What is the deal?
Samsung’s OLED S95C TV is accessible for as much as $1,500 off (that is 33%) through the Uncover Samsung Fall sale occasion. Sale costs begin at $1,899 for the 55-inch model, and the 65-inch and 77-inch S95C fashions are additionally discounted.
ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The Samsung S95C is not the newest OLED mannequin from the corporate, nevertheless it’s nonetheless the most effective for high-contrast, brightly-lit OLED visuals.
- Whereas the S95C would not have the identical matte-treated show as the brand new S95D, it nonetheless sees notable enhancements from the final era like the upper brightness and refresh charge.
- If you’d like the very best OLED TV from Samsung proper now, that is the one to purchase. In any other case, wait out for the S95D, which we’re anticipating to be a prime TV contender in 2024.
Samsung makes a lot of TVs; there’s virtually an providing for each show sort, measurement, and visible choice. However the one which’s all the time stood out to me is its OLED mannequin.
See, OLED panels on TVs, very like the shows on high-end telephones and tablets, are infamous for delivering inky blacks and high-contrast visuals. Naturally, these dim-lit scenes in motion pictures and video games are extra lifelike, true-to-color, and really immersive to observe.
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On the flip aspect, there’s additionally a typical downside with OLED panels, and that is brightness (or lack thereof). Daylight, overhead lamps, and nearly every other exterior supply of luminance can simply blow out the liveliness displayed on an OLED panel.
However that every one modifications with Samsung’s S95C. This, from what I’ve seen, may be the best (and brightest) OLED TV available on the market proper now and is probably going the best choice earlier than producers start to roll out their 2024 fashions later within the 12 months.
How’s the design?
What jumped out at me when first unboxing the S95C was its width, or lack thereof. The Infinity One Design, as Samsung calls it, consists of a panel that measures simply 0.4 inches thick and the corporate’s redesigned One Join Field, receptive to a number of HDMI ports, USB-A, and even Dolby Atmos by way of eArc, now housed on the TV stand itself versus the again of the show.
Collectively, you are a modern and trendy centerpiece that immediately modernizes the atmosphere that it is in.
The unlucky factor is that with the 14.2 x 11.7 x 11.1-inch stand connected, it virtually defeats the aim of the TV’s skinny width since you’ll should accommodate furnishing house for the stand and never the show itself. Subsequently, I like to recommend mounting the S95C as a substitute and lengthening the One Join Field down right into a drawer, which Samsung offers a cable for.
I’ll give Samsung some factors for leaving simply sufficient room between the bottom of the stand and the underside of the TV for a soundbar. For all of the visuals that you simply’re getting with the S95C OLED, the back-firing audio system merely will not reduce it in the event you’re hoping to be engulfed with bass and the rumblings of automobile explosions; you may want a quality soundbar to match. And, ideally, considered one of Samsung’s that helps its surround-sound-like Q-Symphony know-how.
Viewing expertise
As I discussed earlier, the S95C OLED impressed me probably the most with its notably correct visualization of dimmer scenes, notably in some components of Avatar: The Approach of Water. All through the film, there are a number of scenes that happen in forests and darkened environments, but I did not have any hassle distinguishing the Na’vi (the blue folks, for the unfamiliar) from the extraterrestrial props of Pandora.
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Most of that is credited to the “QD” little bit of the S95C’s QD-OLED show. Samsung’s meshed collectively its self-illuminating Quantum Dot know-how with OLED as a way to emit extra exact colours in various ranges of distinction. That is a geeky manner of claiming that whether or not you are watching a brightly-lit scene or a darker one, you can see most, if not all, the colours that the director needed you to see.
The quantity of element that is retained within the darkness and little to no blooming is sort of a feat, nevertheless it’s additionally the TV’s understanding of when to maintain pixels turned off as a substitute of mechanically boosting the publicity or brightness that places the S95C high-up the list for me.
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Typically talking, I discovered the native coloration profile of the S95C somewhat extra jarring than what I used to be used to. My first response when enjoying a 4K pattern was each optimistic and adverse; I beloved how sharp the photographs regarded, however the overload of saturation led me to make a beeline to the show settings to tone issues down.
Adjusting the TV settings is largely made simple due to a carousel of presets for audio output, Image Mode, Bluetooth units, and extra. I say “largely” since you nonetheless should dig into the “Professional Settings” tab to truly fine-tune features like sharpness, coloration, and tint.
And in the event you’re not a fan of Samsung’s AI-based movement smoothening and deblurring, which might work towards motion motion pictures mounted at 24 frames per second (fps), you possibly can alter the 2 in the identical tab.
ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation
The underside line for the Samsung S95C (2023) is that it is the firm’s greatest OLED TV but, and fixes a lot of the points that plagued final 12 months’s mannequin, together with the brightness points and decrease refresh charge.
There’s additionally likelihood you are cross-shopping between the S95C and LG’s G3 OLED. If you happen to worth the flexibleness of TV mounting and freestanding, having a number of enter sources in a tidy, hidden-from-plain-sight compartment, and take into account your self a gamer, then the Samsung is the higher selection.
Samsung sells the S95C for a beginning value of $2,299 for the 55-inch model, with bigger choices accessible. If you happen to’re searching for one of many best OLED TVs available on the market, and do not need to wait till the matte-treated model comes out later this 12 months, that is the mannequin to put money into. Plus, proper now you possibly can seize as much as 33% off in further financial savings due to Samsung’s sale.
The Discover Samsung Fall Sale is going down Monday, September 9 by Sunday, September 15.
Nevertheless, offers are topic to promote out or expire at any time, although ZDNET stays dedicated to discovering, sharing, and updating the very best product offers so that you can rating the very best financial savings.
Our workforce of consultants often checks in on the offers we share to make sure they’re nonetheless dwell and obtainable. We’re sorry in the event you’ve missed out on a deal, however do not fret — we’re continually discovering new possibilities to save lots of and sharing them with you at ZDNET.com.