QN75Q80TFZXA Ultra HD 120Hz Smart TV
Review Summary
Product Name: QNQ80TFZXA
Product Description: QLED Series | 4K HDR | Direct Full Array 12X LED backlight with Supreme UHD Dimming | Ultra Viewing Angle | Quantum HDR 12X | Real Game Enhancer+ | Tizen OS smart TV platform | HDMI 2.1 certified
Brand: Samsung
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Samsung QN75Q80T
See full review below
Model year: 2020
Screen size reviewed: 75”
Bottom Line:
The QLED Q80T is an exceptional performing 4K HDR TV and delivers some of the best HD picture images currently available. I really didn’t have much to criticize about this TV with the exception of not having Dolby Vision HDR support, which Samsung doesn’t offer on any of its TVs.
Overall, the Q80T produced stunning picture quality that I truly enjoyed watching thanks in part to its great contrast and black levels and excellent color accuracy, in addition to delivering eye-catching detail and clarity.
Dimensions:
With stand: (W x H x D) 65.8” x 40.8” x 12.5”
Without stand: (W x H x D) 65.8” x 37.7” x 2.1”
Weight:
With stand: 88.8 lbs.
Without stand: 75.8 lbs.
Warranty: One year parts and labor
Pros
- Impressive contrast, black levels and color accuracy
- Very good wide-angle viewing performance for an LED/LCD TV
- Great TV for video gaming
- HDMI 2.1 certified
- Excellent 4K upscaling
Cons
- No Dolby Vision HDR support
- Slight backlight blooming may be noticed
Intro
Samsung’s Q80T is one of four models in the company’s top-tier premier line of QLED series 4K TVs which also includes the Q60T, Q70T and Q90T. The Q80T is offered in five different sizes which include 49”, 55”, 65”, 75” and 85″ screen options. The 75” model was used for this review; this review can be applied to the additional screen sizes as well.
Last year I reviewed two of Samsung’s premium QLED models – the Q70R and Q90R – this year I decided to go with a QLED series model I had not reviewed in the past which led me to evaluate the Q80T. The Q80T is of course a high-end model and sits right below the flagship Q90T in Samsung’s current QLED lineup.
Design and Features
Side View
The Q80T is a classy-looking TV and quite appealing visually. It has razor-thin bezels that flank the top and sides of the TV’s screen, whereas the bottom portion is a bit thicker. The screen surface contains a glossy finish and is illuminated with full-array LED backlighting with local dimming which enhances contrast and black levels and also allows for more precise localized screen dimming when needed depending on the content being viewed.
The Q80T has a pedestal-type stand that Samsung refers to as a “Floating Plate” design. It does provide decent support, although with a bit of wobble when the panel is gently rocked back and forth. Panel depth is relatively thin and measures approximately 2.1-inches at its deepest point. The Q80T is primarily constructed of plastic and has overall solid build quality.
Remote control – The supplied OneRemote has a built-in microphone for voice control – via Samsung’s Bixby voice assistant – and basically has the same design and functionality as the previous year’s remote models and features direct access buttons for Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Samsung TV Plus. The remote is very compact and easy to use once you get accustomed to how the buttons actually work. The remote does not require a direct line of sight for most TV functions. The remote is not backlit.
