I recently returned from a visit to Samsung in Germany where I was treated to early demos of some TVs from the company’s new range for 2023 (check out my hands-on S95C QD-OLED) – and what caught my eye the most is how seriously the company seems to be taking the accuracy of the photos now.
I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that Samsung has been making great TVs for a long time, but I think it’s fair to say that the company has often been more interested in spectacle than subtlety. It prides itself on producing the brightest, most powerful and vibrant TVs, and there’s no denying most of them are great to look at, but there’s also the sense that many models have been a bit more colorful than is strictly correct.
There’s nothing wrong with that approach per se, especially since Samsung has generally managed to walk the fine line between boosting colors and making everything look unnatural, but for those looking for the most true-to-life representation of what the director intended, Samsung may not have been the TV. brand of your choice.
I think that could change soon. The last few Samsung launches I’ve attended have included comparisons to mastering monitors, and the staff have gone to great lengths to illustrate just how hard they work to faithfully recreate the source material. More and more of these demos are also being run with the TV in the most accurate Filmmaker mode or movie preset. The old Samsung was all about the more dazzling but less cinematically accurate standard or even vivid presets. This is a huge step in the right direction in my opinion.
Last year, Samsung also launched a special Smart Calibration feature that allows users to achieve greater color accuracy from their QLED TV using the SmartThings mobile app. This feature will roll out to more TVs in 2023 and is another sign of the company’s evolution towards authenticity.
What’s especially exciting about Samsung’s increased interest in authenticity is that it’s one of only two brands (Sony being the other) to produce QD OLED TVs, which combine OLED’s awesome contrast accuracy with Quantum Dots, which have a reproduce a larger part of the image. color spectrum. At times, Samsung may have used its Quantum Dot tech to make images pop, but it looks like it’s now using it to make images more accurate.
Of course, I could be proven wrong, and Samsung’s 2023 TVs would prove less true to creative intent than hoped. However, the company is making a lot of the right noises at the moment and now seems to realize that a big volume of color comes with a big responsibility.
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Also view our LG G3 hands on