Samsung Q70C Review: QLED TV that combines good looks with great performance

The Samsung Q70C is a mid-range TV from Samsung that combines good looks with great performance. The device is designed for gamers and sports enthusiasts. However, with its wide array of features, there is sure to be something for almost everyone on this TV. From the Samsung QE55Q70C review, we will try to find out whether it is worth buying Q70C TVs.

Samsung Q70C review

Design

As for the design of the Samsung QE55Q70C TV, this is a surprisingly beautiful model for the middle class. The AirSlim design lives up to its name. With a profile of only 26 mm, it is no different from OLED models. The titanium gray bezel around the screen looks very nice. The black back panel is adorned with a horizontal stripe pattern.

The device stands on a stand of two legs, which provide the TV with good stability. If desired, the TV can be hung on the wall. Thanks to its slim design, Q70C will look very nice on the wall. However, for wall mounting, you will have to additionally purchase a VESA 200 x 200 bracket (for a 55-inch diagonal).

Equipment

The Samsung Q70C TV is equipped with a dual TV tuner for DVB-T2/C/S2 TV and one CI Plus slot. Watching and recording another channel at the same time is possible only if one of the two channels is not encrypted. You can cast YouTube and Netflix to your TV via Google Cast , and there is Airplay 2 support for iOS users .

The media player is good, but it doesn’t support the old Divx or Xvid formats and doesn’t play DTS soundtracks. There are no problems with subtitles and HDR. The TM2280F remote control is small. It uses the minimum number of keys. Due to the small number of keys, the layout is also quite good. In addition to its own Bixby technology, the device has support for voice assistants such as Alexa and Google Assistant.

Smart TV

The Samsung 55Q70C TV is equipped with the Tizen 7.0 operating system. Of the three search functions: Ambient, Media, and Menu, the Media category is the most important. The same function is the main screen that the user gets to when they press the Home button on the remote control.

There are also a number of installed applications that you can customize yourself. The Ambient menu is useful for setting up everything related to this mode. The Menu section has separate icons for all settings for connected devices and MultiView. Samsung offers a lot of special features.

Ambient mode is available from the main screen. This gives the TV a decorative or informative function when you are not watching TV. In the Ambient menu, you can access the Nifty Gateway and the NFT store. With MultiView, you can view two sources at the same time. Using a USB camera, it is possible to video chat through Google Duo.

Sound quality

When it comes to sound quality on the QE55Q70C, the 2 x 10W configuration has never been considered powerful. However, Samsung squeezes the maximum out of it. The sound is quite balanced, with clear voices. The speakers do not give strong distortion. If you bring the volume to the maximum, you can hear how the low frequencies reach their limit.

The Q70C can adjust the settings in real time according to the room acoustics. In general, these are very good results that can be expected in this price category. Samsung TVs support Dolby Atmos , but only from the Q80B series and up. There is no such support in Q70C.

Image quality

The 55Q70C TV doesn’t offer the full picture processing control found in some other brands. The Quantum Processor 4K has very good noise reduction for both random noise and compression noise. The only limitation is that you can only enable or disable this feature.

You’ll have to trust what Samsung thinks is perfect. Fortunately, in most cases this can be relied upon. However, for color bands in smooth transitions, there is scope for image enhancement. The processor provides very good scaling, excellent sharpness and excellent deinterlacing with fast movie and video frame rate detection.

Therefore, moiré effects or jagged edges are relatively rare. The Q70C QLED TV has a 120Hz panel that delivers good motion clarity. The TV uses a 120Hz black frame insert that cannot be turned off. As a result, moving objects sometimes have a distinct double border.

The motion interpolation is very good. In this model, Samsung uses a VA panel , but without local dimming. Unfortunately, the panel has rather poor uniformity, which is especially noticeable in dark images. Contrast reaches about 4000:1. This is a pretty good result, although there are now VA panels that perform even better.

This contrast is not always reflected well in some scenes. The result will be much better if you put “Contrast Enhancement” to the lowest level. Filmmaker Mode is well calibrated, although there is room for improvement.

The gray scale is fairly uniform, but has a slight green tint in the brightest colors. As a result, skin color may sometimes turn yellow. Fortunately, this deviation in the SDR mode is quite small and, most often, goes unnoticed. Overall, the image is more than reasonably sharp with plenty of blacks.

HDR

Anyone who chooses Samsung inevitably forgoes Dolby Vision. Samsung remains fully committed to HDR10+. But since Dolby Vision clearly offers the most content, it’s a loss, especially for a mid-range device like this. After all, Dolby Vision guarantees the best tone mapping.

What can you expect from the Q70C? Peak brightness (in Filmmaker mode) is 580 nits, which is good for this category. The TV always offers this brightness value regardless of the size of the test window. The color gamut peaks at 85% P3 and 61.5% Rec.2020, while there are competitors that go all the way up to 90% P3.

90% is the minimum value for displaying full HDR colors. But the most important thing is how the TV handles its potential. The tone mapping is adequate, but it systematically cuts out some whites. Usually the image looks too bright, although in fact it is mostly visible only in dark tones.

The Q70C is capable of displaying an astonishing amount of blacks. The Filmmaker mode is decently calibrated, but you can sometimes notice a slight green tint in both SDR and HDR. Vibrant colors noticeably suffer from this, and it sometimes gives the image a somewhat muddy look. The VA panel that this TV is equipped with does not have very wide viewing angles. The contrast clearly drops when the viewer is not centered in front of the screen. Colors also become paler.

Game Mode

Four HDMI 2.1 connectors are equipped with all the gaming features: 4K@120, ALLM and VRR (HDMI VRR and AMD Freesync Premium Pro). Input lag is excellent too, with 7.8ms in 2K120 and 12.5ms in 4K60. With the Motion plus settings, you can make the details in fast motion images more visible, requiring additional input lag.

In order for the game bar to appear on the screen, you must press and hold the play / pause button. After that, the user will not only get an overview of the most important gaming parameters such as FPS and VRR, but will also be able to adjust the picture mode or play in 21:9 format (for PC). For HDR games, there is an HGIG compatible mode that shouldn’t use tonemapping, but still does. The HDR gaming mode is also very bright.

Connections

The Samsung QE55Q70C TV is well equipped with four HDMI 2.1 connectors. They offer full bandwidth HDMI 2.1 (48Gbps) and support eARC (on HDMI 3), ALLM, 4K120 and VRR. There are two USB ports, an optical digital audio output, an Ethernet network port and antenna inputs.

There is no 3.5 mm headphone jack, but you can connect a wireless headphone model via Bluetooth 5.2. All connections are directed to the side, so tight wall mounting is not a problem.

Conclusion

Samsung Q70C will suit those who are looking for a QLED TV at a reasonable price. A Samsung 55Q70C TV at this price cannot have as many features as premium models. ask about everything. It lacks not only Dolby Vision, but also Dolby Atmos.

The panel has moderate uniformity, and 120Hz black frame insertion cannot be turned off. Therefore, when panning quickly, a double border often appears. The device delivers excellent peak brightness, decent contrast ratio and good color range for this category.

In SDR, the calibration is excellent. The HDR mode is slightly worse. However, the Samsung Q70C TV has a great trump card. This is excellent image processing that is rated above average. Four HDMI 2.1 connectors, very low input lag, and plenty of features for gamers are quite a lot for a TV at this price point.

Pros

• Very good image processing.
• Decent peak brightness.
• Good contrast.
• Accurate calibration (in SDR).
• Four HDMI 2.1 ports and gaming features.

Cons

• No Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.
• 120Hz black frame insert cannot be disabled.