When comparing Sony X900E 49" (XBR49X900E) vs Samsung Q8C 75" (QN75Q8C), the Slant community recommends Sony X900E 49" (XBR49X900E) for most people. In the question“What are the best TVs?” Sony X900E 49" (XBR49X900E) is ranked 6th while Samsung Q8C 75" (QN75Q8C) is ranked 18th. The most important reason people chose Sony X900E 49" (XBR49X900E) is:
The X900E looks true-to-life with really deep blacks, clear details, and captivating colors. Pictures look realistic with lots of details. There’s great depth to them and you’ll be able to see everything in the picture stand out. Dark scenes are excellent with nice shadow details that are not overly dark to the point where some details get drowned out. This is thanks to really deep black levels, enabled by the panel’s contrast ratio of about 5500:1 which means it can produce blacks that are 5500 times darker than the brightest white. This can be pushed even further to over 6500 with local dimming. The colors are lifelike and accurate even without any calibration by the user. They will look really vibrant even in bright scenes because of the panel’s high peak brightness levels of ~500 nits for SDR & ~550 nits for HDR. Even in a decently lit environment, the X900E’s picture quality can still hold up as the panel is great at handling reflections and it can get bright enough to fight off glare.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Excellent picture quality
The X900E looks true-to-life with really deep blacks, clear details, and captivating colors.
Pictures look realistic with lots of details. There’s great depth to them and you’ll be able to see everything in the picture stand out.
Dark scenes are excellent with nice shadow details that are not overly dark to the point where some details get drowned out. This is thanks to really deep black levels, enabled by the panel’s contrast ratio of about 5500:1 which means it can produce blacks that are 5500 times darker than the brightest white. This can be pushed even further to over 6500 with local dimming.
The colors are lifelike and accurate even without any calibration by the user. They will look really vibrant even in bright scenes because of the panel’s high peak brightness levels of ~500 nits for SDR & ~550 nits for HDR.
Even in a decently lit environment, the X900E’s picture quality can still hold up as the panel is great at handling reflections and it can get bright enough to fight off glare.
Pro Google Assistant is available
The X900E runs on Android TV that has Google Assistant. It has voice commands that are pretty useful as you can open apps with it, ask for the weather, and even turn the TV off.
Pro Excellent at upscaling low-res content
The X900E can upscale 480p, 720p, 1080p content to 4K with no issues. All the details are preserved and most won't notice any imperfections.
Pro Virtually no reflections
The X900E's panel has a semi-gloss finish that significantly reduces the intensity of glare.
Pro Great ecosystem of third-party apps
The X900E runs on Android TV that has access to the Google Play Store. The Play Store has a nice selection of apps, but normal Android apps won't work unless they support Android TV.
Pro Interface is ads-free
There are no ads on the X900E's interface.
Pro Excellent at handling highly dynamic content
The X900E can display fast-paced or rapidly-moving objects very well without any trails behind it. The panel only requires ~11ms to fully change the pixels color, which eliminates virtually all motion blur. It also has a native refresh rate of 120Hz that makes images look smoother.
Pro Great versatility
Apart from being an excellent TV for movies, the X900E is a decent choice for gaming and sports thanks to its decent input lag, low motion blur, great screen uniformity, and a 120 Hz native refresh rate that makes images look smoother.
The input lag of ~35ms is sufficient for most gamers, apart from competitive ones, to stay in sync with what's on the screen. The low motion blur of ~11ms and a refresh rate of 120 Hz ensures that everything will look smooth - fast-moving objects won't leave any trails on the screen.
It’s also viable for watching sports because the panel also has no issues with displaying large, same-color objects on screen, like football fields.
Pro Great at handling glare
Even in a decently lit room, the X900E's picture quality will remain more or less the same as in a dark room.
The colors will still look vibrant because the panel is bright enough to fight off glare. It has peak brightness levels of ~500 nits for SDR & ~550 nits for HDR, and reflections are also significantly reduced by the panel's semi-gloss finish.
Pro Excellent for HDR content
On top of the excellent picture quality, the X900E has everything essential to an immersive HDR experience: decent local dimming, great coverage of HDR colors, and high HDR peak brightness level.
Its excellent black levels are further improved with local dimming, which can make parts of the screen darker when the image calls for it. This results in an increase in overall picture quality with black levels becoming much deeper, so highlights will stand out further.
The panel can reproduce the wide range of colors required for true HDR playback because of its wide color gamut, which covers ~65% of the standard colors required for HDR according to the Rec. 2020 color space. This is considered great for reproducing HDR details, and it can display these colors accurately at different brightness levels.
Along with the the high peak brightness level of ~550 nits, HDR scenes will look stunning and you'll be able to see HDR details really pop.
