Samsung Q6FN vs Q7FN (QN55Q6FN vs QN55Q7FN, QN65Q6FN vs QN65Q7FN, QN75Q6FN vs QN75Q7FN)

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The Samsung Q6FN and the Samsung Q7FN are part of Samsung’s 2018 QLED TV lineup. As a Samsung QLED TV, one of the main characteristics is the quantum dot panel technology that makes both have an excellently wide color gamut and color rendition. On the market, the  Samsung Q7FN comes in 3 screen size options including a 55 Inch (QN55Q7FN), a 65 Inch (QN65Q7FN), and a 75 inch (QN75Q7FN), while the Q6FN comes in more screen size options including a 49 Inch (QN49Q6FN), a 55 Inch (QN65Q6FN), a 65 Inch (QN65Q65FN), a 75 inch (QN75Q6FN), and the biggest being an 83 inch (QN82Q6FN). Within the same screen size (QN55Q6FN vs QN55Q7FN, QN65Q7FN vs QN65Q7FN, and QN75Q7FN vs QN75Q7FN), the Q7FN is typically more expensive than the Q6FN. But keep in mind, that prices certainly are not fixed and could change at any time. So what are the advantages offered by the higher series Q7FN compared to the Q6FN?

Samsung Q6FN vs Samsung Q7FN Key Specs

Specs and Features Samsung Q6FN Samsung Q7FN
Resolution 4K (2160×3840) 4K (2160×3840)
Sizes Available 49 Inch (QN49Q6FN), 55 Inch (QN55Q6FN), 65 Inch (QN65Q6FN), 75 Inch (QN65Q6FN), 82 inch (QN65Q82FN) 55 Inch (QN55Q7FN), 65 Inch (QN65Q7FN), 75 Inch (QN65Q7FN)
Panel Technology VA Panel VA Panel
Screen Type Flat Flat
Backlighting Technology Edge Lit LED Edge Lit LED
Local Dimming Yes (Q Contrast ) Yes (Q Contrast Plus)
Picture Engine Q Engine Q Engine
HDR Q HDR Q HDR Elite
HDR Formats HDR 10, HLG, HDR 10+ HDR 10, HLG, HDR 10+
Color Technology Quantum Dot with Q Color Quantum Dot with Q Color
Support 10 Bit Yes Yes
Contrast Enhancer Yes Yes
UHD Dimming Supreme UHD Dimming Supreme UHD Dimming
Clarity Enhancement UHD Up-scaling Engine UHD Up-scaling Engine
Moth Eyes Technology Undefined Ultra Black Elite
Motion Technology Motion Rate 240 (49” : Motion Rate 120) Motion Rate 240
Native Refresh rate Panel 120 Hz (49” : 60 Hz) 120 Hz
Smart TV Tizen 2018 Tizen 2018
Processor Quad Core Quad Core
Remote Samsung Smart Remote Samsung Smart Remote
HDMI 4 4
USB 3 2
One Connect Box No Yes
Audio Channel 2.1 4.1
Sound Output 40 Watts 40 Watts
Price Check today’s price Check today’s price

Technology and Features of the Samsung Q7FN and the Samsung Q6FN

The Differences

Design

One of the main differences between the Samsung Q6FN and the Samsung Q7FN is about the design, especially for the stand design. The stand of the Samsung Q7FN is quite sturdy and stylish with metal finishing. It supports the TV in the center. Although it supports the TV in the center, it’s well-balanced and looks quite sturdy. It is similar to the stand of its predecessor the Q6FN. While the Q6FN comes with a V-style stand with metal finishing but looks brighter than the Q7FN. It supports the TV on both sides, almost similar to the Samsung Q8FN model. Additionally since the Q7FN uses a “One Connect Box”, there’s no input/output ports on the back panel. While on the back panel of the Q6FN, there are input/output ports. From the side, the Q7FN looks a bit thinner than the Q6FN.

The dimming zones of Local Dimming

Both the Samsung Q6FN and the Q7FN each come with an edge lit backlight and local dimming technology called “Q Contrast”. But the Samsung Q7FN comes with “Q Contrast Plus” while the Q6FN comes with “Q Contrast”. The difference between them is about the number of dimming zones for their local dimming and of course, the Q7FN with “Q Contrast Plus” has more dimming zones than the Q6FN with “Q Contrast”. But Samsung doesn’t clearly-reveal how many dimming zones for each series.

Moth Eye Technology

The other difference between them is their “Moth Eyes” Technology. The Samsung Q7FN comes with anti reflective screen called “Ultra Elite Black” designed to reduce glare and reflection significantly. For the Samsung Q6FN, there is no moth eyes technology listed on the specs. The difference in Moth eyes technology behind them has an impact on the ability to handle reflection and glare when used in a bright room and of course the Q7FN can handle reflections and glare better than the Q6FN.

