www.samsung.com Copyright 2012 SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD

Table of Contents

Executive Summary .................................................................................................ii

Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1

Trends in Consumer Television .............................................................................. 2

The CRT TV ........................................................................................................... 2

HDTV .................................................................................................................... 3

Plasma TV ............................................................................................................ 4

What is an LCD ..................................................................................................... 5

Technical Overview: the 60” LED LCD 8000 Series TV ............................................ 6

What is LED Backlight........................................................................................... 8

Tech Specs ........................................................................................................... 9

Features/Benefits of the LED LCD TV ................................................................... 10

Summary: the State of the Art of Television ........................................................ 11

More Information on the 60” LED LCD 8000 Series ............................................. 12

References ............................................................................................................ 13

Glossary ................................................................................................................ 15

i

Executive Summary

The 60” LED LCD series 8000 television is an electronic display device that transmits

the light from an LED light source through an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) to create

the final image that the viewer will see on the screen. It is a TV that uses LED edge-

lighting to enhance the natural advantages of the LCD TV and improve image quality

to rival plasma TVs.

There are clear benefits to LED in edge-lighting of LCD displays, it:

improves upon the traditional flat panel LCD advantages and allows significant

improvements over and above any CCFL-LCD TV in the market today.

results in technical improvements in contrast ratio to surpass the best plasma

TV systems have to offer

improves energy efficiency, over and above the already efficient CCFL-LCD

The LED LCD edge-lighting features translate into a smaller more compact TV than

CCFL-LCDs that can also benefit the consumer wishing to upgrade in unprecedented

ways.

With a display that measures 1.3” thick 60” wide and weighs a mere 59 lbs, the

aesthetic options allowed include a variety of wall-mounting options such: flat, tilting,

and articulated.

ii

1

Introduction

This document was written for general consumers wishing to upgrade their TVs, and

purchasing managers for consumer electronics stores.

The purpose of this document is to describe the technological trends in television

displays of the past decade and how these features resulted in a divergence into LCD

and plasma technology. Now the best of both technological streams are incorporated

into the Samsung 60” 8000 Series, making it the state of the art in consumer

television.

Samsung is guided by a simple philosophy, strong values and high ethical standards

that inform our work. In everything we do, we strive to help people live better lives.

For more than 70 years, Samsung has been at the forefront of innovation. Our

discoveries, inventions and breakthrough products have helped shape the history of

the digital revolution.

Through these efforts Samsung is dedicated to developing innovative technologies

that enrich people's lives and contribute to a better world for all.

Enjoy the benefits our product has to offer.

2

Trends in Consumer Television

With technology changing and advancing at a rapid pace, it's easy it lose track of new

or improved consumer electronics. Television is a great example of this -- in the past

seven years, liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions have overtaken a market that was

dominated by cathode ray tube (CRT) televisions for almost eighty years. Today’s

television buyers are finding they get bewildered when the subject turns to upgrading

their favorite news/entertainment delivery device.

In fact, buying a new TV has quickly become one of the most confusing and

challenging purchase decisions that consumers now face. Between the transition to

digital TV and HDTV programming, and the overabundance of TV types,

technologies, and terminologies, it’s no wonder modern TV buyers draw a blank. A

trip to your local consumer electronics store yields a host of technologies and terms to

describe them: Plasma, LCD, LED, Flat Panel, HDTV, CRT, Contrast ratio, and the

list goes on….

Most consumer electronics vendors sell TVs using several display technologies so that

they’re able to offer consumers the widest variety of TV sizes, shapes and. most

importantly price points.

But what is the current state of the art of television and what are the driving forces

behind it?

