Samsung Q70A Series

Big is not always better!! - Samsung is losing touch with the market – So you're looking for a Big Cinema Room TV and hoping to impress your friends? Maybe the Samsung Q70A Q85 isn't for you. This TV retailed under $6K at most major retail outlets when I searched for a big TV to update my previous Samsung 75". I picked this up for $4220 from Appliances Central in Nov 2021, and I now feel like it wasn't a bargain… Read more

after all. Read on.

I wanted a big TV, not a projector, to watch movies and use my PS5 in a purpose-built cinema room, and this ticked all the right boxes. The picture is excellent for 4K normal TV viewing, 200Hz motion is not bad, and the sound ok. The setup menu is pretty much identical to all Samsung TVs, and once set up and linked to my Sony amp and PS5, it was pretty impressive. I don't have anything more that I can complement this on other than a solar-power-charged remote control. Ok, now the sad face.

A couple of months later, I noticed light patches appearing on the screen during dark scenes of movies and PS5 games. I kept going thinking it wasn't that major, but it has now got to a point where it has become unbearable. (see pictures).

In June, I reached out to Appliance Central, who sent me to Samsung. I've spent hours with Samsung resetting, upgrading etc., with no resolve. After the TV was reset and upgraded, the Samsung control stopped operating my Sony amp where it had no issues before. The service company that inspected the TV on behalf of Samsung knew the problem and stated that the issue was in the panel's technology. We can replace the screen, but you'd be experiencing the same issue in months to come. The panel size wasn't designed to display 85" pictures, and the layers come together when it heats up, causing the white patches. That wasn't part of Samsung's fine print to state this TV might display patches during dark scenes. After doing my research, I'm not the only person.

It has been almost three (3) months since opening a service request where I've stated that a store credit, replacement or refund is my preferred solution. Samsung has redirected me and said we are fixing it free of charge and to contact your local repairer. There is nothing more we will do. WoW. What service. (under ACCC a consumer has the right to a refund or replacement if the issue is "major". I believe an entire panel replacement is quite major). I would not recommend this TV and would be weary of other Samsung TVs of this size.

I've been a loyal Samsung TV owner for over 20 years and my parents before me. My first TV claim after spending over $4K has left a sour taste based on the quality promoted by their advertisement. If other customers are experiencing the same issue, pull the TV from the market and keep up your quality reputation.

A real shame – A real shame if you spend 4995$ on 85” Samsung Qled. I just bought a month ago and in a dark scene there are more than 6 grey spots clearly seen on tv which is really annoying. Another issue this huge tv is not made for stand. Stand is really crap not supportive and hard Show details

Incredible Picture If You Feed It Right – At first I was a bit disappointed with this TV, the screen is undoubtedly huge but the image left me with a little bit of buyers remorse - it was good, but definitely not great. I have movies stored on a separate computer which serves them to all of the devices in the house, but when I put a 4K video onto a USB stick and plugged that into the TV I… Read more

was more than satisfied with the image. After this realization, I borrowed and connected a PS5 - WOW, now we're talking high quality. You've got to feed it with the right signal before it will reward you with an incredible picture.

Audio - I've messed around with the settings to try to improve the audio but there seems to be no better setting. The Adaptive Audio is meant to adjust settings on the fly to optimize the audio output, however I found that it just muddied the sound and increased the time delay of the audio. I found that leaving the Adaptive Audio turned off was the best result. The internal speakers themselves aren't what I would expect from such a high end TV - maybe that's why there is a Samsung Soundbar cashback deal included in the purchase from Harvey Norman? Thankfully, I already have a face melting audio system so I can (almost) forget about the disappointing speakers.

The 'Smart' part of the TV is actually pretty good - the remote is quite minimalistic and brings up all of the input sources and all of the apps. Navigation is quick, response is quick, and it makes sense for the most part. One point I would make is that you have to remember where everything is - instead of many buttons on the remote control to go to different settings etc, you will have to navigate to them on the screen using the remote, and then you will have to remember whether it is a short press or a long press on the icon to interact with it. Hopefully I will remember it in time but it is certainly not intuitive.

Adaptive Picture - This is one feature which is actually pretty good. If you leave it set in 'Movie' mode then try to watch live sports during the daytime then you would be quite disappointed - too dark and soft. The same could be said if you went back the other way from 'Dynamic' during the day to watching a movie at night time - the picture would be too bright and would seem too sharp. The Adaptive Picture setting does all of that setup for you on the fly without any fuss - a definite win on this one!

Apps - Adding new Apps to the TV is not too bad, and they can be added to a quick access banner across the bottom of the navigation bar, but getting rid of factory installed apps is not as easy - I still haven't been able to do it. Hopefully some Googling will solve this problem.

Overall (apart from the size) I am left feeling that this is not worth the $5000 that I spent on it.