LAS VEGAS—This year’s edition of CES was vastly different from a quarter-century ago. Back then, televisions were just breaking free from low-resolution cathode-ray tubes (CRTs) as high-definition television was taking its baby steps. A 50-inch high-resolution display in 1998 contained just 1280 x 768 pixels (Wide XGA) and cost as much as a car. Rear-projection televisions were just switching to solid-state light modulators. And liquid-crystal display (LCD) televisions weren’t even available—the largest flat screen TVs all used expensive plasma display panels (PDPs).

Today, all of those technologies (and some of their manufacturers) are distant, fading memories. We’ve had 4K TVs for over a decade, while 8K sets appeared five years ago. LCD technology rules the roost nowadays, and the median TV screen size is about 55 diagonal inches and slowly increasing. Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays have supplanted plasma for image quality, but with much lower power consumption.

But there are other contenders: Mini and microLEDs, quantum dots and QD-OLEDs are finding their way into televisions and computer monitors. What are the differences between them? Will they replace or obsolete any currently available displays? Read on…

Liquid-Crystal Displays and Enhancements
It didn’t take long for large LCD panels to become the preferred solution for large televisions after their introduction 20 years ago. Those original models have evolved from heavy, bulky designs using fluorescent lamp backlights to modulate thousands of tiny light-shuttering pixels, to sleek housings stuffed with light-emitting diode (LED) backlights. Over time, pixel counts have continued to grow as retail prices drop with increased manufacturing efficiency. 

The debut of high-dynamic range (HDR) video forced more design changes. Given the gross inefficiency of LCD imaging panels (only 5% of the backlight illuminance actually makes it to the front of the screen), other solutions were needed to boost brightness levels. One approach was to add a thin layer of quantum dots, tiny metallic particles that absorb blue light from LEDs and re-emit it as higher-intensity red and green light (hence, the quantum energy conversion effect). 

Televisions with a “Q” in their model names (like Samsung’s QLED TVs) use quantum dots (QDs) to produce high dynamic range images. These displays are still hamstrung by the light transmission inefficiency of LCDs, but they are now able to pump out luminance levels in the range of 1200 to 1500 candelas per square meter (cd/m2). TCL also manufactures LCD TVs with quantum dot enhancement layers. LCD TVs equipped with quantum dots are priced at a premium over conventional LCD models. 

There’s another way to achieve HDR imaging by packing more “mini” LEDs into a smaller area and change their light levels in step with luminance levels in video content, a process known as local area dimming. Sony and Hisense (ULEDs) use this approach instead of QDs. The challenge is to minimize LED light from bleeding into adjacent pixels, creating what looks like a halo effect around bright text and objects. 

Fixing that problem requires some additional structural changes to each pixel as well as specialized light modulation techniques. But there’s another problem looming—TVs using large matrices of miniLEDs for local area dimming consume lots of power, and pending European Union regulations on energy conservation may keep these models from ever coming to market.

Organic Light-Emitting Diode Displays
OLEDs have been in development for decades, yet it seemed like they could never get over the finish line. Tricky to manufacture, they were susceptible to moisture and differential aging of colors. And you couldn’t drive them too hard, as they’d burn out quickly. 

OLEDs emit different colors of light when a low voltage is applied across a junction of organic compounds. Those colors are saturated and bright, and OLED displays exhibit high contrast, deep blacks, and wide viewing angles. Unlike LCD panels, OLEDs are very thin and can bend and warp. These latter properties have made it possible to offer foldable smartphones and tablets, not to mention digital signs that can be wrapped around poles, buildings, cars, and other objects.

There are two types of OLED displays in wide use today. For televisions, white OLED panels with color filters (WOLEDs) dominate the market. (The white color in RGBW displays is generated by a compound of blue and yellow organic chemicals.) LG Display is the source of all WOLED panels used in OLED TVs, no matter whose brand you see on the bezel. The underlying technology uses an RGBW pixel stripe to produce high levels of luminance (up to 1000 cd/m2 with a 10% full white window). WOLED televisions are available in sizes from 42 inches to 97 inches. 