The CRT TV

The cathode ray tube (CRT) was invented in 1897, the commercial CRT television developed in the 20s and 30s and until the late 1980s there was no commercial television based on any other technology. The CRT TV is a hot, heavy, power-hungry box that sat in the corner of the living room of American homes for almost four generations, and is still available. 60% of American homes still have them due to their advantages, they are:

inexpensive to buy,

inexpensive to fix

simple to hook up to peripherals (such as DVD players)

3

While CRTs are still available and can still be seen side-by-side with newer

technologies, and 60% of American homes still have them. [4], it is considered a

moribund technology. Why? Because of three main limitations:

1. CRT screens are curved glass, thus:

the picture is distorted when viewed at certain angles

the screen is prone to reflection or glare

there is a maximum of about 32” screen size as the screen then becomes

too fragile.

2. the cathode ray tubes themselves are large, CRT TVs are almost as deep as they

are high, this leads to an inescapably bulky TV (a typical 32” CRT TV is 21.8”

wide x 29.6” high x 25.9 deep; 116 pounds) [1].

3. it is an inherently analog technology; to take advantage of the digital

broadcasting a digital tuner is required.

These functional limitations were superseded by the innovations of flat panel display

technology: Liquid Crystal Display and plasma TVs.

HDTV

The initial growth of the flat panel display market coincided with a government

mandated switch of broadcasters from analog to HDTV signals in the US and Canada

[2]. With the introduction and standardization of HDTV in the late 1990s LCD and

Plasma TVs took precedence over CRT TVs because they were perfectly poised to

plug in to the digital market. These TV technologies also allowed much smaller and

lighter TVs than the CRT technologies, whetting the consumer appetite.

The current HDTV market currently offers two distinct choices in display

technologies: plasma, traditional LCD [3]. Choosing between them is complicated,

they are competing technologies both of which achieve similar features (i.e., bright,

crystal-clear images, super color saturated pictures) and come in similarly sized (up to

65” screen width and 3.5” depth) flat screen casings [4].

4

Plasma TV

Plasma display is a flat screen technology in which each pixel on the screen is

illuminated by a tiny bit of plasma (charged gas) and the whole encased between two

thin sheets of glass. It that uses hundreds of thousands of tiny cells lined with

phosphor that are full of inert neon gas. Charging the gas with an electrode causes it

to glow and produce light. The amount of charge determines the intensity, and the

combination of the different intensities of red, green and blue produce all the colors

required (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: A plasma pixel

Each pixel cell is essentially an individual microscopic florescent light bulb. Three

cells make up one pixel (one cell has red phosphor, one green, one blue), and each

plasma screen has millions of pixels.

A plasma screen is more like an old CRT screen, since the images are created by

excited phosphors. As a result, plasma TVs can generate more colours (billions as

opposed to 16.7 million for LCDs). They can also create darker blacks, simply by not

activating the phosphors in the dark part of the image [5].

5

Due to the nature of how the plasma TV illuminates the screen, there are some

technical limitations [6]:

1. screens are subject to image retention (commonly referred to as "burn in" or

“ghosting”), if the same image is displayed long enough. While this could be

permanent in the early plasmas, it will fade in time with modern plasma

displays.

2. plasma image generation is an active phenomenon, so the phosphoric elements

in plasma displays fade over time. A 20,000 hour half-life for the plasma screen

is common. There is no way to replace these screens the display simply

continues to grow dimmer with use.

3. large screen plasmas consume a lot of power, a 60” Panasonic plasma TV

consumes 675 watts.

What is an LCD?

Now, imagine a piece of material that can be clear as glass or completely black so that

no light can pass through. Also imagine that you can electronically control it to be

clear or black. That is the basic idea behind a LCD.

You sandwich a layer of liquid crystals (LC) – crystals which alter their shape in

response to an applied electric current, between two pieces of transparent material

along with some clear electrodes. The size of the current applied, and thus the degree

to which the liquid crystals change shape determines how much light each cell will

transmit to the viewer. Now you can control how much light passes through the

material.

Then take a flat panel containing a grid of millions of sandwiched tiny LC shutters, or

cells, together with their millions of tiny electrodes and cover it with a color light

filter. The filter contains tiny red, green and blue areas. Now you have a LC display, or

LCD and the millions of tiny cells are the pixels (see Figure 2).

