The TV industry has gone in two ways over the last 4-5 years. You’ve had your OLED TVs which have been known for perfect contrast resulting in inky blacks, and your QLED/Mini LED technology which has focused on huge peak brightness. But never have both of those things been working together to delight the eyes at both ends of the spectrum, until now.
Enter the S95C, Samsung’s second OLED which manages to blend the best of both worlds in terms of infinite contrast while providing the wow factor in brightness and vibrancy that only QLED technology had done before now. It follows in the footsteps of last years S95B, but takes it to a whole new level delivering on those perfect inky blacks, whilst pushing peak brightness to a level that no OLED before has been able to achieve.
The Samsung S95C is able to achieve both of these things because it literally uses both OLED technology with Quantum Dot technology that is also found in its QLED TVs. Without getting too deep into it, there are over 8 million self-illuminating pixels that are made up of three sub pixels (one of which is OLED and two of which are Quantum Dot). This results in a picture that is bright, vivid, accurate with those perfect OLED blacks.
@shannongrixti Samsung’s huge 77-inch S95C OLED TV is perfect for gaming with inky blacks, vivid colours and insane brightness #unboxing #samsung #OLED #SamsungOLED #S95C #SamsungS95C #OLEDTV
I’ve always understood why people like OLED TVs, but I’ve never been wowed by one until this moment. In a perfectly dark room sure, but the S95C goes far beyond that. Even in the middle of the day, it still throws enough brightness that it looks absolutely incredible, and the colours are as vibrant as I’ve seen in any TV.
I’ve often had issues with how other OLEDs handle reflection, and Samsung has often had some of the best TVs for handling glare and reflection, and it’s no different here. The S95C has an anti reflective coating that makes it so there’s almost no visible reflection, especially with a vibrant image on screen. Similarly, viewing angles here are fantastic so matter where you’re sitting in relation to the TV, you’ll get that same vibrant image.
It’s not just the picture that will impress you though, with the design being a huge step-up from the S95B and any other OLED on the market. I was coming from the very impressive 8K QN900B, but I was absolutely blown away by how thin this TV is. It is just over 1cm in thickness, and it’s uniform the whole way down, which makes it absolutely perfect for wall mounting. Similarly, the bezel is impressively thin (not as much so as the 8K), but still a really nice finish in that regard.
The S95C gets Samsung’s One Connect box, which I still think is one of the greatest inventions to hit the TV space. Particularly when wall mounting, you have just one extremely thin cable running from the TV to the One Connect box which handles power, antenna connection, all of your HDMI ports and more. This means that not only do you get a clean setup, but you’re never having to awkwardly reach behind your TV. This can either be placed in your entertainment unit, or attached to the back of the stand of the TV.
For gaming, there is no better TV on the market. Because there isn’t any processing needed to retain those inky blacks or brightness, you get that same bright, vibrant experience with game mode activated. You’ve got four HDMI 2.1 ports, but the panel is able reach 144hz for PC gaming, which is a big boost above TVs from other manufacturer. You’ve also got FreeSync Premium Pro and the ability to turn on ultrawide modes in both 21:9 and 31:9 as well.
CURRENTLY ON SPECIAL AT THE GOOD GUYS: 55-INCH / 65-INCH / 77-INCH
Samsung is still the only TV provider to have Xbox Game Pass Cloud Gaming built-in, and with the likes of Starfield and Forza Motorsport releasing this year, it’s still insane to me that you’ll be able to just connect any controller and be able to jump into those games without any console needed.
Game Bar has gone to a new level this year, still easily displaying your frame rate and VRR status in real time, but you can now add a virtual aim pointer and also zoom in your minimap for games like Call Of Duty. Sure, these aren’t things that every gamer will use, but it’s nice to have them.
If there was one area I was to call out as being a little on the weaker side its the speaker offering. There’s 8 speakers on the back that are provide Dolby Atmos sound, and I’m honestly surprised at how well it can make it sound like there’s speakers all over the room, but it’s a little lacking in bass, which isn’t super surprising given how thin this TV is.
I’d really recommend pairing the TV with a soundbar, preferably a Samsung one to take advantage of Q-Symphony 3.0 which utilises your TV and soundbar together to provide an even better experience. I’m currently using the Q990C which I’ll have more on in the near future, but basically it’s an 11.1.4 soundbar setup that really provides an unbeatable Dolby Atmos experience for the price.
When it comes down to it, I’ve never been more confident in recommending a TV than I am with the S95C. Normally, you can pick flaws in any TV, whether it be brightness or raised blacks, but this is near perfect. It’s absolutely Samsung’s best 4K TV to date, and I’d even go as far as saying it’s the most complete home TV experience that I’ve ever had from any brand at the time of writing.
The only thing that it is missing, from a pure feature comparison point of view is Dolby Vision, but I’ve used TVs that have Dolby Vision and still can’t match the brightness or vibrancy that this TV does, so I know which I’d be choosing.
