Quantum Dot All-Star

TVs ARE cheaper than ever. Really.

- Thomas J. Norton

When you see a set priced at $3,500 and your first reaction is a gag reflex, ponder this: a CRT color TV in 1970 might well have cost you $350. That would be a simple tabletop model offering glorious 480i standard-definition resolution on a 19-inch screen, and it would cost $2,400 in today’s money. Current-day premium sets do command similarly high prices, but they now offer more features and better performance than ever before. The 65-inch Samsung QN65Q90R reviewed here has a suggested retail price of $3,500, though it can be found online for significantly less than that. There are also 75- and 82-inch Q90R series models, the latter retailing for $6,500. One couldn’t even dream of viewing with a 65-inch set in 1970, much less an 82-incher.

FEATURES

The Q90R series swaps the left and right feet of Samsung’s step-down Q80R model (reviewed in June/July and also at soundandvision.com) for a center-mounted stand. With a thin, black bezel and attractively textured back, it’s not cosmetically dissimilar from many of its competitors, but one feature does set it apart: Samsung’s One-Connect box. Exclusive to the Q90R series, this external brickshaped device contains all of the set’s inputs and outputs, along with the power connection. The box links to the set via a single thin, nearly invisible, fiber-optic cable, allowing for a wall mount without a forest of wires running under the TV. The video inputs are limited to HDMI, with no component- or composite-video connections.