Samsung QN900D Neo 8K QLED TV hands-on review: Upscaled and future-proofed

Samsung continues its domination over the 8K market with its stunning QN900D Neo 8K QLED TV, one of its most premium offerings within the Samsung 2024 TV lineup. The 8K resolution mark continues to be a luxury (or extraneous, depending on who you ask) but the QN900D makes up for those limitations with its brand-new NQ8 AI Gen3 Processor that does a relatively good job at upscaling most content.

The onus is still very much on Samsung to prove that it's worth shelling out to be an early adopter of 8K — especially given the QN900D's starting $4,999 price tag — but I’m still quite amazed at the quality and potential of the QN900D Neo 8K QLED. Samsung is on the right path in delivering a product built for the premium and forward thinking market.

From the limited time I've spent with it, the upscaling still needs a bit of work and sound quality just isn't there on the QN900D, but despite its limited faults I’m pleasantly excited to see where this 8K monster lands with consumers in 2024.

Samsung QN900D Neo 8K QLED: Price and availability

Samsung's 2024 TVs have officially launched and can now be purchased on its site. You'll even get a free TV on Samsung for purchasing one of its new models. The QN900D 8K QLED will fetch for a $4,999 premium at the 65-inch range.

Compared to the 65-inch Samsung QN900C, last year's 8K monster, the QN900D is launching at the exact same price point. This is quite interesting, and could mean that Samsung is positioning this new entry for a wider audience.

For reference here's how much the Samsung QN900C 8K QLED cost at launch:

• QN65QN900CFXZA: $4,999

• QN75QN900CFXZA: $6,299

• QN85QN900CFXZA: $7,999

Samsung QN900D Neo 8K QLED: Design

There's no doubt that the QN900D is pretty classy. The new Infinity Air Design helps the pedestal hide in plain sight. It also comes equipped with four HDMI 2.1 ports with 120Hz inputs which can pass 8K/60 signal to the TV, making it ideal for those looking to get ahead of the curve when 8K gaming finally becomes a reality.

Upscaling proves to be the major selling point not just on the QN900D, but across Samsung's 2024 TV lineup. At the heart of this upscaling and, more specifically, the QN900D itself, is the NQ8 AI Gen3 processor, which is doing most of the heavy lifting via its enhanced 8K AI upscaling pro feature.

Samsung is also touting a completely revamped version of Tizen OS, which will be streamlined and easier to use than in previous years — and it shows in our testing. We did, however, have trouble with adding apps to the home screen, but this is just a minor nitpick.

Tizen OS will now include several key features that up the ante on your home entertainment setup, including SmartThings integration for smoother smart home controls, on-demand and trackable workouts, a free service that has real-time exercise data straight on your QN900D, and even a virtual veterinarian in Dr. Tail for potential issues at home with a sick pet.

Samsung's remote on the QN900D remains relatively unchanged. I like that it's much smaller and weighs little to nothing, plus it charges via solar energy so you never have to replace the batteries.

Best of all is that the QN900D uses the beloved One Connect box, which rids your home entertainment setup of annoying wires. This year's model takes the One Connect box even further through a redesign that makes it much easier to stash away and keep all of your connected devices out of sight.

Samsung QN900D Neo 8K QLED: Performance

Without almost any 8K content to watch, the QN900D is stuck upscaling 4K and HD content to fill the screen. While it mostly does that with aplomb, I also don't want to say upscaling is perfect. There are moments where you can see artifacting and noise crop up, as in the opening portion of "Dune" with its titular spice filling the screen in glistening brownish hues.

Native 8K content obviously looks better and to help us visualize what it will look like when higher-resolution content becomes available more widely, Samsung provided some 8K clips (which weren't HDR-enabled, I would like to note), which of course looked incredibly stunning and picturesque.

The black levels in particular are impressive, noticed most prominently while watching Matt Reeves' "The Batman" and there's no real issues with blooming thanks to the QN900D's Mini-LED backlight. Glare is still a problem, though, which is unfortunate given the forthcoming Samsung S95D and its anti-glare screen, so this 8K monster of a display probably won't be great for a living room with lots of ambient light.

While the picture was pretty remarkable, the audio performance had some rough moments. Watching movies and shows on Hulu and Max required me to crank the volume to 100 to hear all the dialogue. Turning on voice amplification helped, but it was still lackluster for a screen of this caliber.

Samsung being the leader in game streaming on the TV also proved to be one of its clear positives. I played a bit of the Xbox Game Pass catalogue through cloud streaming straight from the QN900D, specifically "Lies of P" and "Forza Horizon 4."

Both games looked and played stunningly and I really don't have any complaints — though "Lies of P" did crash on me, which is to be expected given the early access for the display. I'm fairly confident, especially if you're hard wiring the QN900D, that games will run exceptionally and you won't find much to complain about when you can instantly dive into experiences from the main menu.

Samsung QN900D Neo 8K QLED: Outlook

Despite a number of improvements, I'm not sure the QN900D will break the niche-ness of Samsung's 8K TVs that came before it — but it could be a great display for video enthusiasts who have lots of home-shot native 8K content to work with. I also see this as a potential upgrade for gaming enthusiast with a massive budget.

The only real downsides (besides the lack of native 8K content, of course) was its troubling audio issues. I'm just hoping they were a bug with the new Tizen software, which seems to be the case given tests we ran using Apple Music natively on the display, but it's something we'll certainly be testing extensively in our full review.

So, is this the year that the world should finally embrace 8K? At $4,999 for a 65-inch TV, probably not, but after some discounts later in the year (and hopefully some improvements to America's fiberoptic infrastructure) the QN900D might be that ticket to the ultra-high definition future we've been dreaming about.