Chris Turkstra is from Samsung’s US-based Customer Experience Lab and he started by saying that TV watching should not be hard work. The Samsung vision is “end to end seamless content” controlling streaming content from the main TV remote.
Turkstra said that Samsung has “Taken the barriers down between inputs and channels” and the firm can also automatically control multiple devices with a single remote. For example, if an XBox is connected, it will be auto recognised and the remote will be automatically set up to control it. Controls and settings can also be customised.
Turning to accessing OTT content, such as Amazon Prime, he said that with the new platform, there is no need to wait for apps to load and content is immediately available. The TV set can access programme guides as well.
Samsung has 500 games on its SmartHub platform. Playstation Now is now supported and game titles from Sony are now available on Samsung sets.
Mike Angus of Time Warner Cable then came on stage. He said that TWC had worked with Samsung since 2011. He knows that TWC customers subscribe to other services, such as Amazon Prime, so it wants to optimise the customer experience. Combining the TWC software with Samsung’s Tizen platform means that no switch is needed between the TWC menus and guides and OTT content.
Samsung is also bringing “the second screen to the main screen”. Samsung “Extra”, which adds data such as score feeds on the set, will now cover European Soccer and other sports. The firm has also made it easier to show content from mobile and other devices. There are a lot of apps that support playback on the TV and they are on Android/iOS and Windows.
Samsung helped to form UHD Alliance and all 2016 Samsung SUHD TVs will carry the “Premium” logo that was announced the day before by the UHD Alliance. The UBD-K8500 is Samsung’s first UHD BD player with HDR and it will come to market in March.
Samsung said that all its SUHD sets this year will carry the UltraHD Premium logo. Image:Meko Ltd
Samsung Audio Lab was set up in the US to develop products and Samsung has produced what it claims to be the first wireless sound bar with Dolby Atmos. Also on the booth at the show was a 170″ SUHD TV and an 8K curved set (more on these in our booth tour section later in this article)
John Herrington is from Samsung US and he spoke about new innovations in appliances.
There are opportunities for several IoT appliances in the kitchen – for example, the remote monitoring and control of cookers. Herrington introduced the “Family Hub fridge” which has an integrated 21.5″ FullHD touch display. The display has intelligence so can access other systems around the house, including IoT sensors and controls. It can display cloud-data, such as calendars and images.
There are built in cameras to look inside the fridge – viewable from a mobile, which means that if you are not sure what is in the fridge and you are at a shop, you can look at the most recent image. (There are those that might not want the contents of their fridges broadcast on the internet, whether there is security or not!) Herrington said that the fridge also supports a “Groceries by Mastercard” app which can direct access to several stores for grocery purchase. These include FreshDirect and ShopRite in the US.
You will also be able to stream video or other content from Samsung Smart TVs to the FamilyHub which will be available in the spring.
Alanna Cotton is VP Samsung Electronics America and she came on to introduce two new versions of the Samsung Gear 2 Classic in “Rose gold” and “platinum”. Samsung Pay will be available on S2 later in the year. The S2 is an “open” platform – it works with other android smartphones and will be made compatible with iOS later in the year.
The final new product is the TabPro S, a 12″ tablet that is convertible and runs Windows 10 on an Intel Core M3 processor. The keyboard is said to be full sized and the tablet is 6.3mm thick. The display is a FullHD AMOLED.