Key Features
- Direct Full Array 12X LED backlight with Supreme UHD Dimming (local dimming)
- Ultra Viewing Angle film layer reduces glare and improves off-angle viewing for a vibrant picture when seated at wide viewing angles
- Quantum HDR 12X (HDR10, HDR10+, HLG) for extended picture contrast and brightness when viewing HDR content (no Dolby Vision support)
- Quantum Dot technology provides 100% Color Volume — full color with full brightness
- Quantum Processor 4K improves contrast, shadow detail, and color accuracy
- 4K AI Upscaling enhances standard-def and high-def video signals for optimum display on a 4K screen
- Motion Rate 240 blur reduction (120Hz refresh rate)
- Real Game Enhancer+ optimizes settings for minimal lag and smooth gameplay
- HDMI 2.1 (input 4) supports 4K @ 120Hz, ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) – supports variable refresh rate – AMD FreeSync
- Ambient Mode+ helps the TV blend into your room when it’s wall-mounted, or shows screen savers featuring photos, artwork, or info like weather
- Object Tracking Sound uses up-firing and down-firing speakers to create sound that tracks every motion on the screen while adding a more expansive and enveloping sound field
- Active Voice Amplifier analyses ambient room noise and enhances voices for clear dialogue
Smart TV features
- Tizen-powered OS smart TV platform
- Use the OneRemote’s microphone to access Bixby, the TV’s built-in intelligent voice assistant. Bixby makes it easy to change channels, search for content, or even ask about the weather, using only your voice
- The TV supports voice control of compatible apps and works with Google Home compatible voice control assistants and Amazon Alexa-compatible voice control assistants
- Built-in Apple AirPlay 2 allows wireless streaming from your iPhone, iPad, or Mac
- TV-to-mobile and mobile-to-TV wireless mirroring
Connectivity
- 4 HDMI inputs (one 2.1/three 2.0b) – HDCP 2.2 compliant
- 1 Digital optical out
- 2 USB 2.0 inputs
- 1 Ethernet port
- 1 RF input for antenna/cable signals
- eARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel) HDMI input 3
- Dual-band 802.11ac built-in Wi-Fi
- Bluetooth wireless audio streaming to a compatible speaker or set of headphones
Note: The TV’s HDMI 4 input is the only HDMI input that is HDMI 2.1 certified and can support up to 10-bit color, 4:4:4 color upsampling, and 120Hz frame rate. The other HDMI inputs are HDMI 2.0b and are limited up to 4:4:4 (8-bit; 60Hz) or 4:2:2: (12-bit; 60Hz).
Performance
Note: Picture settings: Movie mode. Color Tone or temperature set to Warm2. Local Dimming set to High. If the Movie mode picture setting is too soft or flat for your liking, try using the Natural setting which will give the TV a more dynamic and vibrant picture without being harsh, but with a small loss in shadow detail. Personally, I like using the Natural mode when I want a more vibrant picture image, especially while watching sporting events.
The Q80T has excellent overall picture quality that immediately grabs your attention with a visually dynamic picture image that bursts with extremely robust and rich color reproduction that made images appear very realistic with intense vibrancy and pop, all while appearing natural with a very accurate tonal balance. All-in-all, I couldn’t have asked for a better color presentation.
The Q80T’s exceptional contrast range allowed this TV to deliver deeply saturated black levels and vibrant peak whites. This was most apparent with HDR content and made HDR images a pleasure to watch. HDR peak brightness output with HDR content was approximately 700 nits. SDR (standard dynamic range) peak brightness output was approximately 400 nits according to the info I obtained from a well-known and reliable source. The peak brightness measurements I just mentioned are very good, especially the SDR numbers which makes the Q80T a good choice for watching TV in a brightly lit room.
Black screen uniformity was excellent on this display thanks in part to its local dimming capability and was capable of rendering a completely black screen with no evidence of light leakage or clouding on any area of the screen.
Backlight blooming really wasn’t an issue with this TV, that’s with the picture mode set to Movie. However, you may experience some blooming around small white objects set against a black background if you choose to use the Standard or Natural picture mode settings. You can reduce blooming by setting the Local Dimming feature to Low.
Picture Detail was outstanding on this display, delivering pristine clarity that was very refined revealing great amounts of image texture that brought an abundance of realism to high def content – including 4K and 1080p – on this otherwise excellent performing QLED display. Furthermore, the Q80T also produced very life-like three-dimensional images that added to its image depth and transparency.
The Q80T’s wide-angle viewing performance was very good thanks to Samsung’s Ultra Viewing Angle technology. I was very impressed with the minimal amount of picture dimming, contrast and color saturation loss when viewing this TV at very wide angles. This makes the Q80T an excellent choice if your viewing environment will have seating placed at substantial off-axis angles from the TV screen.
Motion handling was very fluid and smooth on this TV with nothing to complain about where motion artifacts were concerned while viewing normal fast motion content.
If you’re a video gamer and desire a TV with very low input lag (approx. 9.8 ms with 1080p and 4K signals @ 60Hz), then the Q80T will make a very good choice thanks to its Real Game Enhance+ technology which combines AMD FreeSync (VRR), ALLM, Game Motion Plus, and Dynamic Black Equalizer to provide an enhanced gaming experience with less screen tearing and stuttering, plus cleaner and smoother motion video, as well as brighter and detailed images on-screen.
I’d like to point out that the input lag measurements listed above are with Game Motion Plus turned off. Turning the feature on still gives you very respectable input lag measurements of approx. 19.0 ms.
