Samsung 98-Inch QN100B Neo QLED TV

These days, you can easily find a 65-inch TV for less than $1,000 and a 75-inch TV for not much more than that. If you want a 98-inch TV, though, you need to be prepared to shell out big money. The QN100B is a 98-inch LED TV similar to the QN90B, just much larger. Its features and performance are nearly identical to the smaller model, which tops out at 85 inches for $4,999.99. The extra 13 inches for the QN100B cost a lot at a startling $39,999.99. To be fair, a 98-inch TV has about 33% more screen area than an 85-inch TV, but that’s still a big price jump. If money is no object, however, and you want the best and biggest TV available, the QN100B is it.

Huge Screen, Detached Box, Solar Remote

The QN100B's massive screen is framed by a narrow black border with a band of dark metal along the very edge. Only the bottom has a bezel, a tiny strip of glossy gunmetal material. Sitting a comfortable distance from the screen (at least four feet), the dark edges on the panel basically disappear; visually you take in the entire picture with almost no noticeable frame.

The OneConnect box holds all of the TV’s ports, including power. It connects to the TV itself through a single cable, and can be mounted on the back of the TV’s stand or placed on a nearby surface or in a cabinet. The OneConnect box features four HDMI ports (one eARC), three USB ports, an Ethernet port, a 3.5mm EX-Link (RS-232 control system) port, an optical audio output, and an antenna/cable connector on one side. The power cable attaches to an adjacent side.

Samsung includes the same Eco Remote as you get with the QN90B. It’s a narrow, dark gray wand with a circular navigation pad near the top. Power, voice, menu, and Multi-View buttons sit above the pad along with a pinhole microphone. Playback controls, volume and channel rockers, and dedicated service buttons for Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Netflix, and Samsung TV Plus sit below. A solar panel on the flip side of the remote lets you recharge the built-in battery by leaving it under light; you can also charge it directly via the USB-C port on the bottom. It’s a clever remote, but it lacks an input button, which forces you to go to the home screen to switch inputs, which is frustrating.

Samsung Smart TV's Features and Frustrations

Speaking of the home screen, Samsung’s Smart TV platform remains a pain point that mars the company’s otherwise impressive TVs. It’s a feature-rich system, with most major streaming services available apart from Crunchyroll and Twitch. Surprisingly, it supports Apple AirPlay for streaming from iPhones, iPads, and Macs. The TV itself also has a far-field microphone array for using Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, or Samsung’s own Bixby voice assistants.

The issues are in the interface design. It feels overbearing and often buries useful options under too many layers and sub-layers. It's almost as if Samsung wants you to remain at the topmost UI layer rather than dive in to find or change anything. For users who like to tinker with settings, this can get frustrating quickly. Also, the otherwise pleasant Ambient Mode opens up an NFT marketplace when you first access it. Sorry, Samsung, but we're not buying NFT wallpapers for our smart TV.

One of the Brightest—and Darkest—Pictures We've Seen

The Samsung QN100B is a 4K TV with a 120Hz refresh rate. It supports high dynamic range (HDR) content in HDR10, HDR10+, and hybrid log gamma (HLG). Samsung continues to eschew Dolby Vision, an increasingly surprising move considering how popular the format has become for many streaming services.

We test TVs using a Klein K-80 colorimeter, a Murideo SIX-G signal generator, and Portrait Displays’ Calman software. Out of the box, in Movie mode with an SDR signal, the QN100B shows a peak brightness of 391 nits with a full-screen white field and 688 nits with an 18% white field. It also shows a black level of 0 without noticeable light bloom, reflecting the Samsung QN90B’s similarly perfect black levels.

With an HDR signal, the QN100B shows incredible brightness while keeping those perfect black levels. With a full-screen white field, it shows a peak brightness of 1,000 nits, and with an 18% white field that jumps up to 1,782 nits. Like with OLEDs, the QN100B effectively has “infinite” contrast. This is some of the best contrast performance you can find on an LED TV.

The above charts show the QN100B’s color levels with an SDR signal compared against Rec.709 broadcast standards, and with an HDR signal compared against DCI-P3 digital cinema standards. SDR colors are virtually perfect, with nearly every color showing the ideal values (though magenta is a touch undersaturated). HDR colors don’t quite cover the color space, but they’re still quite accurate. Moreover, viewing the high contrast and brightness of the panel helps enhance how the colors look to the eye.

Off-angle viewing is strong, with contrast remaining consistent whether you look at the TV straight-on or nearly from the side. Color fades slightly past about 30 degrees in either direction, but it’s still a solid picture at all angles.

BBC’s Planet Earth II looks fantastic thanks to both the QLED panel and the bright backlight system. The extra light output really makes the already vibrant colors pop, letting the greens of plants and the blues of water stand out while still looking varied and natural. The contrast afforded by the brightness of the TV makes the sunny settings appear lifelike, while objects in the shade can still seem dark.

In the overcast opening scene of Deadpool, Deadpool’s red costume looks well-saturated and balanced, and not remotely faded or purple. In the burning lab scene later in the film, flames are bright with a wide variety of yellows and oranges, and shadow details in the same frame come through clearly while still looking properly dark.

The stark contrast in the party scenes of The Great Gatsby stand out with the QN100B’s strong contrast. The whites of balloons, lights, and shirts look bright while the black of suits and hair in the same frame stay dark. Shadow details like contours and cuts of dark clothes come through clearly in most shots, while not appearing remotely brightened or gray.

Snappy Gaming Performance

The QN100B’s 120Hz screen will please gamers, with its variable fresh rate and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro. Using an HDFury Diva HDMI matrix, we measured an input lag of just 2.2 milliseconds in Game mode. That’s fantastic, and well below the 10ms threshold we use to determine if a TV is among the best for gaming. That said, it's not quite as low as the 1.8ms achieved by the QN90B.

A Big-Screen Splurge

The Samsung QN100B is the best super-big-screen TV you can buy. It’s also extremely expensive, and unless you’re able to spend $40,000 without flinching, you probably aren’t going to buy it. Still, if your pockets run deep and you’re looking for nearly 100 inches of bright, colorful screen (and side-stepping a projection system), this is the TV to get. If you’re looking for a TV with a price that's more down to earth, the Samsung QN90B remains a premium LED TV, with features and performance that nearly match the QN100B. The OLED LG C2 ($3,999.99 for 83 inches) is also an excellent option. It's not nearly as bright as Samsung's LED TVs, but it still has a fantastic picture in a stylish, feature-filled package.