New Samsung QLED TVs Have Multi-View Feature, Solar-Powered Remotes
New Neo QLED TV technology and environmental initiatives were top themes during Samsung’s prerecorded First Look 2021 event Wednesday, leading up to the company’s news conference Tuesday at virtual CES.
A miniature LED that’s 1/40th the size of a conventional LED is at the heart of Samsung’s latest top-tier display technology, Neo QLED. The QN900A 8K TV and 4K QN900A models are slated for introduction this year; prices weren't given. A next-generation Neo Quantum processor upscales picture quality to 4K or 8K regardless of input quality, said the company. Neo QLED boosts the luminance scale to 12-bit with 4,096 steps, making dark areas darker and bright areas brighter, for better detail and an improved HDR experience, said the company.
The event had a pandemic nod, with hosts showing how Samsung Neo QLED TVs can be used for at-home gym training with the company’s Smart Trainer that’s part of its free Samsung Health app. It also demonstrated how files can be sent from an office PC to a TV for working on a big screen using Samsung DeX. Another demo showed how tapping a smartphone to a Samsung TV enables a multi-view feature where users can watch TV while having a video call with friends. Google Duo allows users to see five people on screen and call up to 32 people on a group call, said a spokesperson.
On the new Neo QLED TVs, a multi-view mode allows users to split a screen into four customizable views with volume adjustable for each section. Super UltraWide GameView lets players view games in wider aspect ratios -- 21:9 and 32:9 -- and to adjust angles and positions to their eye level, the spokesperson said. The TVs have AMD FreeSync Premium Pro to support variable refresh rates for smoother game play, he said. He also touted Samsung TV Plus, the company’s smart TV app platform, and TV Plus for mobile devices, as ways for users to get free content and organize it to meet their preferences.
Samsung describes the 8K Neo QLED TVs as having an “infinity screen” that appears to “float in air.” Designers minimized the Samsung logo and outboarded connections to a One Connect box to maintain a thin bezel, said engineer Anant Baijal. Audio features include Object Tracking Sound that matches sound to movements on screen; SpaceFit Sound analyzes an installed TV’s physical environment and outputs immersive sound tailored to the space, Baijal said.
Samsung’s MicroLED display technology, meanwhile, will be available in TV format for the first time this year. First to hit the market will be 110- and 99-inch screen sizes, to be joined by smaller sizes by year-end. The new line, self-illuminating, uses 24 million individually controlled LEDs, said the company.
Samsung announced a new remote control as part of environmental initiatives to reduce the company’s carbon footprint. Samsung TVs will come with a solar-powered remote that can be recharged by indoor light, outdoor light or USB to help prevent waste from what it projects would be 99 million alkaline batteries over a seven-year span. The manufacturing process for the new remotes includes 24% recycled plastic from recyclable bottles, the company said.
Large TVs create volumes of packaging waste, and Samsung is looking to reduce waste by extending the "Eco-packaging" design first employed last year in its Lifestyle TV line. In 2021, “most” of the 2021 Neo QLED TVs and all 2021 Lifestyle TVs will have eco-packaging, which incorporates dot matrix design on each side of the cardboard boxes, allowing customers to cut the boxes more easily and assemble them into other uses, such as small end tables or houses for pets. Included within the packaging is a manual, accessible via QR code, to guide customers on how to make household items out of the cardboard boxes. By minimizing text and graphic imagery on the packing material, the oil-based ink from color printing that’s traditionally used on TV boxes is eliminated, helping to further reduce waste, said the company. Samsung estimates eco-packaging can lead to upcycling of 200,000 tons of corrugated boxes annually.