CES 2016

Journalists were given a back room briefing on the features and technology behind Samsung's 2016 SUHD TVs. None of it was particularly secretive—the sets will, after all, be available in a few months. But these special sessions offered information that’s difficult to address on an open show floor (“open” being a generous description for the Times Square on New Years Eve crush that the Samsung booth generally resembles!).

We were briefed on Samsung’s Intelligent Picture Engine, which produces a simulation of HDR from non-HDR material (this feature is automatically disengaged in the Movie mode for those who choose not to use such “enhancements.") We’ll give it a good look, however, when the time comes to review one or more of these new sets.

But the main attraction was Samsung’s 1000 nits HDR technology, to be incorporated in (apparently) all of the company’s 2016’s SUHD designs. The 1000 nits designation indicates a minimum; according to Samsung, the sets should exceed 1000 nits—when required by the source. The new sets also incorporate additional refinements said to increase contrast and reduce halos around bright objects on dark backgrounds.

We were also given a run through on Samsung’s new SmartTV features and configuration, which I won’t go into here. All manufactures revise their smart formats every year, with constant changes that, they hope, will be judged as improvements.