How Samsung’s 2018 QLED TV lineup shapes the future of display technology

A few days ago, we were invited by Samsung to its Southeast Asia Visual Display Tech Seminar in Sofitel Saigon Plaza to talk about, as well as to demonstrate, the technical aspects, key features, and functionalities of its 2018 QLED TV Lineup. Let us share with you what we’ve learned.

QLED is in it to win it

Back in CES 2018, Samsung unveiled its flagship 85-inch 8K QLED TV dubbed the Q9S that comes with AI technology that automatically upscales low-resolution images into 8K picture quality. Now talk about being extra! Then fast forward to March, the company officially introduced its 2018 QLED TV lineup that is equipped with Bixby Voice.

But it doesn’t stop there. This time, the 2018 QLED TV lineup offers a bunch of more awesome and new features, including incremental upgrades from its predecessor to offer users a more immersive experience when viewing their favourite contents.

Q Picture now offers brighter and more accurate colors

According to Samsung Head of TV and AV Simon Sim, the 2018 QLED TVs now have lesser Green and Red Quantum Dot (QD) to provide more accurate colors. Originally, QD has a measurement of 3-7nm but this time, it has been reduced to as low as 1.1nm. We were able to see the quality difference of the previous QLED TVs to this year’s during a live demo and we must say that picture quality looked even more impressive as it now has a deeper contrast level and minimized blooming area in dark scenarios.

Samsung also worked with LLC, a developer of Hollywood-standard Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc, to deliver HDR10+ which offers dynamic scene-by-scene mapping to preserve the highlights and shadows of a particular video.

Heightened gaming experience

People who wanted to up their gaming experience may be glad to know that this year’s QLED TV lineup enables users to have smooth and clear gameplay with 120Hz-display refresh rate and support for FreeSync.

It automatically changes to Auto Game Mode once users run console games or even when they connect their Steam Link app to their TV.

No more dull black screen when the TV is off

This year’s QLED TVs will now have a “Magic Screen” or also known as the Ambient Mode which is basically the always-on version for Samsung TVs and lets users choose what to display on the screen, including Deco that is comprised of three wallpapers: Mountain, Gravity, and Water, Info to show basic stuff such as weather, date, and news, and Photo that lets consumers pick an image based on their liking.

We also found it cool that the Deco wallpapers’ color changes according to time. However, what wowed us even more is that the TV can mimic the background where it was placed onto. This is possible through SmartThings (Samsung Connect) app wherein you pair the QLED TV to a mobile device and from there, users just have to take a picture of the QLED TV (with the background included within the frame) and the app analyzes the photo and produces a photo that resembles the background that users can use as a wallpaper.

As of now, the weather info is limited to three countries, namely, Australia, Singapore, and Vietnam. The 2018 QLED TV lineup also promises no burn-in despite its always-on display, and lower power consumption.

One cable, no gap wall-mount

Every Samsung QLED TV this year will now only have a single cord called One Invisible Connection. Yes, say adios to tangled and messy cables. Unlike last year, this year’s Invisible Connection will only have one invisible cable (Power + AV Signal) which makes Samsung the first company to combine data and transmissions cable into one single cord. We thought that the One Invisible Connection is an impressive and a neat feature to have as it will save us from the confusion of attaching different cables to the TV.

With the Invisible Connection, putting up the TV onto the wall is much simpler and cleaner as it has no gap when finally installed. According to Mr. Sim, installation only takes less than 5 minutes.

One remote to rule them all

Samsung introduced the One Remote last year, which is actually a great device for getting things done easy peasy as it allows you to control all your Smart Devices with just one remote. This year, the said remote includes a few enhancement, including Steam Link and TV Plus support.

The One Remote still comes with the same auto-detection, Smart View, and Smart Hub feature. As always, pairing it with a mobile device is easy as users only need to download it from Google Play or App Store.

Self-emitting TV with micrometer (µm) scale LEDs is the next big thing for QLED

Going back again to CES 2018, Samsung debuts its first consumer modular MicroLED 146-inch TV called “The Wall” which is a module-based, bezel-less, self-emitting TV with micrometer (µm) scale LEDs – which are much smaller than current LEDs, and serve as their own source of light, meaning it doesn’t need color filters or backlight but still allowing the screen to offer ultimate viewing experience.

Now that the company is finally done achieving that, it is also planning to incorporate the same technology to its QLED TVs in the future, including micrometer LED TVs with smaller screen size and micrometer QLED TV.

It’s crazy how a lot can change in a year. We thought last year’s QLED lineup is already the bomb, then Samsung surprised us again with this year’s greatly improved and innovative lineup. Of course, we want one of those QLED TV for ourselves, and we bet you do, too. As always, stay tuned on our site for more deets on when these TVs will reach our shores.