Inputs/Outputs

The Samsung Q7FN and the Samsung Q6FN are equipped with almost the same inputs/outputs. But the difference is in the number of USB ports where the Q7FN is equipped with 3 USB ports while the Q6FN is equipped with 2 USB ports. The other difference is where their inputs/outputs are located. In this case, all input/output ports of the Q6FN are located on the rear / side of the panel, while on the Q7FN almost all of their inputs/outputs are located on a separate box named the “One Connect Box”.

Sound Channel

The other difference between them is the sound channel. As seen on the comparison table above, the Samsung Q6FN comes with 2.1 channels with 40 watts of total sound output while the Q7FN comes with a 4.1 speaker channel also with 40 watts of total sound output. This makes the Samsung Q7FN deliver a better sound quality than the Samsung Q6FN.

The Similarities

As mentioned as a Samsung QLED TV, the quantum dot technology becomes one of main technologies offered by Samsung in the Q6FN and the Q7FN. Supported by Q Color technology, this makes both have excellent color gamut, and might even be among the best. On the display panel, both equally come with a VA panel with an Edge-Lit LED backlight and local dimming. But as mentioned, they have a difference in the number of dimming zones. For the picture engine, both the Samsung Q7FN and the Q6FN are equally powered by Q engine and also support the same HDR formats, being HDR 10, HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma), and HDR10+. Special for the HDR10+, it is a new HDR format as an enhancement of the HDR 10 format. Unlike HDR10 that uses static metadata for remapping the brightness and color, HDR 10+ uses dynamic metadata similar to the Dolby Vision format. Additionally, there is also a Supreme UHD Dimming and Contrast Enhancer behind them which maximizes the contrast and black level.

For handling motion blur when playing fast moving images like sports, fast movies, and fast games, both the Samsung Q6FN and the Q7FN are equally supported by Motion Rate 240 technology based on a native 120 Hz refresh rate panel. But special for the 49 Inch model of the Q6FN (QN49Q6FN), it is supported by Motion Rate 120 based on  native 60 Hz refresh rate panel. Additionally except for the number of USB ports, they are equally equipped with the same inputs/outputs. For a smart TV, both also feature the same Smart TV platform, which is Tizen OS powered by a quad core processor. In the 2018 version, Tizen OS has been integrated with Samsung’s Bixby Voice Assistant that allows you to do a lot of more with your voice command and Smart Thing as its home intelligence app.

>> Please click here to see today’s price for the Samsung Q6FN <<

>> Please click here to see today’s price for the Samsung Q7FN <<

Samsung Q6FN vs Samsung Q7FN Performance

Picture Quality

Although the Samsung Q6FN actually has a stronger native contrast ratio than the Q7FN, overall their contrast ratio is equally excellent being above 5000:1. This makes both produce a deep black level. The result is although when set in a dark room the impact of a high native contrast ratio is very sensitive, blacks of images will still look very black. This means when you are watching a movie in a dark environment, dark scenes will look excellent. MWhen playing HDR images where a deep black level is required for revealing detail in dark scenes, the black level produced by both the Samsung Q7FN and the Q6FN are also dark enough to show shadow detail of HDR images excellently as intended by the content creator.  With a deep black level produced by them, this makes each very suitable to watch movies with a lot of dark scenes such as thrillers and horror movies. Unfortunately, although each has local dimming technology, their local dimming doesn’t work effectively in boosting the contrast ratio like what’s offered by the Samsung higher series like the Q8FN and the Q9FN and the Sony X900F that use Full Array Local Dimming.

While performance of the Samsung Q7FN and the Q6FN in a dark room is excellent due to their strong native contrast ratio, performance in a bright room is also good. With peak brightness brighter than 500 nits when playing SDR images, the peak brightness is equally bright enough to dampen the glare of ambient light, where the picture displayed on screen looks good when set in a room with a lot of light. Meanwhile comparing between them, when playing SDR Images the Q7FN has a brighter peak brightness than the Q6FN. Additionally with the Ultra Black Elite technology behind it, the Q7FN can do a better job than the Q6FN for handling reflections. The result when set in a bright room, especially in an extremely bright room with a lot of light or sunlight coming through the window, the picture displayed on the screen of the Q7FN will look better than the Q6FN.

