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Samsung's latest flagship 4K TV starts at $6,500
Samsung's latest and greatest ultra-HD television will cost you big bucks -- but it's also got a healthy selection of affordable options among its latest round of 4K TV sets. The JS9500 SUHD TV (the "S" denotes its premium UHD range), effectively the Korean electronics giants' crown jewel for 2015, will start at $6,500 when it lands later this month. It sports a curved screen with nanocrystal technology (something that appears in all of its SUHD sets), a full array local dimming backlight (which helps with contrast and black levels) and the company's "PurColor" technology, which delivers more vivid colors. You'll be able to snag the JS9500 in 65-inch and 88-inch sizes -- though the company isn't saying just how much the larger version will cost. Most likely, that'll be upwards of $10,000, as that's the price for the 77-inch JS9100 SUHD TV.
Expect Sky and BT to launch new 4K boxes sooner rather than later
It's no secret that BT is after Sky's sports broadcasting crown -- it's already taken away Sky's access to Champions League coverage and will soon go toe-to-toe with its rival again to spend big on more live Premier League matches. While it isn't quite as dominant as its rival in terms of customers, Sky deems BT a credible enough threat that it will reportedly bring forward the launch of its new 4K set-top box to ensure it doesn't lose subscribers when those major European football broadcasts vanish. That's according to The Telegraph, which says the broadcaster will debut a new internet-connected 4K set-top box in the Spring. It's meant to be capable of sharing streams to smartphones and tablets, allowing access to recorded programmes while a user in on the move -- similar to EE's new TV hardware.
Sharp wants to put a 120-inch 4K display on commercial walls
Every year, TVs are a big deal here at the Consumer Electronics Show. Therefore, it's no surprise that Sharp would have a huge presence here in Las Vegas. And when I say huge, I mean huge. Just like last year, when it teased its 85-inch 8K TV with glasses-free 3D, Sharp's now showing off a 120-inch 4K Commercial LCD display. According to the company, one day this could replace video walls in public spaces (like at Times Square, for instance), as well as projectors in classrooms and conference rooms. At the moment, there's no word on how much one of these would cost interested parties -- but it's safe to imagine it won't be budget-friendly at all.
Netflix wants cable TV to be just another app
When it comes to the living room, Netflix has a problem. Sure, it's ridiculously simple to get Netflix on your TV: Virtually every smart set offers the service, as do games consoles, streaming boxes and even some DVRs. But as users power on their TV, they're not powering on Netflix. Instead, they're probably watching cable, or perhaps logging onto their PS4 or Xbox. Depending on their setup, it's likely to take minutes to start streaming something. Announced this morning, Netflix's Recommended TV program is an evaluation process that it hopes will bring a better experience to its customers, and elevate the importance of its service to be on par with cable TV. Today at CES, the company demoed what this program will mean, and why it's a good idea for everyone -- including its competitors.
Philips' latest UHD TV has great colors thanks to lasers
We're well into the era of 4K televisions now, meaning manufacturers have to find new ways to distinguish their new sets from the competition. Philips has had mood lighting for years and it's experimented with short-throw projection backgrounds; now it wants to fiddle with the color on the screen itself. The Philips Smart Laser Backlight Ultra HDTV from P&F does just that by incorporating cyan LEDs and a red laser into its backlighting source, as opposed to more standard white LEDs. P&F claims the combination allows for a more accurate, more expressive range of colors.
DirecTV rolls out 4K programing, but only for those with Samsung TVs
Early last year, DirecTV registered a slew of 4K-branded trademarks to slap on its eventual UHD content roll out. None of those trademarks bubbled to the public eye, but the content, at least, is finally here: starting this week, customers with the Genie HD DVR will be able to stream 20 movies from Paramount Pictures and K2 Communications in 4K. The list is a mishmash of blockbusters and documentaries (including things like Forrest Gump, Star Trek (2009) and Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs) but there's a catch: you can only watch them if you own a Samsung 4K TV.
Samsung made a 78-inch curved TV and decided to cover the back in gold
Do you want to see the TV or do you want to see the gold?
