Samsung S85H OLED Series 77"

The Samsung S85H is a 77-inch OLED with a great panel and 120Hz gaming support, but its HDR brightness falls behind competitors. At $1,800, you're paying OLED prices without getting the full HDR experience. It's a solid pick for dark rooms and SDR content, but LG and Sony offer better picture quality for similar money.

The display itself is the star. At 77 inches with a 4K OLED panel, you're getting per-pixel lighting, which means true blacks and no blooming around bright objects. Our database puts the display quality in the 97th percentile for this category, so the panel fundamentals are excellent. The Motion Xcelerator 120Hz keeps fast action smooth, and combined with FreeSync Premium, gaming feels responsive without tearing.

But here's the thing. The picture quality score lands at the 36th percentile, and HDR sits at the 34th percentile. That's not a typo. The panel is great, but the brightness and HDR processing don't keep up with the best OLEDs out there. If you're in a bright room or you watch a lot of HDR content with bright highlights, you'll notice this thing doesn't punch as hard as an LG OLED evo or Sony BRAVIA 9. The Auto HDR Remastering helps with SDR content, but it can't add peak brightness the panel doesn't have.

The LG OLED evo C5 is the most direct competitor. LG's OLED panels have consistently led in brightness and HDR handling, and the C5 continues that. You'll get better HDR pop and a brighter overall image. The trade-off is LG's webOS versus Samsung's Tizen, which is more of a preference thing than a clear win either way.

The Sony BRAVIA 9 takes a different approach with a brighter panel and Sony's excellent processing. It costs more, but if you watch a lot of movies and care about accurate HDR, Sony's the benchmark. The TCL QM8K and Hisense U8 are the value plays. They're not OLED, but their mini-LED panels get much brighter, and they cost less. If you're in a bright room, those might actually look better than the S85H despite the OLED label.

At $1,800 for a 77-inch OLED, the S85H looks like a deal on paper. Big OLEDs usually cost more. But the value story gets complicated when you look at what the competition offers at similar prices. The LG OLED evo C5 and Sony BRAVIA 9 both deliver better HDR performance and brighter panels. You're not saving enough here to justify the brightness gap.

The bundle with the Allstate protection plan adds some peace of mind, but that's a retailer promotion, not a Samsung thing. If you can find this TV on sale below $1,500, the value equation shifts. At full price, you're paying OLED money for a panel that doesn't fully deliver the OLED HDR experience.

The Samsung S85H is a 77-inch OLED TV that sits in a weird spot in Samsung's lineup. It's got the OLED panel people want, the size people want, and a price that's aggressive for a screen this big. But Samsung made some choices here that you'll want to understand before you swipe a card. This isn't the flagship S95H, and the corners cut show up in specific places.

Who's this for? Someone who wants a massive OLED for a living room or home theater, watches a mix of streaming content and sports, and maybe games on a console. The 120Hz panel and FreeSync Premium support mean it handles a PS5 or Xbox Series X without breaking a sweat. And the smart home crowd gets solid integration with Alexa, Google Assistant, and Bixby built in.

The interesting part is what Samsung packed into the processing side. Auto HDR Remastering and 4K AI Upscaling Pro are doing real work here. You're getting Samsung's picture processing brain applied to a panel that's not quite as bright as their top-tier OLEDs. Whether that trade-off works for you depends on your room and your content habits.

Skip the S85H if you watch a lot of HDR content or your room has significant ambient light. The HDR brightness just doesn't compete with the LG OLED evo C5 or Sony BRAVIA 9, and you'll notice it in bright scenes. If you're a movie buff who cares about accurate HDR, Sony's processing is worth the extra money.

Also skip it if you're on a tighter budget. The TCL QM8K and Hisense U8 deliver brighter images for less money, even if they're not OLED. And if you don't need 77 inches, stepping down in size opens up better HDR performance at similar prices.

If you want a huge OLED for a dark room and you mostly watch SDR content or stream in standard dynamic range, the S85H delivers. The panel quality is genuinely excellent, and the upscaling makes older content look sharp. Gamers will appreciate the 120Hz and FreeSync support.

But if HDR matters to you, or your room has windows, look elsewhere. The LG C5 or Sony BRAVIA 9 will serve you better for similar or slightly more money. The S85H is a good TV that's hard to recommend at full price when the competition is this strong.