Hello there,
Tom Parsons, What Hi-Fi?’s TV & AV Editor, here. Thanks for checking out our very first Substack article.
We see Substack as a way for us to speak to you even more directly than we can through the articles we write for whathifi.com. So, at least to begin with, we’re going to use this platform to talk to you about what’s been on our minds over the last week.
As my job title suggests, I oversee What Hi-Fi?’s home cinema coverage, so my Substack posts will generally be about that sort of thing. Fear not if you’re more stereophile than cinephile, though, because my counterpart on the hi-fi side of things, the inimitable Kashfia Kabir, will also be writing Substack posts in the future – and I expect a variety of our colleagues will chip in from time to time as well.
For now, though, what’s been on my mind for the last week or so? I’m so glad you asked…
Is Samsung the (surprising) new king of OLED TVs?
We’ve been testing Samsung’s new flagship OLED TV, the S99H, this week, and without wishing to spoil our impending review entirely, it’s really very impressive.
As has been well documented, Samsung spent years resisting OLED technology and was one of its most vocal critics. Which is why it's slightly surreal that, in 2026, Samsung could be the company's biggest champion.
Sure, that’s partly thanks to Sony choosing not to launch any new OLED TVs this year (could the Bravia 8 II in fact be Sony’s last OLED model?) and LG fumbling the launch of its G6 (as documented in our four-star review), but it’s also testament to Samsung’s dedication to pushing the envelope.
The S99H looks like no other TV, which immediately makes it a breath of fresh air, particularly next to LG’s G-series models, which have barely changed in appearance since 2020’s GX. It’s compatible with Samsung’s optional new wireless One Connect system, too, which, if added, gives you a whopping eight HDMI 2.1 sockets (four on the box and four on the TV) – that’s more than even I could make use of.
But it’s the way that Samsung has combined a big brightness boost with its most considered tuning to date that makes the S99H truly compelling.
Samsung’s turnaround from OLED opponent to arguably the technology’s 2026 torchbearer is not something I was expecting, but it is great to see.
Why 4K might ruin the World Cup
Now that the Premier League season has finished and my beloved Spurs have secured their Premier League status by the skin of their teeth, I have, like most football fans, fully turned my attention towards the upcoming World Cup. Perhaps unlike most football fans, though, my first thoughts are focused on what resolution to watch it in.
As it has for previous tournaments, the BBC is making its games available to watch in 4K via iPlayer. I would usually be all over that, but in the past, these 4K streams have had a delay of around 30 seconds, and that resulted in several goals of England’s almost-glorious Euro 2020 campaign being spoiled for me by my neighbours and the pub down the road from my house.
Will the 2026 World Cup be different? I suspect not. The Beeb has been working on low-latency streaming via iPlayer for years, and it’s been running a public trial since June 2025, but I think if this were being rolled out for this year’s tournament, we’d know about it by now.
I’m actually going to be doing some testing of the different ways you can receive BBC broadcasts to see which is the least delayed in the coming days (yes, I am that kind of guy), but I suspect it will still be safest to use your TV’s built-in tuner – something that I’ve not used on any of the TVs that I’ve owned over the last decade or so.
The other World Cup-related experiment I have planned for the coming days is whether it’s worth setting up a projector in the garden for watching matches. Given the wild swings between too-bright sun and too-wet rain we’re experiencing at the moment, I have my doubts, but I do so love an excuse to borrow a fresh bit of kit from our stockroom.
Between projector testing, broadcast-latency experiments and our ongoing reviews schedule, it should be a busy couple of weeks.
Stay tuned to What Hi-Fi? for all of that and more, and here are some of my favourite articles from the last few days:
High End Vienna 2026: all the news from Europe’s biggest hi-fi show
