<p>Is Samsung&rsquo;s innovative&nbsp;QLED&nbsp;TV a definitive&nbsp;OLED&nbsp;killer? John Archer finds out</p>

- John Archer

QLED IS THE OLED-baiting name Samsung has chosen for the ground-breaking tech inside its 2017 high-end TVs. The Q part of the name refers to the way these displays, including the QE65Q9F auditioned here, use Quantum Dot (QD) technology to reproduce colours. Samsung has used Quantum Dots before, but the difference now – and the reason it has replaced its previous SUHD sub-brand designation with QLED – is that the QDs come wrapped in a new metal alloy that lets them be driven harder and positioned differently within the screen configuration, resulting in what are claimed to be unprecedented levels of brightness and colour response.

And then there's the LED element. Given that Samsung has often used direct LED arrays for its flagship TVs, it’s a surprise that the QE65Q9F adopts an edge-lit approach, here in a horizontal orientation with associated local dimming.

Samsung thinks the brightness potential of this lighting system is worth shouting about. It claims monster 2,000-nit peaks for the QE65Q9F – I ‘only’ measured around 1,780 nits on a 10 per cent HDR white window, comfortably the highest figure I've witnessed.

Samsung's design team has gone in a new direction for the Q9F. The set's rear panel is as flat and sheer as its front, while its inch or so of depth joins with some outstanding, almost industrial build quality to deliver a monolithic impact Arthur C Clarke wo

This story is from the January 2018 edition of Home Cinema Choice.

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