TVs of the Future: Behind the Scenes at Samsung's Lab, Episode 1

Simon Dongbae Lee, the Principal Engineer at Samsung's Korean R and D lab joined us to talk about the future of television, and it was well with it!  In this first part of our discussion, we looked at some of the existing technology so we can get a better of idea of what will happen next over the coming days.

But Simon didn't just want to talk about the state of the market today or developments that are just around the corner: we also discussed plans for the growth of 3D for next year, five years from now and even 10-20 years into the future.

Right Now: 3D Glasses

We started with one big problem: whether they go for £100 as was first promised, or closer to half of that, Samsung's 3D glasses really don't feel like they're worth that much money.  The frame is huge and made from cheap-looking plastic.  The versions that include batteries also have bulky arms that are uncomfortable to wear.


Simon's response was to show us some more attractive glasses in bright colours designed to appeal to kids, and then some rechargeable ones, which will also be available soon.  We can't say they're easier on the eye, but at least they're more comfortable to wear, despite being a little heavier.   If you charge them up on your computer or a television for two hours, you can enjoy non-stop 3D action for the next 24 hours which is pretty good!

He went on to admit that 'at Samsung, we're not experts at designing glasses.  It's not our job.  At some point, professionals will come along and develop frames that work with our TVs, look better are cheaper and have better battery life than our own versions!'

2010: Will 3D take off?

Samsung UE46C7700

After learning about the glasses, we naively pushed on and asked how 3D TV sales are coming along, and got a surprising response.

'It's too early to have any figures,' said Stéphane Cotte, a Samsung director. 'All that we can say now is that across a range of pilot stores, the early sales for today's 3D TVs are going better than those for last year's range of LED TVs.'

That's pretty stunning!  We didn't think Samsung would say '3D is useless, nobody wants it,' but to actually tell us the complete opposite and claim that it's a big success already really did surprise us.  Given how successful Samsung's current crop of LED TVs are, does that mean we can expect to see as many 3D TVs in the nation's living rooms as there are LED TVs by this time next year?  We still think that's a bit ambitious, but we are very much looking forward to seeing the first figures.

To be continued ...


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