Anti-Glare vs. Glossy OLED Samsung S95D 'Glare-Free' Treatment Tested

The Samsung S95D TV is a significant step forward for the company, and it's clear that they've put a lot of thought into its features and design.

One of the key features of the S95D is its "glare-free" technology, which is supposed to make it easier on the eyes. However, when comparing it side by side with other TVs, including the S95D's OLED cousin, the LG G4, the difference is significantly not significant enough for most people to notice. This is because there is a threshold beyond which differences in glare-free technology are considered not perceivable to the human eye.

For those who want the brightest and most feature-rich Samsung TV experience, the company offers its QD OLED series, but this comes at a cost. The S95D represents a compromise between brightness and glare-free performance, making it more accessible to a wider audience. This is likely why Samsung decided to create the S95D, as it reaches a new market of customers who may not have previously considered buying an OLED TV due to its association with dark, mirror-like screens.

However, for those who want the absolute brightest and most feature-rich experience, they will still need to consider other options, such as the LG G4 or Sony A95L. These TVs offer more advanced features and higher brightness levels, but at a higher price point.

When evaluating the S95D's performance, one area that stands out is its potential to cause eye strain in bright environments. This is due to a phenomenon known as "corona" or "halo" around bright objects on dark backgrounds, which can be distracting and uncomfortable to watch. To mitigate this issue, viewers are advised to try a simple test: put up an image with a bright object on a black background, then slowly cover up the bright portion of the image and watch as the corona disappears.

Ultimately, the S95D is not perfect, but it's a significant step forward for Samsung in terms of making OLED picture quality more accessible to a wider audience. By offering a compromise between brightness and glare-free performance, the company has opened up new possibilities for customers who may not have previously considered buying an OLED TV.

As we move on from the S95D, it's worth noting that the future of Samsung's TVs is likely to be shaped by consumer demand and feedback. If the S95D proves popular with viewers, it's likely that Samsung will continue to develop its QD OLED technology in this direction. However, if the TV fails to meet expectations, it's possible that Samsung may revisit their glossy screen options or explore alternative technologies altogether.

In any case, the creation of the S95D represents a significant development for Samsung and the wider TV industry as a whole. By offering a more accessible and affordable OLED experience, the company has opened up new possibilities for customers and expanded its market reach. As we look to the future, it's clear that the S95D will play an important role in shaping Samsung's TV strategy and pushing the boundaries of what is possible in terms of picture quality and technology.

