Re: Potentially low MPRT on many 4K and 8K Samsung QLED TVs (lots of RTINGS BFI Test image comparisons)
Posted: 22 Jul 2025, 07:29
Sadly I do not have any real experience with Panasonic plasmas.
I have seen a video where a guy lag tested several models, and sadly some of the newer better ones had more lag, to a near game-breaking level.
The Kuro has noticeable lag but not the worse, and consistent between picture modes, resolutions and even digital vs analog outputs.
If someone out there confirmed that there is a high-end, 3D compatible plasma that has acceptable input lag, I would be really tempted to hunt one down, but I think the top dog ZT60 is laggy.
I hear ya on dunking down on "regular" LCDs.
Sample and hold is terrible because even at very high refresh you need an unrealistic amount of fps for it to make a difference.
And whenever we get 960hz panels and perfect frame generation/CRT simulation, then OLED is better in nearly every way.
Also, blacks were indeed terrible before full-array local dimming. And zone count and dimming algorithms were not always that great.
It is a fact however that, thanks to Mini-LED, great strides have been achieved which justify a reappraisal of LCD tech.
But IMO, only if the backlight strobing mode helps it approach CRT at 60hz and more.
And again the one definite advantage LCD has over the best OLED, full screen brightness on a 100% white window, helps a lot making the BFI image look good.
What Samsung is bringing to the table goes beyond a simple "bang for bucks" re-evaluation.
The problem being that OLEDs will likely always have a huge difference between their peak (small window) brightness and their fullscreen brightness (which, sustained, probably has undefeatable auto-dimming).
Let's imaging LG or Samsung magically brought back rolling-scan BFI on their current high end models, that maybe have 400nits on a 100% white screen.
Now let's say they have there BFI high on a 10% window to compete with CRT (resulting in 1.66ms MPRT/600hz equivalent at 60hz). You would only have a 40nits white screen left.
It would look basically like on the CX/GX actually (with a ~140nits white screen max brightness and BFI High on a 25% window => ~35nits, 4.16ms MPRT/240hz equivalent).
At equal motion clarity, my QN90D will look much better in bright scenes than these hypothetical OLEDs. And I think it should matter as much as when we compare OLED favorably against LCD because of their black levels.
And regarding 43"/50" models, as I said earlier, I know they are dimmer. I don't know by how much, haven't seen objective tests, I heard the peak brightness was around ~1400nits whereas RTINGS clocked the 65" model at ~2000nits.
I would be tempted by the 43" model if I had a bigger desk space, even at lower brightness the pros would outweigh the cons when compared to even the best competitive gaming LCDs.
I don't know if the loss in fullscreen brightness is proportional to the one seen in peak brightness, and to be clear fullscreen brightness is most relevant to me when it comes to BFI performance: The lower the brightness, the closer you get to CRT, if your fullscreen image get too dim, you cannot practically improve motion clarity as on a bright model.
So, to secure your best chance of having the full performance seen on the RTINGS review, I would play it safe and get the 55" version rather than the 50".
As for flicker, it's subjective I guess. It is always more brutal on a big bright white screen, much less so in real content.
I'm not sure it bothers me more than on the LGs (though again, taking into account the massive leap in brightness), but both are worse than CRT and Plasma is the least bothersome (even forcing a 48hz mode on my Kuro makes little difference).
But I wanna reiterate that on Samsung LCDs specifically, you have low-lag interpolation (Game Motion Plus on, Mode 2, De-Blur 10) which turns your 60hz signal into 120hz, which you can subsequently improve by lowering brightness. And 120hz flicker is near imperceptible.
If you are flicker sensitive, I would dare say it is THE way to go for you.
Regarding lag, I'll quote the relevant figures from RTINGS, I don't have a time sleuth:
4k @ 60Hz 11.7 ms
4k @ 60Hz Outside Game Mode 78.6 ms
4k @ 60Hz With Interpolation 25.3 ms (To me, I interpret this as Game Mode, Mode 2, De-Blur Max - 120hz equivalent)
4k @ 120Hz 7.0 ms
4k @ Max Refresh Rate 6.2 ms (144hz in this case)
I'm surprised to hear Motion Pro more than doubles lag on the OLED though, are you 100% about this? In any case, once Game Mode is engaged we're always dealing with tolerable numbers in both cases.
