Ridgefield Park, N.J. – Samsung Electronics America unveiled
Thursday a new top-of-the-line 8500 series of FullHD 1080p LCD TVs with full-array
LED backlighting.
The series is
a complement to Samsung’s
recently introduced 8000 series of LCD TVs, which use edge-lit LED lighting to
achieve a 1.17-inch panel depth. In comparison, the new 8500 series models achieve
a panel depth of 1.6 inches while delivering more uniform illumination across
the full width of the frame, and improving black levels, contrast and color
saturation through the use of Samsung’s local dimming technology.
The later is
able to generate truer blacks by dimming or turning off only specific clusters
of white LEDs in the darker portions of the picture. Conventional CCFL and
edge-lit LED lighting keeps the backlight at one constant level, leaving LCD
cells to act as valves to reduce the brightness in the picture. Usually some
light leaks through, reducing contrast performance.
The new HDTVs are
said to combine the picture quality and thinness attributes of LED technology with
the company’s
latest networking and interactive features.
“For consumers who are looking for
the ultimate HD centerpiece and high-level performance in their home theater,
the Samsung 8500 series delivers break-through quality and design,” stated John Revie, Samsung Electronics
visual display marketing senior VP. “The 8500 series underscores Samsung’s dedication to providing a
full range of HDTVs that not only achieve the highest levels of picture
quality, but also provide unique and immersive entertainment experiences
through our [email protected]ä suite.”
The 8500 series
models will be offered in the 46-inch ($3,600 suggested retail) and 55-inch
($4,500) screen sizes. Both will ship to dealers in September.
The dynamic
contrast ratio of both models is rated at a 7,000,000:1.
For color
control, Samsung uses its Wide Color Enhancer Pro technology while its Ultra
Clear Panel system is said to improve image clarity and brightness regardless
of a room’s ambient lighting.
Both models
comply with Energy Star v3.0 ratings, and include an optimized energy-savings
mode that adjusts the backlight and picture quality without sacrificing the
overall viewing experience.
Panel response
time for the 8500 series is listed at 2ms, which when combined with the
company’s Auto Motion Plus 240Hz frame
interpolation technology reduces blurring in fast motion scenes.
The sets offer
three standard Auto Motion Plus presets and allow users to also separately
adjust the levels of judder and motion blur reduction to taste.
As for IPTV
capability, Samsung’s
[email protected]ä suite provides access to Internet@TV, a content service developed in
association with Yahoo! to provide onscreen access to popular Web-based multimedia
sites, including Yahoo! (Flickr, video, news, weather and finance), USA Today
(sports), Twitter, YouTube and others.
The
widgets-based interface and scrollbar are activated with the push of a button
and run along the bottom of the screen for easy browsing of the latest programs
and content available. Content partners will be continuously added or removed
remotely as new partnerships are formed and consumer usage demands.
The [email protected]ä
suite provides wired and wireless DLNA compatibility to enable the TVs to
access photos, music and videos from networked PCs. Preloaded photos, artwork,
games and recipes are also included for entertaining, and two USB 2.0
connections can be used for playing a plethora of video, photo and audio files
from portable devices, including external hard memory.
Both models
are part of the Samsung Touch of Color design class. The sets are also
compatible with Samsung’s
ultra-slim wall-mount solution (sold separately) that reduces the gap between
the TV and the wall to 0.6 inches.
The sets ship
with a crystal-neck swivel stand.
Connectivity
includes four HDMI-CED inputs, one set of component inputs, two USB 2.0 inputs, one Ethernet jack, one optical
audio output and one PC input.
