This is a review for the Samsung 50” Class QN90C Neo QLED 4K Smart TV.As a first order of bus🧸iness, I have to say that if Samsung wants to reach gamers it seriously needs to consider streamlining the name of its products.
Because I’m the TheGamer’s biggest cloud advocate and unapologetic Stadia defender, Samsung offered to send me a Gaming Hub-enabled TV to test and compare it to some of my preferred cloud gaming devices, like the Razer Edge and Chromecast Ultra𝓀.The QN90C (which is just this year’s version of the QN90) is not only a fantastic display with all the features you could ever want from a smart TV,🐷 but its gaming integration is the real deal. Of all the streaming solutions I own, this Samsung TV offers the most consistent and best-looking gaming experience yet.
If you’re not familiar with Samsung Gaming Hub, it’s a bit confusing. The TV itself is not called a Samsung Gaming 🅷Hub. You cannot go out and buy a gaming hub - though if you told that to the guy at Best Buy he’d probably know what you were looking for. Rather, Samsung Gaming Hub is a feature that some of its devices, such as the QN90 series of QLED TVs, come with. It’s a landing page that gathers together all of the gaming apps in one place, organizes the games they offer into categories so they’re easier to find, an𒐪d acts as a launcher for your games. You can think of it like having Steam or GOG built into your TV, except that all of the games are streaming.
Right now, Gaming Hub supports Xbox Game Pass, Amazon Luna, GeForce Now, and three subscription services I haven’t heard of before - Blacknut, Antstream, and Utomik - which offer a variety of retro, indie, and triple-🐻A games. There’s overlap between these services, but the hub does꧅ a good job of presenting popular titles on a Netflix-style menu so you don’t have to go hunting through every app to find the game you’re looking for.
You can use any bluetooth controller you want with this TV. I tested both an Xbox controller and a DualSense and had no problem connecting either. Once connected, the TV runs you through a little tutorial on how to navigate with the controller, and then you barely need to use the remote at all. You can navigate menus and select both games and streamin♉g content easily with a bluetooth controller, though there were a few times I still had to switch to the remote, so keep it handy.
The first thing I do when I test any game streaming device is load up F𝓰orza Horizon 5 on Game Pass. I consider Horizon 5 to be the fastest, most visually demanding game you can stream, and if there are any stutters, resolution, or controller latency issues, you’ll b𒊎e able to tell immediately. During the opening cinematic I did notice the streaming quality was fairly poor, especially in dark scenes - a consistent issue I find with all cloud gaming - but as I got control of my car, I was blown away by how smooth it looked and played.
I don’t have a gigabit connection at home. None of the ISPs in my area offer fiber due to legal arbitration over territory rights of service (that sentence makes me want to puke) so I typically don’t have the smoothest cloud gaming experiences, even when I’m close to my router. I set up the Samsung in my bedroom, which is down the hall from my office where the router is, and several tests throughout the day ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚindicated an average 100mb/s connection. That’s usually not enough to give me a smooth experience, but on this Samsung, it is.
If the dream is to one day free ourselves from consoles entirely, this TV is t♎he closest I’ve ever been to realizing that future. Between Game Pass and GeForce Now, which can stream most games from your Epic and Steam library, you essentially get a built-in Xbox and PC - and all you need is a bluetooth controller. If this thing had Steam Link and PlayStation Plus Premium as well, oh baby, we’d be in business.
It’s still not perfect, at least on a 100mb/s connection. I tested games on Game Pass, Luna, and GeForce now, and about every ten minutes the entire game will freeze for two seconds. Some might consider this unplayable. For me, it means I’m not going to play anything competitive like an online shooter, but I can probably deal with it in slower-paced single-player games. If I had a fiber connection (God willing) I don’t think I'd encounter any service interruptions at all.
Outside of the Game Hub, It’s a damn good TV. The viewing angles are great, it’s 4K and has HDR, and the 🌃max brightness is unreal. You could watch this thing on a sunny day next to an open window and have no problem at all. If picture quality is your priority, I still prefer my LG C2 OLED for its superior dynamic range and contrast, but as a bedroom display that’s away from all my consoles, I can’t think of a better option. I can’t wait to play Starfield on this TV in a couple of weeks, and I’m excited to see how Samsung Gaming Hub evolves as cloud gaming becomes more mainstream.