When playing HDR images, the peak brightness achieved by the Samsung Q7FN is also brighter than the Q6FN. In a small window size of the screen, for a short time the peak brightness reached by the Q7FN even is brighter than 2000 nits which means it is excellent. The result although for a short time, a bright small object like a dramatic highlight of HDR images can be shown at 1000-4000 nits brightness range on screen just as intended. When showing a bright bigger object or a scene with most or all objects bright, the peak brightness reached by the Q7FN might dim, but it’s still brighter than 700 nits meaning it’s excellent. On the other hand, although not as bright as what’s offered by the Q7FN, the peak brightness of the Samsung Q6FN when playing HDR images is also good. At a small window size of the screen, its peak brightness is close to 1000 nits which means it can show a highlight of HDR images fairly bright. Additionally when showing a scene with most or all objects bright, its peak brightness is still brighter than 500 nits which means it is still good. But even so, since its peak brightness is still below 1000 nits and the target is expected to show a highlight of HDR images is 1000 nits, the Samsung Q6FN can not show a highlight of HDR images at the target of the expected brightness range.

Additionally when showing a small bright object on a dark background, some unwanted adjacent light around the small bright object called “blooming” might still be visible on screen. These series are not able to minimize “blooming” as well as the higher series like the Samsung Q8FN and the Samsung Q9FN that use Full Array Local Dimming. What’s offered by each is far better than a TV without local dimming. Compared between them, since the Samsung Q6FN has fewer dimming zones than the Q7FN, this certainly makes blooming more visible on screen than on the screen of the Q7FN.

Discussing color reproduction, both are equally powered by quantum dot technology, but the color gamut produced by the Samsung Q6FN is not as wide as the Q7FN. The color gamut produced by the Samsung Q7FN can cover almost 100% of DCI P3 color space. This means almost all colors in DCI P3 color space can be shown fairly saturated on the screen of the Q7FN which certainly makes color of HDR images mastered in DCI P3 to be shown fairly accurate. On the other hand, and although not as good as the Q7FN, the Q6FN also supports wide color gamut and its color gamut can still cover more than 90% of DCI P3 color space which means it is excellent. For certain colors like green, cyan, yellow, and others, the Q6FN might not be able to show these colors as accurate as the Q7FN, but overall most colors of HDR images mastered in DCI P3 still can be shown fairly accurate on screen. Additionally the color volume of the Q6FN is not as good as the Q7FN. This is more because its color gamut is not as wide as the Q7FN. Overall except for deep and dark colors, both can show a wide color gamut at their entire brightness range, even for very bright colors. When showing dark colors, they can’t produce them as good as brighter colors.

Overall both the Samsung Q7FN and the Q6FN have good color gradient when showing content with 10 bit depth of color like HDR images. But even so, what’s offered by them is not as good as the competitors like the Sony X900F and the LG SK9000. On screen, some imperfections are still visible in certain colors, particularly in darker colors. Fortunately most people don’t notice this much so it should not be a major problem.

Winner: Q7FN

Side Viewing Angle

The excellent picture quality produced by each series is best when viewed from the center and front. When viewed from the side, each has a poor side viewing angle, so the picture displayed doesn’t look as good as we’ve discussed above. Starting at about 30 degrees off center, their brightness will be reduced and the color will start to look shifted at about 20 degrees. Its black level will look degraded at a narrower angle. This makes the picture displayed on screen not look as good as when viewed from the center and front. And the wider the angle you watch TV, the picture will look worse. This means if you often watch TV with your family, you must set your seats in such away in order to be within the scope of the side viewing angle coverage at less than 20 degrees off center and front.

Winner: Draw

Motion Handling and 24p Playback

Both the Samsung Q6FN and the Q7FN equally do a good job in handling motion blur. Although the pixel response time of the Q6FN is a bit slower than the Q7FN, essentially they equally have excellent pixel response time. The result when playing fast moving images like sports and fast movies, motion blur can be well-minimized. Following a fast moving object, there is only a short faint trail, and most people will not notice this. The little blur that may visible is more caused by persistence than by motion. This certainly makes the picture displayed on screen look clear and smooth. Since both have local dimming technology, to dim the screen both of them use PWM Dimming System with 240 Hz of frequency. For the people who sensitive to flicker, they might still notice the flickers caused by its PWM Dimming system. But for most people, they will not notice this much. Meanwhile, to clear up the motion when playing 60 fps content like sports and video games, both the Samsung Q7FN and the Q6FN have an optional BFI (Black Frame Insertion) mode that will flicker the screen at 60 Hz or 120 Hz of dimming frequency. You can enable this mode by setting Auto Motion Plus to Custom and enabling the LED Clear Motion. This feature is very effective to help motion look clearer, but on the other hand this also makes flicker more visible. However, if you do not feel comfortable with possible flicker, you can disable this feature.

When playing 24p movies, the Samsung Q6FN as the lower-priced model offers a bit better performance, particularly when playing 24p video via 60i signal like movies from satellite TV. The Q6FN can show it judder-free while the Q7FN is not able. Considering the predecessors, the inability of the Q7FN in removing judder when playing 24p movies via 60i signal actually is unusual and there will be a firmware update to fix this issue. Except for 60i videos, both the Samsung Q7FN and the Q6FN do a great job. No matter if it is native 24p videos like DVD or Blu-Ray movies, 24p videos via 60p signals like movies from streaming devices like apple TV, or 24p movies via streaming apps, all will be shown clearly and smoothly on screen judder-free.