The second type of OLED display, used in smaller products such as smartphones, has discrete red, green, and blue emitters (RGB stripe). Several companies manufacture RGB OLEDs, among them Japan OLED, Samsung Display, and Chinese manufacturers AUO and BOE. While RGB OLEDs can achieve similar peak luminance levels as WOLEDs, the largest RGB OLED display currently available is a 32-inch desktop monitor. 

The challenge for both RGBW and RGB OLEDs is the time to half-brightness of the blue organic materials. (A similar problem affected blue phosphors in color TV picture tubes and plasma displays.) Some clever solutions have been devised to overcome this problem, such as using multiple blue emitters with each running at reduced brightness. One way to get more luminance out of an OLED display is to employ microlens arrays on each pixel, collimating the light and directing more of it to the screen. This technique is currently implemented by LG on its latest series of Evo OLED televisions.

QD-OLED Hybrids
A new, clever hybrid display technology combines a stack of blue OLED emitters with red and green quantum dots. This QD-OLED hybrid was launched by Samsung Display last year at CES in 55-inch and 65-inch screen sizes and was joined by a 77-inch television at this year’s show (Samsung and Sony both sell QD-OLED models). QD-OLED TVs command higher prices than conventional LCD TVs and are priced on par with quantum dot-equipped sets and WOLED TVs. 

The big advantage of the QD-OLED is the simplicity of imaging layers—four in all—in the display panel. As an emissive display, it too exhibits excellent contrast performance, deep black levels, high color saturation, and a wide viewing angle. The blue OLED emitter is actually a stack of smaller blue OLEDs, each running at reduced power to extend their useful life. The rest of the horsepower comes from the quantum dots, with Samsung Display claiming a maximum luminance of 2,000 cd/m2 for 2023 models. Think of the QD-OLED as a turbocharged WOLED or RGB OLED!

MicroLED Displays
Display manufacturers are now prototyping televisions made up solely of tiny red, green, and blue LED emitters. These “micro” LED displays can also be used across a wide range of display products from smart watches and phones to tablets, computer monitors, and in transportation applications. To make this happen requires high manufacturing yields of microLED chips at a reasonable cost, which has so far proven to be a difficult task.

The advantages of microLED displays are in simplicity and image quality. Instead of the multiple light-absorbing layers of polarizers, backlights, and color filters in an LCD display, there’s just an array of LED emitters and transistors to switch them on and off. Since microLEDs are emissive displays, there are no issues with black levels and contrast flattening when viewed at wide angles. And they’re plenty bright at 1500 cd/m2, although they can easily hit peak levels exceeding 2000 cd/m2.

Although multiple companies are researching and developing microLED displays, only Samsung is currently offering models for consumers. At CES, they unveiled a 76-inch Ultra HD model to complement earlier 89-inch, 101-inch, and 110-inch offerings. The main selling point of the 76-inch Micro LED CX is that it can be installed by the end user. However, given the steep price point of the previously-introduced 89-inch model (about $80,000), it’s going to be a high-end, ultra-premium television for now.

Even so, many display analysts predict microLED displays will likely replace all other display technologies by the end of this decade—if manufacturing costs can be lowered and high yields achieved. And the odds are that it will happen. Recall that the first plasma televisions came with five-figure price tags, but by 2010 cost well under $1K. And the first 4K monitors (not TVs) sold in North America in 2012 were priced over $20,000! Today, you can buy a 65-inch “smart” Ultra HDTV for as little as $400 on sale.

Looking Ahead
Given the popularity of WOLED TVs, you’ll see more companies like Toshiba and Sharp offering them in 2023. LCD TVs will continue to be the cheapest TV offering, while QD-equipped models are slowly coming down in price to keep pace with OLEDs. 

As for microLED TVs—well, if you have eighty grand just lying around… 

If you're hoping to see big price drops in OLED TV prices over the next couple of years, it looks like you'll be disappointed. According to a report from Display Supply Chain Consultants (via The Elecand OLED-info), the two big makers of TV-sized OLED panels – LG Display and Samsung Display – will both stop spending on new equipment for building these screens in 2023.

