IN among all the laptops and gaming monitors announced at CES earlier this month, there were also some announcements for new TVs.
As useful as smart TVs are for watching streaming TV and YouTube videos on a huge screen, they are also excellent for gaming, which makes new TV news something of interest to gamers – and there was plenty of that out of CES.
Samsung unveiled its new range of Micro LED, Neo QLED and Lifestyle TVs just before the show launched, as part of an ongoing vision it calls “Screens Everywhere, Screens for All”.
Per the official announcement from CES 2022: “With advancements in picture and sound quality, more screen size options, customizable accessories and an upgraded interface, the 2022 screens bring the vision of closer to reality with life-like images, immersive sound and hyper-personalised experiences.”
Samsung are pitching the Micro LED display as their state-of-the-art showcase, describing the platform as offering a best-in-class picture quality due to 23 million micrometer-sized LEDs individually producing light and colour.
According to the official announcement, this “[Creates] an incredibly immersive experience through impressive depth, vibrant colours and a heightened level of clarity and contrast”, going on to say that “In addition to the hardware innovations, the 2022 Micro LED supports 20-bit greyscale depth. This means Micro LED models can express every detail in a scene, offering the finest control with over 1 million steps of brightness and colour levels, delivering a true HDR experience.
“It also expresses 100% of DCI and Adobe RGB colour gamut, resulting in stunning, lifelike colours. Together with immersive design made possible by its 99.99% screen-to-body ratio, Micro LED delivers revolutionary performance.”
The new TVs are being launched in 89in, 101in, and 110in sizes, so don’t expect them to be cheap – we’ll keep you updated on availability and pricing for Australia/NZ when the information becomes available.
Hisense, known for their affordable high-definition TVs, had an interesting announcement with their TV range as well – namely, all their 2022 TVs come with HDMI 2.1 support, which will be of particular interest to anyone wanting to pair them with an Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5.
Hisense national retail training manager Christopher Mayer said the addition of HDMI 2.1 to the company’s ULED range was another feather in the cap.
“With HDMI 2.1 as standard across our entire ULED range, outstanding picture quality, Dolby Vision Atmos and Game Mode Pro, this year’s range has it all,” he said.
“Our TVs not only look great and can offer the very best next-gen gaming experience at 120hz in 4K, they’re at an extremely competitive price point too.”
TCL, a relatively new brand in Australia but well established in Asia and America, announced it will roll out 144Hz Mini LED TVs this year, as part of its plans “to deliver a more responsive and fluid video gaming experience to consumers”
TCL Electronics AU/NZ managing director Mark Zhang said the new TVs would be of particular interest to console gamers, especially with older titles being remastered for the new systems.
“The latest consoles offer a growing number of video games that play at 120 FPS and have optimised many popular older games to also play at 120 FPS,” he said.
“With a refresh rate as high as 144Hz, TCL Mini LED TVs can give players a competitive edge – especially for multiplayer games where split-second reaction times are crucial to win – while casual gamers will also appreciate the extra responsiveness.”
There’s no word on pricing or availability yet, but we’ll keep you posted.
