Samsung Starts to Take Pre-Orders on 85-Inch Q900 8K UHDTV
by Anton Shilov on October 8, 2018 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Monitors
- Samsung
- UHD
- 8K
- Samsung Q900
Samsung this month has started to take pre-orders on its first commercial 8K UHDTV, the Q900, which sports a 7680×4320 resolution. Besides the sheer number of pixels that the Samsung Q900-series UHDTV can display, the family features a plethora of premium technologies from the manufacturer, including QLED FALD-like backlighting, a proprietary 8K upscaling technology, support for a varity of HDR formats, and so on. The price per unit? Well, it is on par with a new Ford Fiesta in the U.S.
Samsung’s Q900-series 8K UHDTV lineup will include 65, 75, 82, and 85 inch models. The first product that the manufacturer plans to make available later this month is the flagship 85-inch (Q85Q900RA) SKU aimed at the most demanding users who are concerned about the quality and experience in the first place.
Samsung's Q900RA UHDTVs are based on the company’s panels, which are backed by a quantum dot-enhanced LED backlight that is also capable of FALD-like operation, which Samsung dubs Direct Full Array Elite technology. The televisions feature a peak brightness of 4000 nits, which is the maximum brightness at which HDR content is mastered today. Speaking of HDR, the Q900-series officially supports HDR10, HDR10+, and HLG formats, but not Dolby Vision (at least for now). As for color gamut, the Q900-series can reproduce 100% of the DCI-P3 space.
Serving as the brains of Samsung’s Q900RA televisions is the company’s Quantum Processor 8K, which is responsible for all decoding, upscaling, and other operations. One of the features of the SoC that Samsung is especially proud of is its proprietary 8K AI Upscaling technology, which is designed to enhance the quality of digital content to panel’s native resolution (does not work with PCs, games, analogue content, etc.). The only thing that Samsung explains about the tech is that it uses “AI-based formulas” for “intelligent upscaling”. The SoC is also apparently able to interpolate content to 240 FPS.
When it comes to audio output capabilities, Samsung’s 85-inch Q900RA UHDTV is equipped with a 60-W 4.2-channel audio subsystem.
Moving on to connectivity. Like all ultra-premium UHDTVs from Samsung, the Q900-series uses the company’s optical One Invisible Connection to the One Connect Box, which has all the physical inputs. In the case of the Q900, the box has four HDMI headers, three USB ports, and one LAN connector. In addition, the Q900-series supports 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
Samsung’s 85-inch Q900RA QLED Smart UHD TV (QN85Q900RAFXZA) can be pre-ordered now for $14,999.99 (by contrast, the Fiesta starts at $14,260). The manufacturer will start shipments of the product on the last week of October, which starts on the 28th.
Related Reading:
- Samsung’s One Invisible Connection: 75 Gbps and 230W in a Ultra Thin Cable
- Sharp’s 8K UHD TV Available in Japan, Listed in Europe for €11,899
- Sharp Announces 2nd Gen 8K UHD TVs at IFA
- AUO to Ship 8K UHD TV Panels in Coming Months
- Philips Demos 328P8K: 8K UHD LCD with Webcam, Docking, Coming in 2018
- Dell’s 32-inch 8K UP3218K Display Now For Sale: Check Your Wallet
Source: Samsung
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twtech - Monday, October 8, 2018 - link
Also even 85" is a bit too small for 8K. I think you need 100"+, maybe 120"+ for 8k to really start to make any perceptible difference at all. So TV set manufacturers should probably focus more on making bigger TVs first, and then that will create a market for 8K+ resolutions.Senectus - Monday, October 8, 2018 - link
Yes, exactly.85" is indeed too small for an 8K TV and it's also too big for an 8K monitor... so it suits neither purpose.
8K would be great for a 120" TV or a 46" HiDPI PC monitor.
Beaver M. - Monday, October 8, 2018 - link
More like 140", at average couch distance.p1esk - Monday, October 8, 2018 - link
Target customers for this TV will probably be able to afford a newer and better model whenever it comes out. Future proofing is less of a concern for them.Lolimaster - Monday, October 8, 2018 - link
To this TV feature the new miniLED backlight?miniLED is supposed to bring FALD zones in the range of 2000-50,000, making it the final evolution of non-self emissive displays.
philehidiot - Monday, October 8, 2018 - link
Did they fix the problems with early quantum dot displays where they had a blueish tinge around the edge?Xajel - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
I suppose this should support FreeSync 2 also.But that One Box Connect seems to lack other features like Optical Audio In/Out (Thought HDMI with ARC can handle it also), And while HDMI 2.1 can handle DRR now, I really hope to see at least one DP port in that box also. Not a necessary thing but at 15K, you should have more options at least.
Zoolook - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
I'm not buying any new TV's until they have 2.1, too much new features and bandwidth on the table, and until mini and microleds make their appearance my next TV will be OLED.g25host25its - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
why even bother with 8K .. some studios (content creators) now won't even create "true" 4K discs and they have the nerve to sell it as a "4K" disc .. talk about "fake news" .. these studios have no problem sleeping at night selling their "fake 4K" as "4K" to the consumers .. everyone WAKEUP!! .. refuse to buy anything "fake 4K" .. otherwise .. when 8K is the norm .. why would the content creators make "true 8K" (think about the amount of data that a true 8K would require .. they can barely fit a true 4K on a disc right now) .. if the consumers buy "fake 4K" now .. they will surely buy "fake 8K" later .. why bother making "true 8K" discs?!!