For those who want to see more content like this, be sure to check out our other videos on topics such as TV reviews and product comparisons. We also have a range of articles and guides available on the latest tech trends and innovations, so be sure to check them out as well.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enFrom the moment the Samsung S95D OLED made its first appearance at CES 2024 I've called  its anti-glare anti-reflection technology a game changer for OLED TVs but the moment those words  left my mouth concerns that this technology might somehow degrade this OLED TV's picture  quality started pouring into comment sections and discussion forums across the web since then  I've seen the S95D in several settings but I've always said I would reserve my  final opinion until such a time that I had this TV here in our studio where I could  run an exhaustive slate of tests and film the results and all the while I've said I  was prepared to be proven wrong well that time has come so was I wrong is the S95D's  unique ambient light abatement technology a net positive or a net negative we're about to findout welcome back everyone I'm Caleb Denison and I'm thrilled to bring you my take on Samsung's  anti-glare technology and its implication on Samsung's 2024 Flagship OLED TV the S95D but  before we dive in there are a couple of things that I need you to know the first thing is this  is perhaps the most challenging video we have ever shot at Digital Trends at least from the  perspective of trying to show you through our camera and YouTube's compression and whatever it  is you are watching this video on what it is that we see here and I got to tell you we are putting  our best efforts forward here employing all the tricks we've learned over the past 13 years or so  of shooting TVs but at the end of the day we are constrained by the physics and mechanics  involved in this situation it is already extremely difficult to capture with the camera something  that at least represents what we see with our eyes but this this job has been Next Level challenging  and the fact of the matter is while this video will still be highly valuable I think toward  understanding what this TV's anti-glare Tech does and doesn't do to the TV's picture quality  you will not be able to see what we see here to see what this TV does you have to see it in  person that's just facts the other thing I need you to know is that I'm making this video ahead  of my full review of this TV because and this is a little spoiler the discussion around this TV's  anti-glare is a distraction from the appraisal of the TV's overall performance were I to try  to include this video's narrative in the full review it would blow the video up to like well  over 35 minutes and while I love that you love to watch me we have to draw the line somewhere and  I draw the line at a 25-minute TV review at least I try so with that stuff in mind let's dig in now  let's start with a little context why does this TV exist well for as long as OLED TVs have existed  there have been two consistent complaints that have prevented them from being a great candidate  for nearly any consumer with the means to buy them one they struggled to get bright enough to compete  with LED back lit LCD TVs and two they struggle to maintain their native contrast in bright rooms due  to a combination of brightness limitations and reflections of ambient Light Elements caused in  part by the glass used in the panels well the last couple of years have seen Flagship OLED TVs with  brightness power that steps toe to- Toe with all but the most intensely bright LCD TVs so that's  problem one addressed all that was left was to deal with the reflectivity issues to be clear  OLED TVs have seen several different types of anti-glare and anti-reflection efforts over  the past few years but while those efforts were helpful toward preventing the TVs from essentially  functioning like a dark mirror in your room none of them managed to control Reflections and glare  well enough for those OLED TVs to safely be referred to as so-called bright room TVs that  is to say if you had an OLED TV in your living room and that living room had large windows or  skylight lights with undrawn shades letting in generous amounts of light or even if you had  lamps or other light fixtures in the room that were positioned in a way that the TV would catch  them and reflect their light back at you the OLED TV's otherwise gorgeous picture quality  was significantly curtailed that's why the S95D was so exciting when it was announced Samsung  had the S95D positioned in a very convincing demonstration space at CES sat right next to  their own 95c from the year before showing folks how the light coming through an adjacent window  was essentially a nonissue it seemed that the S95D would be the first OLED TV that could maintain  its contrast and color even in harsh environments then the concern started pouring in folks started  talking about matte screens and loss of luster and compromised baseline black levels and to an extent  I might be responsible for at least some of that concern cuz I raised questions like that in my  initial coverage but since then I've seen the S95D in a number of environments and have held fast my  position that the S95D's performance was pretty much awesome everywhere I saw it anyway enough  about the history and context let's get down to Brass tax the S 95d handles inbound light  by scattering it it's not a black hole it can't absorb light and just make it go away as cool  as that would be but the effect it has on light is as close to that as we've ever seen still in  the end the light is being scattered so instead of seeing mirrorlike reflection of Lights where  even though the intensity of the light is reduced you can still make out a clear image of a light  bulb or some other objects in your room the S95D scatters that light so that at worst what you get  is a gentle you know what I got to be careful of the words that I use here because it isn't a  gentle glow exactly it isn't really a gentle Haze either it's I don't know I'm rarely at a loss for  words but right now I am let's try something else check out our studio light here this is just the  raw light itself and we've got it dimmed