Winner: Q7FN

Input/Output

In addition to what’s discussed above the Samsung Q6FN is equipped with 2 USB ports and the Q7FN is also equipped with 2 USB ports with the same inputs/outputs. For their major connectivity, both are equally equipped with 4 HDMI ports where all support HDCP 2.2 and HDMI 2.0 Full Bandwidth and there is only 1 port that supports ARC (Audio Return Channel) which is HDMI 4. Both are also equipped with 1 RF IN (Antenna In), 1 Ethernet, 1 Digital Audio Out (Optical), a built-in Wi-Fi, and also a built in Bluetooth. Additionally both don’t have a Composite In and a Component In.

Meanwhile discussing their input lag, both have excellent input lag at any resolution. The input lag of the Q6FN is lower than the Q7FN. Although the input lag of the Samsung Q7FN is not as low as the Q6FN, but its input lag is still below 20 ms at any resolution which means this is great for any games, even for fast paced games that require quick reflexes. Combined with their excellent picture quality, good motion handling, good image retention, and risk-free from permanent burn-in, this makes both of series as good TVs when used for playing games.

Winner: Q6FN

Smart TV

For their smart TV, both the Samsung Q7FN and the Q6FN equally feature the Tizen OS 2018 as their smart TV platform and also each are powered by a quad core. In terms of user interface, there are not many changes over last year’s version. The layout is designed intuitively and has a lot of animations. At the bottom across the screen, there is a customizable “ribbon” containing shortcuts of apps and menus. For popular apps and the most used apps, you can move them to the front, while for rarely used applications you can push them to the back. Once you highlight the shortcut box, there will appear pop-up windows above it containing advanced menus and recommended content, depending on the box highlighted. Additionally the preinstalled apps provided are very complete and diverse. There are VoD Services like YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Video, Cloud Games, Web Browser, Live TV, and much more. Although not as many as provided by Google Android TV, the Tizen OS also has an app store called “Samsung Apps Store” that provides tons of downloadable videos, games and content you can download directly to your Samsung TV. In this version, the Tizen OS has been integrated with Samsung’s Bixby Voice Assistant that allows you to do more with your voice command. Additionally it also has a Home Intelligence Assistant app that allows you to monitor and control your other compatible devices through your TV. Unfortunately, unlike WebOS by LG and Android TV by Google that support Amazon Alexa, the Tizen OS does not support Amazon Alexa. Considering there’s a lot of apps and smart features to make you more comfortable in enjoying the smart TV experience, this makes its performance slower than last year’s version. When you launch an app, at times there is a one-two seconds of lag before it opens. Additionally the animation is also choppy at times. Overall the performance of the Tizen OS is good.

For their controller, both the Samsung Q6FN and the Samsung Q7FN are equipped with the same remote. Their remote is fairly small and the body is made of plastic. It doesn’t have a lot of buttons, so to make advanced settings, you must navigate through the menu or with the voice command. Fortunately, the Samsung Remote has excellent voice command and with Samsung’s Bixby you can control most TV settings and some basic questions. The remote also has universal ability. With this remote, you can control other functions of CEC compatible devices connected to your TV via HDMI. Additionally with the One Remote Feature, you can control other devices that do not support CEC.

Winner: Draw

>> Please click here to see today’s price for the Q6FN <<

>> Please click here to see today’s price for the Q7FN <<

Summary

Performance Samsung Q6FN Samsung Q7FN
Picture Quality (3.9/5) (4/5)
HDR (4/5) (4.1/5)
Motion Handling (4.2/5) (4.3/5)
Inputs (4.7/5) (4.6/5)
Sound Quality (3.2/5) (3.5/5)
Smart TV (3.9/5) (3.9/5)

Conclusion

As mentioned, the Samsung Q7FN is more expensive than the Q6FN and offers better picture quality, better HDR performance, and also better performance on some other features. It has a brighter peak brightness, wide color gamut, and better reflection handling, making the picture displayed on screen look better and also makes its HDR performance better than the Q6FN, particularly when set in a bright room. With all the features offered, the Q7FN and the Q6FN have advantages and disadvantages to each other as discussed above, but the difference is not very striking.

So which is a better choice for you? If you are looking for picture quality, the Samsung Q7FN is certainly a better choice. But as mentioned, you must spend more money. On the other hand, performance and picture quality offered by the Q6FN is also excellent for its class and it’s a good alternative for anyone with a limited budget. Now the decision is yours according to your needs.

>> Please click here to see today’s price for the Samsung Q6FN <<

>> Please click here to see today’s price for the Samsung Q7FN <<


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