This price of the best OLED TVs has fallen a lot in recent years, in no small part because of huge expansions in their creation – they've become more efficient and easier to mass-produce, and have become more popular as a result. But according to DSCC's report, that expansion won't just slow next year – it'll totally halt, with nothing at all spent on increasing production. 

That's likely to mean that the prices of the screens used in the majority of OLED TVs won't change much from now in 2023 or 2024. Now, the overall prices of the TVs could change depending on other factors (such as shipping costs), but the single biggest part of a TV is the screen, so that makes a huge difference to the overall price.

However, it's not all disappointing news: this actually sets the stage for new Quantum Dot OLED TV screens to close the price gap with regular OLED TVs faster than anticipated. 

QD-OLED screens are made solely by Samsung Display, and have only appeared in two TVs so far – the Samsung S95B and the Sony A95K – both of which earned rave reviews from us. However, the screens are very expensive to buy (much more expensive than regular OLED), and only comes in two sizes currently: 55 inches and 65 inches.

So when will there be bigger changes?

However, despite Samsung Display reportedly planning not to invest any more in QD-OLED production machinery next year, the company has already made huge strides in improving what it can do with its current machinery – and the DSCC report says there's more to come.

Having already dramatically improved the efficiency of producing QD-OLED on its current production lines (meaning each screen costs less to make), and introduced a 77-inch version of a QD-OLED TV screen, DSCC also says that Samsung should be able to create a thinner and simpler version of QD-OLED without spending more on new equipment.

It's possible that is related to Samsung's reported advances in producing blue OLED pixels – at the moment, multiple layers of blue pixels are used in QD-OLED screens to provide the light, but if that could be reduced to one, it would save materials and time, and so could bring the cost down further.

Because QD-OLED is still in its first year, all the advances Samsung Display has made on the tech recently have barely had a chance to register – so next, we might see more models at more affordable prices.

If the price of regular OLED stalls because of a lack of expansion and the price of QD-OLED is able to drop, the two technologies might become more competitive quicker than we expected.

The DSCC says there'll be no major investment in OLED TV screen production in 2023, but that this will pick up a lot in 2024… though most of it will come in one area: inkjet OLED production from a company named CSoT (which is owned by budget TV giant TCL).

Inkjet has long been the Next Big Thing in making OLED screens, because it's much easier than current options. As it sounds, it basically means a printer-like process is used to deposit OLED pixels onto the panel, which is far more efficient and much cheaper to set up than current 'masking' OLED manufacturing systems.

This is great news for the OLED industry becoming more competitive in the long term, because in the space of a few years we'll have gone from one single company (LG Display) making OLED TVs screens and controlling prices, to four: LG, Samsung Display, CSoT, and BoE, which is already working on its OLED facilities.

That means genuine competition, which is also likely to mean lower prices, particular  on regular OLED screens (only Samsung will be making QD-OLED for the foreseeable future) – though we may see some interesting differences in image quality, with several different production types being used.

However, if some of these advances won't start until 2024, then we won't see the fruits of their labor until 2025. QD-OLED will be able to start closing the gap sooner than that, though – it's going to be an interesting couple of years for OLED TVs.

This article originally appeared on TV Tech sister brand, Tech Radar. 

The current cost of living crisis is having some unexpected effects. While the price of so many essential goods keeps ratcheting up month after month, we're actually seeing some of the most aggressive price drops on certain premium TVs in years, thanks to something of a perfect storm. And that's news for those who still have the money for them, but want to spend cautiously.

In particular, it's the price drops on the latest-gen LG C2, Samsung S95B and LG G2 TVs that really surprised me. These sets all use cutting-edge panels, yet their cost is falling faster than in previous years.

The perfect combination of factors to cause this is: people are less interested in buying premium products now that their household costs are spiking; people are also less interested in buying new TVs because so many of us bought them in the last two years, and now would rather spend money on being out and about; and Samsung launched its first QD-OLED TV, to compete with the best OLED TVs from LG, and would like you to pay attention to it please.

