As stay at home orders sent streaming through the roof the TV remains the centerpiece for entertainment in homes. A quarter of views to the TV in North America are now from streamed services, according to Nielsen. Households upgraded their tellies in a record-setting year for shipments in 2020, according to the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) which expects steady demand for displays in North America through 2021. TV sales will hit 43 million units this year with sets over 70-inches and/or those with 8K UHD in high demand.
TV
vendors have had a tough time in recent years as consumers tended to pay more
money, more frequently for smartphones. Greater attention from consumers on the
value of the main screen and the maturation of a number of technical ingredients
which, combined, make for more immersive viewing experiences, has opened the
window for TV makers with the CES as ever the perfect place to launch a sales
pitch.
“The
killer app for TV is TV,” said Madeline Noland, President of the ATSC put it
during a CES panel session about Next-Gen TV.
ATSC
research reveals that home viewers want higher resolution and enhanced audio
(from built-in 3D speakers to sound bars and 21.1 channels). They also want
higher dynamic range, higher frame rates and bigger displays and Filmmaker
Mode. This is a button which sets a film’s color-palette, contrast, aspect
ratio and frame rate supposedly as the director envisaged. In fact, they want
the whole package to which can now be added smart interactive personalisation.
“What is
exciting is the synergy between these consumer desires and today’s TVs which
are bringing these features to life,” she said.
We’ve
been a while getting here. Michael Davies, SVP, Field and Technical for Fox
Sports said on the same CES panel, that visiting Japan last year he was
“embarrassed” to admit that Fox was still broadcasting 720p SDR when the
Japanese were talking about 8K.
“We’ve
been living with HDTV for 20 years,” he said. “It’s been a pretty slow roll
from there. We had three 8K cameras at Super Bowl LIV but that pales besides
the other 120 cameras we had there.”
8K TV sales are predicted grow by 300% in 2021
albeit that that comprises a relatively small 1.7 million units.
Upscaling
“Even in
4K there is limited content today,” acknowledged Grace Nolan, VP Integrated
Marketing, Samsung. “It will be a little stretch to get to 8K on a more
mainstream level – [but] we won’t get there unless the industry is pushing.
It’s encouraging to see 8K games consoles (PS5 and Xbox Series X support 8K
gaming) coming out. We will catch up with Japan.”
In the
meantime, vendors are relying on upscaling technology to make incoming
lower-resolution pictures 8K-ish.
“We lean
hard on AI and upscaling tech,” said Nolan. “The more data that is input into
the TV, the better the processor is able to work to produce a more beautiful
upscaled image.”
Aside
from UHD, HDR and enhanced audio the other near universal component of TV
hardware 2021 is applications for gamers. Larger, brighter screens with higher
refresh rates and special gamer-only features as well as tie-ups with cloud
gaming vendors should help TV brands shift more gear.
Round-up
by vendor
Decoding
the barrage of branding and acronyms which go hand in hand with new TV launches
is a minefield and two in particular make for confusion this year: MiniLED and
MicroLED.
MiniLED
could overtake LCD to become the main illumination source for the bulk of
consumer electronics, let alone flat panel displays. Apple is widely-rumoured
to be using MiniLED panels in its upcoming iPad Pro and MacBook upgrades. By
siting tens of thousands of LEDs behind an LCD panel, combined with ‘dimming
zones’, this technology helps deliver more precise differentiation between
bright details without the light spilling into surrounding dark areas. Black
levels of course have a direct impact on accurate color representation in SDR
and HDR images but overall brightness levels are superior to those produced by
OLEDs.
MicroLED
is the more expensive solution to manufacture. It involves assigning microscopic
LED arrays to individual pixels, therefore allowing even greater control over
the picture brightness. Like OLED, this technology allows true blacks to be
shown by switching any pixel off but unlike OLED, MicroLED can deliver much
brighter dynamic range and more impressive contrast. Compared with
LCD technology, MicroLED displays offer better contrast,
response times, and energy efficiency. MicroLEDs form the basis of Sony’s
Crystal LED screens which it is now marketing to film and TV productions wanting
to shoot on virtual sets.
