Every now and then in technology there is a gadget, an innovation, or a concept that sets it apart from its peers. When I first set eyes on Samsung’s QLED 8K Q950T, I felt it sat in that league – innovative, new, different.
Some may see it as just another TV, but when I saw it at Samsung HQ in Korea I knew it would be their flagship product, and I knew it would set the tone for TVs for the next few years.
There are a few key things to observe about the TV and I think when buying a TV, it is worth asking does the set you choose tick any of these boxes? If not – are you future proofing your purchase?
Firstly, you should consider design. Your TV should look good in your lounge room. It is one of the biggest investments you make in that room, so why not make sure it looks incredible? Samsung does this on the Q950T 8K TV in two ways. It offers a minimalist stand that does not take over your whole entertainment unit if you decide to sit it on the stand rather than wall mounting it.
Whether you use the stand or wall mount the Samsung Q950T, the real leap forward in design is what we call the bezel. This is the name given to the border around the actual screen. The part of the TV that does not light up and show a picture, it just holds the picture in place.
On the Samsung Q950T there is almost no border, no bezel. Samsung call it “Infinity Display” in a similar way to their edge to edge smartphone screens are labelled. It is something remarkable. Imagine you have a white wall, and you wall mounted the Q950T and were watching a documentary about the snow. White picture, white wall, what you see around the TV is an ultra-thin line, which when you sit back, and watch seems to almost fade away – it is just amazing.
Next, you should consider sound. Somehow, all around the edge of the Samsung Q950T are small holes, at first, I thought they were vents for air flow – given these modern TVs are practically computers, I assumed they needed it. But no, those are speakers. All around the screen.
This enables a feature called Object Tracking Sound+. If the action is top centre of screen, the sound will be enhanced coming out of the centre of the frame at the top.
If the action moves left and then down, the sound will follow it. This comes into its own in high quality content like movies and creates an outstanding immersive experience.
And perhaps less obvious today but critical to the future, picture quality. The Samsung Q950T is an 8K TV. Your first thought is probably “but there’s no 8k content.” That is not far wrong, but for the content to be seen, there needs to be screens. Something had to come first, and 8K TVs pave the way for 8K content.
Already we have seen YouTube content start to be available in 8K, and you can expect movie and streaming services to follow.
However, for an owner today, that does not matter. Using Samsung’s outstanding Artificial Intelligence database, pictures that are below 8K quality are enhanced to suit the screen. This works with all content, no matter the quality.
Sitting back in the EFTM office, I was immersed into 4K content on Netflix which looked better than I’d ever seen it before.
Buying an 8K TV is the very definition of future proofing your purchase. You are ready for a very fast emergence of 8K over the next couple of years, but you are not disadvantaged in the meantime. In fact, you are one up on your mates because the quality of the Samsung Q950T outmatches anything your mates will have.
This article was written and published as supported editorial – articles we’re keen to write, but might not have had the resources to do without the support of our sponsors – in this case Samsung.
