Quantum dot TV. Samsung SUHD: choosing a quantum TV
Quantum dot display
Quantum dots irradiated with ultraviolet light. Different sizes of quantum dots emit different colors.
To create a prototype, a layer of quantum dot solution is applied to a silicon board and a solvent is sprayed. A rubber stamp with a comb surface is then carefully pressed into the layer of quantum dots, separated and stamped onto glass or flexible plastic. This is how stripes of quantum dots are applied to a substrate. In color displays, each pixel contains a red, green, or blue subpixel. These colors are combined in varying intensities to create millions of shades. The researchers were able to create repeatable patterns of red, green and blue stripes by repeatedly using stamping technology. The stripes are applied directly to the matrix of thin-film transistors. The transistors are made from amorphous hafnium indium zinc oxide, which can conduct higher currents and is more stable than conventional amorphous silicon (a-Si) transistors. The resulting display has subpixels about 50 micrometers wide and 10 micrometers long, small enough to be used in phone screens.
According to Seth Coe-Sullivan, founder and CEO of QD Vision, many problems have been solved by Samsung researchers and engineers, but the best quantum dot devices are not as efficient as OLED displays. It is also necessary to increase the service life, as the brightness of QLED displays begins to decrease after 10,000 hours.
Story
The idea of using quantum dots as a light source was first developed in the 1990s. In the early 2000s, scientists began to realize the full potential of quantum dots as the next generation of displays.
Notes
Wikimedia Foundation.
2010.
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Overall, the TV's 10-bit SUHD display delivers the most lifelike images and amazingly accurate color reproduction. Quantum LCD TVs are superior to previous generation LED screens in all respects and are in no way inferior to OLED technological solutions.
In the previous article we looked at why. Now it’s worth taking a closer look at each of the four presented Samsung SUHD models to evaluate their features.
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The graceful curve of the KS9000 and KS7500 screen
The models are united by a beautiful curved Curved TV screen with 4K resolution and an immersive effect, which is ideal for watching large-format films and video games.
The flagship KS9000 has a maximum diagonal of 78 inches - this is the largest of all possible Samsung SUHD quantum panels. There are also diagonals of 65, 55 and 49 inches with a design element common to all sizes - an elegant metal leg. A curved screen goes hand in hand with large diagonals, so if you want to create a real home theater from your living room, then Samsung SUHD TV models with a Curved TV screen will be a real discovery for you. You will experience immersion in what is happening on the screen no worse than in a cinema, where everything is thought out to the smallest detail.
The same applies to the most beautiful models of the KS7500 series, among which you can find diagonals of 65, 55 and 49 inches. The main overall design element of the KS7500 can be considered the beautiful legs located closer to the sides of the TV. The uniqueness of the stand lies in the absence of any fastening screws - the legs simply snap onto the stand.
Model Samsung SUHD K7500
In addition to external differences, there is one significant difference - the patented Supreme UHD Dimming technology. Supreme UHD Dimming is a local dimming system for SUHD TVs that makes blacks look especially natural. The older model KS9000 has 1152 blocks of local video content enhancement, and the younger KS7500 has 576.
Common characteristics include:
- Maximum realistic picture with Quantum Dot display
- High Dynamic Range HDR with 1000 nits of brightness
- Ultra Black anti-glare screen coating
- Impeccable 360° design
- Immersive Curved TV Screen
- 10-bit UHD 4K panel delivering up to a billion colors
- Universal Samsung One Remote
- Smart Hub - now your favorite content is collected in one place
- Ultra-thin screen bezels
On the left is the K9000 model, on the right is the K8000 model.
Slim minimalism KS8000 and KS7000
Fans of classic flat LCD screens will be pleasantly surprised by the presence of Samsung SUHD models KS8000 and KS7000, because for some interiors a flat-screen or wall-mounted TV is indispensable. Plus, Samsung SUHD TVs reduce sunlight reflection so you can enjoy extremely clear images from any angle.