The sound quality on this TV was decent for a flat panel design. In general, the sound was crisp and clear in the high and mid-frequency range and produced decent imaging and stereo separation. I was surprised at the amount of bass I heard coming from the TV speakers; it wasn’t very deep but did have a decent amount of punch. Dialogue was easily discernible well defined and remained clear even at high volume levels.
Samsung’s Object Tracking Sound technology also added to this TV’s sound quality by providing a more expansive and enveloping sound presentation. Overall, the Q80T produced a well-balanced sound.
Conclusion
The Q80T is a great 4K HDR smart TV and delivers all the bells and whistles that a high-end TV of its caliber should offer. I was very impressed with its overall picture quality. Its great contrast ratio and deep black levels make this TV an excellent choice for watching TV in a dark room. Furthermore, its excellent contrast range and wide color gamut capability paid dividends when viewing HDR content allowing for a stunning viewing experience.
I was also very impressed with the 80T’s wide-angle viewing performance thanks to Samsung’s Ultra Viewing Angle technology, which means you can have seating placed at much wider angles from the TV screen with minimal picture quality loss.
I highly recommend the 80T to anyone looking for a 4K HDR TV that delivers top-notch picture quality in addition to excellent features which include Samsung’s easy-to-use Tizen OS smart TV platform. And if you’re into video gaming, Samsung’s Real Game Enhancer+ will take your gameplay to new levels of visual enjoyment.
The QN75Q80T is one of the better premium class displays currently available and will certainly provide a very satisfying viewing and entertainment experience in the comforts of your home.
Q80T
You may also like this review of Sony’s XBR950H 4K TV.
Hi again. What do you think about Q80T vs Sony X950H for 65″ inches? Or maybe Q90T vs X950H? TV use will be HDR 4K content, PC Windows monitor and maybe some videogames (I’m not a hardcore gamer, just casual gamer single player that maybe can play one or two games by year,or less : ) )
Hi Shinji,
I could live happily with either the Samsung Q80T or Sony X950H. They both produce excellent picture quality. Both TVs do a great job displaying 4K content. Feature-wise is where you will find some important differences which may cause you to choose one model over the other depending on your needs. The X950H is compatible with Dolby Vision content, whereas the Q80T is not. The Q80T is HDMI 2.1 certified and has VRR technology which is something you may be interested in since you are a casual video gamer.
I haven’t done a review on the Q90T at this time. But if its performance is anything like last year’s awesome performing Samsung Q90R then it will make a great choice as well with even better picture quality than either of the other models mentioned here.
As I mentioned in our previous comments, I don’t use TVs as PC monitors so I won’t comment on use in this area.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Milton
HDTVs and More
Samsung QN75Q70TAF Q70T Series – 75″ Class COSTCO HAS THIS SET ON SALE $1499.99 HOW DOES THIS COMPARE TO Q80T.. IS IT WORTH $700 PRICE DIFFERENCE AT $2199.99
Hi Vada,
The Q80T does have noticeably better picture quality over the Q70T. But I can’t say it is worth the $700 price difference. If you can, do a basic comparison of the two models at Costco or another retailer and see if the difference in picture quality is worth the price difference through your personal observations.
Regards,
Milton
HDTVs and More
Hi Milton
Im after an 80T and I’m coming from a 6FN
Problem is my bedroom is super small and dim so after trial and error I found out that 49” is the size for me, as I’ve tried many different sizes and 49” is the sweet spot
And the 80T at those sizes is inferior to the 55” models and above (but superior in terms of contrast and thus black levels)
Im aware the 950H is the superior TV at 49”, but I don’t know if my dim room could handle all that blooming plus I’ve already decided on the 80T, but coming from a 6FN, would I be upgrading if I got the 80T or downgrading? Please help
Hi Enmanuel,
Although the 6FN and Q80T are very good performers. But based on my knowledge and research, I would give the edge in overall performance to the Q80T. So to answer your question, the Q80T would not be a downgrade.
Regards,
Milton
HDTVs and More
Thanks for another fantastic & helpful review. I just finished a fair amount of research and chose a 75” Q80t. (Your review pushed me towards this set!) I was torn between this the Q90, the Sony X900 and the LG OLED CX. Almost all reviewers mentioned that the Q80 and Q90 were too similar to justify the big price hike and to go with the Q80t. Though the LG’s gorgeous OLED picture beat the Q80t, for the same size (77” for the LG), the price was way out of my range. The Sony appeared to be its strongest competitor at around the same price and seems to have a slightly better picture with better grey uniformity. I still went with the Q80t which arrives on Friday!
