Neo QLEDs are optimized with the new Smart Hub that enables smart content curation, cloud gaming, video calls, on-screen multitasking, NFTs management and more

Expanded lineup and accessories offer increased customization for a tailored video and audio experience

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. recently unveiled its newest MICRO LED, Neo QLED and Lifestyle TVs ahead of Consumer Electronics Show 2022. With advancements in picture and sound quality, more screen size options, customizable accessories and an upgraded interface, the 2022 screens bring the vision of ‘Screens Everywhere, Screens for All’ closer to reality with life-like images, immersive sound and hyper-personalized experiences.

MICRO LED: The Pinnacle of Display Technology

As Samsung’s state-of-the-art display, MICRO LED offers amazing picture quality thanks to 25 million micrometer-sized LEDs that individually produce light and colour, creating an incredibly immersive experience through impressive depth, vibrant colours and a heightened level of clarity and contrast. At CES 2022, Samsung will unveil the MICRO LED in three different sizes – 110”, 101”, and 89”.

In addition to the hardware innovations, the 2022 MICRO LED supports 20-bit greyscale depth. This means MICRO LED models can express every detail in a scene, offering the finest control with over 1 million steps of brightness and colour levels, delivering a true HDR experience. Together with immersive design made possible by its 99.99% screen-to-body ratio, MICRO LED delivers revolutionary performance.

Finally, MICRO LED comes packed with enhanced usability and customization features.

• Art Mode allows consumers to turn any room into an art gallery as they can select and display their favourite artwork or digital photography. The 2022 MICRO LED also comes with two exclusive media pieces from noted artist and designer Refik Anadol.
• Multi View lets users view content from four different sources simultaneously – from any or all of the four HDMI ports – in pristine 4K resolution at up to 120fps.
• Dolby Atmos delivers a premier immersive audio experience with top, side and bottom channel speakers for breathtaking, multi-dimensional sound.

Evolution of Neo QLED with Neo Quantum Processor and Dynamic Sound Experience

Thanks to the Neo Quantum Processor and the advancements in picture technology and sound it delivers, 2022 Neo QLED will provide some of the most pristine images and immersive soundscapes possible. In fact, this year’s Neo Quantum Processor introduces advanced contrast mapping with BLU (back-light unit), increasing the brightness level from 12 to 14-bit gradation for greater control of the light source – the Quantum Mini LEDs. This allows the TV to control its lighting across 16,384 steps, quadrupled from the previous 4,096 steps.

The new Shape Adaptive Light technology leverages the Neo Quantum Processor to analyze lines, shapes and surfaces to control the shape of light from the Quantum Mini LEDs, enhancing the brightness and accuracy of all shapes on the screen. The result is outstanding image quality that puts full HDR content on display. Samsung’s 2022 Neo QLED also features Real Depth Enhancer, a multi-intelligence picture quality algorithm. This technological advancement creates a greater sense of realism by determining and processing an object on the screen against its background to create a sense of depth.

Additionally, Samsung’s 2022 Neo QLED features EyeComfort mode, which automatically adjusts the screen’s brightness and tone based on a built-in light sensor and sunset/sunrise information. As the ambient light changes, the screen will gradually reduce the amount of light and offer warmer tones, adjusting the blue light levels accordingly. This allows for a more comfortable viewing experience at night by reducing the blue light which may affect one’s sleep quality.

Neo QLED’s sound features are getting a major upgrade as well. Building on OTS (Object Tracking Sound), which directs the sound to move across the room along with the object on-screen, the 2022 products will feature OTS Pro, which incorporates powerful up-firing speakers to create overhead surround sound. 2022 Neo QLED also delivers a truly remarkable Dolby Atmos experience thanks to the addition of Samsung’s new top channel speakers. With multi-channel speakers placed throughout the TV, Neo QLED delivers a dynamic sound experience that tracks the actions from all corners.

Award-Winning Lifestyle TVs with Seamless Integration of Design and Technology

Samsung’s 2022 Lifestyle screens seamlessly blend design and technology for a unique and personalized experience. A new Matte Display with anti-glare, anti-reflection and anti-fingerprint properties has been applied to The Frame, The Sero and The Serif, providing one of the most pleasant and comfortable viewing experiences.

