I recently bought a new TV, so I'm well aware there are a lot of options out there.

 

UHD, OLED now QLED... in any size you like as long as it's BIG.

 

Of course, for the latest technology, you'll have to pay a premium. Is it worth it? Or will that 42" plasma from 2002 go another round?...

 

 

This photo is perhaps the worst picture ever taken of a Samsung 65" Q9F television.

 

Ironic, given it's easily the most amazing TV that's ever been switched on in my house. The main reason I struggled to take a good shot is sheer size. Latest research claims New Zealanders are buying bigger and bigger tellies, but I'll be honest with you, any bigger than this and I might have to sit in another room to watch it.

 

 

I know there are plenty of people out there with 75" inch screens, and the Q9F even comes in a whopping 88" variant, but unless you actually want to become one with the Matrix, 65" is more than enough on-screen real estate for me.

 

Especially when this year's display is capable of the most vivid colours and brightest... brightness I've ever seen. In fact, before I settled on a display setup I was happy with, the Domestic Manager told me the new TV was hurting her eyes and could I turn it down please!

 

Despite the Q9F's unprecedented ability to melt your retinas from 150 paces, it comes with an equally unprecedented 10 year screen burn warranty which I reckon goes a long way towards justifying the hefty price tag on this telly.

 

It's certainly hard to believe anyone would choose the "Dynamic" picture setting which seems to wind up brightness, colour and contrast so high you could probably use it instead of waterboarding as an "enhanced interrogation technique." I went with the "Movie" setting as a starting point, which was still super clear, but mercifully more muted, then I tweaked the colour, brightness and background lighting a little and ended up with something that was... well, pretty much perfect.

 

Whether it was a rugby game from a stadium lit by half sun/half lights, an episode of Suits with a lot of extreme close-ups or the Rock running around with giant gorillas in Rampage, it all looked so great I kept forgetting to check how good it looked.

 

I could bog you down with phrases like, "Quantam Dot Colour," or list off a series of statistics measuring refresh rates, shimmer, shadow and pixels... except all of that stuff is meaningless tech-nerd jargon. Let me just assure you, once I fiddled around with the settings a bit, this was the best picture I've seen on TV.

 

So other than how the Q9F looks, how does it look?

 

Appearance-wise, it's actually super boring. Which, these days, is exactly what you want; a TV that's as invisible as possible - a neat trick if you can pull it off, especially once your up to the 65"+ zone. As Samsung has done for its last few generations, the Q9F is really in two pieces; the screen and a separate One Connect Box that contains all the bulky bits so the display remains as slim as possible. These days the Clear Connect Cable that joins these two parts together also carries power to the screen so it's slightly thicker, but nowhere near as obvious as a standard power cable and it's the only thing connecting the screen to anything else. You get a 5 metre Clear Connect Cable in the box, or you can upgrade to a 15 metre version if required.

 

The included stand is a wide T-shape that balances the significant weight of the Q9F rather improbably on an angled central arm. This arm has a removable back plate you can run the Clear Connect Cable down to keep it even more hidden that it already is. Not only is the screen skinny, there's the option of a No Gap Wall Mount (self explanatory) and Samsung has taken the "picture-on-the-wall" concept from last year's Frame a step further, introducing a new Ambient Mode. Instead of turning the Q9F off completely, you can display your photos, your choice of a library of supplied images, a clock or - and this is the really clever part - a composite image of the surrounding wall (even patterned wallpaper or bricks) creating the illusion of looking right through the idle television to the wall behind.

 

Great fun, although doesn't work very well in a corner situation as I was using. Oh well.

 

The One Connect Box offers unprecedented connectivity, including 4 HDMI ports, 3 USB, optical and both ethernet and WiFi options. Samsung has changed the design of the remote to make it a bit more user-friendly. While the original One Remote took minimalist form to the extreme, it did become a cumbersome two or three button press exercise to access some of the operations for connected devices. The 2018 version seems slightly more intuitive, although surely it wouldn't kill them to add a dedicated fast-forward and rewind button. You can talk to the remote to get it to do these things too, but that's actually slower and, let's be honest, sillier. On the plus side, the remote controls more things than ever before (even Chromecast content) and still works when the One Connect Box is in a cupboard.

 

The Tizen Operating System will be familiar to previous Samsung owners and it's extremely user-friendly, even for first timers. Accessing settings, apps and connected devices is very straight-forward and you can connect wireless keyboard and mouse for browsing if required. The downside to Tizen is, while it's fast, smooth and reliable, there's only a fraction of the apps available compared to an Android TV but don't worry; Netflix, Lightbox, Neon and Youtube are all there. No ThreeNow though (TV3's on demand app) which seems weird when TVNZ OnDemand is there - perhaps something to consider if you access all your shows online.

 

That leaves the sound... something I'm deeply suspicious of with modern TVs. Initially I found the on-board speaker array performed admirably - I went retro and played Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense, one of my favourite concert movies. Like the picture, there are preset options including Surround and Game mode - but these can also be tweaked. The music was crisp and clear, dialogue nicely separated from background music. However, once I cranked things up with a sound effects heavy flick like Ready Player One, suddenly things were compressed a bit flat, especially in the shooting, exploding, crashing bits.

 

No sir, if I'm spending $7000 on a telly, I need more. Luckily, there is more...

 

 

If you're spending all that money on one of the best TV's in the world, you may as well shell out another $899 for one of the best soundbars, right?

 

(Okay, I can't afford any of them, but if I could, I definitely would)

 

The Samsung HW-N650 is a 5.1 channel soundbar/subwoofer combo that will blow your socks off. It connects quickly and simply - either via HDMI, optical cable or bluetooth. It comes with its own One Remote which you really only need for setup purposes or pairing with other devices like your phone, which you'll want to do because this thing is a fantastic sound system. Once it's up and running, you can control the HW-N650 with the TV remote instead.

 

Apparently Samsung has packed this soundbar with microphones, not just speakers, so it can sense the physical dynamics of the room and create a virtual surround sound experience.

 

Sounds ridiculous. But they might be right.

 

The subwoofer is wireless so you can put it out of the way somewhere. The installation guide recommends placing it along the same wall as the TV, but that's no fun. I put mine behind the couch and let it vibrate my entire body as the Rock crashed buildings into other buildings. There's this crazy part in Rampage when the bad guys transmit a super-low frequency to attract giant, mutant animals to Chicago. Thanks to the HW-N650, the rumbling was so powerful, I nearly turned inside out.

 

Come on, that's fun stuff right there.

 

If you've got the cash, treat yourself to a Q9F, it really is just a few sound deficiencies short of perfect, and you can fix those deficiencies with a great soundbar like the HW-N650. Seriously, that rumble...

 

 

Click here for more information and pricing on the Samsung Q9F QLED TV

 

Click here for more information and pricing on the HW-N650 5.1Ch Soundbar