Samsung launches virtual reality music clips, S-UHD TV

SAMSUNG will launch a 360-degree video music clip service that will give fans the experience of being side-by-side on stage with performers.

Joe Stinziano, (L), executive vice president, Samsung Electronics America and Tim Baxter, president and COO, Samsung Electronics America stand beside the new Samsung S UHD 4K TV at the Samsung press conference at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada January 5, 2015. AFP PHOTO / ROBYN B

SAMSUNG will launch a 360-degree video music clip service that will give fans the experience of being side-by-side on stage with performers.

All they need is a Samsung Gear VR headset to enjoy the experience of immersive rock in a virtual reality entertainment world.

Samsung made the announcement at the international Consumer Electronics Show or CES 2015 being held in Las Vegas. A Samsung Australia representative confirmed that the service, known as Milk VR, would be available locally when the Gear VR headset ships in Australia in coming weeks.

This year innovations in TVs were not front, centre and back of Samsung’s global announcements although Samsung Electronics America president Tim Baxter was proud of the company’s marketing achievements there.

He said Samsung had achieved a 60 per cent share of the growing ultra high definition or 4K TV market in the US, and half the sales of UHD TVs were for curved screen models, proving their worth.

Samsung also had achieved a 60 per cent market share of wearable devices in the US.

He showed off a tiny credit card-sized solid state hard drive that will let users carry up to one terabyte of files in the palm of their hand. It connects to a computer by USB. It will be available in Australia later this year.

In a separate keynote address held last night, Samsung chief executive BK Yoon stressed the importance of the Internet of Things — the connecting of all kinds of devices to the internet — not just people, and how Samsung would play a major role in it.

The Korean giant last year acquired SmartThings which has been building a home hub to coordinate connected objects in the home. Its development is Samsung’s response to moves into the home automation market by Apple and Google. SmartThings will offer a premium subscription service to users.

At yesterday’s news conference, Samsung said that Milk Music, its rival service to Apple’s iTunes music, would expand from its mobile device platform onto Smart TVs and computers generally.

In order to promote the flow of 4K video content, Samsung announced the formation of a UHD (ultra high definition) Alliance to aid production and quality. 20th Century Fox, Disney, Sony, Sharp, Netflix, Warner Bros and Sharp are among those joining.

It also announced a new proprietary form of UHD called S-UHD which Samsung says makes use of hardware and software modifications to improve picture quality and whose colours were “better than OLED”, according to US executive vice president Joe Stinziano.

A Samsung representative said S-UHD would launch in Australia in the second quarter among its full range of 2015 TVs.

With OLED (organic LED), curved displays and 4K TVs now in market, vendors this year are promoting other attributes such as revamps to the operating systems that run their smart TVs. In Samsung’s case it would adapt its Linux-based Tizen operating as a standard for smart TVs.

On the appliance front, Samsung announced a washing machine with a built in sink underneath the cover, so that pre-wash tasks such as adding stain removers can be performed without spillage when transferring clothes.

Samsung claims its latest PowerBot VR9000 robotic vacuum has 60 times the suction power of rivals, in what’s becoming a race to produce a robot vacuum that cleans properly. It can be pointed to where it should go using a remote, or be left to clean automatically.

At a news conference earlier, South Korean rival LG spruiked stronger connectivity between its devices, a theme it began promoting last year.

LG officially announced its G Flex 2 smartphone, an updated and slightly smaller version of the original G Flex with its signature curved screen. The premium version has a 1080p full HD resolution 5.5-inch screen, retains LG’s gestures for snapping selfies and a “self-healing” mode where surface scratches disappear magically over time.

With both ultra high definition and 4K TVs in market, LG promoted its new line up of 4K-capable OLED TVs — the organic LED screens that offer natural backlighting, a brighter screen and darker blacks.

As expected LG launched an updated version of its webOS operating system for smart TVs. It will support 4K models. LG Australia says it has no information on when any of its CES-announced devices will be available locally, and no local pricing.

Chris Griffith travelled to CES in Las Vegas courtesy of Acer, Sony and Samsung.