Samsung to Field 14 3D-Ready TV Models, Some With Conversion Chips

Seeking to steal a march in 3D, Samsung on Tuesday unveiled 14 3D-ready LCD and plasma TVs with built-in emitters that will be packaged with a “starter kit” containing two pairs of active-shutter glasses and Dreamworks’ Monsters vs. Aliens Blu-ray title. Samsung disclosed that some of its sets will contain 2D-to-3D conversion chips. But a senior ESPN executive who last week warned that his network would be “done” with 3D if makers began flooding the market with 3D TVs bearing those chips, declined to comment on Samsung’s specific disclosure.

In taking the wraps off its 3D strategy, Samsung also hinted at further promotional plans with Dreamworks. There will be a series of Shrek 3D Blu-ray titles, including the fourth installment of the movie, to be released in theaters in May. Samsung executives, at a New York media briefing, declined to comment on plans for packaging the movie with its TVs, but a promotion is said to be scheduled to coincide with the release of the fourth film. Technicolor is replicating the Monsters vs. Aliens Blu-ray for Dreamworks, Samsung executives said.

The Samsung 3D-ready LCD TVs include nine models spread across the 7000, 8000 and 9000 series of TVs. The 3D sets, which all are 1080p, and have LED backlighting and 240 Hz panels, range from a 40-inch model at $1,999 to the top-end 55-inch at $6,999 that’s packaged with a remote control with a three-inch LCD screen. The 3D capability carries about a $300 premium, Samsung said. The high-end of Samsung’s CCFL-based LCD TV line starts at $2,099 for the 55-inch LN55C650, which also shifts to a 120 Hz panel. There also is a 3D-ready LN55C750 model that has a CCFL backlight and upgrades to 240 Hz, but pricing wasn’t available.

Samsung will have six 3D-ready plasma TVs, including 50-, 58- and 63-inch sizes that are part of the 7000 ($1,799-$3,499) and 8000 ($2,099-$3,799) series, the company said. The sets ship in May. The DLNA-enabled TVs have four HDMI and two USB 2.0 jacks, an anti-glare screen, 600 Hz sub-field motion and are Internet@TV capable, company officials said. Samsung doubled the total number of 63-inch plasma sets to four and retained an entry-level non-3D 42-inch model. In plasma, Samsung expects total U.S. unit sales to be flat with 2009 at 3.3 million units despite 11 percent growth in the first two months of the year, said Steve Panosian, director of TV marketing. Samsung is aiming to increase its share of U.S. plasma TV market to 50 percent by year-end, up from its current 38 percent and 33 percent a year ago, he said.

Many of the Samsung 3D-ready sets contain 2D-to-3D conversion chips, the company said. ESPN has warned that if manufacturers flood the market with TVs bearing conversion chips, it would at least “soften our interest” in 3D (CED March 3 p1). “The quality of it depends on content and we're not hanging our hat on it, but it’s there,” Dan Schinasi, Samsung senior marketing manager for HDTV product planning, told us. “It adds depth into the picture. We'll support” ESPN when they're ready, he said. While ESPN “won’t comment on specific sets, we simply want to be sure consumers are receiving the best experience from their 3D sets,” Bryan Burns, vice president of strategic business planning and development, told us in an e-mail late Tuesday.

Samsung’s Blu-ray player line is led by the 3D-ready BD-C6900 ($399) that has 7.1 channel out, WiFi, 1 GB of embedded memory and Internet@TV. Three other models are Internet@TV capable and have built-in WiFi, the main breaking point being that the BD-C6500 ($249) has 7.1 channel out, while the BD-C7500 ($349) and BD-C5500 ($179) shift to two-channel audio and wood pattern and black finishes. Samsung also will have a portable Blu-ray player with a 10.3 inch LCD.

Samsung expects to have 5,000 3D displays installed in retail stores by year-end, including 900 at Best Buy late this month, the company said. At Best Buy, Samsung is taking both end cap and aisle space, it said. In addition to the displays, Samsung will market three different pairs of 3D glasses that it’s manufacturing in China, company officials said. The entry-level glasses ($129-$139) will be designed for children and minus the Touch of Color design found with Samsung TVs. Those glasses along with a step-up pair ($149) will be powered by a coin-sized battery, while a rechargeable version sells for $179, the company said.

Tying together the TVs and Blu-ray players will be Samsung’s Internet@TV widget-based service that contains 12 free applications including the Associated Press, Netflix, Pandora and others. Internet@TV will have 22 applications by month’s end, a spokesman said. Samsung will introduce a premium service in July featuring sports, games and other applications that will be priced between $1 and $15, a spokesman said.

Samsung also will jump into the e-reader market with a mono model ($299) that ships in April featuring a six-inch screen and E Ink’s Vizplex electronic ink, company officials said. Best Buy is among those expected to carry the product, company officials said. The e-reader comes with an electromagnetic resonance stylus pen that enables the user to make annotations in the margins and share notes between models. The WiFi b/g-equipped e-reader also can access content from Barnes&Noble.com’s library of one million e-books, magazines and newspapers. It has 2 GB of memory, a 1,500-milliampere lithium ion battery good for 30,000 page turns and an electrophoretic display with 600x800 resolution. While Samsung showed a model at CES with a 9.7-inch screen, a spokesman declined to comment on plans for it. But Samsung will introduce additional e-readers later this year with larger screens, he said.