When you combine all these things, you've got two different companies battling each other for for money, in a market that isn't as hot for these products as it used to be. It's a recipe for prices to fall faster than usual, and that's exactly what we're seeing.

Where Do Things Go From Here?
The Samsung vs. LG part of it is the most interesting. Samsung's first 4K OLED TV, the S95B, is an incredible TV that launched at a high price, right in line with the also high-end LG G2. LG has dropped the price of the G2 by around 20% in the months since its launch, and so Samsung has followed suit by dropping the S95B by around 20% just weeks after its launch.

These have put price pressure on the LG C2, which is the more affordable option, but still contains a brighter new-generation screen than its predecessor, the LG C1, has. The more advanced TVs were dangerously close in price to the LG C2, so that's dropped in price too, to keep it competitive.

The really nice knock-on effect of this is that the 42-inch LG C2 OLED TV – which is under much less price pressure because it has no direct rivals on the market at the same price – has dropped to a very reasonable price much quicker than we expected.

And it's not going to end here, of course – these TVs have only just come out, so they're going to be competing for your money for another 12 months most likely, yet they're already shedding hundreds off their price.

The price battle among high-end OLED TVs is obviously great news for anyone who wants to buy one, and it'll keep getting hotter – Samsung has both production plans and new research that could make QD-OLED cheaper to manufacture.

But the real wins could come for those who want a more budget-friendly LED TV, if you buy later in the year.

That's because there's an even more perfect storm forming around LED/LCD TVs. For a start, you've got the exact same demand issues mentioned above where people are buying fewer TVs, but this has already caused the price of LCD screens to drop when building TVs, which means TVs being built today cost less (in some ways) to create than when models were announced earlier in the year. That means they'll drop in price. So you've got a triple demand whammy there.

And then you've also got the downward price pressure being applied by the Samsung/LG OLED price battle towards less expensive TVs. The LG C2 price drop pushed it to the same price as the Samsung QN85B entry-level mini-LED TV, which means Samsung has dropped the price of the that TV.

That means the price of more affordable TVs will drop in turn, like dominos. LG already dropped the price of its well-specced QNED80 LED TV for Prime Day, and we also saw over Prime Day that Hisense had dropped the price of one of its brand new affordable QLED TVs by around 30%.

Basically, we're seeing TVs in June falling to prices that we would have more expected in October or November – which means they'll have fallen even further by then, which means that the Black Friday deals could be… very good.

Obviously, we're in turbulent times, and lots could happen between now and then to change things. But for those who will have the money to spend on one of the best TVs this year, you're going to be able to get a serious bargain, that much is certain.

This article originally appeared on TV Tech sister brand, TechRadar

AUSTIN, Texas—Samsung continues to dominate the Advanced TV market, according to the new DSCC Quarterly Advanced TV Shipment and Forecast Report, which also forecasts Advanced TV revenues to see a 9% growth rate from 2019 to 2025 to $26 billion. 

The report covers the worldwide premium TV market, including most Advanced TV technologies: WOLED, QD Display, QDEF, Dual Cell LCD and MiniLED with 4K and 8K resolution.

This report looks at current and future TV shipments and revenues by technology, region, brand, resolution and size, and forecasts the growth of all of these technologies. The report includes the preliminary shipment result for Q1 2020, a forecast by quarter for 2020 and an annual forecast to 2025.

Advanced TV is defined as any TV with an advanced display technology feature, including all OLED TVs, 8K LCD TVs and all LCD TVs with quantum dot technology. The historical data in the report allows analysis by feature for advanced LCD TVs, including:

• QDEF TV: TV using a Quantum Dot Enhancement Film; these TVs are sold as “QLED” by Samsung, TCL and others. 
• MiniLED: LCD TVs with a MiniLED backlight, as sold by TCL starting in 2019.
• Dual Cell: LCD TVs employing dual-cell technology, as introduced by Hisense in 2019. 
• LCD Others: this category includes LCD TVs with 8K resolution that do not fall in any other category. 

