The Samsung S95D is our TV of the Year – and it's thanks to a mix of old and new tech

Nominating nan Samsung S95D arsenic our TV of nan Year for 2024 shouldn’t present nan aforesaid daze facet arsenic erstwhile nan Samsung S90C OLED TV ended LG’s TV of nan twelvemonth reign successful 2023, but nan logic it earned this title astatine nan TechRadar Choice Awards 2024 is an absorbing mix.

What it came down to was a operation of sensational AI-powered processing and a matte screen. This operation of integer and analog tech gave nan Samsung S95D a leg-up complete nan title and cemented it arsenic 1 of nan best TVs we’ve ever seen.

When I reviewed nan S95D, I was amazed by nan effectiveness of its OLED Glare-Free screen. Our TV testing room astatine TechRadar has harsh overhead lighting to thief america trial reflectivity, but nan S95D made easy activity of it, each but eliminating reflections and surface glare. I could moreover watch The Batman, a notoriously dark-looking movie, successful afloat lighting without being distracted!

Screen reflections person typically been kryptonite for nan best OLED TVs owed to their comparatively debased brightness levels, and while nan caller Micro Lens Array (MLA) tech gives OLEDs for illustration nan LG G4 and Panasonic Z95A a superior boost, we recovered nan S95D and its elemental matte surface complete a stunningly agleam next-gen QD-OLED sheet to beryllium moreover much effective for viewing successful agleam rooms.

As I said, nan matte surface isn’t nan only logic nan S95D won – it’s conscionable 1 large portion of nan TV-of-the-Year-winning pie. Like different TV makers, Samsung talked up AI innovations successful its TVs astatine CES 2024, but nan S95D is 1 that legitimately shows really AI tin amended image quality.

When testing nan S95D, I marveled astatine really realistic textures and specifications looked. Even stitching successful clothing and cracks successful rocks took connected a lifelike value I hadn’t seen earlier connected a TV. Part of this is nan S95D’s QD-OLED show panel, but it’s besides Samsung’s Real Depth Enhancer AI characteristic that contributes to nan TV’s spectacularly elaborate picture.

Other AI features successful nan S95D see 4K AI upscaling, which I recovered during testing moreover worked wonders pinch lower-resolution broadcast TV. Another caller feature, OLED HDR Pro, further boosts brightness, giving HDR highlights successful images a bolder, much vibrant look. In our tests, nan S95D yielded 1,868 nits highest brightness – an complete 35% brightness summation compared pinch its predecessor, nan Samsung S95C, and nan brightest OLED we've tested to date.

Combine each these features pinch nan rich | colour and powerful opposition delivered by nan S95D’s QD-OLED sheet and you get an outstanding TV that looks awesome pinch each root thrown astatine it.

But it isn’t conscionable image value wherever nan S95D delivers. It’s stacked pinch features we look for successful nan best gaming TVs including 4K 144Hz, VRR (with AMD FreeSync Premium Pro), HGiG support and ALLM . It besides comes pinch Samsung’s Gaming Hub built-in, a useful destination for gamers looking to get to nan action correct away.

Rounding everything out, nan S95D’s built-in sound provides meticulous placement acknowledgment to an Object Tracking Sound+ (OTS+) feature. It has a ‘floating’ quality acknowledgment to a clever guidelines design, and its outer One Connect Box houses each connections pinch 1 cablegram connecting to nan TV – perfect for wall-mounting and cablegram management.

The S95D isn’t perfect. I deliberation 1 of nan best soundbars is needed to adhd other audio immersion, and location was immoderate achromatic crush coming successful acheronian scenes erstwhile I tested it, but location really isn't immoderate different measurement I could responsibility Samsung’s apical OLED TV.

I’ve seen each awesome S95D competitor this twelvemonth – nan LG G4, Sony Bravia 9, Panasonic Z95A and Philips OLED909 to sanction a fewer – and while they each person their strengths and are superb TVs, nary gave maine nan aforesaid emotion of seeing a leap guardant that nan S95D did. As I said successful my review, nan Samsung S95D is some “the early of OLED” and “the modular bearer for 2024”. If that doesn’t opportunity TV of nan Year, what does?