Samsung had an area on its booth that was showing future products. We spotted a number of competitors that had got onto the booth by borrowing badges from other companies! The amount of information was limited, but there was plenty to look at.
Samsung had a private area with new products. Image:Meko
One of the highlights, of course, was the commercial version of the “Wall” LED display which supports UltraHD and it was clear from everyone that we spoke to at Samsung that the company absolutely sees LED as its future display technology. “Just wait until you see what we have at CES”, we were told. As well as an UltraHD version, there was also a smaller one with FullHD.
Peak brightness from the UltraHD display is 1600 cd/m², although typical brightness is 500 cd/m² and the company claims that the primaries of the LEDs used in the display are more pure than those of regular LEDs with a smaller FWHM which helps the colour gamut. The LEDs are designed to have a very black background and the surface has been engineered to use a coating that gives some protection against shock.
The Wall has better colour and low black. Image:Meko
The colour and contrast of the Wall display is impressive. Image:Meko
The Wall can be controlled with a separate signage player box that supports the Samsung Tizen platform in version 4.0. Inputs to the box includes DisplayPort, HDMI (2), DVI and HDBaseT. Warranty on the professional version can be up to five years.
Samsung said that the Wall would ship in Q4 and was not revealing pricing. We have heard that it costs €150,000, but a member of Samsung’s staff said “I couldn’t sell it to you for as little as that”, so that may be the distribution price.
The FullHD version of the wall has 0.84mm in a 960 x 540 cabent which has 803 x 453 x 72.5mm and weighs 11.8kg. Contrast is quoted at 20,000:1 and the unit supports HDR10+. Processing is at a 20 bit level.
The company is also developing its SMD LED products and the latest P1.2 display will start to ship in June. The company also has a new controller box with support for up to 3840 x 2160 with refresh rate of 4,000Hz. The box supports inverse tone mapping, colour mapping and dynamic peaking.
A new product is a dual sided ‘Window’ LCD, in two sizes as the OH55N-D (FullHD) 55″ and OH85N-D which is an 85″ which have 1,000 cd/m² on one side for the indoor side, and 3,000 cd/m² on the outside. The displays have 5,000:1 contrast and are rated for 24/7 operation. They can be used 100mm from a window and are designed to work well even when viewed with polarised glasses. These displays will be available in the second half of the year.
The OHF Series is available in 46″/55″/75″ and 85″ and is for outdoor signage. The displays are IP rated for ingress and the display has IK10 rated ‘Magic Glass’. The smaller units are 85mm thick, while the two larger ones are 120mm deep.
The new OMN series of outdoor displays will have 4,000 cd/m² of brightness, but at the same time have been reduced in thickness from 140mm to 57mm (at 55″). The OM55N 55″ produces this very level of brightness with just 391W.
The QMN series of UltraHD displays (500 cd/m²) and QBN Series (350 cd/m²) will start to ship in June.
The PMF -BC range in 32/43″/55″ are new smart FullHD LCD displays that have integrated PCap touch, but the touch is supported by the ‘smart’ functions in the display – there is no need to connect an external PC or system unit. Two touch points are supported (ten with an external PC) and the 43″ and 55″ units are rated for 24/7 operation. The output brightness is 400 cd/m².
Samsung’s new PCap display support dual point touch with the SoC. Image:Meko
The BEN series is an “entry level” range and there is an 82″ UltraHD 16/7 display with 300 cd/m² of output.
Samsung talked about its AI-based upscaling technology and the company was talking again at Infocomm about what it can do to support 8K displays. The technology creates detail, reduces noise and supports edge restoration. The company also showed its intelligent HDR+ tone mapping technology.
Samsung was highlighting the use of AI for upscaling to 8K. Image:Meko
Video wall calibration can be a slow business and Samsung was showing a new process (Color Expert Mobile) that can use a simple smartphone camera to calibrate a 2 x 2 video wall in just one minute. That contrasts with a typical time of 6 minutes for wired calibrators, the company said.
Samsung also said that it has improved its packaging and is now using a ‘both sides open’ structure that should make unboxing easier and it has also changed the design to make it easier to check if the display is damaged without the need to unbox it.
Samsung is improving its LFD packaging. Image:Meko
The Flip interactive display was launched at CES in January in 55″. At Infocomm, the company was privately showing the unit in 43″ and in a new 65″ version. (That’s what our notes said, but we were unable to confirm the 43″ information, so treat that news with caution! Man. Ed.)
Samsung has updated its MagicInfo software to version 6.0 and there has been a boost in the facilities for retail analytics. It runs on all Tizen 4.0 OS smart devices or boxes.
The CJ89 monitor was announced in a 49″ form at CES and now the company has a new super wide 3840 x 1200 monitor with a VA panel. The aspect ratio is 32:10 and the output is 300 cd/m² with 3,000:1 contrast. The monitor supports USB Type-C (2), with power delivery, and has an integrated KVM. The monitor has 1800R curve and supports 120Hz for gaming (using FreeSync). The monitor is expected to sell for $999.
Samsung will have a 43″ version of its earlier 49″ monitor. Image:Meko
Samsung also had a new 31.5″ monitor, the UJ59, an UltraHD monitor with a VA panel with 300 cd/m² and contrast is 3,000:1. Refresh is 60Hz and the monitor should be less expensive than previous monitors from Samsung of this size and resolution, as it was not described as having quantum dots (QDs) for wide colour gamut (WCG).
Samsung’s new 31.5″ monitor may be cheaper than previous versions, although pricing was not released. Image:Meko