In Q1 2020, among all Advanced TV products, Samsung increased its revenue share to 54% from 53% in Q1 2019 by expanding its QDEF product line into more affordable models. LG held the no. 2 brand position in Q1 2020 with 24% revenue share, while Sony took the third spot with 8%.

The share battle in China has gotten increasingly intense, with four companies with double-digit percent market share. Samsung’s share of Advanced TV in China increased to an all-time high in Q1 with 42% unit and revenue share, whileHuawei has emerged as a major player in Advanced LCD TVs, capturing an 18% share in Q1. Hisense introduced OLED TV in 2019, but this did not prevent the company’s share from eroding to 14% in Q1. LGE fares poorly in China with less than a 5% share. Skyworth, once a major player with 24% share in Q2 2018, has seen its position diminish to only 3% share in Q1 2020.

While the COVID-19 impact will slow growth in Q2 2020 to 11% year-over-year (Y/Y), growth will resume in the second half of 2020 and Q4 unit growth will reach 27% Y/Y. Forty-eight-inch OLEDs will start in limited volumes, adding to the product mix for OLED, and LGD’s increasing OLED capacity will allow OLED to hold its unit share of Advanced TV and increase OLED’s revenue share. Across all technologies and sizes, DSCC expects Advanced TV unit shipments to increase by 30% in 2020 compared to 2019.

Long-term Advanced TV shipments are expected to grow from less than 10 million in 2019 to nearly 35 million in 2025, a 24% CAGR for that time period. OLED TV units are expected to grow at a 31% CAGR from 2019-2025 to 14.7 million units, while advanced LCD TV units are expected to grow at a 21% CAGR to 20.8 million units. The largest sizes will see the biggest growth, with growth in 75-inch-plus expected to be 36%, and growth in 75-inch-plus OLED even higher at 87% CAGR.

From a revenue standpoint, while the overall category will see revenue growth, OLED TV is expected to capture all the revenue growth in Advanced TV, as advanced LCD revenues are expected to be the same in 2025 compared to 2019. OLED TV revenues are expected to grow at a 19% CAGR from 2019-2025 to $16.2 billion. Advanced LCD TV revenues were $10.0 billion in 2019, are expected to peak at $11.1 billion in 2022-2023, then decline to $10.0 billion by 2025. Even larger size LCD TVs are not expected to have revenue growth as Samsung shifts its emphasis from its QLED LCD products to QD OLED.

LAS VEGAS—CES 2020 officially kicks off on Jan. 7, but Samsung offered a peek of what attendees will see on the show floor in terms of their new TV offerings. The lineup includes new models featuring MicroLED and QLED technology, as well as Samsung’s Lifestyle TV, the Sero.

Saying that it is home-ready, Samsung’s new TV model with MicroLED technology comes in 75-, 88-, 93-, 110- and 150-inch displays and feature next-generation screen technology with customization capabilities, the company says. With the 88- and 150-inch models, Samsung used a ultra-slim infinity design that virtually removes all four sides of the bezel so it looks like it blends into the wall. Customers can also connect multiple MicroLED panels together to create new combinations and adapt the TV to a specific space. Samsung also touts the models’ high resolution and peak brightness of 5,000 nits.

The company’s QLED offering will come in the form of the Q950TS QLED 8K TV. One of the new features with the Q950 model is the “infinity screen,” which produces a screen-to-body ratio of 99%. The TV is also equipped with the AI Quantum Processor 8K for 8K AI upscaling and deep-learning capabilities that can automatically upscale non-8K content to 8K. The AI Quantum Processor also powers Samsung’s open smart home platform, Tizen.

Additional image features for the Q950TS include Adaptive Picture to optimize the screen for both ambient conditions and individual images, and the adoption of AV1 codec to enable better compression rates and support HDR10+ technology, image dimensionality, brightness optimization and contrast ratio. The model also has new sound features like the Q-Symphony, Object Tracking Sound and Active Voice Amplifier for a more immersive and dynamic sound experience, per Samsung.

