PERTH: Samsung has officially launched its flagship SUHD range of Ultra High Definition 4K TV, first unveiled at the 2015 International CES in Las Vegas at the start of the year.
The show piece of the 2015 line up is the range of SUHD panels. The “SUHD” branding is attached to Samsung’s top tier 4K Ultra HD resolution LED TVs, powered by proprietary screen technology.
The similar to rival LG, the secret sauce is ‘quantum-dot’ technology — or what Samsung is calling “proprietary Cadmium-free nano-crystal technology.” These are nano-crystals mixed with the blue LEDs that form the backlights of these TVs. The crystals emit specific wavelengths of red and green which, combined with the blue LEDs, can make for both brighter images and a wider colour gamut than current backlighting technology.
As an aside, the S in SUHD doesn’t actually stand for anything. Samsung’s Corporate VP Philip Newtown explained that “the S is applied to Samsung’s breakthrough technologies.”
Samsung will be bringing sevens models of SUHD TVs into Australia, starting with the 55-inch JS8000 for AU$4,999 and going up to the 88-inch JS9500 which will set you back a whopping AU$24,999. Samsung is leveraging its own chip production facilities, with the Exynos octa-core processor making an appearance in SUHD JS9500 and JS9000 models.
The SUHD is the flagship range and priced accordingly, but Samsung is also bringing to market a range of more affordable Ultra HD TVs, with Newton saying that the models would start as small at 40-inches for AU$1,499.
At LG’s recent 2015 TV launch, the company said that 66 percent of its range this year would be Ultra HD. Samsung has a similar statistic, with 70 percent of its range hitting 4K resolution.
Also like LG, Samsung is working with Netflix, offering a six-month free Premium subscription for people purchasing selected models, the concept being that users can watch 4K video content streaming via Netflix, assuming their internet connection makes the grade (the grade being 25Mbps, apparently).
Notably absent from the line up is OLED, with Samsung saying late last year that it would not be producing an OLED TV for 2015, focusing instead on its SUHD. Curved screens, however, are making a return across the range, with Newton saying that curved had “been a real point of difference” for the company in 2014.
