For many years Samsung has been the first
brand many people look to when they’re in
the market for a new TV.
As is the case with most TV manufacturers,
every year Samsung releases a new lineup of
TVs to replace their models from the year
before.
Now that we’re over halfway through the
year, we’ve had a chance to buy and test
almost all of Samsung’s 2020 TV lineup so
today we’re gonna take a look at the best
Samsung TVs to buy in 2020!
Hey!
My name is Nick, I’m a writer here at RTINGS.com,
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Samsung has a very wide ranges of TVs that
covers pretty much every price point you could
imagine.
At the bottom of the pack they have their
two 4k LCD TVs, the TU7000 and TU8000, above
that they get into their 4k QLED TVs, which
is what Samsung is becoming known for.
These include the Q60T, the Q70T, the Q80T,
and the Q90T.
And finally, this year Samsung has three 8k
QLED TVs, the Q800T, Q900T, and the Q950T.
Keep in mind that these are Samsung’s North
American models and different regions often
have slightly different models and model names.
For example, in Europe the Q80T will likely
perform bit worse than the North American
Q80T, but there’s a model there called the
Q85T which should perform similarly to the
Q80T in North America.
There also appears to be an entry level 6000
series TV available in some regions, as well
as a recently announced Q700T 8K TV that seems
to only be available in the UK for now.
Samsung does different models in different
regions, for example in Europe, the Q80T isn’t
as good as North America, and their Q85T is
our Q80T.
Today we’re gonna take a look at the three
best 2020 Samsung TVs, including the best
budget TV, the best for gaming, and finally
the best overall Samsung TV of 2020.
The best budget 2020 Samsung TV that we’ve
tested is the Samsung TU8000.
Right off the bat, it’s worth mentioning
that Samsung often shifts their models down
from the previous year.
So while the TU8000 sounds like it would be
a successor to last year’s RU8000, it’s
actually more in line with last years RU7100
both in terms of performance and price.
That being said, it’s available in a wider
range of sizes from 43 all the way up to 85
inches.
It looks decently premium and well-built considering
its low price-point, though it’s made entirely
out of plastic and doesn’t look as high-end
as Samsung’s more expensive models that
are made out of a mix of plastic and metal.
The TV itself is quite thin and shouldn’t
stick out too much from the wall should you
mount it, and it has very thin bezels all
the way around the screen.
If you don’t plan on wall-mounting the TV,
it has two wide set feet that are similar
to most of Samsung’s entry-level TVs and
while they do a good job at supporting the
TV, there’s still a bit of wobble, and they
require you to have a fairly wide TV stand.
As far as performance goes, the TU8000 is
a decent TV for most uses though it definitely
won’t be the model you’ll want to look
at if you want the best picture quality you
can get.
While it has an outstanding high contrast
ratio, which makes blacks look very dark and
inky, this TV is edge-lit.
This means that instead of having LED lights
behind the entire LCD panel, there are only
lights around the edge, and there’s no local
dimming feature to help improve the black
levels in dark areas of the screen.
This TV also can’t get nearly as bright
as Samsung’s higher end models.
This means that not only will it have a hard
time overcoming glare if you watch a lot of
daytime TV in a room with a lot of windows,
but it also can’t get nearly bright enough
to properly display HDR content.
So while this TV does support HDR 10+, you
likely won’t notice too much of a difference,
and for HDR content to really pop, you’ll
want to look at a higher end model that’s
able to get brighter.
On the bright side, black uniformity is remarkable,
so black scenes will look even all across
your screen.
If you watch a lot of sports, or play a lot
of video games, you may be disappointed to
learn that this TV only has a 60 Hz panel,
as opposed to a 120 Hz one, though this is
somewhat expected for a budget model.
That being said, it does have a Black Frame
Insertion feature that works incredibly well,
and there’s a motion interpolation feature
if you prefer smoothed out video.
Gamers will be happy to know that the input
lag is exceptionally low, so you shouldn’t
experience any delays, and this TV supports
4:4:4 chroma, which is important if you want
to use it as a computer monitor.
Overall, if you’re looking for a decent
Samsung TV and don’t want to spend too much,
the TU8000 may be a good choice, but if you
want something with much better performance,
you may want to look higher up in their lineup.
While I mentioned that the TU8000 is good
for gaming, if you’re a serious gamer who
wants to get the best possible performance
out of your PS4 Pro or Xbox One X, you’ll
want to go with the Samsung Q80T QLED, the
best 2020 Samsung TV for gaming.
Unlike the TU8000, this is a QLED TV, which
is what Samsung is becoming known for, and
is slowly taking over their entire TV lineup.
We expect this TV to be a great choice for
the upcoming PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles
as well, and keep your eyes peeled to test
for that once those consoles are released.
The Q80T looks much more premium than the
budget TU8000, and has a solid metal center
stand that takes up much less space, though
there’s still a bit of wobble.
The TV itself looks very premium and is made
of a mix of good quality plastic and metal,
with an incredibly thin bezel all around the
screen.
It’s available in a range of sizes from
49 inches all the way up to 85.
(though the 49-inch model has some differences
that we’ll discuss later)
The Q80T is the lowest end 2020 Samsung TV
to feature full-array backlighting, with lights
behind the entire LCD panel, and local dimming,
allowing the screen to light up certain areas
while keeping other areas of the screen nice
and dark.
This is also the lowest end 2020 Samsung TV
that performs great for all use cases, and
is a good place to start if performance and
picture quality are super important to you.
