When it comes to generating the best viewing experiences possible on a TV, a balanced array of technologies and features are necessary to determine the picture quality of a display. From resolution to refresh rates, contrast levels to backlight control and colour gamut to upscaling capabilities, all these features work together to create and produce high-quality images on-screen.

Samsung Electronics’ 2021 Neo QLED lineup features technological breakthroughs that deliver immersive and true-to-life viewing experiences like never before – thanks to its tiny LED modules on the hardware level, through to its advanced upscaling processes on a software level. With Samsung’s proprietary Quantum Mini LEDs, Quantum Matrix Technology and Neo Quantum Processor, users can enjoy true-to-life viewing experiences that are better than ever before.

What’s more, Samsung’s Neo QLED 8K TV lineup also features an incredibly thin and stylish Infinity One Design^1, a nearly bezel-less screen providing an even more immersive viewing experience in a sleek design and form factor.

To better understand how three key technologies of the 2021 Neo QLED lineup work together to enhance the overall picture quality experience, Samsung Newsroom is introducing them in dynamic graphic format for easy comprehension.

Manufactured With Precision – Quantum Mini LEDs

Samsung’s 2021 Neo QLED TVs come with an all-new form of light source, Quantum Mini LED. A whole new display technology featuring thousands of LEDs that are much smaller than standard LED modules,² Quantum Mini LEDs reveal accurate and sophisticated image detailing whilst maintaining precise light output.

The secret behind the miniature size of Quantum Mini LEDs is Samsung’s proprietary micro layer technology that mounts micro layers inside the LED itself, as opposed to conventional technologies that pack layers on top of the LED, in order to eliminate unnatural noise among the LED elements and ensure deeper blacks can be displayed without blooming.

4,096 Levels of Lighting Control for Greater Bright-to-Dark Contrast – Quantum Matrix Technology

The 2021 Neo QLED lineup also incorporates Samsung’s proprietary Quantum Matrix Technology, which harnesses enhanced 12-bit gradation for greater control of the light source – the Quantum Mini LEDs. This allows the TV to control its lighting across an astounding 4,096 levels, four times greater than conventional 10-bit displays.³ This also creates even more possibilities to deliver unprecedented contrast ratio management and deeper shades of black.

But that’s not all. With advanced local dimming control, the 2021 Neo QLED lineup can efficiently distribute power and improve peak brightness, making bright areas brighter and dark areas darker by harnessing unused electric power from dark areas and concentrating it for use in bright areas. Quantum Matrix Technology takes advantage of the Quantum Mini LEDs’ superb hardware characteristics, all embedded in an LED the size of a grain of sand, and offers viewers sharpness and colour volume that is more true-to-life than ever before.

Advanced Upscaling Divided In To 16 Artificial Neural Networks – Neo Quantum Processor 8K

The crisp definition and vivid colours offered by Quantum Mini LEDs and Quantum Matrix Technology are brought to life by Samsung’s powerful Neo Quantum Processor and its AI upscaling capabilities. With 16 multi-modal neural networks running at once, the 2021 Neo QLED 8K TV lineup from QN800A and above delivers smooth and seamless 8K upscaling that meets the needs of the finest home theatres.

Samsung’s Neo Quantum Processor features AI-powered deep learning technologies that mimic the mechanism of human learning and memory, and the 2021 Neo QLED 8K lineup sees a significant upgrade in this technology as the Neo Quantum Processor 8K has grown from featuring one to 16 neural networks. These 16 different neural networks categorise content based on input resolution, quality and more.

Furthermore, since the Neo Quantum Processor 8K includes dedicated upscaling models to precisely upscale content based on various factors including resolution, edges, details and noise levels, its 16 multi-modal neural networks can upscale SD broadcast content, HD videos on streaming services or even FHD content from Blu-ray disks, enhancing the exact aspect of picture quality needed for each content type.

