Samsung Q7F and Q8F: what they ship with and what comes off

Start with what saves time: these two sets run Tizen, which is not Android. There is no ADB, no pm uninstall, no package list to work through. Everything you can do on a Samsung lives in its own menus, and we cover it in cleaning up a Samsung television with Tizen.

If you came here looking for commands, that page is the answer, and the reason these brands were left out of the directory is in why Samsung and LG sets are out of scope.

What is worth covering here is where Samsung cuts when the price drops, because it is a good deal more than the shop window suggests.

Three HDMI ports, and all three at 60 Hz#

This comes first, and it is what separates this range from the one above. Both the Q7F and the Q8F sheets declare HDMI: 3, and in the maximum input rate field they say, in these words: 4K 60Hz (for HDMI 1/2/3).

Compare that with what the QN90F and the S95F declare, which is 4K 165Hz (for HDMI 1/2/3/4). One port fewer here, and less than half the frequency. If you own a console that reaches 120 Hz, you will not be feeding it from these two.

There is one exception, and only one: the 98-inch Q7F. Its page declares 120Hz and 4K 120Hz (for HDMI 1/2/3), still three ports. At every other size, from 43 to 85, the figure is 60.

The refresh rate, which comes out as two different numbers#

The website says 50Hz in the refresh rate field, on the Q7F and on the Q8F, in Spain, in the United Kingdom and in Germany. The regulated product fiche for all six codes we downloaded says something else: 60 Hz image refresh frequency rate by default.

The 2025 manual is what reconciles them. It has a list by model, and the first entry reads: Models that support up to 50/60 Hz, QEF1, Q6F, Q7F (except for 98-inch model), Q8F.... The panel takes both, and each document picked one.

Watch what is missing: none of the six pages declares FreeSync or VRR in the gaming section. The manual's FreeSync resolution table starts at 120 Hz, and these models do not get there. The Spanish marketing copy does mention VRR when describing the game bar; the spec sheet does not.

The setting that decides whether you see HDR#

The manual describes Input Signal Plus, which is switched on port by port, and it warns: if the Input Signal Plus feature is turned off, HDR signals sent from an external device cannot be received. It lives in Settings → All Settings → General & Privacy → External Device Manager.

There is small print here that the high end does not have. The manual's table for 50/60 Hz models, with Input Signal Plus on, marks 8-bit available in RGB 4:4:4 but 10-bit only in YCbCr 4:2:2 and 4:2:0. On models of 120 Hz and above, that same table marks 10-bit in RGB 4:4:4 too. If you plan to plug in a PC and work with text in HDR, that empty cell is the difference.

eARC is there, but nobody says where#

Both have it. The Spanish and British Q7F sheets put eARC in the audio return channel field; the Q8F ones put eARC/ARC. The German Q7F page lists it as HDMI-eARC (enhanced Audio Return Channel): Ja.

And the German Q8F page does not carry that row. Neither eARC nor the network one: its connectivity section jumps from the aerial to Bluetooth. It is the same problem as in the high end, but inverted: there, the German site was the only one that committed to a port number.

Here nobody commits. The manual, shared across the whole 2025 range, only asks you to connect the soundbar to the eARC dedicated HDMI port on your TV, without saying which. With the set in front of you, the label on the back closes that gap in ten seconds.

HDR10+ yes, Dolby Vision no#

All six pages declare HDR10+ and none of them mentions Dolby Vision: zero occurrences across three countries, both models and the 2025 user manual. It is Samsung's long-standing position, and dropping down the range does not change it.

What does change between the two is the wording. The Q7F says Quantum HDR and puts Support under HDR10+; the Q8F says Quantum HDR+ and puts Yes (ADAPTIVE). The German page adds HLG: Ja on both.

Where they really differ#

The Q7F carries Mega Contrast as its contrast technology, a single USB-A and no optical output. Its design is called Slim Look and it comes in black.

The Q8F moves up to Dual LED, brings two USB-A ports and a digital optical audio output, and adds Active Voice Amplifier, EyeComfort Mode, far-field voice interaction and Adaptive Sound+. The design is AirSlim in titan grey.

What does not change is the sound: 20 W in 2 channels on both models and at every size, from 43 to 98. There is no OTS+ and no 4.2.2 here; both declare OTS Lite. Against the 60 and 70 watts of the high end, this is the quietest cut on the whole sheet.

Power, where the Q8F beats the Q7F#

This one surprises, so it is worth reading slowly. The regulated fiche for the QE65Q7FAAU declares class G, 106.0 W in SDR and 171.0 W in HDR. The one for the QE65Q8FAAU, the more expensive model, declares class E, 85.0 W in SDR and 211.0 W in HDR. Both list 0.5 W standby and 2.0 W networked standby.

So the Q8F draws less on ordinary content and more on HDR. The same figures appear in the Spanish and German codes, so it is not one country's mistake.

The class moves with size, too: the Q8F is F at 43 inches and E at 65 and 85; the Q7F stays at G across every size we looked at.

Seven years of updates, or eight, or until 2030#

The Spanish site says Tizen OS updates are free for 7 years from the moment the product is launched. The British one says up to 7 years from the product's release year starting in 2023. The German one, bis zu 7 Jahre lang unterstützt, counting from 2025.

The regulated fiche says 8 years of minimum guaranteed availability of software and firmware updates, plus 7 for spare parts and 7 for product support. And the German page adds a figure that appears nowhere else: security update period, valid until 21.04.2030.

Four clocks for the same promise. The enforceable one is on the fiche.

How to tell whether this sheet is about your set#

The code changes by country even when the set is the same. The 65-inch Q7F is TQ65Q7FAAUXXC in Spain, QE65Q7FAAUXXU in the United Kingdom and GQ65Q7FAAUXZG in Germany. The 65-inch Q8F is TQ65Q8FAAUXXC, QE65Q8FAAUXXU and GQ65Q8FAAUXZG.

Look only at the middle block: 65Q7F or 65Q8F. The F is the year 2025.

What ships on it and what you can do#

Both declare Samsung TV Plus, built into the system: it is not an app you uninstall, and neither are the streaming ones that arrive by commercial deal. What is in your hands are the privacy checkboxes and the decision not to link a Samsung account, and that is all in the Tizen guide.

What Samsung does not publish#

Brightness. Not one figure in nits, across the six pages or the six regulated fiches.

The Tizen version, the RAM and the storage. The operating system field says "Tizen™ Smart TV" in the United Kingdom and only "Tizen™" on the Spanish Q7F page, and that is the end of it.

The eARC port, as we saw, and whether there is VRR, which the sheet does not declare in any of the three countries.