6

Figure 2: An LCD pixel

Through this, array you shine a very bright light. The backlight initially used to shine

through the LCD was CCFL (Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lighting) technology.

Since LCD pixels can be made smaller than plasma pixels, this backlighting

characteristic makes LCD screens generally brighter and crisper than plasma screens.

Although blacks are not as dark as those generated by plasmas because even when the

liquid crystals are made to block the light, some still gets through [5].

CCFL-LCD TVs have natural advantages over Plasma TVs in the following areas:

no burn-in susceptibility

longer display life (CCFLs rated at 40 000 hours half-life) and if the CCFL

tubes can be replaced, the display is good as new

higher light output (brightness). The LCD looks better in brightly lit rooms due

to the ability to produce a naturally brighter image

about half the power consumption of a plasma TV, a 60” LCD consumes 330

watts

Limitations of CCFL-LCD in comparison with plasma TV [7]:

1. CCFLs have a limited color gamut, 16.7 million as opposed to the billions of a

plasma display, it is rated 75% of NTSC standards [8]

2. blacks are not as dark as those generated by plasmas, hence a lower contrast

ratio

7

The natural question to ask is “can the benefits of each of the two separate

technologies be combined”? The answer is yes, with the Samsung 60” 8000 Series

television.

Technical Overview: the 60” LED LCD 8000 Series

The Samsung 60” 8000 series television is an electronic display device that transmits

the light from an LED light source through an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) to create

the final image that the viewer will see on the screen. A TV that enhances the natural

advantages of the LCD TV and uses LED technology to rival the image quality of

plasma TVs (see Figure 3).

Figure 3: the 60” LED LCD TV

8

What is LED Backlight?

A LED (Light Emitting Diode) light source is used to replace the CCFL technology

used previously. An LED is simply a device which emits visible light when an electric

current is applied to it. The use of an LED light source as backlighting in LCD is a

new innovation which differentiates this television from other technology, (see

Figure 4).

Figure 4: CCFL backlight vs. LED backlight

In a further innovation, the LED source is also placed around the edges of the display

(see Figure 5). While edge-lit is not that different. The advantage of edge-lit TVs is

that they are even more power efficient, and they can be very thin.

Figure 5: back lighting and edge-lighting

9

The edge lighting diminishes overall width of the display casing, the allowing the

technology to achieve 1.3” thickness and a weight of only 55 lbs. with the stand (see

Figure 6).

Figure 6: Dimensions of the 60” LED LCD TV

Tech Specs [10]:

Screen Size: 60" Class

Resolution: 1,920 x 1,080

Picture Engine: 3D HyperReal Engine

Dynamic Contrast Ratio: 8,000,000:1

Price: $2199.99 [11]

10

Features and Benefits of the LED LCD TV

The performance improvements by replacing the fluorescent CCFL with the LED

light source are primarily:

energy efficiency (the LED backlight is 30% better at converting electricity to

light than the CCFL)

reliability (LEDs are rated over 100,000 hours of life, CCFLs at 40,000 hours)

brighter pictures. This is important if you’re planning to use your LED LCD

TV in a room that is brightly lit.

improved color gamut, while not in the billions of the plasma range, the 8000

series is quantum improvement over the CCFL, it is rated 100% by NTSC

standards [8]

While table stands are a standard way to display LCD units, the edge lighting allows

such a slim, light-weight technology, you can mount your flat-panel display on almost

any wall in your home for a better aesthetic effect:

Flat Wall Mounts allow you to maximize the space-saving

Tilt Wall Mounts enable you to place your TV above eye level, readily viewable

from anywhere in the room.

Articulating Wall Mounts use swivel arms to render the LCD unit flush with

the wall-and out of the way-when not in use. Pulled out, this mounting allows

you to turn the display 120° to either side and up to 10° up or down.

LED backlighting improves dynamic contrast levels to plasma-topping levels.

8,000,000:1 for the 60” series 8000 compared with 3,000,000:1 for LGs 60" Class

1080P Plasma TV [12].

