According to Jonas Tanenbaum, vice president of marketing for flat panel TV in the company’s Visual Display Product Group, the set, whose price is yet to be determined, is the world’s largest LCD HDTV using LED backlighting technology, and is already being sold in the Korean domestic market.
Tanenbaum says the set -- along with three models that will ship in August and that comprise the balance of the 81 Series line in 40-, 46-, 52- and 57-inch screen sizes ranging from $2,999 to $6,999 in estimated selling price -- carries a dynamic contrast ratio spec of 100,000:1 by virtue of the LED backlighting, which replaces CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent lamp) technology, bettering the black-level performance of traditional LCD TVs and producing black levels approaching those of plasma technology.
A performance feature of the LED aspect of the sets, called Local Dimming, automatically adjusts the image in 64 segmented zones across the screen depending on the brightness level of the content in each zone, he explains. Further, the sets’ Super Patterned Vertical Alignment (SSPVA) panel provides 178-degree viewing angles from horizontal, vertical and diagonal axes.
The 1080p 71 Series LCD TVs, also shipping at the end of August and ranging from $2,699 to $4,399 in 40-, 46-, and 52-inch screen sizes, showcase motion-blur-reducing processing, which Samsung calls Auto-Motion Plus 120Hz technology. Dynamic contrast ratio is cited as 25,000:1, and the sets feature a host of digital connections including three for HDMI 1.3, and one for USB 2.0.
Cosmetics on the 81 and 71 Series meant to arrest retail browsers faced with a wall of similar-looking flat panels include a crescent-shaped illuminated blue band at the TV’s base, which serves as the “power on” button and which may be turned off during viewing, and slim openings at the left and right sides of the TV’s frame.
Two 1080p 58- and 50-inch wireless plasma TVs -- the first such TVs to use 802.11n technology -- are to hit retail around the end of September. Models FP-T5894 and FP-T5094 work in conjunction with an external wireless transceiver box featuring multiple digital inputs. Tanenbaum says the wireless aspect of the sets adds about a $600 retail premium over their wired counterparts in the Samsung plasma line – “a much lower premium than was quoted in the past when we demonstrated earlier versions of the technology,” he says.
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