Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

It’s tough not to plop down a knee-jerk 5-Star review after being in the presence of the 82 inch version of this television. Its size alone commands your attention, and when you factor in the picture quality (when it’s working), well it’s almost a done deal…EXCEPT for the fact that after having two of these behemoths delivered to my doorstep, I STILL don’t have one that’s working, hence the 2-Star rating: 1 out of 5 because of the poor product quality, with an extra star for the potentially beautiful picture if I ever get a set that works. <Deep breath… > OK…lemme explain. After finally convincing myself to spend north of $3700 (with tax) for the 82 inch version of the Samsung Q70, I experienced not one, but TWO out of the box failures! It’s pretty incomprehensible to me how a global technology company like Samsung can produce defective products right from the factory…what, are we in the 60’s? Oh wait, I forgot about those Galaxy Note 7 and Galaxy Fold phone debacles. Maybe Samsung has a tad too many irons in the fire and is stretched a little thin in the Product Testing Department. Let’s start with the first TV… TV #1: take a close look at the photograph with the red circle; that circle is highlighting a perpetual ‘dark zone’ on the screen that never brightens. The flaw is most obvious on a monochromatic scene, such as sky or fog or snow-covered terrain and sadly, once you see it, you can’t ‘unsee’ it…it’s always there. I can only assume this is a failure of one of the Local Dimming Areas that this model touts as a feature. (NOTE: I took the photo using an ‘Ambient Mode’ screen saver setting to provide a consistent background) After a call to Amazon to arrange a replacement, it was back in the box to be returned. (SIDEBAR: Amazon has been nothing short of amazing throughout this whole ordeal, arranging simultaneous pickups of the bad units and delivery of the replacements. 10-Stars to Amazon Customer Service) Now to the second TV… TV #2: The first thing I did when the replacement TV arrived was to set it to the same monochromatic ‘Ambient Mode’ screen setting I used on the first TV to check for ‘dark zones’…YAY!!!! no dark zones! But wait a sec, what’s that flickering <sigh/groan>??? Every 1 to 3 minutes, there’d be a very fast (less than a second), but very noticeable ‘blip’ on the right side of the screen (I made a Slo-Mo video of the defect, along with a pic of some frame-captures to give you an idea of what I’m talking about…they’re pretty self-explanatory). Once you notice ‘the blip’, you’re just sitting there WAITING for it to happen again, and waiting for that ‘blip’ to show itself completely sucks the enjoyment out of whatever entertainment you might be watching. Further experimentation showed that ‘the blip’ would occur regardless of source: BluRay disc, Streaming, built-in screen savers etc. I tried to update the firmware (not needed) and run the self-diagnostic to no avail. So once again, I’m forced to conclude it’s another hardware failure. For those who think these glitches is nit-picking, did I mention this TV cost $3700? I’m not a videophile complaining about seeing only 999-million of the claimed 1-billion colors this thing can produce. I’m talking about very noticeable picture quality faults that, in my opinion, are inexcusable for a television in this class. And don’t peg me as a Samsung-basher…I also own a 65-inch non-QLED Samsung TV and there’s never been a problem with that one…maybe Samsung just can’t build really big screens dependably. I should just quit now and get my money back, but Amazon is willing to do the swap and replace one last time (again, HUGE KUDOS to Amazon Customer Service); we’ll see what happens with the third TV. Even if it works flawlessly, I can’t see me bumping the Star rating of the review…this kinda stuff just shouldn’t happen on a $3700 TV. But I can certainly see myself going to 1-Star if I get another lemon…stay tuned.