Critics concluded that the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED is an awesome TV for gaming and media consumption. Their testing revealed that it sports a splendid native contrast ratio, deep blacks, fast response time, and low input lag. Also, gamers will highly appreciate the presence of HDMI 2.1, along with ALLM and VRR. However, be aware of the poor viewing angles and the absence of Dolby Vision.
PICTURE QUALITY
Resolution 4K
- Critics love the native 4K output the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED 4K TV offers. According to them, its upscaling performance was also excellent, and there were no upscaling artifacts visible in their tests. And that is thanks to the Quantum Processor 4K built into this TV.
Color
- The Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED TV features fantastic color accuracy out of the box, according to both RTings and PCMag. In addition, they also saw a very high color volume with quantum dot technology. As a result, this TV does have a wide color gamut for high dynamic range content.
Black
- Testers adore the deep inky black levels of the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED, thanks to its excellent VA panel. Thus, similar to the Samsung Q60R QLED TV, they highly recommended it for watching HDR movies and TV shows with a high number of dark scenes.
Brightness
- The Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED does have a pretty good peak brightness in its range. Reviewers were able to measure a maximum of 631 nits in a 50% window on this TV. While it’s not enough for delivering a mind-blowing HDR viewing experience, they said that it does get bright enough in order to fight off glare in a bright room.
Contrast
- Experts applauded the high native contrast ratio the VA panel of the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED delivers. They measured a contrast ratio of 7398:1, enabling this TV to provide a fantastic picture quality in dark rooms, just like the older Samsung Q70/Q70T QLED. Movie lovers and gamers will also enjoy using the Samsung Q60R QLED TV.
Dimming
- Being an edge-lit LCD TV, the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED does not support local dimming. As a result, we couldn’t evaluate this TV’s performance in this category further. However, top critics did say that full-array local dimming wouldn’t have helped much here, as this TV already has an excellent dark scene performance.
Gaming
- Professional testers liked gaming on the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED a lot, especially paired with next-gen gaming consoles (e.g., Xbox Series X/S or the PS5). And that is mainly because this TV supports HDMI 2.1, along with VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) and ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) for automatic game mode. In addition, they also found AMD FreeSync Premium Pro to work flawlessly for PC gamers.
HDR
- In terms of HDR standards, the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED features HDR 10, HDR 10+, and HLG.
- However, despite Samsung’s claims of mind-boggling HDR experience with Quantum HDR technology, vetted reviewers noted its HDR performance to just be decent in its range. And that is primarily because they didn’t see much of a difference between HDR and SDR media on this TV. They also noted the absence of Dolby Vision HDR support on this TV.
Motion
- Our pool of certified experts lauded the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED’s motion handling, thanks to its Motion Xcelerator Turbo+ technology. It also features excellent motion smoothing and BFI (Black Frame Insertion) techniques for providing a clearer picture with fast-paced content.
Refresh Rate
- The Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED features a native screen refresh rate of 120Hz, according to Consumer Reports and Cnet. And while playing a game, it can dynamically adjust its screen refresh rate, thanks to VRR. As a result, they highly appreciated the high refresh rate for both day-to-day tasks on PC and gaming, as it can support a 4K 120Hz signal with HDMI 2.1.
Response
- Testers were delighted by the extremely low response time of just 9.5 ms on the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED. In addition, they also measured the input lag of this TV at just 10 ms with the game mode activated.
- But, they still saw some smearing with motion interpolation enabled. And the fast response time makes 24 FPS movies look stuttery.
Viewing Angle
- As the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED sports a VA panel, the viewing angles are understandably not very great. As soon as critics moved as much as 17 degrees off-center, they started losing critical color details. As a result, this TV doesn’t fare well compared to IPS LCDs and OLEDs in this category. Gamers will definitely love the newer Samsung Q70/Q70T QLED that has great viewing angles.
Burn-In
- Thankfully, all TV reviewers reported the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED to not have any permanent display burn-in issues. It didn’t exhibit any image retention in their long-term tests.
DESIGN
Stand
- The Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED comes with a center-mounted stand. Experts reported it to hold the TV well and not take up too much space to accommodate the TV.
- However, they also saw some teetering with the stand installed, as it is pretty cheaply built.
Back
- Pro testers were highly impressed with the fact that the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED has all of its ports side-mounted on its back for easy reachability. Other than that, they also very much liked the plastic etched finish to give it a brushed metallic look. In addition, they found grooves along the back for frustration-free cable management.
Borders
- The four bezels of the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED are only about 1.2 cm in width each. Despite them being slightly thicker than most modern 4K HDR TVs, top critics didn’t see them as much of an issue whatsoever. They even noted that the bezels shouldn’t distract most viewers.
Thickness
- Certified reviewers measured the thickness of the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED at 2.8 cm at its max point. Once wall-mounted, the TV should stay totally flush to the wall, according to them.
FEATURES
Tuner
- The Samsung Q70A QLED has a built-in digital tuner with support for ATSC and QAM. TV experts reported it to function well within its original specifications.
Input
- Testers were ecstatic about the presence of one HDMI 2.1 capable port among the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED’s four HDMI ports. They also noted the presence of two USB 2.0 slots, along with a LAN port.
Remote Control
- The Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED includes a small and sleek remote that critics felt was nice and premium to hold. It even features a mic for invoking built-in voice assistants (e.g., Bixby, Amazon Alexa, and Google Assistant). In addition, the remote also includes three shortcut buttons to Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Samsung TV Plus, respectively, in that exact order.
SMART TV
Apps
- Expert reviewers highly enjoyed the massive library the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED offers, thanks to the Samsung app store. According to them, it doesn’t come jam-packed with much junkware, and all apps run smoothly on the built-in SoC (System on a Chip).
Streaming
- The Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED does come preloaded with a few streaming apps (YouTube, HBO Max, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Samsung TV Plus). And all of them played 4K content fine during experts’ tests with HDR 10, with Amazon Prime Video supporting HDR 10+.
Menu
- Top critics also admired the smoothness Samsung’s 2021 Tizen OS offers on the Q70/Q70A QLED. They also said that the UI is extremely easy to use, and they didn’t notice any bugs or hitches during their time with this TV.
SOUND QUALITY
Audio
- The built-in sound system of the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED isn’t very well balanced. Professional testers expressed their concerns about its loudness, as it can not get loud enough to recreate a convincing surround-sound experience of its own.
Bass
- Reviewers were highly disappointed by the bass performance of the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED’s built-in sound system. They heard little to no bass at all and recommended users to pick up an external sound system with this TV.
Soundstage
- The Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED can achieve a vast soundstage with Dolby Atmos, thanks to its eARC support. If you have a supported Atmos receiver, it can reach new heights in this category.