• The Frame now offers a more realistic art viewing experience outside of a museum thanks to the anti-glare, low-reflection panel technology featuring an embossed, Matte Display. It also avoids fingerprints and smudges, allowing users to enjoy their favourite artwork in ideal conditions. The Frame comes in sizes ranging from 32” to 85.”
• The Serif also comes with a matte finish body to blend seamlessly with the Matte Display, elevating the iconic design to give the most premium look and feel. With the addition of a 65” size option, The Serif is now offered in sizes ranging from 43” to 65.”
• The Sero offers an optimized watching experience with its new Matte Display in both vertical and horizontal modes. The new vertical Multi View function takes multitasking to the next level, allowing users to simultaneously view different content on the top and bottom of the screen, or search information online while watching

The New Smart Hub and Apps for the Ultimate User Experience

Samsung’s 2022 Smart TVs come with a new Smart Hub that puts content curation and discovery front and centre with their viewing preferences. The new Smart Hub will guide users to their favourite content or help them discover something new all while spending less time searching. The Smart Hub’s sidebar also allows for a seamless transition between categories – Media, Game (Gaming Hub) and Ambient – letting users focus on various in-home activities.

• Gaming Hub: The Samsung Gaming Hub will empower players to discover and jump into the games they love faster through game streaming services. Players will have access to an extensive library of games through Samsung’s partnerships with industry leaders – NVIDIA GeForce Now, Stadia and Utomik – and that’s just the beginning.
• Watch Together: The new app allows users to video chat with friends and family while watching their favourite shows and movies, guaranteed to bring everyone closer together.
• NFT Platform: This application features an intuitive, integrated platform for discovering, purchasing and trading digital artwork through MICRO LED, Neo QLED and The Frame.
• Smart Calibration: This feature allows users to fine tune the settings for optimal picture quality. Basic mode features a quick and easy way of calibrating the screens within 30 seconds, while Professional mode optimizes the screens for pristine picture quality in about 10 minutes.

Expanded Accessory Options Personalized to Users’ Needs and Tastes

The 2022 models also come with expanded accessories to personalize the user experience. The Auto Rotating Wall Mount and Stand inherits the vertical viewing experience from The Sero, allowing users to enjoy mobile viewing by automatically rotating their screens[1].

To complement the accessory, the 2022 products will support a vertical interface, including the Smart Hub, and offer a vertical Multi View feature. It will offer apps such as YouTube and TikTok as well as mirroring and casting in vertical mode. Lastly, lifestyle features such as Ambient Mode+ and Art Mode are also available in vertical mode. The new rotation key on the remote control lets users easily rotate the screen with a click of a button.

Additionally, with expanded bezel options for The Frame and full motion slim-fit wall mounts for all TVs[2], there are endless possibilities of personalization with Samsung’s 2022 displays.

Breaking Sonic Barriers with the Latest Soundbar and Features

The 2022 soundbar lineup gets technology upgrades to provide even more immersive, three-dimensional audio experience. Q Symphony, the signature surround-sound experience which allows Samsung’s Neo QLEDs and soundbars to work together, has been improved with added synchrony. This enables the soundbar and TV speakers to work together with all the speakers on the TVs, including the top channel speakers, providing for an expansive, powerful soundscape.

Samsung’s 2022 soundbars also come with Wireless Dolby Atmos connectivity[3], a wireless Smart TV-to-soundbar connection in which both the screen and soundbar speakers deliver an incredible audio experience with no distracting cables.

Additionally, the new HW-S800B Ultra Slim Soundbar resets the standard in the slim soundbar category, delivering a powerful bass in compact form by integrating passive radiator technology with its subwoofer. With true top-firing speaker channels, the new ultra slim soundbar packs powerful sound at just 1.6” in depth.

“As technology continues to advance, the role of the screen has evolved to reflect our changing lifestyles. Our new lineup of home entertainment products delivers immersive viewing experiences that are customizable to consumers’ needs,” said Pat Bugos, VP/Head of Consumer Electronics, Samsung Electronics Canada. “From watching movies to gaming to showcasing art, we have an innovative offering for any room in the home.”

For more information, including images or video on the products Samsung is announcing at CES 2022, please visit news.samsung.com/ca/ces-2022.

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Disclaimer: All functionality, features, specifications, and other product information provided in this document including, but not limited to, the benefits, design, pricing, components, performance, availability, and capabilities of the product are subject to change without notice or obligation. Availability of the above-mentioned products, services, and features may vary by region.

[1] Compatible with 2022 The Frame and Neo QLED 4K/8K models up to 65”. All accessories including the Auto Rotating Wall Mount and Stand are sold separately.

[2] Applies to all 2022 TV models 43”-85”, except Q80A and AU7000. Additional bezel sold separately.

[3] Compatible with 2022 Samsung QLED TVs.