It was also announced that Samsung's 2020 QLED 8K TV lineup will offer ATSC 3.0 tuners.

Samsung also has its Lifestyle TV line, which at CES will be headlined by the Sero. Sero means “vertical” in Korean, and this model lives up to its name by having the ability to pivot between horizontal and vertical orientations. The model’s display orientation connects with users’ mobile devices to display content in the appropriate way. Having launched in South Korea in 2019, Samsung will roll out the Sero to global markets in 2020.

“As our lifestyles continue to evolve, the TV screen is evolving with them to provide consumers access to their favorite content and real-time information whenever and wherever they want it,” said Jong-hee Han, president of Visual Displays at Samsung Electronics. “As part of our vision of ‘Screens Everywhere,’ we’re thrilled to deliver a more vivid and connected at-home viewing experience by incorporating AI-enabled features and 8K technology into our displays.”

Samsung Electronics will showcase all of these TVs at their booth, GL-14.

Industry observers and executives alike remain stunned at how, in just five relatively short years, 4K UHD TVs transformed from a pricey curiosity to a race-to-the-bottom commodity. Based on this perhaps flawed phenomena, the industry is optimistic that 8K will follow the same super-speedy adoption path, sans 4K's rapid price erosions.

Nearly all TV makers have either announced, exhibited or started to sell one or more 8K models. This week alone first-to-sell-8K Samsung announced a 55-inch QLED version, TCL introduced its "designed to be the smartest TV on the market" 8K QLED X Series, and OLED grand poobah LG debuted its Signature 88-inch OLED priced in the posh $30,000 neighborhood. Sony, Panasonic, Sharp, Hisense, Konka, Grundig, Skyworth, Metz and Grundig all exhibited 8K sets in the last week, most 88 inches, some as large as 120 inches.

Industry analysts aren’t sanguine about 8K's prospects, however. Last December, Strategy Analytics projected that 8K-ready devices would account for just 3% of the TV market by 2023, with global unit sales reaching only 11 million units. This past April, IHS somewhat infamously forecast only 6 million 8K sets would be sold in 2023.

“I think that severely underestimates the market size,” insisted Alfred Chan, VP of marketing at V-Silicon, insisted during a panel discussion with 8K ecosystem executives organized by the 8K Association, inaugurated at the most recent CES. “In 2023, 50% of TVs could be 8K given the rise in sales of larger screens. I think the market is big for 8K.”

“I think the transition will be slower,” countered Pete Sellar, senior director of corporate standards for Xperi. "But in six to seven years, TV makers might not see any point in carrying 4K sets anymore."

8K PAIN POINTS

Everyone agrees on the one major hole in the 4K-8K adoption analogy: content. Netflix and Amazon both launched 4K streaming early during the initial UHD hardware rollout, and UHD Blu-ray players and a smattering of Hollywood titles appeared almost simultaneously with new 4K TVs. However, there is only a smattering of 8K content now leaking into the ecosystem, largely NHK gearing up its 8K engine for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and three European OTT providers—CHILI, The Explorers and MEGOGO—announced 8K content availability in the last week.

Without even the promise of widely available 8K content, it's no surprise that consumers ask: "Why do I need 8K?"

To move the 8K needle and prove IHS wrong, on the business side 8K stake holders "have to encourage native 8K production," notes Dan Schinasi, Samsung America's director of product planning. "It helps that the 8K Association is developing industry standards. Our mission is to encourage native 8K production." One help is the increasing development and availability of professional 8K production equipment.

One argument the 8K community can use to convince producers to capture content in native 8K is oversampling. "Capturing content in 8K to deliver in 4K or 2K makes a better presentation," explains Chan. "Capturing in higher resolution for legacy value makes a lot of sense, even if the deliverable is 4K or 2K."

Paralleling 8K professional gear availability is the development of more efficient codecs such as HEVC, AV1, VVC (Versatile Video Coding) and EVC—Essential Video Coding, aka MPEG-5, although many of these are still years away. But with Wi-Fi 6 and even 5G, wireless pipes are getting roomy enough to handle the thicker 8K data stream.

