Samsung releases curved OLED TV in Australia

SAMSUNG has released a curved TV in Australia which lets two people watch two programs on the same screen at the same time.

Samsung Curved TV OLED

SAMSUNG has released a curved TV in Australia which lets two people watch two programs on the same screen at the same time.

The battle between makers of curved TVs intensified today with Samsung announcing the curved TV which also is the first-ever OLED TV to be sold in Australia. It is available from today.

OLED or organic light-emitting diode displays have naturally brilliant and vivid screens. They contain a film of organic compound that emits light when it encounters an electric current.

The South Korean manufacturer also revealed new 55-inch and 60-inch ultra-high definition TVs at a launch held today at The Sydney Opera House.

Samsung’s OLED TVs have been a long time coming, having been showcased at last year’s and this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but not coming to market here until now.

Samsung says its curved OLED TV is the first Samsung TV to feature MultiView capabilities, allowing two people to watch two different sources at the same time and on the same screen.

Viewers using the feature wear special 3D active glasses with built-in personal speakers for individualised stereo sound. Rival South Korean manufacturer LG has a similar feature called Dual Play, which lets two users view their perspective of a game full screen, on the one TV at the same time.

Samsung says the 55-inch KN55S9C Curved OLED TV will be available through select retail stores from today for a recommended price of $10,999, but stock will be limited initially.

The two new ultra-high definition TVs, the F9000 UHD TVs, will be available to buy from early September and have recommended prices of $4,999 for the 55-inch model and $6,999 for the 65-inch model.

Samsung says the OLED TV’s image response times are much faster than Samsung LED TVs and render motion blur and crosstalk virtually unrecognisable to the viewer.

“The self-emitting RGB sub-pixels are laid directly on the colour display panel, negating the requirement for a colour filter,” Samsung said in a statement.

“Without the need for backlighting, the Samsung Curved OLED TV displays pictures with deep natural blacks and at an extremely high contrast ratio when compared to other Samsung LED TVs."

The OLED curved TV comes with Samsung’s Smart TV interface and the built-in S Recommendation feature which recommends content to users based on their viewing history. Voice recognition used by the set uses natural language functionality developed at Macquarie University in Sydney, Samsung said.

The new ultra-high definition models also feature quad-core processors and 3D technology, Wi-Fi and a camera for staying connected with friends.

Rival manufacturer LG announced a curved 55-inch OLED TV in May with a 1080p high definition screen. In May LG said it may sell for about $13,500, although Australian pricing was yet to be set. However it is yet to come to market in Australia.

LG says its release of curved OLED and UHD TVs in Australia is "not far way". Full pricing and availability will be announced next week.