Samsung QN90D 65"

The Samsung QN90D 65-inch is the brightest, most polished mini-LED television Samsung makes short of its 8K sets. At around $2299, down from a $2699 recommended retail price (RRP), it is genuinely premium and it shows. This is Quantum Dot LED (QLED) with a Mini LED backlight, Samsung's best processing, and an anti-glare screen that is the best in the business.

The spec is flagship. Around 1000 local dimming zones, a peak brightness near 3000 nits, a 120Hz refresh rate (144Hz from a PC), and the full gaming kit with Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), FreeSync and G-Sync across four HDMI 2.1 ports. For High Dynamic Range (HDR) it uses HDR10+ and HLG. One thing to know up front: Samsung does not support Dolby Vision on any of its TVs, so Dolby Vision content plays back in standard HDR10.

What the RefDat test lab found

It is searingly bright and the anti-glare coating is the real party trick: in a room full of windows, reflections that would wreck a glossy panel simply vanish. HDR has serious impact, and the processing is the most refined here, with the cleanest motion and the smartest upscaling of average content. On The Traitors Australia, faces and fabric look superb, and sport is razor sharp. For gaming it is one of the best TVs going, with a 144Hz PC mode, low input lag and the full sync suite. Blacks are deep, though in very dark scenes you can spot faint blooming around bright objects, the one place where Organic LED (OLED) still wins. We ran it hard with no issues.

What owners actually report

Owners on Whirlpool rate the brightness and anti-glare screen highly, and gamers love the feature set. The two recurring watch-outs are the missing Dolby Vision, which frustrates buyers who did not realise Samsung omits it, and the Tizen smart platform, which several owners find ad-heavy and occasionally sluggish. A smaller group mentions a learning curve getting the picture settings right out of the box. None of it undermines a superb panel, but they are worth knowing before you spend $2299.

Who should skip it? If you watch in a dark home-theatre room and want the absolute deepest blacks with zero blooming, an OLED is the better buy. If you want the brightest, most reflection-proof premium TV, especially for a sunny lounge or gaming, the QN90D is outstanding.

You will find it at JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman and The Good Guys. Around End of Financial Year and Black Friday, OzBargain has seen it fall below $1954.

Australian Consumer Law (ACL): a premium TV at $2299 should reasonably last 7 to 10 years, with the consumer guarantees realistically covering 4 to 5, beyond the typical 2-year warranty. If the panel develops dead pixels, the backlight dims excessively or the HDMI ports fail in that window, you have a claim. Go to your retailer first.

Bottom line: the brightest, glare-proof, best-for-gaming premium mini-LED around, let down only by no Dolby Vision and Tizen's ads. Highly recommended for bright rooms and gamers. Choose OLED instead if you watch in the dark. RefDat score 4.6 out of 5.