By Tim Biggs
Samsung has delivered its third generation of OLED TVs, and once again made a surprising leap forward in capabilities, at least, as far as the flagship S95D goes.
Not only is this TV one of the brightest and most colourful models you’ll find on the market, it boasts an anti-glare screen that all but banishes reflections, making it (unusually for an OLED) ideal for bright rooms.
Most TVs are at least somewhat reflective, meaning if you watch them in a bright room you may see yourself in the glass during dark scenes, or you might see the reflections of ceiling lights and windows, no matter what’s happening on-screen.
TV makers have tried to combat this before, but the problem is a matte display tends to dim the image and affect contrast, which undermines the whole reason you generally go for an OLED. This is where Samsung’s latest effort differs.
No more seeing yourself reflected
Seeing the Samsung S95D for the first time is a touch uncanny, as the lack of reflection on the TV is immediately apparent; it looks like matte black metal when it’s turned off. And no matter how dark the scene, or how light your room is, there’s no chance you’ll see a reflection of yourself in this thing. That’s a huge benefit for anyone who watches TV in a room with windows (i.e. practically everybody). Though I wouldn’t say it completely eliminates glare.
The S95D has an anti-glare screen that eliminates reflections.
When subjected to direct light, such as the sun or strong ceiling fixtures, you do get a diffuse reflection that shows up as a vague circle of brightness. This can make especially dark scenes hard to read on the specific part of the screen it’s touching. I even experienced this when the sun hit the wall directly behind the couch, creating a spot that gradually moved across the screen throughout the day.
But realistically, we’re talking about conditions that would make a gritty movie unwatchable on most TVs. On the S95D, it was merely an annoyance in some scenes. And for practically all but the worst-case conditions, there were no reflections whatsoever.
What all this means is that you probably won’t have to run around turning off lights or shutting curtains as you transition from ambient random TV to the serious attention of a movie or video game. And it helps that the S95D is otherwise stunning as well.
By default, the TV is incredibly bright and incredibly vibrant. You’re going to have to tweak it to taste because Samsung has a habit of going overboard with its saturation and motion interpolation (where the image is made to move more smoothly than it should). But after some tweaking the “standard” picture mode is capable of punching all content up to a wonderful HDR picture.
Some of Samsung S95D TV’s AI enhancers and boosts take a few too many liberties with “improving” the image.
There will be some disappointment for movie buffs because Samsung still doesn’t support Dolby Vision, and some of its AI enhancers and boosts take a few too many liberties with “improving” the image. Thankfully the “movie” picture mode is much more even-handed, and for maximum accuracy you can also activate “filmmaker” mode. Just understand that this is quite a bit dimmer than standard, so may still require the blinds to be drawn.
Starting at $4640 for the 55-inch model, but going up to $5800 for the 65-inch and $9281 for the largest 77-inch, the S95D commands a premium even among premium OLEDs. But placed in a bright room, it may just be the best option available.
Do we need an AI TV?
Outside the picture itself, the S95D is a lightly tweaked package of Samsung’s best TV features, as well as some of its familiar issues.
I remain a big fan of the One Connect box, which houses all the processing and ports in a separate device with only one thin cable needing to attach to the display, meaning the TV itself is extraordinarily thin and doesn’t have a tangle of plugs and cords dangling behind it. And despite the TV’s thinness, a 4.2.2 channel sound system makes it compatible with Dolby Atmos mixes, thanks to top-channel speakers above the screen. Separate speakers are still recommended, but the TV alone sounds decently full.
With the One Connect box hidden away, the S95D is extremely thin.
If you add one of Samsung’s high-end soundbars, your TV speakers don’t need to sit idle either, with continued support for Q Symphony. This mode sends most audio to the soundbar but also delegates some of it to the TV’s various speakers, and in practice, you can really hear the difference. Different sounds are clearer and easier to distinguish using Q Symphony than a soundbar alone.
The S95D is also an incredible TV for video games, with full support for HDMI 2.1, making the most of current consoles such as the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X (with the notable exception of Dolby Vision), meaning full 4K at up to a 120Hz variable refresh. If you connect your PC, the TV supports up to 144Hz and can properly display ultra-wide resolutions with black bars, top and bottom, which is rare. If you don’t have a console, it also supports direct streaming of games from Nvidia and Xbox’s cloud services, once you connect a controller.
One significant knock against the S95D is its Tizen operating system, which sports a home screen that is somehow even more cluttered and busy than previous Samsung TVs. You can now add multiple user accounts, which is a nice idea, but the amount of data shown on the home screen is so immense that I imagine most users will avoid it entirely. A big row of viewing suggestions taken from apps, live TV, Samsung’s streaming platform and external devices tops your long list of available apps. And underneath, each app gets its own endless row of suggestions taken from your accounts. Adding screens for smart home control, game streaming and more, it all becomes pretty onerous to navigate.
This being 2024, the TV also comes with a range of AI-powered options that can’t help but announce how AI they are, with only a few of them amounting to anything substantial.
Samsung claims its new generative AI upscaling is a cut above traditional methods that merely duplicate pixels and apply sharpening, and it does do a decent job. However, this will only be useful if you’re watching a DVD or an old recording of a TV broadcast. Anything in HD resolution or higher doesn’t need it, and while watching a good-quality copy of 1979’s Alien I felt it looked worse with all the AI processing on. But to be fair, this is why the processing-free “Movie” and “Filmmaker” modes exist.
An AI object tracker for sound, meanwhile, scans the image to assist in movement effects and upscale the sound mix to Dolby Atmos. It was largely undetectable but at one point, using Q Symphony, a Star Wars blaster bolt did sound as though it had zipped from the top left corner of the TV to just behind my right ear. Of course, some of that will depend on your room layout and whether you have somewhere behind your right ear to place a rear speaker.
Another sound-related processing feature that stood out as useful is the TV’s ability to monitor ambient sound, and jack up the volume of dialogue temporarily if someone turns on a blender or the neighbour starts up an angle grinder. It’s subtle, but it could be enough to keep you from reaching for the remote.
Get news and reviews on technology, gadgets and gaming in our Technology newsletter every Friday. Sign up here.