down pretty well actually it's at 1% about the lowest  it gets without actually being off but there is still a very clear point source of light now we're  not going to adjust the brightness of the light we're just going to diffuse it using this soft  box and now you can tell the studio light is still on but it's significantly less intense that's what  the S95D does with ambient light it scatters and diffuses it so significantly the intensity  is reduced down to a level where it's really easy to just ignore like you can allow yourself to get  absorbed into the content now because the ambient light is now no longer a piercing distraction and  I think that's a key point that not enough reviewers are talking about the degree to  which our minds are able to filter something out is directly affected by how sharp or intense that  thing is you can forget that you have a low-grade dull headache if you get busy enough but a sharp  stabbing pain is always going to distract you your brain can filter out a low-grade dull wash of  air sound or droning low frequency sound but a sharp piercing sound is not something that  you can ignore right like the S95D takes light and dulls it down such that your mind can pretty  much just ignore its presence now if you are actively looking for a problem you will always  see it but most folks aren't actively looking for a problem when they watch TV they're getting into  the content trying to be transported to another place in time what's distracting is when something  pierces through that veneer the S95D doesn't allow that piercing to happen now I've heard some folks  talking about how the S95D's light abatement performance really kind of depends on what kind  of light uh you're talking about the location of the light all those different scenarios and I'm  sorry but I just don't agree with that I put a wide array of varying intensity of Lights  in different color temperatures coming from just about every conceivable angle in this space I even  opened up this massive garage door and flooded this side of the studio with sunlight there  wasn't a single scenario not one in which the S 95d wasn't more pleasant to watch than the TV  next to it again this is solely from a glare and reflection perspective there are a host of other  reasons I might prefer to watch the LG G4 here but we'll leave that for the review and versus videos  so that's my read on what the TV does with light coming at it what about what happens with the  light coming from it look I'm going to make this as simple as I can 99.6% of viewers would never be  able to describe the difference between the bright highlight intensity the luster or wetness or Sheen  of the image coming from the S95D versus say the LG G4 unless they were comparing them side by side  the difference is significantly not significant enough it's like what I talk about in the NIT  nerd section of my reviews where color accuracy errors less than three are considered to be not  perceivable to the human eye right there is a threshold and the differences between these two  TVs with regard to factors considered relative to the S95D so-called glare-free technology  they don't pass that Threshold at least not to the vast majority of humans on this planet you sit  1,000 people down in front of this TV and 99,999 of them are going to be like damn that is an  awesome looking TV now I've also heard folks talk about there being a Corona or halo around bright  objects on dark backgrounds folks that's your eyes it's the same as when you're driving at night  right headlights from oncoming Vehicles don't look like pinpoints of light they look a wash and the  way your retina captures that light causes a glow around the intense light source actually camera  lenses do the same it's like lens flare but it's your eyes you want to check put up an image where  you have something bright right up on a black background like this then slowly cover up the  bright portion of the image and watch the corona disappear now look I'm not saying the S95D is for  everyone some folks just like glossy screens and and prefer those some folks aren't ever going to  watch their TV in anything other than a darkened room and don't need this anti-glare technology at  all folks if that's you you don't need to buy the S95D might I interest you then in an LG G4 perhaps  or even a Sony A95L but for folks whose only reason for not buying an OLED in the past has been  the frustration that comes with having what is essentially a dark mirror on their wall the S95D  is for them it's a huge potential audience of customers for Samsung it reaches a new market  and for that reason I just don't think you can successfully argue that the creation of the S95D  was a bad business move on Samsung's part now to those of you who want the brightest OLED Samsung  makes because you want the Samsung you want the Tizen you want the brightest Samsung Tizen QD  OLED well for you guys in that and I don't mean this to be insulting at all but for those of you  in that relatively tiny club I'm sorry Samsung did not have you in mind when making the S95D and  I'm afraid that they will never make a separate glossy skew because that would be a poor business  decision in the end the money is going to cast the final vote on whether Samsung does this again if  lots of people buy the S95D because they love what it does then Samsung is going to keep doing this  if this team ends up being a flop well first of all let's hope it's not because of misinformation  or confusion but if folks don't love it then I reckon Samsung won't be doing it in a year or  two and glossy Flagship QD OLEDs from Samsung will be a thing again in the meantime I think  this was a good idea it's not a perfect TV but anything that makes OLED picture quality more  accessible to folks is a smart move in my book now it's time to turn our attention to its merits as  an OLED TV in general and for that well that's going to be the next TV review video that you  see on this channel thanks so much for watching everyone what do you think let me know down in the  comments I'm sure many of you already have please consider liking and subscribing it really helps us  out I'll see you on the next one and until then here's two other videos I think you might like\n"