Samsung unveils new quantum dot powered QLED TV

Samsung Electronics has unveiled its premium QLED TV line-up ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) kicking off on January 5 in Las Vegas.

The QLED TV series -- Q9, Q8, and Q7 -- is the successor to the SUHD TV series first unveiled in 2015 that uses quantum dot (QD) materials to enhance picture quality.

"2017 will mark a major paradigm shift in the visual display industry, ushering in the era of QLED," said HyunSuk Kim, president of the Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics, in a statement.

"With the advent of QLED TV, we provide the most true-to-life picture on screen. We have been successful in solving past inconsistencies in the viewing experience and consumer pain points while redefining the fundamental value of TV," he said.

Samsung claimed that the new TVs reproduce 100 percent color volume in DCI-P3 color space. The colors can be expressed accurately at QLED TV's peak luminance between 1,500 and 2,000 nits.

The South Korean tech giant achieved the breakthrough by adopting new metal QD materials, it said.

Company insiders earlier told ZDNet that the TVs reach 104 percent color volume of the DCI-P3 standard, thanks to a new "metal coating" process that increases the integrity and maintains the sizes of individual crystals. Each color is expressed accurately despite changes in brightness, they said.

The company also confirmed that the QD materials on the QLED TV will not be self-emitting light, as some speculated.

Samsung also talked up the back of the new models, a recurring weakness of QD-powered TVs compared to OLED TVs produced by rival LG.

A single, transparent cable was added that can be connected to peripheral devices, and the TVs have a no-gap wall-mount, allowing them to be placed on walls and take little space.

The new models also come with an easel-shaped studio stand and a gravity stand that can be attached on the back to place them atop furniture.

QLED TVs also come with a newly designed Samsung smart remote, and the Smart Hub 2.0 now connects with phones. Users can use their smartphones like a remote to select and start TV programs. The app also alerts the user of program schedules.

New smart TV features also include "Sports", which allows viewers customized summaries of favorite teams and notifies of past and future games.