Samsung’s best TV for 2020, the 8K Q950TS, is finally official — and as rumored, it’s a bezel-free beauty you need to see to believe. The best news? I’ll be standing in front of one in a few hours at CES 2020 to walk you through it, so keep it locked to Digital Trends for all the latest. Until then, let’s take a trip down memory lane, recounting my experience with the television so far.
A few weeks ago, I attended an event in New York where Samsung presented us with a prototype of the Q950TS, and while I can’t speak to its picture quality (because it basically had a poster of an image glued to the panel for illustrative purposes) I can say that a screen — dubbed Infinity Screen — that is 99% picture and only 1% border is really something to behold.
Other details around the Q950TS are scant, but I can say that I saw a robust-looking audio system anchored by several drivers on the back of the television. I’m also confident the Q950TS will offer Samsung’s excellent One Connect box with nearly invisible clear fiber cable.
Samsung tells me the Q950TS offers a more advanced A.I.-based processing system which teaches itself how to make images look better, promising even better upscaling of Full HD and 4K Ultra HD content up to 8K Ultra HD — necessary, since there’s no 8K material to watch at the moment (though the new PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are making some big promises).
Samsung also told me that the TV’s backlighting system is even more powerful and refined, utilizing a “local power distribution” method that promises higher peak brightness without introducing more blooming. In other words, the Q950TS should be able to display some impressive HDR images without a bunch of light leakage taking away from black levels.
Other holdovers from last year should still be in place: Excellent off-angle viewing, Samsung’s fantastic Tizen smart software, and the best anti-glare system I’ve seen to date.
Meanwhile, however, LG is promising eight “Real 8K” TVs, some of which will feature the company’s OLED TV technology, stoking some discussion over how valuable the 8K part of this TV really is.
I’ll dig into the “Real 8K” discussion soon enough, but for now, I can tell you that you’re in for something pretty dazzling. An image that just seems to float in the air may sound cool, but witnessing it is something else altogether.
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