The same goes for its off-axis viewing, which takes a step back from last year’s QN90C due to Samsung’s choice to once again change LCD panel types year-over-year. It’s far from the worst I’ve tested this year, and better than Sony’s Bravia 7 (7/10, WIRED Recommends), staying mostly accurate from a moderate angle. You may not notice a change until you get far off to the side, where light bleed is accentuated and colors fade.
Those points notwithstanding, I was pleased by the QN90D’s excellent screen uniformity, mostly eschewing the “dirty screen effect” that plagues cheaper LED TVs, and its fantastic motion handling. Jerky motion and blur were both kept to a minimum in even my toughest test scenes, without the need for artificial motion smoothing.
Photograph: Ryan Waniata
More or Less
The QN90D’s excellent motion handling is complemented by loads of features, making it a great gaming TV. You’ll get ALLM (auto low latency mode) and VRR (variable refresh rate) at up to 144 Hz across all four HDMI ports, a dedicated Game Bar for quick adjustments, and Samsung’s Game Hub to stream from services like Amazon Luna and Xbox Game Pass.
Other notable QN90D features include built-in voice control for Amazon Alexa or Samsung Bixby, extras like Samsung Health content, and exclusives like Q-Symphony that lets the TV act as a speaker in concert with newer Samsung Soundbars. There’s also streaming over AirPlay, though Chromecast is not offered, nor is DTS audio decoding. Like all Samsung TVs, the QN90D also trades Dolby Vision HDR for HDR10+. This isn’t as big a deal as it sounds, as the TV defaults to regular HDR, but it means Dolby Vision scenes aren’t as finely tuned.
