Battle for high-end TV market intensifies

At last week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Samsung's unveiling of a humble TV cable wire called the Invisible Connection received louder applause than the company's ultra high-definition TV sets using a new technology called QLED.

The contrast between the reactions summed up the challenge facing manufacturers as they attempt to balance the needs of users with the imperative to pursue the cutting edge of technology.

The wire addresses a simple need: it reduces the tangle and complexity of connecting a smart TV to devices that deliver streamed or stored content to the screen. QLED, on the other hand, is another attempt by Samsung to differentiate its TVs from those of Korean rival LG.

The latter leads in the production of organic light emitting diode (OLED) screens - available on smartphones for many years but expensive and complex to produce in the large formats demanded by the smart TV market.

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Samsung chose a different route, combining liquid crystal display with quantum dot (QD), a particle that converts light in a way that increases its saturation. That means more accurate colours and a superior viewing experience.

LG also produces QD units, which meant that Samsung had to find a way to go one better.

Two years ago at the show, Samsung unveiled a version of the technology it called SUHD, which created confusion due to vague marketing terms such as "super" being used to explain the "S".

Ultra high definition (UHD) is one of the few standards agreed to by most manufacturers. It is synonymous with 4K, which requires display resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels. That's typically double the resolution of high definition screens, although HD itself has various definitions.

At this year's show, Samsung found its edge with QLED, which Samsung America executive vice-president Joe Stinziano promised would deliver a "perfect image from any viewing angle".

"This year we added a new quantum dot to improve stability and light efficiency, so there is no degradation of light and colour over time, which happens with organic light like OLED. Elevated brightness increases vividness and maintains colour integrity," he said.

The QLED TVs are the first that can display accurate colours at any brightness level. The label comes from Samsung's acquisition of a company called QD Vision, which owned the trademark on the QLED name.

Bob Raikes of UK-based display consultancy Meko believes Samsung is getting it right.

"Samsung wanted to exploit its knowledge of OLED, where it dominates in small displays on smartphones. Combining it with QD is difficult and will take another three to five years to perfect, so it is trying to get everyone to talk QLED. At the moment, QDs are used to convert one light or colour to a different kind of light, but you really want to convert electricity directly to that colour, and you need different materials to achieve that.

block_quotes_start ...the far higher cost of making a high-end TV makes it less likely that the leaders will emerge from tiny brands... block_quotes_end

"From an engineering point of view, why create all that RGB [red-green-blue] light and filter it; it's much better to create pure RGB, which is what Samsung is doing. It looks fantastic, but the device has to work really hard to give you the right brightness. In the next two to three years, it will be moving QD from the back light to the front."

It is highly technical, but crucial to the future profitability of the display industry. At present, more is spent on protecting the QD layer from oxygen, water and other elements than on the technology itself.

Using QD as a filter instead of a conversion tool also reduces the efficiency of the units. According to Raikes, LG devices "throw away 70% of the light they create".

In the meantime, equal emphasis is being placed on TV sets looking good as furniture. Along with the Invisible Connection, Samsung revealed a new kind of wall mount for flat-screen TVs, called No Gap.

According to Won-Jin Lee, executive vice-president of Samsung Electronics globally, the intention is to return the TV to its role as the central hub of entertainment in the home.

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"We are focusing on a unified experience, personalised discovery, and more high-end content," he said.

In one of the few examples of Samsung crossing over between its TV and smartphone expertise, it will also enhance its year-old Smart View app, which allows the "smart hub" on its internet-connected TVs to be controlled from a personalised smartphone platform.

The show also saw a muscular presence from other TV manufacturers, with LG in particular challenging for the high ground. It unveiled the LG Signature OLED W7 TV, claimed to be the thinnest in the world at just 2.5mm.

Sony launched its first true OLED TV, the AE1, while up-and-coming Chinese rivals HiSense and Xiaomi underlined their aspirations with a highly visible presence at the show.

The battle for the high-end TV market is reaching fever pitch, not very different to the smartphone wars of the past decade.

However, the far higher cost of making a high-end TV makes it less likely that the leaders will emerge from tiny brands, as has happened in the smartphone market, although few would bet on that outcome.

Goldstuck, who gave a presentation and moderated a discussion at the show on "Building trust in emerging technologies", is founder of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Twitter @art2gee and on YouTube.