EXCLUSIVE: Samsung and LG who are still fighting over 3D technology in the Australian Federal Court, are now set to do battle in the OLED TV market with new ‘dual view’ TVs that allow two people to watch separate programs from the same TV.The new range of dual view OLED TVs are expected to be launched in Australia in September.
Research Company DisplaySearch has said that while LG is still aggressively promoting its Passive 3D TV technology with claims that it was better than what Samsung is offering with their powered Active Shutter technology, the rivals are set to go head to head in the dual TV market with a similar battle to what they have encountered over 3D TV.
LG claims their Passive 3D TV technology delivers a flicker-free, light and cheap 3D TV solution compared to shutter glasses from Samsung.
Samsung counterattacked by highlighting the lower resolution of Passive 3D TV, but generally avoided a direct battle in 3D TV, by promoting Smart TVs instead.
This year, with OLED TV set to hit Australia in September at prices upward from $8,000 Samsung is now set to try and differentiate their new OLED TV’s with dual view.
DisplaySearch said that Samsung has been developing RGB patterning (in which red, green, and blue organic emitters are deposited into each sub-pixel), while LG has been pursuing white with colour filter. Like 3D, OLED is an immature technology for TV so that there is plenty of room for Samsung and LG to attack the weak points of each other’s technologies and to use them as a marketing tool for their TVs.
Speculation has it that Samsung may adopt Passive 3D and white OLED similar to LG, however Samsung presented a different focus at the “2012 Samsung Premium TV Showcase” last week in Korea.
What leaked out was that Samsung intends to push the message that Samsung is the leader in OLED TV and that they will have “smart dual view” OLED TVs, which use fast switching speeds to show two channels simultaneously.
DisplaySearch said that “Smart dual view” is not a particularly new idea. This technology originally come from shutter glass 3D, and was often used as a gaming feature allowing two-player game views similar to what LG is offering in their new range of smart TVs in Australia.
Samsung is expected to announce that consumers in Australia will be able to watch two different programs simultaneously when viewing the TV from different angles.
For example, one member of the family can watch a drama while another enjoys a football game, on one TV at the same time.
In the past, the “picture in picture” function enabled viewing two channels, but the secondary channel was in a greatly reduced format and without sound.
Many in the industry see OLED TV as a chance to save a saturated TV market with several retailers telling Smarthouse that the use of dual view technology in OLED TVs will be the point of difference that drives consumers to pay extra to buy an OLED TV.
DisplaySearch said that If Samsung succeeds in driving OLED TV with “smart dual view”, shutter glass 3D may attach itself to OLED TV, while making Passive 3D an old feature associated with LCD TV.
Samsung’s new OLED TV will come with two pairs of shutter glasses to reinforce the message that shutter glass 3D will prevail over Passive 3D.
