Samsung 85" Class - QN90BD Series - 4K UHD Neo QLED Professional

The QN90B sits at the high-end of Samsung's 4K Neo QLED TV line for 2022. Its main improvement over the less expensive QN85B is better local dimming, according to the spec sheet. Samsung does offer a more expensive 4K model, the QN95B, but its main perk over the QN90B is a separate OneConnect box for the inputs that allows you to run a single cable to the TV. Samsung also charges more for its 8K series, but we don't think it's worth paying extra for that higher resolution. The flagship 8K QN900B has better local dimming than the QN90B and should deliver a superior picture, but it's more than twice as expensive.The QN90B sits at the high-end of Samsung's 4K Neo QLED TV line for 2022. Its main improvement over the less expensive QN85B is better local dimming, according to the spec sheet. Samsung does offer a more expensive 4K model, the QN95B, but its main perk over the QN90B is a separate OneConnect box for the inputs that allows you to run a single cable to the TV. Samsung also charges more for its 8K series, but we don't think it's worth paying extra for that higher resolution. The flagship 8K QN900B has better local dimming than the QN90B and should deliver a superior picture, but it's more than twice as expensive.

Distinctive touches, excellent remote

On the outside the QN90B looks basically the same as last year's QN90A, and that's a good thing. Minimalist and nearly all-picture, its most distinctive feature is the stand, which Samsung's website calls a "bending plate." I'm here for that. Centered, with a small footprint, it looks cleaner and sleeker than the dual legs found on most TVs. My favorite aspect is how it suspends the big panel above my credenza, seeming to float.

Like all Samsung TVs the QN90B has Samsung's new gaming hub, which connects to cloud gaming services including Xbox Game Pass, Google Stadia, Nvidia GeForce Now and Amazon Luna. I tried it out with a fast wired Ethernet connection, as Samsung recommends, and the experience playing Halo: Infinite was pretty good. My Xbox controller paired easily to the TV and responses were quick as I fought grunts and rode the Mongoose across the map. Graphics were quite a bit softer than the game on an Xbox Series X, as expected, but gameplay was similar.

As with all cloud services your mileage may vary. I tried out a much slower Wi-Fi connection, for example, and the game was unplayable. But assuming you have a good connection (Samsung recommends 50Mbps or more), the ability to play games using just the TV, without needing a console at all, is really cool.

The most important image quality feature on the QN90B is that Neo QLED, mini-LED powered backlight with full-array local dimming. Local dimming improves LCD image quality by making certain areas of the picture dimmer or brighter in reaction to what's on the screen, which significantly boosts contrast, while CNET's testing has found mini-LEDs are brighter than larger ones. Judging from Samsung's obscure "quantum HDR 32X" spec the QN90B has more dimming zones and brighter images than the step-down Q85B, and fewer zones than the 8K models, but Samsung doesn't say exactly how many zones (or how bright). It does tout new-for-2022 "shape adaptive light control" processing, said to reduce blooming and stray illumination, and it seems to work well.

Key features

Like all of Samsung QLED TVs, as well as most higher-end TVs from Vizio, Hisense and TCL, the QN90B's LCD panel is augmented by a layer of quantum dots -- microscopic nanocrystals that glow a specific wavelength (that is, color) when given energy. The effect is better brightness and color compared to non-QD-equipped TVs. The QN90B uses a true 120Hz panel, which improves the TVs' motion performance.

The set supports high dynamic range content in the HDR10 and HDR10 Plus formats. Samsung TVs lack the Dolby Vision HDR support found on most competitors' HDR TVs. I've seen no evidence that one HDR format is inherently "better" than the other, so I definitely don't consider the lack of Dolby Vision a deal-breaker on this TV.