Samsung Introduces 3D TVs & eReader

At a press event at New York’s Time Warner Center, Samsung showed off its first-ever line of 3D LED TVs as well as other additions to its LED, LCD and plasma TV lineups, many of which offer built-in 3D technology. All of Samsung’s 3D TVs can be used with its new electronic shutter 3D glasses, 3D Blu-ray players and home theater systems.

As Samsung rolled out 27 LED TVs ranging from 19 to 65 inches, it showed off new technology that brings local dimming—the shutting down of pixels and backlighting in a specific area to enhance blackness—to some of its edge-lit LED TVs. Local dimming had previously been available only in sets with the LED backlight located directly behind the LCD panel, which are necessarily thicker than edge-lit units.

According to a Samsung representative, the edge-lit C8000 (65-inch, $5,000- Rs. 2,27,000 approx.; 55-inch, $3,500- Rs. 1,59,000 approx.) and C6800 (46-inch $2,300- Rs. 1,05,000 approx.; 55-inch, $3,000- Rs. 1,35,000 approx.) series TVs use a “stereo” dimming process in which LEDs at the top, bottom and sides of a dark area in an image are shut off while individual pixels are turned off as well. This is done on the fly by embedded hardware and provides a level of darkening equivalent to backlit models, the representative said. The LED-lit TV line ranges from the conventional 19-inch UN19C4000 ($380- Rs. 17,250 approx.) to the 55-inch 3D capable UN55C900 ($7,000- Rs, 3,20,000 approx.).

Of course 3D TVs are of little use without 3D content and to that end Samsung made note of its expanded alliance with DreamWorks Animation, famous for its “Shrek” and “Monsters” series animated features. Samsung announced that 3D versions of the “Shrek” movies would be available for Samsung TVs later this year. DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg attended the press event to help drive in the point.

Samsung’s six new ultra-slim C8000 and C7000 series plasma TVs are 3D capable, ranging from the $1,800 (Rs. 81,750 approx.), 50-inch PN50C7000 to the $3,800 (Rs. 1,72,500 approx.) 63-inch PN63C8000. Under a current promotion, plasma TV purchasers will receive a free starter kit which includes two Samsung 3D glasses, a 3D version of “Monsters vs. Aliens” from DreamWorks and either a Samsung BD-6900 3D Blu-ray player or a Samsung HT-66930 home theater system. (All plasma, LCD and LED 3D TVs come with at least the glasses and movies package.)

All of Samsung’s 3D TVs offer built-in hardware that can render 2D content into 3D. Also added to the plasma line were two units without 3D capability; the 58-inch PN58C6500 ($2,400- Rs. 1,09,000 approx.) and the 50-inch ($1,600- Rs. 72,700 approx.) PN50C6500.

The new Samsung LCD TVs run from the 19-inch LN19C350 ($280- Rs. 12,700 approx.) to the 3D-capable, 46-inch LN46C750 ($1,700- Rs. 77,200 approx.). Most of the smaller units will be available this month while the larger panels won’t hit stores until May.

Samsung also dove headlong into the electronic book market with the Samsung eReader, a $299 (Rs. 13,600 approx.) device which allows you to take notes in the margins and share content with other Samsung eReaders.

The slide-open unit features a six-inch, 600-by-800-pixel, 8-gray-scale electronic ink display and uses a magnetic resonance stylus instead of a touch screen. Samsung announced a relationship with Barnes and Noble which allows the eReader to access B&N's arsenal of more than a million e-books and e-magazines as well as access to Google Books.

The unit can handle ePub, Adobe PDF, text, BMP, and JPG formats. In addition to 2GB of internal memory, enough for 1,500 books or

2,400 memos, it offers a microSD slot for additional storage capacity. The eReader offers Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity for wireless headsets and other wireless audio devices and a Wi-Fi adapter for Internet access.

One differentiator from the crowd of e-readers the Samsung model joins: With the eReader, you can write notes and annotations in the margins of an e-book just as you would in a physical book. Tim Baxter, president of the consumer electronics division at Samsung, also noted that the unit can share content wirelessly with other identical units. "Reading can be as personal or as social as you want it to be," he said.
Even though Barnes & Noble offers its own e-Reader, Nook, Barnes & Noble doesn't see a conflict, since the Samsung eReader would bring more users to the B&N e-book marketplace.

"We want to enable e-reading everywhere," said Kevin Frain, executive vice president of e-commerce operations at Barnes & Noble.

He noted that the Samsung eReader would be completely compatible with the Barnes & Noble ebook marketplace, including the LendMe feature, which allows you to loan content to other eReader users for up to two weeks. The Samsung eReader will be sold at a number of retailers, but not Barnes & Noble, however.

In practice, when I tried the Samsung eReader's electronic resonance stylus, I found it allowed for accurate text highlighting. However, I experienced a delay between the time I raised the stylus from the screen and the time the highlighting appeared.

Sliding the slim unit open revealed a center rocking navigation control flanked by two control buttons as well as twin speakers, which can be used with content that supports text-to-speech technology. The device also has a headphone jack, and can play MP3 files. The right side of the unit has a convenient volume control rocker, while the bottom has a miniUSB port for connecting with a computer.

The unit can read PDF files, but it can't reflow PDF text. The eReader has a proprietary Outlook sync utility which allows you to import your calendar into the unit. The eReader can also wirelessly share content with other Samsung e-Readers either on a one-to-one basis or to a group of recipients.

Samsung says the eReader will be available soon at major retailers.