In the battle between OLED TVs and mini-LED LCD TVs – the two technologies used in today’s best smart TVs – people who need a brighter picture usually opt for an LCD. For those who want an intensely bright TV, Samsung has upped the ante with its QN90B Neo QLED 4K Smart TV. It makes good use of its brightness, creating a sharp image with excellent contrast that rivals OLED screens.
The QN90B is more than just brightness. It includes the technology that gamers want to take full advantage of the latest gaming consoles. It also integrates cloud gaming services such as Xbox Cloud Gaming and Amazon Luna so you don’t even need a console to play the best games. games. Although it’s not perfect, it will be a great option for many people.
A smart and bright TV
The Samsung QN90B is one of the brightest TVs you can find, making it ideal for sunny rooms. The brightness, along with the mini-LED and local dimming technology, also help it produce excellent contrast in dark scenes. It also features the latest gaming technologies including cloud gaming.
Did I mention brightness? Because this TV is really bright. The first thing I had to do was dim the brightness to prevent it from burning my eyes. The room I used the TV in gets average sunlight, and the QN90B’s brightness can overcome a lot more. If you’ve had issues with not being able to see what’s on your TV during the day, this TV should be able to overcome them.
The QN90B uses mini-LED backlighting and local dimming, which allows for a more nuanced picture. Thanks to these mini LEDs, the images of the QN90B are very sharp and detailed. I particularly enjoyed the sharp images when watching college football in 4K, where the blades of grass had excellent definition and the ball flew without blur.
Related: Samsung’s The Frame 2022 makes a beautiful and unique TV even better
The set also has excellent contrast, which is important for seeing detail in dark scenes, as is often the case in shows like House of the Dragon, Sandman and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. While it doesn’t support Dolby Vision, it uses HDR10+ to adjust the brightness of each frame so you won’t miss the exquisite detail of Khazad-dûm when Elrond visits Durin in The Rings of Power.
The TV can deliver accurate colors, but I needed to adjust the settings to get a picture I liked (more on that below). Overall, I thought the LG C2 produced a nicer picture, but others might prefer what the QN90B offers.
That crisp picture paired with the QN90B’s 120Hz refresh rate and support for variable refresh rate, auto low latency mode, and Nvidia FreeSync Premium Pro results in an excellent gaming TV. Each of the four HDMI ports supports HDMI 2.1 support to take full advantage of your PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S or high-end gaming PC, meaning it can deliver super-smooth gameplay at 4K.
Playing Forza Horizon 5 on an Xbox Series X, the screen delivered excellent blur-free detail, even when the car was running at its fastest speed. In Fortnite, characters and backgrounds were crisp, although colors seemed a bit off compared to the LG C2.
The QN90B also includes Samsung Gaming Hub, which lets you stream games from Xbox, Stadia, Geforce Now, and other services without a console. The streaming gameplay isn’t too bad either: playing Forza 5 and Fortnite through Xbox Game Pass was similar to the quality you’d get from an Xbox One.
The QN90B’s speakers sound surprisingly good – for a TV. With its 4.2.2-channel audio (55-inch-plus models) and Dolby Atmos support, vocals were easy to hear, and with Smart Mode on, it created incredibly wide sound and even produced a bit of low.
So technically you don’t need to add a soundbar. But do yourself a favor and buy one for your home entertainment system anyway – it will add more depth to the sound and improve the bass for a better viewing experience.
Samsung makes the QN90B in sizes ranging from 43 inches ($1,099.99) to 85 inches ($3,299.99), with many models available in between. This means you can find one that suits the room you plan to put it in. I tested the 55-inch ($1,499.99) unit. Expect similar performance in other models, with the exception of sound from 43- and 50-inch units – they have fewer channels than 55-inch-plus TVs.
Although the end result may be impressive, you may need to work to get a pleasing image on the QN90B screen. Upon unboxing, I found the image too bright and the colors didn’t suit my room. I really didn’t like the image produced using the Smart Mode setting, which is supposed to automatically adapt to room conditions; LG’s C2’s AI mode produced a much better image.
But the QN90B offers plenty of tweaks you can make, so you can find the right settings for you if you take the time. I preferred the image when I disabled smart mode; switched to movie picture mode; made some adjustments to brightness and sharpness; disabled image clarity; and increased local dimming to standard. You know what I mean by working for it.
The QN90B runs Samsung’s Tizen, which is one of the more robust Smart TV operating systems. It has apps for the most popular streaming services, like Netflix and HBO Max. It integrates with Samsung’s SmartThings app to allow control of other smart devices. It offers voice control via Alexa, Google Assistant or Samsung’s Bixby.
But on the QN90B everything seems to take still to throw and load. It actually takes a few seconds, but it’s slower compared to a Roku or the relatively fast WebOS on LG’s evo C2. Those extra seconds while you wait for a show to start are just enough to make your question your choices in life. Of course, you can get around this problem by adding a streaming device and bypassing Tizen altogether.
The stand gets in the way
Similar to the complaints I had about the LG evo C2, the bracket Samsung includes with the QN90B – while sleek and attractive – doesn’t work for how I want to set up my TV. It protrudes about three inches beyond the screen, which meant I had to place my soundbar well in front of the TV. It also only raises the TV 2.75 inches above the surface – which is better than the C2 – but that can still result in a soundbar or center speaker blocking the bottom of the picture .
 |
 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Sizes |
43, 50, 55, 65, 75 and 85 inches |
83, 77, 65, 55, 47 and 43 inches |
| Panel type |
QLED-LCD |
OLED |
| Submissions |
4 HDMI (all support HDMI 2.1, one eARC), 2 USB, Wifi, Ethernet, coaxial antenna |
4 HDMI 2.1 (including one with eARC), 3 USB, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, coaxial antenna |
| The exits |
Optical digital audio, Bluetooth |
Optical digital audio, Bluetooth |
| HDR |
HDR10+ |
Dolby Vision, HDR10, HLG |
| audio |
4.2.2ch, Dolby Atmos support |
2.2ch, Dolby Atmos support |
| Price |
From $1,099 |
From $1,149 |
Fans of LCD TVs will love what the Samsung QN90B has to offer. It is so bright and equipped with the latest technology. This allows it to deliver a crisp, detailed image with excellent contrast.
My issues with color were resolved by adjusting the settings, although the QN90B couldn’t match the vivid colors of the LG C2. In the battle between OLED and LCD, I still prefer OLEDs, but the differences continue to narrow, and no OLED can come close to the brightness of the QN90B. The LG C2 is the best TV overall, but the QN90B would be the right choice if you have a sunny room and need its extreme brightness.