11

Summary: the State of the Art of Television

This white paper introduced you to the 60” Samsung 8000 series LED LCD TV.

After showing the technological trends driving the consumer TV industry you were

shown how the key features of the product combine the best features of LCD and

plasma TVs and translate that into unprecedented benefits for the consumer.

There are clear benefits to LED lighting of LCD displays, the LED:

improves upon the traditional flat panel LCD advantages and allows significant

improvements over and above any CCFL-LCD TV in the market today.

results in technical improvements in contrast ratios to rival and surpass the best

plasma TV systems have to offer

improves energy efficiency, over and above the already efficient CCFL-LCD

improves the color gamut from CCFLs 75% to 100% of NTSC standard

The 8000 series LED LCD is an LCD television with an LED backlight in the edge-

lighting configuration. This technology allows an unprecedented 1.3” thick 60” wide

display at a mere 59 lbs. The incredible lightness allows a variety of wall-mounting

options such: flat, tilting, and articulated.

Sales of LCD TVs overtook CRT in Australia in 2003 [13] and India in 2007[14].

With the LED LCD Samsung became the bestselling TV brand in the United States in

2011[15].

Samsung is dedicated to developing innovative technologies and efficient processes

that create new markets, enrich people's lives, and continue to make Samsung a digital

leader. Through these efforts Samsung hopes to contribute to a better world and a

richer experience for all.

Enjoy what our product has to offer.

12

More Information on the 60” LED LCD 8000 Series

For more information on the 60” Samsung 8000 series LED LCD TV please contact:

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD 5700 NW Pacific Rim Blvd. Camas, WA 98607, U.S.A. Phone: (1) 360-834-2500

Fax: (1) 360-834-8903 www.samsung.com

Inspire the World, Create the Future

www.samsung.com Copyright 2012 SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD

13

References

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-32D47-32-inch-SuperTube-CRT/dp/B000MY08U6 [2] Sam Grobart, “A Bonanza in TV Sales Fades Away” NY Times Online http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/technology/06sets.html?_r=0 [3] Will Greenwald, “Plasma vs. LCD vs. LED: Which HDTV Type is Best?” PC Magazine online, November 2012, http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2387377,00.asp [4] Phil Conner, “Plasma TV vs. LCD”, 2012, http://plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatvreviews/plasma-vs-lcd.html [5] Tony Sarno, “How LCD and Plasmas work at the pixel level”, APC Magazine Online, http://apcmag.com/how_lcd_and_plasmas_work_at_the_pixel_level.htm [6] Eric Haruki, Bob O’Donnell, “Mythbusting – Just the Facts on Plasma TV Performance”, pdf, IDC ISF Flat Panel 30 day analysis. Available at: [7] Steven Keeping, “LED Backlighting Enhances LCD TV Picture Quality”, Digi-

Key Corporation Techzone, online, retrieved November 26 2012.

http://www.digikey.ca/ca/en/techzone/lighting/resources/articles/led-backlighting-

enhances-tv.html

[8] Mark Kyrnin, “LCD Monitors and Color Gamuts”, About.com, online

http://compreviews.about.com/od/monitors/a/LCDColorGamut.htm

[9]Geoffrey Morrison, “Contrast Ratio (or how every TV manufacturer lies to you), Cnet News, May 26 2011, online http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20066138-1/contrast-ratio-or-how-every-tv-manufacturer-lies-to-you/ [10] Samsung website: 8000 Series Tech Specs. http://www.samsung.com/ca/consumer/tv-video/tv/led/UN60D8000YFXZC-spec [11] LG website: 60" Class 1080P Plasma TV (59.8" diagonal) 60PV450http://www.lg.com/us/tvs/lg-60PV450-plasma-tv