¹ Infinity One Design is offered on QN700A and above. For detailed lineup information, please visit www.samsung.com.

² Compared with LED module height featured in the 2020 Samsung UHD TV, each Quantum Mini LED is 1/40 the size.

³ 10-bit: 2¹⁰ = 1,024 levels of control; 12-bit: 2¹² = 4,096 levels.

Samsung Electronics strives to incorporate environmental sustainability into everything it does. The company’s products are thoughtfully designed to minimise their impact on the environment throughout their lifecycle – from the planning and manufacturing stages to their use and recycling.

This includes using power-efficient semiconductor chips, sustainable packaging and energy-saving technology, and offering consumers the ability to upcycle packaging and old devices. Through tangible solutions like these, the company is empowering consumers to take part in an important mission: conserving resources and reducing their environmental footprint.

These efforts are reflected in the company’s TV lineup, including its 75-inch Neo QLED TV (QN90A). Check out the infographic below to examine how Samsung took a ‘full circle’ approach to sustainability with one of its latest displays.

Not only do movie theatres provide lifelike pictures and visuals in ultra-high resolution, but they also control the amount of ambient light in the room in order to highlight the scene shown on the screen. Given that these theatres are built specially to provide such conditions, the at-home experience is never quite the same given that it is harder to control the amount of light in a room depending on the time of day.

But what if we were able to replicate the picture quality at home the way a content creator intended it to be seen? How can we bring the movie theatre experience home?

The answer lies within Samsung Electronics’ 2021 Neo QLED TVs, which come with the latest HDR10+ Adaptive standard. Not only do the TVs provide premium viewing experiences, but they are also able to optimise the picture quality regardless of any reflection, luminance and interference brought about by the indoor lighting condition. Samsung Newsroom has pulled the curtains back to find out what HDR10+ Adaptive is and just how it works.

True-to-Life Picture Quality for Impactful Viewing

HDR10+ is the latest advanced High Dynamic Range technology, which Samsung has been incorporating into their UHD and above TVs since 2017 and is also featured in the 2021 Neo QLED TVs. It intelligently adapts your TV to optimally display UHD content the way it was meant to be seen with all the true-to-life highlights and shadow details. HDR10+ uses dynamic tone mapping to enhance the colour and contrast and directs the screen to accurately display high dynamic range content on a scene-by-scene or even on a frame-by-frame basis.

HDR10+ is a royalty-free, open standard, accessible to any device maker to adopt and certify their own compatible devices using HDR10+ metadata syntax. This means that Samsung has been able to build complete control over on-screen picture quality into their TV lineup for true-to-life viewing experiences. HDR10+’s metadata also offers flexible reference tone and mapping curve definition for content creators, such as film producers and engineers, allowing them to deliver more impactful images exactly as they intend them to be seen.

AI Analysis for Optimum Experiences Even in Home Lighting Conditions

Samsung’s 2021 TV lineup also supports HDR10+ Adaptive, a technology that improves the HDR10+ viewing experience in users’ homes regardless of the lighting conditions. Samsung’s 2021 TVs come with the HDR10+ Adaptive standard which supports Filmmaker Mode¹ and adapt to brighter rooms so that customers can enjoy true cinematic experiences when viewing HDR10+ movies and television programs in various environments at home.

On the 2021 Neo QLED TVs, HDR10+ Adaptive harnesses its AI engine to analyse the viewing environment, including the lighting, brightness and even reflections using the sensors equipped on the TV. The results are then incorporated into the dynamic metadata, and then through four further steps, the brightness and contrast of a scene are optimised. HDR standards are typically designed with a dark room in mind, similar to that of a movie theatre. However, with HDR10+ Adaptive, viewers are guaranteed to see the original creators’ intent regardless of the lighting condition or the time of the day.