Samsung Electronics exquisitely refined its Neo QLED 8K lineup’s sound system to allow users to take full advantage of their large TV’s audio quality. The flagship displays were designed to analyze both the size of the space where they sit and how they’ve been installed in order to calibrate sound to its optimal settings. The TVs use that information to pump out realistic, object-tracking sound through their eight total speakers. When applied to our ‘family movie night’ scenario above, the TV’s speakers would compensate for when the family’s thick blanket absorbed the tones of mid-to-high registers, and evenly distribute three-dimensional sound from the corners of the room to the centre when the family sat closer to the screen.

To learn more about how Samsung’s newest TVs customize sound based on where users place their screen, and how sound has evolved as tool for fostering immersive home entertainment, Samsung sat down with some of the developers behind the displays.

▲ (From left) Engineers Jongbae Kim, Sungjoo Kim and Sunmin Kim of Samsung Electronics’ Visual Display Business

SpaceFit Does Spatial Analysis Daily to Optimize Sound Settings

Today, with more users watching TV in more places, including living rooms, workrooms, bedrooms, terraces and more, both sitting up and lying down, and at different times of the day, our viewing habits are changing. Now, more users are customizing their viewing experience based on their specific living environment. With this in mind, the developers focused on creating technology that would automatically analyze users’ viewing environment to ensure that they’re always enjoying the best possible sound. The result is SpaceFit Sound, a feature that automatically checks for changes in your living space once a day and calibrates sound settings accordingly.

Here’s how it works: First, a built-in microphone identifies elements that can affect sound, such as curtains, carpets and walls. Suppose the TV is placed in a user’s living room, which features a carpet that we can assume absorbs mid-to-high range sound. In this case, SpaceFit Sound would optimize sound settings automatically to raise the mid-to-high range sound accordingly. It works the same regardless of whether stands, wall hangings and other elements are changed. If the TV were to be moved closer to the wall, then the space behind it would become narrower, which could affect low frequency sounds. SpaceFit Sound allows the TV to identify this change and adjust its settings in advance to produce clearer sound.

The key point to remember is that all of these processes occur automatically. As Engineer Sunmin Kim explained, “SpaceFit is an automated function that does not require that users press a button, and the device won’t send out a ‘testing’ sound. By simply turning it on or off, the TV will analyze the environment based on the sound of the content that the user actually consumes. So all you need to do is just enjoying what is being played on screen.”

This technology was made possible thanks to innovations that were based on a myriad of data and AI technologies. From sound-absorbing areas, such as what are referred to in sound engineering as ‘dead rooms,’ to acoustically reflective spaces, the team considered both extremes in terms of viewing environments.

“Since there were so many variables to consider, we built up a sufficiently wide learning database and analyzed it using machine learning technology. That’s where the AI technologies that Samsung developed kicked in,” said Sunmin Kim, who also noted that the feature “can cover almost any typical space in which a TV may be placed.”

Object Tracking Sound (OTS) Pro Uses Eight Speakers to Produce 3D Sound from All Corners of the Screen

Content is beginning to make use of a wider range of sound channels, and users’ preferred ways of enjoying that content are also changing. As home entertainment expands and both wide screens and multi-channel sources with immersive formats like films become more popular, it’s becoming commonplace for multiple people to enjoy the same content together. The key here is to widen the ‘sweet spot’ – the location from which users can enjoy optimal sound, even when located at the outside edges of the screen. As content grows more varied and screens become bigger, sound, too, must evolve in a way that enhances users’ enjoyment.

Object Tracking Sound (OTS) technology, a feature that tracks the movement of objects onscreen using the TV’s multi-channel speakers, is allowing Samsung to take users’ enjoyment to the next level. Neo QLED 8K includes an enhanced version of the technology, OTS Pro, and adds two centre speakers to previous models’ six-speaker setup, for a total of eight speakers. When an object onscreen moves, the speaker located in the optimal spot for expressing the movement produces sound, matching what the viewer sees on their screen. The immersive sound setup enriches the left and right stereo experience and the 3D effect, taking the viewing experience to new heights by making the user feel as if they were standing in the middle of the action.

“Often, when consuming content on a large screen, viewers watching the TV from both sides notice that sound produced at the centre of the screen seems like it’s being produced in only one side,” said Engineer Jongbae Kim. “That’s why we added a centre speaker between the left and right sides. The combination of the newly added centre speaker and OTS Pro gathers sound in the middle of the screen, makes voices clearer, and expresses sound’s position more accurately, without distortion.”

