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(Photo: Hardwarezone.com.sg)
Samsung’s newest QLED 4K UHD TVs - which are further split into the Q9, Q8, and Q7 series - are very much LED-lit LCD TVs enhanced by quantum dots, which are these very tiny semiconductor particles that can do magic to a TV’s brightness and colors. But because the improvements in this year’s QD TVs over last year’s models are so significant, Samsung feels it warrants a moniker change. Its one-letter difference to the word “OLED” is probably on purpose too, to further allude that QLED’s picture quality is on a par with (if not better than) OLED.
So, what’s so special about Samsung’s 2017 QLED UHD TVs?
For one, the quantum dots used in them now sport a metal shell and core for improved color purity and stability. And the results of that are even higher brightness and better color performance. According to Samsung, the new QLED TVs have a peak luminance of between 1,500 and 2,000 nits (the flagship Q9 is the one that can hit 2,000 nits) and are able to accurately display the DCI-P3 color space. Not only that, they can reproduce 100 per cent color volume at different luminance levels, compared to around 70 per cent or so for a typical OLED TV. Based on my quick eyes-on with some demo and HDR footage, the QLED TVs do exhibit less clipping of highlight details.
Solving the problems of cable clutter and thick wall mounts
The huge jump in picture quality aside, Samsung’s new QLED TVs also sport several design updates. One of which is the “Invisible Connection”, which is a single, transparent, fiber optic cable for transporting all the content signals from the One Connect breakout box to the TV. I like that even when the TV is on a stand, the stand has strategically placed holes to pipe out the Invisible Connection and power cables. For sure, this helps to minimise cable clutter at the back and around the TV; the only remaining problem is you still need to find a good place to hide the One Connect box that has cables hooked up to your set-top boxes. And for those of you who don’t even want to see the Invisible Connection cable, yes, it’s in-wall rated, so you can hide it in the wall. All QLED TVs will come with a 5-meter Invisible Connection cable, but there’s a separately sold 15-meter extension, for those who have their AV peripherals housed in a cabinet across the room.
Samsung has also developed a tilting “no-gap wall-mount”. The implementation is quite clever actually: instead of having the mounting parts rest on the back of the TV as well as sticking off the wall, and thus creating a big gap in between, most of the hardware is now embedded in the TV. And since you don’t need to have the mount perfectly leveled for the TV to hang straight, Samsung thinks many QLED TV buyers will choose to hang their own TV set. The no-gap wall-mount works across all the QLED series and up to 75-inch screen sizes.
Pricing and availability
Of course, the most important question is: when and how much? At this point, I only know that the Q9 (flat), Q8 (curved), and Q7 (both flat and curved form factors) will be available starting April 2017. Prices will be announced at a later date.
Written by Ng Chong Seng, adapted from Hardwarezone.com.sg