The First ‘Ultra HD’ TV May 19, 2008

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While most of us are still gaping in wonderment at Full HD TVs and content, Samsung is hoping to ‘Wow’ visitors to the Society for Information Display (SID) International Symposium in LA this week with the first Ultra HD LCD TV.

The company has rolled out an 82in monster with an ultra definition (UD) resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels with a 120Hz refresh rate. That’s double the pixel count of Full HD, which stands at 1920 x 1080 pixels. Video is refreshed at 120Hz – the highest refresh rate on LCD TVs right now – which makes fast-moving video less blurry.

Last week, Samsung showed off its first ‘Blue Phase’ TV, which uses technology to radically boost the refresh rate to 240Hz but, we’ll have to wait until 2011 until Blue Phase TVs are made commercial.

On the Ultra HD TV, Samsung has also added a red/green/blue LED backlight to raise true colour saturation to 150%, based NISC standard of 100%.

"This 82-inch LCD is large enough to cover all viewing angles with ultra-definition resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate that will allow viewers to watch motion pictures as if they are really in them," said Sang Soo Kim, executive vice president of the LCD Technology Center at Samsung Electronics. "It is the optimal display for future TVs."

Stay tuned for more LCD, plasma and OLED developments from the SID Show over the coming days.-Martin Lynch

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