Samsung is going all in on ultra-large-screen TVs for 2024, with 98-inch screen sizes found across its 8K and 4K ‘Neo QLED” mini-LED and regular QLED series sets. This year’s new 98-inch models from those lineups are already available, but Samsung today announced a new 98-inch model, the Samsung DU9000 Crystal 4K TV.
The 98-inch DU9000 costs $3,999 and is available now at Samsung.com and select retailers. If that price seems surprisingly low for a Samsung 4K TV at this size, that’s because it is. By comparison, the 98-inch version of the new Samsung QN90D mini-LED is priced at $14,999.
Many of the best TVs are getting supersized – 98-inch is the new 85-inch in 2024. But bigger screens mean bigger pixels in the TV’s display panel, and that factor can reveal picture noise and other flaws that might not be visible on smaller-screen TVs. To address this, Samsung’s new ultra-large TVs, the DU9000 included, feature the new Supersize Picture Enhancer. According to Samsung, this feature reduces noise and increases sharpness on a per-pixel basis for both 4K and upscaled sources, so you’ll get a good, consistent viewing experience even when watching on a mega-size screen.
Gaming is also a focus of Samsung’s 98-inch DU9000. The company’s press release for the new TV was light on specs, but the CU9000 series TVs Samsung released in 2023 featured 3 HDMI inputs with 4K 120Hz support – a feature we look for in the best gaming TVs – and the new DU9000 series will presumably offer the same.
Looking beyond connectivity, the 98-inch DU9000 will have the Tizen smart TV interface found in other Samsung TVs, which features the Gaming Hub for cloud-based gaming from apps including Xbox, Nvidia GeForce Now, Utomik, and more. Samsung’s updated Game Bar 4.0 menu now provides an AI Auto setting that adjusts picture and sound settings based on the game genre and mini-map auto-detection to enhance gameplay.
Samsung’s 98-inch DU9000: your dream gaming TV?
As someone used to viewing with a 4K projector on a 100-inch screen, I can confirm that bigger screens are way better for watching movies. I also once played Xbox on a 120-inch screen, and the vast sense of visual immersion the setup provided seriously boosted the gaming experience.
At $3,999, the 98-inch Samsung DU9000 is a great deal for a screen that size. But the DU9000 is part of the company’s Crystal TV lineup, and those models omit the quantum dot display and full array local dimming backlight found in the company’s higher-end QLED and Neo QLED TV lines. When TechRadar reviewed a 75-inch Samsung CU8000 TV, the step-down version of the DU8000 in Samsung’s Crystal TV family, we found its peak brightness and black uniformity lacking. That’s not to say the same performance characteristics will necessarily carry over to the DU9000 series, but quantum dot tech and full array local dimming do make a substantial difference – something we confirmed when we compared the CU8000 to the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED, a budget TV that provides those features.
High peak brightness helps 4K movies with HDR look their best and uniform blacks help shadows in images to look solid and deep. For movie fans, those performance aspects of a TV are important and worth investing in, which is a good reason why you’d want to consider paying considerably more for a mini-LED model like the Samsung QN90D.
Gamers may not be as fussy about HDR highlight detail and shadow definition in images as movie fans, though they may want the sense of visual immersion that an ultra-large TV provides. At $3,999 for a 98-inch screen, the Samsung DU9000 with its strong gaming feature set could be the ultimate gaming TV, and we’re hoping it will look good with movies as well.
