CES: Samsung's C9000 Series LED HDTVs are Thin. Really, Really Thin: BigPictureBigSound

Published: 2010-01-14 - 09:25:47

CES: Samsung's C9000 Series LED HDTVs are Thin. Really, Really Thin

By Dennis Burger

Before this year's Consumer Electronics Show, I honestly thought the Thickness Wars in flat panel TVs were so Two-Thousand-and-Late -- I mean, once it's hanging on the wall, do a few tenths of an inch here there really matter? But I have to admit, even this jaded reporter was impressed with Samsung's new C9000 Series LED HDTVs. Measuring a nearly ridiculous three-tenths of one inch, the C9000 Series sets make me want to regurgitate half-baked PR phrases I swore I would never, ever commit to print ("Fun to look at, even when the power's off!" There. I said it. Happy? I swear I just threw up in my mouth a little.)

But there's a lot more going on here than merely a sleek profile. All of the sets in the LED C9000 line (all the way up to the 65-inch model) include Samsung's own proprietary 3D processor, which supports several 3D standards, including half-resolution and full-HD formats, as well as the new Blu-ray 3D standard. And unlike the competition, Samsung can do real-time processing to add a 3D effect to standard 2D content, which is most of what you'll be watching on TVs like this for the foreseeable future.

And by the way, Samsung calls the C9000 series HDTV an "LED TV" which really means that it's an LCD TV that uses LED backlighting to illuminate the LCD pixels. In this case the LED backlight is driven by LED elements along the edges of the TV (edge-lighting) which feed a diffusor panel to provide even, uniform lighting. Unlike last year's top of the line B8500 series, no Samsung TVs in the 2010 "C" model line will offer full array LED backlighting with local dimming technology. Samsung feels that they can achieve comparable picture quality with LED edge-lighting at a lower expense and a much slimmer panel depth (as evidenced here).

Blink and you'll miss them: there are actually two Samsung LED C9000 TVs flanking the screen in the middle.

See? THIN!

The C9000 series also offers full access to Samsung's App Store. But perhaps the coolest thing about the 9000 Series is the remote: a full-color touchscreen with integrated Wi-Fi that allows you to watch TV and A/V sources right on the remote itself, separately from the source being viewed on the TV. You can also browse music, movies, and photos located on a networked DLNA certified PC. Swipe the content in the general direction of your TV, and suddenly you're viewing it on the large screen.

Yeah, we live in the future already.

Samsung isn't forthcoming with pricing and availability dates, but we'll let you know as soon as we know.

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