Youngwook Son, an engineer at the Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics, has been spearheading the development of the feature with his team. “HDR10+ is a premium feature that is geared to optimise the TV’s picture quality by fine-tuning the scene while preserving the original creator’s creative direction. HDR10+ Adaptive takes this one step further by allowing the TV to optimise the picture based on the surrounding lighting conditions, finally allowing TVs to provide a similar viewing experience to those found in dark environments, such as movie theatres.”

HDR10+ Marks Its Two-Year Anniversary with 120 Partners and Over 2,000 HDR10+ Content

The HDR10+ standard was introduced 2 years ago and now has 120 related partners. HDR10+ has robust support across the industry, with several thousand different products from multiple manufacturers offering HDR10+ supported devices. Currently, over 3,100 different TVs and projectors from more than 20 manufacturers support HDR10+. Furthermore, devices including smartphones, tablets and Blu-ray players also support the standard.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Rakuten TV, Megogo, Watcha, Paramount+, YouTube and others have helped make accessible thousands of hours of premium content, delivering a wide array of viewing choices to certified HDMI devices, including the Paramount+ Original Series “The Stand” and Universal’s iconic Back to the Future Trilogy. There are now over 2,000 pieces of content available to users that support the HDR10+.

HDR10+ is the only dynamic HDR technology supported on YouTube, which provides content creators and viewers alike with the unique opportunity to have the access to enhanced, premium HDR content right at their fingertips. With the rise of vertical video production and consumption, the standard gives content creators a unique opportunity to film and view user-generated content across any HDR10+ device.

“There are numerous technologies involved in creating the perfect scenes for the ultimate viewing experience” noted Younghun Choi, EVP and Head of R&D Team, Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. “HDR10+ Adaptive is one of the core technologies that enable us to enjoy the pristine picture quality that we enjoy watching today. Samsung will continue to invest and upgrade users’ viewing experiences in line with the latest technological advancements and trends in the home entertainment industry.”

¹ Filmmaker Mode is a viewing mode, which allows viewers to enjoy movies and TV shows the way the filmmakers intended them to be seen. Various Hollywood directors, including Christopher Nolan and James Cameron, are known to have advocated for the feature in August 2019.

Four models from the 2021 Neo QLED lineup (QN900, QN800, QN90, QN85) received the certification, a distinction given for ‘Low Input Lag’ and ‘HDR with brightness of higher than 1,000 nits.’ Each of the TVs went through a rigorous testing process, ultimately earning the certification for less than 10ms of input lag during every scene of gameplay. Input lag refers to the period of time from when an electrical signal is sent from the game pad to when it is displayed on the screen. A TV with lower input lag will provide gamers with a more immersive gaming experience.

In addition, Samsung’s Neo QLED also received the certification for HDR with brightness over 1,000 nits. FreeSync Premium Pro also adds to the HDR support, making bright scenes brighter and dark scenes darker to offer optimised contrast. HDR technology is often considered as one of the most important features among gamers.

Apart from low input lag and HDR support with brightness of higher than 1,000 nits, Samsung’s Neo QLED TVs also reflect a number of new and exciting gaming features.

Samsung’s Neo QLED TVs deliver more accurate details, deeper blacks and incredible colour expression due to their 100% colour volume and 12-bit backlight control. Wide Game View and Game Bar, both industry firsts, deliver a broader viewing experience with 21:9 and 32:9, and the ability to quickly check a variety of gaming information.

In addition, Samsung’s Neo QLED TVs deliver fast game motion at 120Hz with Motion Xcelerator Turbo+, even during gameplay with fixed UI. Sound has also been enhanced through AI-based surround-sound and object tracking sound (OTS+), delivering the ultimate immersive gaming experience.

Yonghoon Choi, Executive Vice President of the Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics said, “An increasing number of gamers look for large screen displays with high-end picture quality when shopping for a TV, and Samsung continues to lead the TV-focused gaming experience.”

For more information on Samsung’s 2021 Neo QLED TV, please visit https://www.samsung.com/uk/