For the first time in five years, Samsung was back at CEDIA where it showed off its latest UHD 4K TVs and ATMOS sound bar. It also produced five workshops to help dealers, integrators, calibrators and reviewers better understand the principles of HDR and introduce them to the new evaluation and calibration 4K Blu-ray disc developed by the company.
On display in the Samsung booth was a full array of home entertainment products and solutions. While no new products were announced, many existing products were showcased to CEDIA attendees who may not have seen them before. This included curved and flat SUHD TVs with 4K resolution, HDR10 support and quantum dot technology. Also on display were UHD TVs, the industry’s first UBD-K8500 Ultra HD Blu-ray player, and the new HW-K950 Soundbar with Dolby Atmos technology.
Samsung SUHD TVs are compatible with top control system for IR and RS232 compatibility. At the booth, Samsung demonstrated integration with a Crestron residential system.
New for CEDIA was the Samsung CMS (Content Management System) applet exclusively for Samsung-authorized custom installers. The CMS applet delivers the most up-to-date information needed to spec the Samsung TVs that customers are asking for. Installers will have access to the latest firmware updates, spec sheets, product grids, RS-232 and IR codes, download mechanical and / or the CAD drawings of its 2016 models, and much more. Plus, they can request Samsung’s 2016 HDR10 Reference Disc for HDR TV evaluation and calibration support.
Samsung also announced new mounting and display solutions designed to simplify installations. This includes expanded mounting options for curved TVs. At CEDIA, Samsung showcased three elegant ways to incorporate the curved UHD TV experience into home theaters intended to inspire custom installers:
- 1.2” deep wall mount designed for curved and flat TVs to hang as close to the wall as possible
- “Shadow Box” solution that creates an elegant integrated wall design solution
- Speaker mounting approach that seamlessly blends with a curved TV install design
In the Omni hotel, Samsung also delivered five workshops that summarized the state of the UHD TV market and provided some basics on HDR technology. Speakers Florian Friedrich and Kevin Miller then explained what the new Samsung HDR10 Reference Disc can do. First, it is an Ultra HD Blu-ray disc that can be used to evaluate and then calibrate HDR 4K TVs. That means no pattern generator is needed, just a Samsung Blu-ray 4K player.
The patterns were developed to fill a need in the market – no evaluation and calibration patterns were available for the new HDR TVs and SDR patterns would yield an incorrect evaluation and calibration of the display.
Friedrich said that he learned a lot in developing the patterns, with Samsung support, like the need to have patterns with some movement to not let the TVs go into modes that are not suitable for evaluation or calibration. The disc is intended to be used first to evaluate the performance of the display.
Miller then explained how these patterns were used in conjunction with the SpectraCal CalMan workflow for calibration of the display. Attendees were then shown both evaluation and calibration of Samsung HDR TVs, assisted by calibrators DeWayne Davis and David MacKenzie. -CC