Simultaneously on the consumer front, TV makers advise retailers to de-emphasize resolution as 8K's prima facie case to buy. "There's a lot more to pursue than just resolution," Schinasi points out. "It's a matter of packaging the message."

Instead of simply resolution, 8K's three primary selling points to package are HDR, color gamut and, especially, upscaling.

"Algorithms for upscaling have improved dramatically in the last couple of years," notes Chris Chinnock, 8K Association executive director. "New scaling technologies that use machine learning to analyze millions of images have created databases so you can have intelligent upscaling that resides in the cloud, which means 4K and increasingly 2K content will look very good on an 8K TV."

One hurdle 8K makers know they need to overcome is resistance on the sales floor, which means getting retailers on board. "We're just now starting to reach out to retailers—our first task is to engage with them," Chinnock admits. "We have to conduct market research with retailers to discover pain points, then develop programs to address those pain points."

The major roadblock at retail, beyond consumers not recognizing a need for 8K, is price, especially the value ratio. It's helpful that new large screen 65- and 75-inch 10.5 generation panel capacity will be coming online in the next few years, which will allow prices on 8K sets to drop—hopefully not through the floor as they have for 4K, or at least not as quickly.

"A third of the current 4K market is 55-inches and above," observes Marek Maciejewski, TCL's European product development director. "8K 65-inch sets and above will also start to sell when prices become affordable and there's content."

Finally, 8K Association minimum specifications and certifications on the verge of finalization, along with test specifications and tools that hopefully lead to self-certification, will result in 8K certified sets appearing in 2020 that could help salve consumer worries about what they may be buying.

"All the pieces of the 8K ecosystem are moving in the right direction," Chinnock notes optimistically.

This story originally appeared on TVT's sister publication, TWICE.

Samsung has announced that it recently conducted a successful demonstration of sending 8K HDR images via satellite transmitted to a Samsung 82-inch QLED TV over HDMI 2.1.

The test broadcast used H.265 compression and was conducted at Seoul Mok-dong Broadcasting Center where 8K HDR images were transmitted to ETRI's Cheonian Ka-band satellite and shown over South Korean satellite broadcaster KT Skylife. ETRI is a South Korean-government funded research institute.

Samsung said it used the DVB-S2x transmission standard, which can expand satellite transmission bandwidth up to 100Mbps or more.

8KTVs were a prominent fixture at Samsung's 2019 CES booth, which included a massive 98-inch behemoth.  

“This test broadcast is significant in that it confirmed the technical stability of large-capacity satellite broadcasting in the future,” said Lee Han-han, head of technology at KT Skylife. "We will lead the market." 

RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J.—The latest models of TVs from Samsung are now available, including the company’s QLED 4K and 8K lines. Samsung describes the 2019 models as its largest screen size offering ever with models that offer TVs from 43 inches to 98 inches.

The range of offerings for Samsung’s QLED 4K and 8K TVs are designed to meet the specific needs of any household, per the company’s press release. The QLED 4K line features four models—Q60, Q70, Q80 and Q90, available in sizes from 43-82 inches—while the Q900 represents Samsung’s 8K offering and features five available sizes from 65-98 inches.

Among the special features of these latest offerings is the Ultra Viewing Angle technology available in the Q80 and Q90 models. Ultra Viewing Angle restructures the TV’s panels so the backlight passes through the panel with lights evenly on the screen with the goal of reducing glare and enhancing color. The Q80 and Q90, as well as the Q70, also offer Direct Full Array technology featuring a panel of concentrated zones of LEDs that automatically adjust to provide deeper blacks and purer whites.

All of the QLED 4K models and the Q900 8K model TVs feature proprietary Quantum Processors that can upscale lower resolution content to match either 4K or 8K pictures, as well as optimizing sound quality based on the content on the screen. The Quantum Processor 8K, specifically, is also able to boost the sound experience by tailoring audio settings to a room’s layout, per Samsung.