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is shooting a 4K film with Samsung's NX1
In an effort to make a push for its recently unveiled Samsung NX1, the South Korean company is now recruiting celebrities to help along the way. As part of this, Samsung has revealed that Joseph Gordon-Levitt, known for roles in movies like 10 Things I hate About You and The Dark Knight Rises, is set to shoot a 4K UHD film entirely on the NX1 flagship camera. The production, titled In a City, will see Gordon-Levitt travel across the world to explore the daily lives of people and capture what makes every place unique. Samsung's partnership with the actor is also going to include working with the community from hitRECord, a production company founded by Gordon-Levitt which focuses on creating different categories of online videos. In a City is expected to be released on December 11th, and it'll be available to watch on the Samsung Camera Facebook and YouTube pages.
Wuaki.tv to join Netflix and Amazon with 4K streaming
In the competitive UK streaming market, pricing might be important, but many services live and die on the features they offer. With juggernauts like Netflix and Amazon already committing to bumping up the quality of their streams, Wuaki.tv is moving quickly to match its competition by adding 4K content to its service. The company has worked with LG and Samsung to develop a new app capable of streaming 4K movies direct to compatible TVs in the UK and Spain by the end of the year. Like Amazon and Tesco's Blinkbox, Wuaki.tv offers a mixture of subscription or pay-as-you-go movies and TV shows, letting you stream its 4K content any way you want it.
Samsung's new UHD TV is the first to go from flat to curved on command
Samsung's new TVs have pressed 4K and curved frames as features, but what if you want one that's only curved sometimes? That's where a bendable TV comes in, and Samsung says it will release the industry's first one on August 1st in Korea. We got a peek at an 85-inch version in January at CES (check after the break for video of the demo unit), but the one going on sale is 78-inches. We're not sure how much it will cost, but we're betting the feature isn't cheap. As usual, Samsung is dueling with its Korean counterpart LG, which showed off a flexible OLED TV at CES. Both recently announced 105-inch Ultra HDTVs for sale, and are furiously chasing the title of "best screen almost no one can afford to buy." If this one gets a US release date, we'll let you know which store window to look at it through.
Samsung's curved, 105-inch 4K TV can be yours for just $120,000
There were so many TVs on display back at CES, that you'd be forgiven if they all blended together. So allow us to give you a recap: The Samsung UN105S9W was, in the company's own words, the "world's first, largest and most curved 105-inch curved UHD TV." Well then! Sounds like an expensive piece of kit, huh? You have no idea. Sammy just put its flagship TV up for pre-order and it's kind of a doozy. The whole thing costs $120,000 -- also known as a mortgage. For the money, you get 5,120 x 2,160 resolution on an unusually large screen, with an unusually wide aspect ratio of 21:9. Additionally, you'll receive a visit from one of Samsung's "Field Engineers" to walk you through all the features, if that's any consolation. It's also a Smart TV, with all the usual built-in apps, and the ability to separate the screen into four quadrants for watching live TV and surfing the web at once. Honestly, though, we'd be offended if a TV this expensive didn't do that. You can pre-order now if you like, but let's be real: Most of you are probably saving $120,000 for your future child's college tuition.
Mad Catz's Android console nabs OUYA games and 4K UHD support
Things have been relatively quiet with OUYA, but yesterday's announcement of a subscription service apparently isn't all that's coming out of Julie Uhrman's Android gaming company this week: you can finally access OUYA games through Mad Catz's Android console, the M.O.J.O. Sure, the appearance is a bit tardy but it means you're aren't stuck playing games with the OUYA's contentious controller any longer. Additionally, the latest M.O.J.O. update adds more than just another place to play Towerfall. The console now has bragging rights over the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One too, because, unlike those more expensive systems, it supports 4K UHD output for games and video right now. When the latest from Sony and Microsoft will gain that functionality still isn't clear. But hey, at least you can play Halo and LittleBigPlanet 3 on those this fall, right? [Image credit: Associated Press]
LG's 77-inch curved OLED 4K TV is every bit as expensive as it sounds
How much would you fork out for a 77-inch, curved, 4K, OLED TV? Well, LG hopes you're hovering around a couple of grand per descriptor, having announced it's launching such a gogglebox in the UK for only £20,000. It won't actually be available until October, though, so you still have a few months to fill up the piggy bank. As you'd imagine, the "world's first" curved OLED UHDTV packs a ton of branded technologies that promise a perfect picture, including the necessary upscaling engine that converts lower-res video to "near-4K," as well as LG's webOS smart TV platform. For the thrifty, there's a 65-inch model also launching in October for a mere £6,000, which you should easily be able to scrape together from the change lurking between your sofa cushions.
