Samsung Q900 85-inch 8K TV hands-on: A beautiful beast

I have seen Samsung's 8K TV and it is good, but not because of all those extra pixels. You're looking at the Q900 Samsung's first and only TV to come to the United States with 8K resolution. It's huge and expensive. 85 inches and 15 grand, to be exact. 85 inch TV from other RAMs cause. Costs less than a third as much, but Samsung justifies the sky high price by building in the most cutting edge tech. So what does AK look like in person? I went to Samsung's lab in New Jersey to take a closer look. AK resolution means the Q900 has over 33 million pixels, compared to 8 million or so on a typical 4K TV. You think tens of millions of extra pixels will make a big difference, but in my side by side comparison with a slightly smaller 4K TV, it was tough to see the AK advantage. I spent an hour or so comparing a bunch of content on the two tv's and the sharpest advantage on the Q900 was subtle at best. Details in the highest quality native 4K material Augmented by Q900's fancy AI upscaling looked very similar between the two. With the lower resolution material Samsung provided, I did see some other differences. And when I look closely at a still image of newsprint, the advantage of AK was easy to see from say, eight feet or closer. But it's hardly a game changer. The Q1-900 did look better overall however, because it's picture was brighter with higher contrast. Samsung says the TV can get up to 4000 nits in dynamic mode and 2000 in movie mode with HDR sources. And that's really bright. Combined with full array local dimming, the Q900 delivered excellent contrast in the stuff that I watch, easily outpacing the comparison TV. Samsung's 8K TV has all the features found on a smaller, lower-resolution QLED models, including the separate, one-connect input box with its fiber-optic umbilicals to the TV. The huge screen is somewhat chunky in profile, thanks to the full array LED back light. But the massive screen and thin edge around the picture lend a look that's sleek and futuristic. The backside is nice too, with legs you can place into the sides, as seen here, or toward the middle, and a slick channel for that connective cable. In my brief time with the Q900, it looked like a strong contender for the best 85-inch TV on the market. And at this price, it better. We're still years away from actual 8K TV shows and movies being common. But if Samsung has its way, the future will arrive sooner than later. The Q-900 is just the first in what's sure to be a long line of 8K TVs going on sale in the next couple years. And if nothing else, I expect the price to go way down.