JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, 21 May 2018 – Eight years ago, with the whole world watching South Africans of all shapes and sizes took to the cold streets wielding colourful and noisy vuvuzelas to celebrate the beautiful game. In 2010, stadiums were full of fans lustily supporting their favourite teams and fan parks or gatherings sprung up everywhere. It was another extraordinary example of how amazing South Africa is and just how enthusiastic we are as a sports-loving nation.

While the buzz of being with a crowd of strangers all sharing a common enthusiasm is exhilarating, the cold weather does lend itself to slightly less exuberant celebrations. This year, streets are most likely going to be less crowded and sports enthusiasts will have the luxury of staying indoors to seek out all the beautiful and extraordinary moments offered by watching every detail in full, vivid colour. Sports fans can do what they normally couldn’t – with QLED technology, where detail and colour are so intricately showcased that not a single moment is missed. Of course, being able to rewind or pause favourite moments is a huge bonus.

Lyle Mitchley, Head Product Manager for TV at Samsung South Africa, says, “QLED technology is better than reality. The brilliant colours, depth of blacks and intensity of whites makes for a fully immersive viewing experience. Watching your favourite sport on a QLED TV creates an extraordinary feeling of truly being in the game.”

QLED technology enables viewers to see every detail, no matter which angle they’re sitting or standing at. This means that however many friends and family are invited over to watch the game, everyone gets to experience the detail and vivid colour in the same way. If it does get a bit crowded, or if the game coincides with ‘braaiing’ time, then the lightweight TV with flush mount or easily moveable stand can be placed outside – with Q contrast, it doesn’t matter what the lighting situation is, viewing remains as vibrant as ever.

“Although the TV’s sound is already incredible, adding a surround-sound wireless Samsung Soundbar to your viewing experience will make it all that much more real. You’ll be in the moment with the millions of fans cheering in stadiums on the other side of the world,” adds Mitchley.

With technology as innovative as QLED, you can get into the game like never before – so, whichever team you’re rooting for, pack away your beanies and scarves and watch where you are. A little bit of vuvuzela blasting will never go amiss, however, no matter how many or few people are gathered around the TV.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, 20 April 2018 – Interior design isn’t just about placing a few pieces of furniture in a room – there needs to be enough space to move around comfortably. The proportions of a room in relation to the pieces in it make a person feel either comfortable or unsettled. According to Gestalt Psychology^[i], although the human eyes take in separate pieces of information, the brain merges those pieces into a singular, simpler pattern that’s recognisable. This means that a room is seen as a whole before details begin to emerge. Balanced or symmetrical designs are easier for the brain to recognise and are therefore perceived to be more comfortable.

In order create symmetry in a room, interior designers look to creating a functional focal point. For example, in a TV room, the obvious functional focal point will be the screen. Where other furniture and design elements are placed, as well as their relative proportion to the screen, will influence how a person feels in the room.^[ii]

Mike van Lier, Director of Consumer Electronics for Samsung South Arica, says, “Ever since TV became a must-have piece of furniture, interior designers have been faced with the conundrum of how to integrate or hide the set to fit with the interior theme. But now that’s no longer a problem because Samsung’s innovative technology has created televisions that can be hung flush to a wall, such as the Samsung QLED with No-Gap Wall Mount, or the exceptional Frame with changeable bezels, artwork displays and motion detection.”

Even though the problem of where to put the television has been solved, there’s still the question of which size is best for the room. Men all around the world believe that bigger is better – but they may not be right. When it comes to TV, there’s a science to choosing the best television size for the room it’s in. The rule of thumb is that the larger the screen, the further away you need to be to fully experience it. Here are the optimal distances^[iii]:

• 24 inches – 1.8 metres;
• 32 inches – 2.1 metres;
• 40-43 inches – 2.4 metres;
• 48-50 inches – 2.7 metres;
• 55 inches – 3.4 metres;
• 60 inches – 4 metres; and
• 65+ inches – 4.3 metres.

“The problem of pixilation when close to a large screen has been completely solved by QLED technology, with deeper blacks, brighter whites and billions of colours, the picture is vividly clear no matter where you’re sitting. That, coupled with the ability to place the screen flush to a wall, without the need for miles of messy cabling, means you have so many more options when it comes to placing your television in a room,” concludes van Lier.

Even though technology has advanced to create crisp and clear images, to get the most out of a specific screen size and be able to view everything it has to offer, it’s still wise to stick to the correct size-to-distance ratios before working out the symmetry of the rest of your furniture and design elements.

^{[i] https://freshome.com/2014/09/25/the-psychology-of-achieving-balance-in-interior-design/}

^{[ii] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3691502/}

^{[iii] https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/televisions/article/what-size-tv-should-i-buy/what-size-tv-should-i-buy}

It’s doubtful any of the first inventors or viewers of television could see what it would become, except perhaps Aldous Huxley who wrote “television was left on, a running tap, from morning till night”, in his book Brave New World, which was published in 1932. With fuzzy picture quality and no remote control, the first televisions were a far cry from what most people now enjoy in their homes every day.

In 1970, Samsung Electronics produced its first TV set, a 12-inch black and white model. It didn’t take long before the TVs were market leaders and by 1976, over one million units had been sold in Korea alone. Two years later, Samsung became the world’s largest producer of black and white televisions.

Mike van Lier, Director of Consumer Electronics for Samsung South Africa says, “Since the development of its first television model, Samsung has been pushing towards innovative technology that consistently breaks boundaries.”

In South Africa, television was a contentious issue, with the leaders of the day hesitant to allow South Africans access to something they felt was evil. In fact, South Africa was one of the few countries in the world to not have watched the famous moon landing in 1969. It was only in 1971 that South Africa introduced a television service. According to the South African 2011 Census, there were more televisions in homes than fridges.

In 1998, Samsung began mass producing the world’s first digital TV, which set a much higher standard for picture quality than ever before. The innovation and development didn’t stop there – from Ultra High Definition to OLED, colour and quality kept getting better. Now, Samsung’s QLED televisions are taking the market by storm – with quantum dots that are particles of between 2 and 10 nanometres in diameter – each giving off different colours according to their size. This means they can emit brighter, more vibrant and diverse colours.

Sports fans around the world now must seriously consider whether the live game or watching on television is the better option. It’s generally easy to spot sports fans who usually watch on TV at live games – they’re the ones looking for the slow-motion replay when at a live match.

“QLED technology brings the world right into your home – it’s no longer about merely watching a television programme, it’s about being fully immersed in the content. The colours, crispness, quality of image and sound create an experience that’s like no other,” notes van Lier.

Streaming services have also changed the way people consume television programming. Which is why TVs need to have the ability to connect to the internet, allowing viewers to choose their content on one screen. Whether using the One Remote or a connected smartphone, television viewers have so many more options, as well as far greater quality and an all-round more immersive experience.

While South Africans may have missed out on watching the moon landing in 1969, it’s just possible that they will get to watch the first Mars landing, live and in extraordinary colour and depth.