Samsung Sings Its 2013 HD TV Praises

Samsung’s 2013 flagship LED-LCD TV, the F8000

Samsung is expected to start rolling out its 2013 smart TV range in NZ from April.

Today in Jakarta the Korean consumer electronics giant revealed the scope of products destined for Southeast Asia.

The press release doesn’t disclose pricing or availability but says consumers can look forward to TVs with smarter features, superior picture quality and bigger screens, including an 85-inch, future-proofed Ultra HD model.

“Consumers are demanding more from TV and AV products in order to achieve the ultimate home entertainment experience,” Samsung Asia president and CEO Gregory Lee says.

“We’re offering a brand new Smart Hub, which offers a simpler, more intuitive way for consumers to discover and organize the content they love.

“In addition, the new upgradeable evolution kit makes Samsung Smart TVs timeless TVs.”

The 2013 Smart Hub simplifies organising and navigating personalised content through an updated interface and dynamic thumbnail previews within three newly designed panels:

· Apps: Easily access and edit downloaded Samsung Apps

· Photos, Videos & Music: Access personal content stored on various AllShare devices in one place

· Social: View popular video content shared across social channels

Users will be able to display up to 30 app icons on one page, which users can customise so for easy favourite apps access.

Samsung says its Voice Control function offers improved accuracy and useability – including the ability to understand about 300 different commands, up from 50 commands in 2012, and to control multiple apps at once.

Motion Control also has been enhanced with new gestures for swiping, pinching and zooming websites and photos, and flipping between Smart Hub panels.

Samsung reckons the Timeless Gallery design of its UHD TV 85S9 sets a new standard for the industry, “revolutionising the conventional TV design aesthetic”.

The TV appears to be floating within its frame, combining a classic, minimalist concept with a large, 85-inch display and 120-watt array speakers.

Samsung’s design concept includes its One Connect solution to eliminate cable clutter by requiring only one cable to connect to the TV, “creating a perfect Clean Back look”.

The UHD TV’s larger screen size is part of Samsung’s effort to meet consumer demand for larger-screen TVs – the fastest growing TV segment in the region.

The state-of-the-art 85S9 offers four times the resolution of Full HD displays and includes Samsung’s proprietary up-scaling engine to up-convert HD or Full-HD to UHD-level picture quality “by restoring detail information to create greater precision for real-life picture quality”.

Samsung also resolves conflicting UHD content industry standards through Smart Evolution, which will have forward compatibility with the latest standards and features.

“Users will have no difficulties in watching UHD content regardless of future standardisations, which eases purchasing concerns to ensure that users will be able to view UHD content for years to come.”

Samsung’s flagship LED TV will be the F8000 in 55-, 60-, 65- and 75-inch screen sizes.

It will boast not only a floating design and superior colours, black levels and contrast but also Intelligent Viewing, which optimises picture quality according to content, and a quad-core processor for quicker, easier toggling between apps, online services and on-air TV.

Meanwhile, owners of Series 7, 8 and 9 2012 Smart TVs will be able to use evolution kits to update software and hardware that will turn their TVs’ dual-core CPUs into quad-core for faster internal processing speeds.

Several of Samsung’s high-end 2013 Smart TVs will also have slots for future evolution kits.