It can get very bright with regular content,
helping it combat glare in well-lit rooms,
and it can also get quite bright when viewing
HDR content or playing HDR games, which will
help make the image really ‘pop’.
Native contrast is great, and of course the
local dimming feature will help with that
as well, though unfortunately the local dimming
is only decent and it can be a bit slow in
reacting to changes in the picture, which
can sometimes cause the corners of the screen
to flash when the whole screen is gray.
But what makes this the best Samsung TV for
gaming are the motion features.
This TV has a 120 Hz panel and even supports
FreeSync Variable Refresh Rate technology
to help with screen tearing while gaming.
The TV even recognizes when a game is launched
from a device that supports VRR, and enables
it automatically, so you don’t have to mess
around with the settings.
It’s worth noting that unfortunately the
49” model only has a 60 Hz panel and doesn’t
support VRR, and we expect the newly announced
50” to have these same differences as well.
Input lag is remarkably low, ensuring a responsive
gaming experience, and like the TU8000, it
also supports 4:4:4 chroma if you want to
use your TV as a monitor and game from your
PC.
If you’re mainly going to be using your
TV for gaming and want great HDR performance
and features like VRR, the Q80T is your best
bet, though it’s also a great choice if
you want a TV that’ll make HDR movies and
TV shows from services like Netflix or Amazon
Prime Video look great as well.
Though it’s worth noting that unfortunately,
Samsung doesn’t support Dolby Vision with
any of their TVs, but they do support HDR
10 and HDR10+.
Keep in mind that if you’re in Europe, the
Q80T there is slightly different, and the
Q85T appears to be closer to the version of
the Q80T that we tested.
If you want some information on the different
HDR formats, check the article linked above.
However, if you want the best 4k TV that Samsung
makes in 2020, you’ll want to go with the
Q90T, the step up from the Q80T.
Overall these two TVs are quite similar, and
they look almost identical as well, though
the center stand on the Q90T is a bit smaller.
It’s also worth noting that this TV is only
available from 55 to 85 inches, so if you
want a smaller Samsung TV, you’ll have to
go with something a bit lower end.
While the two TVs offer the same features,
the biggest difference with the Q90T is in
terms of picture quality.
If you watch a lot of HDR content and want
the best possible picture quality, you’ll
want to go with the Q90T.
This TV can get much brighter than the Q80T,
which helps HDR content really ‘pop’ off
the screen.
It also has deeper blacks thanks to a better
native contrast ratio, and its local dimming
feature works better as well.
Other than that, the Q90T is almost identical
to the Q80T.
It has the same excellent motion performance
with a 120 Hz panel and VRR support in all
available sizes, making it excellent for gaming,
though again due to its brighter screen, if
you play games in HDR from a PS4 Pro or Xbox
One X, the Q90T will be even better than the
Q80T.
Unfortunately, since the Q90T is Samsung’s
top of the line 4K TV, it is quite expensive,
but if you want the best overall performance
regardless of price, this is the TV to go
with
You may notice that I specified that the Q90T
is Samsung’s top of the line 4K TV and not
overall top of the line TV.
While Samsung only introduced their first
consumer-level 8K TV a couple years ago, this
year they have four models of 8K TVs available,
the Q700T, the Q800T, the Q900T and the Q950T.
So far we’ve only bought and tested the
Q800T and overall we found that for most uses
it actually performs worse than the Q90T.
It has a much worse contrast ratio, a slightly
worse local dimming feature, much less accurate
colors, and worse black uniformity.
While it’s capable of displaying an 8k resolution
image, it’s worth nothing that there isn’t
really any 8K content available yet, and this
TV mainly relies on its ability to upscale
lower resolution content to 8k.
While it does an outstanding job at this overall,
it likely isn’t worth the higher price tag
and trade off on picture quality to most people.
Of course given the naming structure it’s
possible Q900T is meant to be the 8k version
of the Q90T, and may perform closer to it,
so stay tuned to our channel and website to
see if we review that TV in the future, and
let us know in the comments if that’s something
you want to see!
Overall, however, given the difference in
price, we’d recommend the 4k Q90T over the
more expensive 8k models for most people.
Other than their 8K models, Samsung also has
a separate line of Lifestyle TVs that focus
on aesthetics and unique features rather than
raw picture quality.
These include TVs like the popular Frame TV
which has an ambient mode that will display
artwork when the TV isn’t in use, so you
aren’t stuck with a large black rectangle
hanging on your wall when you aren’t watching
TV.
For those who want their TV to look like a
piece of art when it’s not in use, there’s
also the Serif which has a unique shape and
stand that helps it blend into the room, but
we haven’t tested it yet.
This year Samsung also released the new Terrace
TV which is designed to be wallmounted outside
and is rated IP 55 for dust and water resistance,
and advertised to get bright enough to overcome
bright sunlight.
While we haven’t finished reviewing this
TV yet, it’s in our office and is being
tested as we speak, so keep an eye on our
Youtube channel as well as our website for
that review to come out soon.
We’ve also tested the unique Samsung Sero
TV which can rotate to a vertical mode.
While this may not be for everyone, if you
watch a ton of content on your phone from
social media apps like Instagram or Snapchat,
this TV may be for you.
Check out the description below for links
to our the Samsung Sero as well as the 2020
Frame, and the Terrace.
So that's it!
What do you think of Samsung’s 2020 TVs?
Did you pick one up, and if so, which one
and why?
Let us know in the comments below!
You can check out all reviews on our website,
complete with full test results and measurements.
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