14

[12] Sears Catalog: online, http://www.sears.ca/catalog/samsung-led-tvs/1582-100000981?extid=091511_ca_1search_2en_3gogl_4ele_5electronics-brands-television_6samsung-tv-led-generic&gclid=CLqF3p6F_rMCFcxAMgodYCEAOg [13] Mike Hanlon, “LCD sales surpass CRT sales for first time”, gizmag, online http://www.gizmag.com/go/2427/ [14] VARinda correspondent, “LRT squeezes of CRT” http://www.varindia.com/Sep_ChannelBuzz1.htm [15] Businesswire, September 9 2011, online. http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110909005948/en/Samsung-Selling-TV-Brand-North-America-2011

15

Glossary Brightness – is a measurement of the amount of light the LCD display produces. It is

given in “nits” [one “nit” is one candela per square meter (cd/m2)].

CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent lights) – a light source for LCD screens similar to

the fluorescent tubes for home use but smaller. Also called a "cold cathode

fluorescent tube" (CCFT), it weighs more and uses more power than LEDs, which are

increasingly superseding them.

Color Gamut – The entire range of colors available on a particular device such as a

monitor or television. Televisions are generally rated on their color by the percentage

of colors out of a color gamut that are possible. Thus, a television that is rated at

100% NTSC can display all of the colors within the NTSC color gamut. A screen with

a 50% NTSC color gamut can only represent half of those colors.

Contrast ratio – the ratio of the luminance of the brightest white to the darkest black

that the display is capable of. A higher contrast ratio means a sharper picture. A ratio

of 500:1 is the bare minimum – the higher the better.

CRT (cathode ray tube) – is a specialized vacuum tube in which images are

produced when an electron beam strikes a phosphorescent surface.

CRT TV – an electronic image display device that uses the CRT to produce the final

image. Picture quality and color definition are good. Product lifespan is also regarded

as good although they are prone to screen burn issues. CRT TVs are cheap to make

but many larger manufacturers have ceased their production as a result of consumer

demand for newer alternatives.

Flat Panel – a thin display screen for computer and TV use that first flat panels

appeared on laptop computers in the mid-1980s.

Half-life – the time when the phosphors in a plasma screen will glow half as brightly

as they did when the set was new.

16

HDTV (high-definition television) – a TV display technology specifying an image

resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels (progressive scan lines) for the highest, and 720 and

1080pixels for the lowest HD resolutions . It is a TV technology that enables picture

quality similar to 35 mm film and CD-level audio. Blu-ray discs are 1080p.

LCD (liquid crystal display) – a flat panel display technology that uses the light

modulating properties of liquid crystals. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly.

Since all the picture elements are enclosed in the flat LCD array, these televisions can

be made much more compact than the older CRT TVs.

LCD TV – a flat panel electronic display technology that uses the LCD to compose the picture elements. LCD TVs consume much less power than plasma displays because they work by blocking light rather than emitting it. All modern LCD TVs are wide screen high-definition TVs (HDTVs). LED LCD TV – is an electronic device that transmits the light from an LED light

source through an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) to create the final image that the

viewer will see on the screen. It uses LED backlighting instead of the CCFLs used in

other LCD televisions. The correct name for LED TV is LED-backlight LCD

television.

NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) – an organization responsible

for developing, in 1953, a set of standard protocol for TV broadcast transmission and

reception in the United States.

Pixel – the basic unit of illumination on a display screen such as a television screen or

computer monitor, one of many from which an image is composed.

Plasma TV – a flat screen display technology in which each pixel on the screen is

illuminated by a tiny bit of plasma (charged gas) and the whole encased between two

thin sheets of glass, also called "gas discharge display". It that uses tiny cells lined with

phosphor that are full of inert ionized gas (typically a mix of xenon and neon). Three

cells make up one pixel (one cell has red phosphor, one green, one blue). Charging the

gas with an electrode causes it to emit ultraviolet light, which causes the phosphor to

emit color. The amount of charge determines the intensity, and the combination of

17

the different intensities of red, green and blue produce all the colors required.

Reflection – (or glare) the light reflects back at the viewer from the glass of a

traditional CRT TV. The same is true of a plasma TV. LCD TVs, on the other hand,

are not reflective