Samsung
Samsung,
the world’s largest TV seller, has made MiniLEDs the backlight system for its
range of new NEO QLED TVs. By shrinking the LEDs to a 40th of their traditional
size Samsung says it is upped both brightness and black levels while allowing
for more precision and less bleeding of bright areas into darker spots. The
flagship is the 85-inch Neo QN900 which comes with a bezel-less screen similar
to the infinity screens of its Galaxy smartphone. It’s less than a centimeter
thin too with the speakers embedded behind the screen. No price was given but
this could cost north of $10k.
An
interesting feature is a ‘game bar’ which enables quick access to settings such
as refresh rate and aspect ratio when attached to a PS5 or Xbox Series X. The
aspect ratio can be changed from 21:9 to 32:9. It also supports 4K at 120fps
which is another must-have for gamers.
Samsung’s
CES headline generator though is its new MicroLED TVs which come in 88, 99 and
110-inches. Reports suggest that the largest one costs $156k and it’s only 4K.
Two years ago Samsung was demonstrating this technology in a 8K 150-inch
version called The Wall and directed at the business to business market. These
consumer grade monsters come with a Multi View feature that enables the screen
to be split into four separate 55-inch pictures. Each of the four sections have
their own separate volume control too.
LG
The
world's second bestselling TV brand is also introducing MicroLEDs into a range
of displays it is calling QNED. The Q refers to the fact the displays use tiny
‘quantum dot’ crystals to display their colours. ‘N’ refers to ‘nano cell’
particles used to absorb unwanted light wavelengths to improve colour
reproduction and viewing angles; the ‘ED’ refer to ‘emitting diodes.’
LG is
packing 30,000 of these tiny LEDs into the back of its largest 86-inch screens
to produce a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1 when paired with up to nearly 2,500
dimming zones and advanced local dimming technology,” the company claimed.
In a video
presentation the firm said, “The only way for LCDs to get bigger is for details
to get more precise – hence Mini-LED. Blacks that are deeper and more precise
than any other of our LCD TVs.”
However,
LG’s premium picture quality will still be found in its OLED ‘Evo’ range which
now come with a new processor. During its press conference LG said the
Evo benefitted from “a new luminous element” that would deliver “punchy images
with high clarity, detail and realism.”
Gaming
is a focus for LG too. It has a new partnership with Google which will see
Google Stadia run on its TVs while Amazon Twitch has earned a prized position
on LG’s ‘magic’ remote control.
A
prototype of a 48-inch OLED capable of bending 1000mm from a conventional flat
screen into a curved display for greater immersion also targeted gamers.
LG’s
processor features ‘AI Picture Pro’, which is reckoned to be an improvement on
last year’s debut. Developed from a database of over a million visual data
points, the algorithm recognizes onscreen objects such as faces and
bodies and distinguishes between foregrounds and backgrounds, removes
noise and optimises contrast and saturation ostensibly “to make images more
three-dimensional.”
Panasonic
Panasonic
majored on OLED and also zeroed in on gamers with its 55-inch and 65-inch
JZ2000. The model is billed as having low latency and support for HDMI 2.1
variable refresh rates as well as frame rates up to 120fps. An AI processor can
automatically detect what you're watching or playing as well as the ambient
light settings of the room you are in and calibrate settings including Dolby
Vision IQ and HDR10+ Adaptive for optimal viewing.
As an
example, Panasonic said it can detect a football game and adjust the picture
accordingly to help accentuate things like the grass on the field or how
players look. The AI system will also give you a sound setting that feels like
you're in the stadium, Panasonic said.
Alongside
Dolby Atmos support, the TV comes with side and upward-firing built-in speakers
which create what the company calls 360° Soundscape Pro.
Hisense
Hisense
is adding an 8K up-rezzing chip to its flagship ULED TVs later this year and
will promote this through its official partnership with the rescheduled Euro
2020 soccer tournament.
Bigger
news from the Chinese vendor, though, was the unleashing of a massive 300-inch
version of its TriChroma laser TV. These are laser projectors which use
short throw technology to display 4K images on walls but Hisense has added in a
smart platform, AI cameras to support interaction like online karaoke and
fitness and a TV tuner.
“Laser
TV is the only TV category which experienced growth in China last year,” said
boss Fisher Yu, who added that sales had rocketed 288% outside China in 2020.
Since
launching the first laser TV in 2014, Samsung, Sony and LG have followed suit
with their own ranges.
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