The older KS8000 supports Supreme UHD Dimming technology with the same number of local video content enhancement blocks as the KS9000. The KS7000 replicates the UHD Dimming features of the KS7500. Along with the maximum available diagonal of 75 inches, the older model can offer sizes of 65, 55, 49 inches, the younger - 60, 55 and 49, respectively.
The seamless, sleek design of Samsung SUHD TVs is called "360 Design". Clean lines run throughout the entire display – even at the back. Not a single screw is in sight, and the rich matte texture adds an element of sophisticated elegance. Thanks to thoughtful design solutions, each Samsung SUHD TV series harmoniously complements any interior.
Model Samsung SUHD K7000
Among the general characteristics are:
For five years, Samsung engineers have perfected the technology to produce super-high resolution SUHD displays at quantum dots. The matrix of this type of monitor is built on 1-5 nanometer particles (1000 times smaller than a hair), which emit light depending on the voltage and size.
The screen matrices of the 7-series models are represented by three diagonals:
49”
– 78,000 rub.;
55”
– 102,000 rubles;
65′‘ – 170,000 rub.
A good 65-inch TV (our test one) costs that much. The resolution is 3840x2160 pixels (4K Ultra HD).
In fact, UE65KS7500U TVs are hybrid, because only red and green pixels are quantum dots, and blue is LED. The reason for hybridity lies in the service life of the monitor - 30 thousand hours, and the blue quantum dot lives only 10 thousand. Therefore, it was replaced with an LED diode.
Advantages of “quantum” monitors:
- energy costs are 30-50% less compared to LCD;
- display brightness is 50-100 times higher;
- Quantum dots are suitable for flexible panels;
- due to the ultra-small dot size, the matrix has a high pixel density;
- The number of light shades is 64 times more than on other Samsung TVs.
This is where we’ll finish the physical and technical introductory part and move on to what consumers see with their eyes - design, management, operating system, capabilities.
Design
The TV screen is curved so that the viewer can plunge deeper into the picture before his eyes.
A couple of years ago, Samsung was aiming for thin, invisible bezels. Then he returned them. Apparently, they are technologically important, either for creating stiffeners or for placing electronics at the edges. Still, few people pay attention to the frames.
The steel-colored perimeter flows elegantly into a monolithic stand with legs. The weight of the stand is 0.5 kg, the weight of the TV is 23.2 kg.
Ports and connectors
On the TV body there are:
– USB
– LAN
– CI/PCMCIA
– Ex-Link
Few? Samsung supplies TVs with an external One Connect hub for those who lack built-in ports.
Additionally we get:
– 2 antenna connectors (cable and satellite)
– 4 HDMI 2.0a
– 2 USB
– optical audio output.
Image quality
Samsung's immersive effect is created by the Auto Depth Enhancer, which increases the contrast of foreground objects relative to the background.
Coating Ultra Black reduces glare on the screen. Not completely, but noticeable to the eye.
The entire 7-series KS7500 is a powerful picture enhancer. If the video is of low quality, it is converted to SUHD format on the fly. If the picture has low contrast, then the technology Precision Black regulates the flow of light, causing the image to come to life. The TV plays popular video formats (avi, mkv, mov, etc.).
4 settings are responsible for gamma and color gamut: dynamic, standard, normal, cinema.
The only thing that was disappointing: the TV couldn’t cope with the complex fractal structure of Emma Stone’s blouse from the interview below. It turned out that the jacket lived its own life and with a second’s delay moved behind the actress.
I played with the Automotion Plus setting, but the strange effect persisted.
Control
Smart TV is controlled from an elegant remote control. It is minimalistic, like Apple TV, and at the same time more functional. It has buttons hidden under the top cover, and only the main ones are made physical, such as volume and channel switching. The remote control is not touch sensitive.
The KS7500's controls are intuitive. The fact that there are practically no manipulators on the remote control does not prevent you from getting to the desired function in three clicks. The only thing is that you stumble when entering characters in the movie search. The remote control has a microphone for voice input, but this function suddenly turned off. The Korean voice recognition server probably crashed during the test.