I have seen a video where a guy lag tested several models, and sadly some of the newer better ones had more lag, to a near game-breaking level.
The Kuro has noticeable lag but not the worse, and consistent between picture modes, resolutions and even digital vs analog outputs.
If someone out there confirmed that there is a high-end, 3D compatible plasma that has acceptable input lag, I would be really tempted to hunt one down, but I think the top dog ZT60 is laggy.
I hear ya on dunking down on "regular" LCDs.
Sample and hold is terrible because even at very high refresh you need an unrealistic amount of fps for it to make a difference.
And whenever we get 960hz panels and perfect frame generation/CRT simulation, then OLED is better in nearly every way.
Also, blacks were indeed terrible before full-array local dimming. And zone count and dimming algorithms were not always that great.
It is a fact however that, thanks to Mini-LED, great strides have been achieved which justify a reappraisal of LCD tech.
But IMO, only if the backlight strobing mode helps it approach CRT at 60hz and more.
And again the one definite advantage LCD has over the best OLED, full screen brightness on a 100% white window, helps a lot making the BFI image look good.
What Samsung is bringing to the table goes beyond a simple "bang for bucks" re-evaluation.
The problem being that OLEDs will likely always have a huge difference between their peak (small window) brightness and their fullscreen brightness (which, sustained, probably has undefeatable auto-dimming).
Let's imaging LG or Samsung magically brought back rolling-scan BFI on their current high end models, that maybe have 400nits on a 100% white screen.
Now let's say they have there BFI high on a 10% window to compete with CRT (resulting in 1.66ms MPRT/600hz equivalent at 60hz). You would only have a 40nits white screen left.
It would look basically like on the CX/GX actually (with a ~140nits white screen max brightness and BFI High on a 25% window => ~35nits, 4.16ms MPRT/240hz equivalent).
At equal motion clarity, my QN90D will look much better in bright scenes than these hypothetical OLEDs. And I think it should matter as much as when we compare OLED favorably against LCD because of their black levels.
And regarding 43"/50" models, as I said earlier, I know they are dimmer. I don't know by how much, haven't seen objective tests, I heard the peak brightness was around ~1400nits whereas RTINGS clocked the 65" model at ~2000nits.
I would be tempted by the 43" model if I had a bigger desk space, even at lower brightness the pros would outweigh the cons when compared to even the best competitive gaming LCDs.
I don't know if the loss in fullscreen brightness is proportional to the one seen in peak brightness, and to be clear fullscreen brightness is most relevant to me when it comes to BFI performance: The lower the brightness, the closer you get to CRT, if your fullscreen image get too dim, you cannot practically improve motion clarity as on a bright model.
So, to secure your best chance of having the full performance seen on the RTINGS review, I would play it safe and get the 55" version rather than the 50".
As for flicker, it's subjective I guess. It is always more brutal on a big bright white screen, much less so in real content.
I'm not sure it bothers me more than on the LGs (though again, taking into account the massive leap in brightness), but both are worse than CRT and Plasma is the least bothersome (even forcing a 48hz mode on my Kuro makes little difference).
But I wanna reiterate that on Samsung LCDs specifically, you have low-lag interpolation (Game Motion Plus on, Mode 2, De-Blur 10) which turns your 60hz signal into 120hz, which you can subsequently improve by lowering brightness. And 120hz flicker is near imperceptible.
If you are flicker sensitive, I would dare say it is THE way to go for you.
Regarding lag, I'll quote the relevant figures from RTINGS, I don't have a time sleuth:
4k @ 60Hz 11.7 ms
4k @ 60Hz Outside Game Mode 78.6 ms
4k @ 60Hz With Interpolation 25.3 ms (To me, I interpret this as Game Mode, Mode 2, De-Blur Max - 120hz equivalent)
4k @ 120Hz 7.0 ms
4k @ Max Refresh Rate 6.2 ms (144hz in this case)
I'm surprised to hear Motion Pro more than doubles lag on the OLED though, are you 100% about this? In any case, once Game Mode is engaged we're always dealing with tolerable numbers in both cases.