My only concern relates to its lack of Dolby Vision and what some sites called its ‘dirty screen effect’ (grey uniformity) especially when watching sports. Did you experience this and is it something to worry about? And.. as I’m a big movie fan, is this a good set for a vibrant picture during HDR movies?
Thanks as always for your insights!
Brian
Hi Brian,
Congrats on your new Samsung Q80T. It’ss a very good TV.
Dolby Vision is one of four HDR (High Dynamic Range) formats and as you mentioned, Dolby Vision is not available on the Q80T or any Samsung TVs. Currently, Dolby Vision is a widely used format on movies and TV shows via streaming services and Blu-ray discs. In fact, I tend to run across more Dolby Vision titles in my own personal viewing than I do HDR10 or HDR10+ titles. So if you’re into viewing HDR content, just know you will be missing out on a lot of content. The Q80T does a very good job of displaying HDR content and delivers a bright and vibrant picture image.
As far as the “dirty screen effect” I wouldn’t be overly concerned about this with the Q80T as it isn’t a major issue on this TV and it wasn’t something that stood out when reviewing this TV. Also, keep in mind this will and can vary from TV to TV.
As far as what device to use on the HDMI 2.1 port, for your situation, it really doesn’t matter at this time since you don’t have a PS5 or Xbox Series X gaming console to take advantage of the advanced gaming features on these consoles which include VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), FreeSync, ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) and 4K 120fps content which require HDMI 2.1 ports. Your PS4 doesn’t support these features. Furthermore, your 4K cable box won’t benefit from using the HDMI 2.1 input.
Thanks for your kind words regarding this review. Much appreciated.
Regards,
Milton
HDTVs and More.
Ps. I’ll be setting up my tv on Friday and am wondering where I should use the HDMI 4 (2.1) spot. Would it be best to plug my 4K cable box into it? I’m still not entirely sure what the 2.1 does over the 2.0 as I’m not that tech savvy.
Thanks
Brian
I should mention that I have a PS4 along with the 4K cable box. (Sorry for the multiple posts. I should have included everything into one.)
Brian
Hey Milton,
Thanks for the feedback. You brought up a feature that I completely neglected to look into before purchasing it. That being said, do you think Dolby Vision is substantial enough to consider changing my order? (I have a couple of days). My other options are the LG CX OLED or the Sony X950. Both feature Dolby Vision if I’m correct. What do you think?
Brian
Ps. In my budget, I’d have to drop down from a 75” to 65” sets for the LG and Sony.
Hi Brian,
Whether or not Dolby Vision is something to consider changing your order for is a personal decision you will have to make. If you believe you will be missing out on Dolby Vision content then you may want to consider that in your decision-making process. And yes the Sony X950H and LG CX OLED are compatible with Dolby Vision.
Regards,
Milton
HDTVs and More
Lastly, I suppose what concerns me the most is:
1. What kind of features will I miss without Dolby Vision?
2. Will I’ll be able to watch most content 4K that is streamed, broadcast or sold in 4K?
It seems astonishing that a huge TV company like Samsung would leave this out of all of their models.
(Again, sorry for the multiple messages. I just want to be certain.)
Thanks
Brian
Hi Brian,
Dolby Vision does provide better overall HDR picture quality when compared to HDR10. But when compared to HDR10+ the playing field is a bit more equal. With some content titles appearing better in Dolby Vision while others appear better in HDR10+.
You will be able to watch all 4K content that is streamed, broadcast and sold in 4K.
Regards,
Milton
HDTVs and More
Thanks for your thorough reply Milton. Your attention to detail and commitment made me truly know what to expect so I thank you. Based on the fact that I’ll be using this primarily for movies and HDR content, I changed my order from the Samsung Q80t to the LG OLED CX as I’m looking for deep blacks and a very high contrast ratio. Your review of the LG solidified this decision. I think giving up 10” of real estate for a better picture is worth it. My only concern is burn in but this gives me more reason to be careful with the new tv. Thanks again. You obviously have a passion for TVs as you do such a great job in reviewing them.
Hi Brian,
Thank you very much for your kind and thoughtful words. Much appreciated.
I’m glad I was able to help you choose the TV that best suits your needs. The LG OLED CX is an excellent display and would be on my shortlist of potential TV purchases. You made a great choice and I know you will be very pleased with its performance.
Enjoy your new TV.
Regards,
Milton
HDTVs and More