Samsung Display had a meeting room to show its latest developments. The company started by showing us its latest developments in VA technology where it has been able to get on-axis contrast ratio up to 6,000:1 for its TV panels. It was also keen to show that reflections were less of a problem than on IPS panels. Continuing the attack on IPS, Samsung showed how edge-lit IPS panels saw quite a lot of light diffusion through the panel, which spoils the black level possible.
On a more positive note, the company was showing how its latest “MBT” driver technology is reducing the number of column drivers from 12 to just 4, which makes it much easier to develop slim and clean designs. The company told us that the TCon is integrated with the drivers.
Another development showed how organising the RGB sub-pixels to be presented vertically, rather than horizontally, allows much faster driving, as much as three times the speed, the company told us.
There was a promotion of curved TV panels, with a new 65″ unit that was shown with a wall bracket that made it easier to mount the TV on the wall and allow it to slide from side to side, exploiting the curved shape to allow easier viewing from the sides when the TV is ‘swivelled’.
Next we had a look at a new 46″ panel for extremely narrow bezel monitors. The panel allows the development of sets with a gap between images of 1.7mm (asymmetric at 1.2mm and 0.5mm). The panel is intended for 24/7 operation and has brightness of 700 cd/m². The panel uses local dimming to allow black levels down to 0.001 cd/m² and the brightness uniformity is said to be 90%. The panel will ship early in 2017 and will be followed by a 55″ version.
Finally, we looked at the latest ‘curved slim’ TV panel design that allows most of the TV to be as thin as 3.9mm and Samsung has improved its mounting system to mean that there are no visible screws on the back of the cabinet. The panel doesn’t use a glass light plate, but has improved technology from the previous version.
Analyst Comment
Unfortunately, Samsung wouldn’t allow photography in its meeting room. Both LG Display and Samsung Display spent much of their time attacking each other’s technology. By the time I had looked at the weaknesses of IPS and VA LCDs, I was inclined to switch to OLED!
We asked about the claims from Samsung Electronics of a 1ms MPRT for VA monitor panels, but there were no staff from the monitor panel group at the event. (BR)