Pro No image retention problems
Unlike the OLED TVs, it does not suffer from any image retention so you can leave the TV on for long periods without having to worry about pixel damage.
Pro Ideal for console gaming
The TV is fully compatible with all the current generation gaming consoles, including the Xbox One X, PS4 Pro, and Wii U. The Q8C also supports HDR gaming, which will allow you to experience the full range of HDR effects in the latest console games, like Hitman, NBA 2K17, Final Fantasy XV, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and World of Tanks.
Pro Good for watching sports
The Samsung Q8C is an excellent option for sports fans as the TV can display fast and dynamic content very clearly. The clear representation of dynamic content is achieved by the TV’s rapid pixel response time of 10.7 ms which almost eliminates the motion-blur effect. As the pixels can change their colors in nearly 1/100th of a second, fast-moving objects don't leave trails.
Additionally, the Samsung Q8C is especially good for watching outdoor sports, like football, rugby or golf, because the TV has high color uniformity which makes sports fields look more even and consistent.
Pro Has a large panel
The Samsung Q8C comes with a massive 75-inch LED panel. The panel has around 2400 square-inches of viewable area, which is a third more than what the 65-inch competitors offer.
Pro HDR-ready TV
The Samsung Q8C is more than capable of handling HDR content because of the TV’s wide color gamut, high HDR peak brightness, good native contrast ratio, and uniform blacks.
Pro Curved panel gives extra deep experience
The main feature of the Samsung Q8C is its curved panel which can give you an immersive feeling of being surrounded by the TV. However, if you are not a fan of curved TVs, there is a flat, equally priced version of the Samsung Q8C simply called the Samsung Q8.
Pro Eye-catching design
Tthe Samsung Q8C looks great because of its extra thin bezel and brushed metal finish on all exterior parts which make the TV look classy.
Pro Good reflection handling
It's an excellent choice for bright rooms with lots of windows because of the TV’s ability to handle reflections, which is achieved by the aid of the TV’s glossy screen finish and anti-reflective coating.
Pro Accessible inputs
Samsung Q8C comes with the One Connect box which moves all the hard-to-access rear inputs away from the TV. This way, you’ll always have full access to all inputs and outputs of the TV even if it’s mounted on a wall. Additionally, the One Connect box can be used as a USB charging hub.
Pro Stylish remote
The Samsung Q8C comes with an eye-catching remote. The remote is made from metal and has a shiny metal finish. Apart from being stylish, the remote offers some extended functionality, like a microphone and voice control.
Pro Nice-looking picture
Picture-wise, the Samsung Q8C has everything necessary to provide excellent quality.
The TV can reproduce eye-catching bright scenes; especially in HDR mode, where it can sustain up to 700 nits of brightness making its colors look genuinely crisp and vivid. In SDR mode, however, the sustained luminosity drops to 400 nits, which is still higher than what the competitors in the price range of the Q8C offer.
As for dark scenes, the Samsung Q8C has it all sorted as its panel has a relatively high native contrast ratio of 4761:1, combined with well-uniformed blacks; which allows for deep scenes with noticeable brightness shifts among multiple regions of the screen.
Pro Excellent gaming TV
The Samsung Q8C offers smooth and lag-free gaming experience because of its low input lag and well-managed motion blur.
The input lag of the Q8C is 23.6 ms, which means that it takes less than 1/40th of a second for a TV to react to the input from an external source like a click of a button. In terms of input lag, the Samsung Q8C is on par with its closest competitors, including the LG seven series OLED TVs.
The panel has a full pixel response time of 10.7 ms, ensuring that it takes less than 1/100th of a second for its pixels to change their color; thus, even fast-moving objects won’t leave trails on the screen. As a result, the TV has almost negligible motion blur.
Cons
Con Bad sound quality
The sound quality of X900E's built-in speakers is bad. It can't produce much bass and sounds rather flat. There is also noticeable distortion at high volumes.
Con Lacks support for Dolby Vision
The X900E currently only supports the HDR10 format for HDR content.
Con Not suitable for group watching
The X900E has a narrow viewing angle that makes it unsuitable for group watching.
Its picture quality gets worse when viewed from off-center angles. At ≥20° away from the center, the blacks start degrading into greys and colors will start looking dull. Brightness levels start decreasing at ≥50° away from the center.
Con Not good for group watching
Unfortunately, the curved panel of the Samsung Q8C looks good only from a single spot, which is located at the center of a circle made by the curve. If you need a TV that is suitable for group watching, this might not be the right option for you.
Con Narrow viewing angle
The maximum viewing angle of this TV is 14 degrees, making it useless for group watching, as those who view the TV from the sides will see degraded colors and shadows.