Sony to stream two World Cup matches in 4K at a London cinema
Sporting events are often used as a testbed for new broadcast technologies, and this year's World Cup is no different. The BBC is already piloting 4K transmissions (albeit internally) from Brazil, but Sony has dreams of hitting the big screen. The official World Cup sponsor announced today that it's teaming up with Vue Cinemas to deliver a quarter final match and the final in Ultra High Definition (UHD) live via satellite to Westfield's Vue Multiplex, which'll host events on the 4th and 13th of July. Sony says tickets will be limited, by which it probably means the audience will be full of corporate types, but intends to offer a few to some "lucky fans." We've contacted a representative and will share exactly what we know in due course.
BBC to test 4K broadcasts of World Cup matches, but you can't watch them
UHD TVs are starting to make more sense now compatible content's slowly appearing. Traditional broadcasters can't react as quickly as streaming services to adopt the new format, but some are showing little interest in being left behind. Korean companies, especially, and now the BBC, which has announced it'll be conducting 4K broadcast trials this summer. Furthermore, it'll apparently be the "first time" 4K video will be sent initially by satellite (from Brazil to the UK), and then forwarded on to TVs via the internet (kind of like Sky's centralized receiver model).
Here's a semi-professional 32-inch 4K monitor from ASUS
Following ASUS' $799 28-inch 4K monitor from earlier this year, the Taiwanese tech giant has today unveiled yet another high-res display, but this time it's aimed at semi-professionals instead of mainstream users. The new ProArt Monitor PA328Q is a 32-inch, 16:9, 3,840 x 2,160 monitor that boasts factory calibration with 10-bit color and 100 percent sRGB color gamut plus 350cd/m² brightness. On the back, you'll find three HDMI ports (one of which with built-in MHL 3.0), one DisplayPort 1.2, one Mini DisplayPort 1.2 and four USB 3.0 ports. ASUS added that this pretty monitor lets you adjust its tilt, swivel, pivot and height.
Sony's $700 4K streaming box gets a much needed pre-order discount
4K TVs are still quite expensive and there's still not a lot of stuff to watch on 'em. If neither of those things deterred you from buying one, however, then Sony's FMP-X10 Ultra HD Media Player is probably a good investment. The Roku-esque hardware lets you pull down 4K content like American Hustle and The Blacklist from Sony's Video Unlimited store, as well as House of Cards and Breaking Bad from Netflix. Having already launched in Europe, it'll arrive on these shores in July for $700 -- unless, that is, you pre-order between today and July 15th, since Sony is offering a $200 discount for even earlier early adopters.
Xiaomi's 49-inch Android TV boasts 4K for just $640
The Mi Pad wasn't Xiaomi's only announcement today. Following the Chinese company's first smart TV from last September, today it has unveiled a slightly larger model with a nice surprise: 4K for just CN¥3,999 or about $640! Like its affordable predecessor, this 49-inch TV comes with built-in Android (with MIUI TV skin), though you can easily side-load other TV apps. On the hardware side, you'll find a 4K 3D panel made by either LG or CSOT within a 6.2mm aluminum bezel, and underneath that lies a MediaTek MStar 6A918 chip (1.45GHz quad-core CPU, Mali-450 MP4 GPU) plus 2GB of RAM to drive all those pixels. On top of the built-in 8GB space, you also get to add up to 64GB of storage via microSD.
Samsung's giving you more to watch on that ridiculously expensive 4K TV
If Amazon, Netflix and DirecTV's promised 4K content aren't enough to entice you to pick up an ultra high definition TV, maybe this will help: Samsung is now giving buyers of its new curved TVs eight UHD films for free. The films are actually part of the company's UHD video pack, a $300 1TB hard drive pre-loaded with three documentaries, Night at the Museum, The Counselor, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, G.I. Joe: Retaliation and World War Z. Sony has a similar promotion tied to its UHD sets, an effort to assuage buyer fears that there won't be anything to watch on their expensive 4k display. Sammy's freebie applies to all new purchases of its 55, 65 and 78-inch curved UHD sets from now until the end of June. Already have one? Check out the source link below to nab your new hard drive.
![It was no surprise to see Sony's CES press conference focus on Ultra High-Definition content: From 4K movies to 4K displays to cameras that let you create your own UHD content, Sony says it has it all -- and a little more, too. <br />
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[Image credit: AP Photo/Jae C. Hong]](https://s.yimg.com/cv/apiv2/engadget/streamItem_default.png)