Tizen OS
The Tizen operating system on which the TV runs is good, except for the reluctance of third-party developers to port applications to it. The main providers of media content are built into the shell. Additionally, online cinemas ivi, Okko, Megogo are installed from the store. Consider that there are no games - only two (El Dorado casino and Monkey Madness arcade). Maybe this is for the best: if you want to play, buy a separate console.
Tizen is better optimized for TV and runs faster than Android. You can feel it. The hardware is controlled by a 4-core Quad Core processor.
Conclusion
If we ignore the small number of applications and games, the Samsung SUHD 4K Curved Smart TV 65 KS7500 7 Series does an excellent job of delivering a clear and vibrant image to the owner. A powerful processor and a variety of technologies pull low-quality video up to 4K level. The screen's quality reserve will last for several years to come.
Samsung has announced approximate dates for expanding the range of SUHD TV models available in Russia in 2016, as well as recommended prices for them: from 110 thousand to one and a half million rubles. All devices are assembled in Russia - at the Samsung plant in the Kaluga region.
Currently, in Russia you can already buy certain models of TVs from the Korean manufacturer with displays that use quantum dot technology to improve the image, but some lines are either not yet represented on the Russian market at all, or are not represented in all diagonals.
Quantum dots - what are they?
What are quantum dots? These are semiconductor nanocrystals, several dozen atoms in size, that glow when exposed to current or light. They emit different colors depending on the size and material from which they are made. The use of quantum dots in LCD displays makes it possible to improve the color rendition and contrast of the image, bringing it closer to OLED screens and eliminating the need for additional white backlight LEDs (in the RGBW scheme) and color filters. Essentially, quantum dots “convert” the blue light from LEDs into other primary colors, thereby forming an image.
It is these microscopic crystals that glow in a specific color that make it possible to display HDR content on TVs - images and videos with a wide dynamic range, in which details can be seen in both very dark and very light areas. The 2016 model year Samsung TV displays use environmentally friendly, cadmium-free quantum dot technology. Apparently, the Koreans decided to prefer quantum dots to OLED technology, which makes TVs unaffordably expensive and has a number of disadvantages - a limitation on maximum brightness and problems with the gradual burnout of light-emitting elements.
New Samsung TVs 2016
Samsung's most affordable SUHD TV model with support for 4K and HDR1000 (provided by quantum dots) is part of the KS7000 line and has a diagonal of 49 inches. Its recommended retail price is 109,990 rubles, and sales will begin in July. This line will also feature TVs with diagonals of 55 and 60 inches.
The KS7500 line offers roughly the same features and picture quality as the KS7000, but its TVs have curved screens. The 49- and 55-inch KS7500 models are already on sale in Russia (the 49-inch costs RUB 119,990), and the older 60-inch model will debut in retail in July.
A month later, in August, Samsung plans to start selling the top 75-inch model from the KS8000 series of flat-panel TVs already presented in stores, and at the same time the 78-inch curved TV of the KS9000 series will also appear in stores. Finally, the top model 88KS9800 with a price tag of 1,499,990 rubles is planned to enter the Russian market at the end of summer.
All Samsung TVs of the 2016 model year received an elegant (not only front but also back) design, Ultra Black anti-glare coating and new software that makes working with smart applications, including streaming services, as convenient as possible. In addition, the devices are equipped with a special Samsung One Remote, which allows you to control not only the TV, but also other devices connected to it.
Quantum dots are tiny crystals that emit light with precisely controlled color values. Quantum dot LED technology significantly improves image quality without affecting the final cost of the devices, in theory :).
Conventional LCD TVs can only cover 20-30% of the color range that the human eye can perceive. The image is not very realistic, but this technology is not aimed at mass production of large display diagonals. Those who follow the TV market remember that back in early 2013 Sony introduced the first TV based on quantum dots (Quantum dot LED, QLED). Major TV manufacturers will release quantum dot TV models this year; Samsung has already presented them in Russia under the name SUHD, but more on that at the end of the article. Let's find out how displays produced using QLED technology differ from the already familiar LCD TVs.