The new models will also provide updated Smart TV capabilities primarily based on discovering and watching content. An improved AI algorithm for the Universal Guide takes a user’s subscription services, favorite content and TV viewing habits to establish customized viewing recommendations. Users can also use the New Bixby feature on the 2019 models and are expected to soon be able to control their TVs via voice controls with an Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant device.

Samsung’s OneRemote now has Far Field Voice capability so customers can control their TV even when they are away from their remote.

Additional features for the QLED models include offering iTunes movies and TV shows and Apple AirPlay 2 support; Real Game Enhancer for improved gaming experience; and a greater variety of artistic options for the TV’s ambient mode.

Samsung also unveiled updates to its Frame and Serif lifestyle TVs. The new models provide QLED picture quality in addition to new Smart features.

For a full breakdown of Samsung’s 2019 QLED TV lineup, visit samsung.com.

Los Angeles’ Video & Audio Center (VAC) was among the first handful of retailers to get their hands on Samsung’s new 85-inch 8K QLED TV.

The Q900R, unveiled last August at IFA 2018, is the tip of the spear for the new generation of 8K displays, which have four times the resolution of 4K sets and are 16 times sharper than 1080p TVs.

To help generate excitement and sales around the new technology, VAC held a special VIP launch event at its new Westfield Century City Mall showroom this past Friday afternoon. Select clients were invited based on past TV predilections, and the retailer, which has a well-established knack for introducing new tech, sold five of the $15,000 sets within the first hour.

[Read: Is 8K Gaining Traction?]

Corporate director Tom Campbell (photo, right) credits the TV itself, which features an onboard demo mode in native 8K, and an AI-based up-scaling technology that wowed the crowd when the set was fed simple HD signals from live cable broadcasts.

“The native 8K is phenomenal and the cable content we demoed just popped,” he said, “so consumers can enjoy it right now.”

Speaking to the crowd, co-owner Joseph Akhtarzad (photo, left) thanked Samsung for making VAC one of the first retailers to carry the 900R, and described customer reaction to the new TV as “just amazing.”

Like most manufacturers, Samsung answers to two audiences: end users and the folks who sell them their stuff.

To ensure it’s attuned to the needs of both constituencies, the company commissioned a Consumer and Customer Insights survey last fall. What it found was that shoppers and sales associates are pretty much on the same page when it comes to TVs.

Given today’s surfeit of 75-inch and larger displays, size is no longer an issue for shoppers. Instead, topping the list of consumer wants is a TV that provides “a great picture” under all room-lighting conditions, the survey showed.

For dealers, the desire was more generalized: they simply want to be able to offer their customers the “best technology” available today.

Another beef for shoppers is the actual form factor of today’s large-screen panels, with respondents decrying “the huge black rectangle” in their rooms, Samsung said.

Retailers, on the other hand, put it more diplomatically, asking for new design approaches that can fit more home decors.

Consumers are also peeved by the spaghetti nest of wires and cables coming out of their sets, and said they dislike the clutter caused by multiple remotes.

Similarly, retailers called for “convenient installation options” on models and simple controls for their customers.

Shoppers also complained of difficult and time-consuming set ups of their new sets, and retailers said those challenges often lead to store returns.

Samsung said it managed to address those pain points with its 2018 QLED line through innovations like:

• A single combined connection and power cable, and Bixby voice control, to reduce clutter;

• An “invisible” ambient mode on all QLED models, and the painterly-inspired The Frameline, for improved TV aesthetics; and

• HDR10+ compatibility, and full-array direct backlighting on its top-of-the-line Q8F and Q9F sets, for better contrast in all lighting conditions.

What’s more, for the subset of consumers consumed by gaming, the QLEDs’ adaptive refresh technology provides stutter-free game play.

Perhaps as a result, the survey found that 33 percent of consumers own a Samsung TV, representing the highest brand penetration of any of the company’s product categories (mobile was second at 28 percent), and suggesting the sets are also top-of-mind with retail sales staffs.

The survey findings were shared by Samsung senior product training manager Scott Cohen at a tech media presentation this week in New York.

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