is utilized on a lot of streaming content, but TVs that don’t support it will still default to the similar HDR10+ or the older (and less dynamic) HDR10.

Multiple woofers and support for up to 6.2.4-channel sound provide some decent heft and sonic spacing (for TV speakers, anyway) though you’ll still likely want to connect an audio device over the TV’s HDMI eARC port. If you go with one of Samsung’s top Dolby Atmos soundbars like the very similarly named HW-Q990C ($1,400), you can use the bar and TV in concert to synergize their sound output.

Samsung’s Tizen smart interface is snappy and attractive but feels behind some of my favorites, like Google TV and Roku, especially when you’re paying this much. It seems to almost purposely hamstring some of your usability instead of making all settings easily accessible. For example, you can easily change the picture to Movie or Filmmaker mode for the most accurate image in the menu, but other settings are spread across the menu bar, the majority of which are set all the way at the very end under Expert Settings by default.

The TV helpfully offers Alexa built in for search alongside Bixby, some cool ambient modes, and basics like the ability to stream over AirPlay, but Google Chromecast is absent—an odd inconvenience considering Samsung makes Android phones. I also had a few issues with Peackock loading, for some reason.

You can rearrange most major settings as needed once you get the hang of it, and Tizen was generally fine for me over a couple of weeks. You can always add a cheap streaming box.

I also have to praise Samsung’s remote. It’s not only solar-powered and battery-free (with USB-C as backup) but also impressively ergonomic, with a smooth and welcoming navigation key. It’s easily my favorite remote I’ve tried.

Whether it’s the 8K upscaling or just incredible image processing, the QN900C offers a stunningly clear and detailed picture that really brings out the best in 4K video, and even HD content. The sharpness will likely be all the more noticeable with the 77- and 85-inch models, but the 65-inch dazzled in my small living room. Details like tiny hairs or face pores seem to pop out of the woodwork with crisp definition.

Looking at underwater scenes in Netflix’s Our Planet in 4K HDR feels like staring through a freshly squeegeed window as the vodka-clear water seems to splash against the display. You can raise the ante further with 8K content on YouTube (what little you can find) though they can also be a little jerky to load, and you’ll likely need one of the larger models to notice much difference.

Colors are fabulous (a word that kept coming up in my notes), revealed in ruby reds, lustrous slivers and golds, and deep blues that transition in voluminous shades across HDR content. Gaming looks especially sweet and luminous, with games like Witcher 3 and Gods of War Ragnarok seeming to glow like searing embers. Reds can sometimes look a tinge overcooked, similar to the S95C, but you can easily simmer things down with a tweak or two to the color settings or swap the temperature from Warm 2 to Warm 1.

The QN900C’s brightness pushes well past OLED displays (and most competing LED TVs), especially noticeable in flashy highlights like police lights or bursting explosions. Most measurements put the TV well above 2,000 nits in HDR in its most accurate modes, and much brighter in Vivid mode. Even standard, non-HDR content pops, while keeping the general picture in check.

The QN900C does a pretty swell OLED impression on the contrast front thanks to its many dimming zones and Mini LEDs that allow for more precise image control. You’ll get oily, OLED-like black levels and only minor “haloing” or cloudiness around bright objects with local dimming on Standard or High, though the latter sometimes gets too aggressive with onscreen adjustments. The TV can also obscure some shadow detail with the very darkest content in sunlit rooms, but you can correct this with settings like Shadow Detail or Contrast Enhancer.

My main complaints about the QN900C’s performance are the ones you can’t adjust. Like most LED displays, you’ll lose some color if you move too far off center, though it’s not nearly as noticeable as most cheaper options. In addition, while the screen reduces most reflections, it creates an odd rainbow effect with overhead lights—especially recessed lighting. These will be relatively minor issues for most, but they’re worth consideration.

I’d personally trade the QN900C for a premium OLED display like Samsung’s own glorious S95C ($2,298), LG’s G3 ($3,800), or Sony’s A95L ($3,500), all of which cost less. Sure, you lose 8K upscaling and some HDR pop, but it’s a more natural and consistent picture to my eyes, and today’s premium OLEDs are plenty bright. You could also save some cash with Samsung’s QN95C 4K Neo QLED, but you’ll be giving up the One Connect Box.

You don’t really need the QN900C’s 8K resolution, and it will definitely cost you. But if you’ve got to have the very best and brightest LED display, this is the one to get.