LCD TVs lack pure colors
After all, liquid crystal displays consist of 5 layers: the source is white light emitted by LEDs, which passes through several polarizing filters. Filters located at the front and rear, together with liquid crystals, control the passing light flux, reducing or increasing its brightness. This happens thanks to pixel transistors, which affect the amount of light passing through the filters (red, green, blue). The generated color of these three subpixels, on which filters are applied, gives a certain color value of the pixel. The color mixing happens quite smoothly, but it is simply impossible to get pure red, green or blue this way. The stumbling block is filters that transmit not just one wave of a certain length, but a whole series of waves of different lengths. For example, orange light also passes through a red filter.
An LED emits light when voltage is applied to it. Due to this, electrons (e) are transferred from the N-type material to the P-type material. N-type material contains atoms with an excess number of electrons. P-type material contains atoms that lack electrons. When excess electrons enter the latter, they release energy in the form of light. In a conventional semiconductor crystal, this is typically white light produced by many different wavelengths. The reason for this is that electrons can be in different energy levels. As a result, the resulting photons (P) have different energies, which results in different wavelengths of radiation.
Light stabilization with quantum dots
IN QLED TVs Quantum dots act as a light source - these are crystals only a few nanometers in size. In this case, there is no need for a layer with light filters, since when voltage is applied to them, the crystals always emit light with a clearly defined wavelength, and therefore color value. This effect is achieved by the tiny size of a quantum dot, in which an electron, like in an atom, is able to move only in a limited space. As in an atom, the electron of a quantum dot can only occupy strictly defined energy levels. Due to the fact that these energy levels also depend on the material, it becomes possible to specifically tune the optical properties of quantum dots. For example, to obtain red color, crystals from an alloy of cadmium, zinc and selenium (CdZnSe), the size of which is about 10–12 nm, are used. An alloy of cadmium and selenium is suitable for yellow, green and blue colors, the latter can also be obtained using nanocrystals of a zinc-sulfur compound of 2–3 nm in size.
Mass production of blue crystals is very complex and expensive, so the TV presented by Sony in 2013 is not a “thoroughbred” QLED TV based on quantum dots. At the back of their displays is a layer of blue LEDs, the light of which passes through a layer of red and green nanocrystals. As a result, they essentially replace the currently common light filters. Thanks to this, the color gamut increases by 50% compared to conventional LCD TVs, but does not reach the level of a “pure” QLED screen. The latter, in addition to a wider color gamut, have another advantage: they save energy, since there is no need for a layer with light filters. Thanks to this, the front part of the screen in QLED TVs also receives more light than in conventional TVs, which transmit only about 5% of the luminous flux.
QLED TV with display based on Samsung's quantum dot technology
Samsung Electronics presented premium TVs in Russia made using quantum dot technology. New products with a resolution of 3840 × 2160 pixels were not cheap, and the flagship model was priced at 2 million rubles.
Innovations. Curved Samsung SUHD TVs based on quantum dots differ from common LCD models in higher color rendering, contrast and power consumption characteristics. The integrated SUHD Remastering Engine allows you to upscale low-resolution video content to 4K. In addition, the new TVs received the Peak Illuminator and Precision Black intelligent backlight functions, Nano Crystal Color technology (improves the saturation and naturalness of colors), UHD Dimming (provides optimal contrast) and Auto Depth Enhancer (automatically adjusts the contrast for certain areas of the picture). The software basis of the TVs is the Tizen operating system with the updated Samsung Smart TV platform.
Prices. The Samsung SUHD TV family is presented in three series (JS9500, JS9000 and JS8500), where the cost starts from 130 thousand rubles. This is how much the 48-inch model UE48JS8500TXRU will cost Russian buyers. The maximum price for a TV with quantum dots reaches 2 million rubles - for the UE88JS9500TXRU model with an 88-inch curved display.
New generation TVs using QLED technology are being prepared by South Korean Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, Chinese TCL and Hisense, and Japanese Sony. The latter has already released LCD TVs made using quantum dot technology, which I mentioned in the description of Quantum dot LED technology.