If a speaker were to actually be placed at the centre of a TV, it could clash with the overall design concept. The developers solved this issue by attaching a tweeter applied with a wave guide to the rear of the device. “If a speaker were to be placed on the back, sound would disperse in all directions and bounce off the walls, reducing clarity,” said Engineer Sungjoo Kim. “We needed a technology that drew sound toward viewers when they were in front of their TV. Employing a hole array technique enabled us to ensure that sound would travel well from a tweeter to the front of the display.”

The team’s efforts to balance sound also extend to Samsung’s next-generation MICRO LED display. Because the bottom of this large screen can almost reach the floor of users’ living rooms, if users connect their display to a multi-component home theater setup, there may not be space to place a centre speaker.

“The 110-inch MICRO LED lineup features a μ-Symphony function, which allows you to use the built-in speaker as the centre speaker,” said Jongbae Kim. “This means that you do not have to use a separate centre speaker for your home entertainment system because MICRO LED’s multi-channel speaker fills that role. Because sound comes from the centre of the screen, there is no sound-image mismatching, and the user enjoys a cinema-like experience.”

Making Use of Each and Every Piece of an Ultra-Slim Design

The Infinity Screen, a unique aspect of Samsung’s TV design, maximizes immersion by making bezels nearly invisible. It also posed a unique challenge for the developers, requiring them to explore how to best mount multiple speakers within the device’s slim form.

“In the past, a duct structure was used to draw the low frequency sound from the inside of the woofer speaker to the outside,” said Sungjoo Kim. “This type of design is capable of generating unwanted noise resulting from air turbulence. So, for the 8K models, we decided to take a ‘passive radiator’ approach that allowed us to produce rich, low-pitched sound. This not only enabled us to use the limited space inside the slim TV more efficiently, but it also allowed us to create rich and pure sound.”

“By exposing the diaphragm of the woofer and the passive radiator on the back of the TV,” he added, “it became possible to visualize NEO QLED’s sound performance in an interesting and intuitive way.”

It’s just one of Neo QLED TVs’ many innovative, out-of-the-box design elements. To help accommodate panels becoming thinner and thinner, components that used to serve basic functions have been given new roles. “We used part of the rear cover of the TV as an acoustic component that guides the direction of sound to the sides,” said Jongbae Kim. “We also reinvented the design of the ‘slit vent,’ a component inside the rear cover that extends from the centre tweeter to the bottom and was previously used to emit heat, to improve acoustic performance by controlling directivity. We utilized each and every part as much as possible, which means that no element of the design is without purpose.”

Delivering Rich, Realistic Sound

The developers have also gone to great lengths to gain a deeper understanding of the content users enjoy as part of an effort to provide better sound performance. For example, when analyzing sports content, they focus on reproducing the sound of the crowd, while for music, they try to create a stable sound stage. For movies, they conduct constant analysis to ensure that dialogue comes from the centre of the screen.

“With speaker form factors changing, upmixing is becoming more important,” said Sunmin Kim. “Input channels are becoming varied, and the average number of speakers is increasing to six to eight, which adds up to countless combinations of inputs and outputs.

“Let’s say you’re enjoying two-channel content. Here, instead of sending signals blindly through eight speakers, it is important to understand the mixing characteristics of the content and send each signal separately. Samsung’s unique technology makes this possible using an optimized algorithm that’s based on AI.”

Samsung TVs have led the global market for 15 years running[1], and the user data that the company has accumulated thus far has been an invaluable asset. As countless families across the world use Samsung TVs, the ubiquity of the company’s displays offers an opportunity to think about what’s next. Sungjoo Kim hinted at what Samsung has in store. “We are systematically building a deep learning network that is based on numerous data,” said Kim. “In addition, we are going to firmly establish our position as a global leader by discussing technologies needed in the mid-to-long term with Samsung Electronics’ overseas AI research centres.”

In response to an ever-growing flood of content, the developers are committed to helping Samsung TVs deliver a sound experience that’s as close to reality as possible.

Screens are getting bigger, designs are getting slimmer and content is becoming more varied. Keeping pace with trends, increasing speaker channels and doing so in three dimensions, and advancing our AI technologies to allow channels to better correspond to one another will bring us closer to delivering realistic sound. This may ultimately lead us into an era where you do not need a remote control to adjust sound settings.

Look forward to more Samsung TV innovations designed to maximize users’ viewing experience.

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[1] Source – Omdia, TV Sets Intelligence Service, Jan-2021. Ranking in terms of unit shipments for 15 years consecutive years ending 2020. Results are not an endorsement of Samsung. Any reliance on these results is at the third-party’s own risk.