An IMDB tomato
Member
What Hi-Fi says the Samsung R95H goes on their bench next week, and the way they framed the year matches what I have been muttering since spring: 2026 has been flat. The sets that did well, the Samsung S99H and the LG C6, are refinements of five-star predecessors. Nobody is shocked when a good TV gets slightly better.
The story that was supposed to carry the year was RGB mini LED, and so far it has not paid off. Sony's Bravia 9 II and Bravia 7 II impressed them in places but fell short in crucial parts of picture performance. Hisense's UR9 put up strong local dimming results and gave up viewing angles to get them. Two flagships, two different compromises, and neither one is the jump the launch material implied.
Samsung calls its take Micro RGB, which is a naming mess given Micro LED is a completely separate self-emissive technology, but the principle is the same as everyone else's: dedicated red, green and blue LEDs instead of a white backlight and a colour filter. The claim is the LEDs come in under 100 microns, so more of them fit behind the panel. Higher density should buy better light control. Should.
The other set heading into that room is the Hisense UR8, the step down from the UR9, and it counts because Hisense's 2026 premium range is first out with Dolby Vision 2, with the Max tier on all four premium models.
So here is what I actually want answered: if the R95H nails contrast but keeps a narrow viewing cone like the UR9, does that count as a win? Off-axis is where every backlight density race quietly falls apart, and it never shows up in the headline spec.
The story that was supposed to carry the year was RGB mini LED, and so far it has not paid off. Sony's Bravia 9 II and Bravia 7 II impressed them in places but fell short in crucial parts of picture performance. Hisense's UR9 put up strong local dimming results and gave up viewing angles to get them. Two flagships, two different compromises, and neither one is the jump the launch material implied.
Samsung calls its take Micro RGB, which is a naming mess given Micro LED is a completely separate self-emissive technology, but the principle is the same as everyone else's: dedicated red, green and blue LEDs instead of a white backlight and a colour filter. The claim is the LEDs come in under 100 microns, so more of them fit behind the panel. Higher density should buy better light control. Should.
The other set heading into that room is the Hisense UR8, the step down from the UR9, and it counts because Hisense's 2026 premium range is first out with Dolby Vision 2, with the Max tier on all four premium models.
So here is what I actually want answered: if the R95H nails contrast but keeps a narrow viewing cone like the UR9, does that count as a win? Off-axis is where every backlight density race quietly falls apart, and it never shows up in the headline spec.
