Samsung, LG in tit-for-tat over 8K TV
Samsung and LG are clashing over the image quality of their 8K TVs, each claiming that their respective ultra-high definition televisions are better than the other, according to company officials Tuesday.
At a time when Chinese TV makers are aggressively going after Korean companies with cheap and quality TVs, seizing market leadership in ultra-high definition TVs has become increasingly important.
LG Electronics, the world’s second-largest TV maker after Samsung Electronics, pulled the trigger first. The company claimed its rival’s 8K TV doesn’t meet with the standards set by an international standard-setting body during the IFA trade fair held in Berlin in early September.
LG reiterated its attack on Samsung, hosting another explanatory session for local reporters. Samsung, which had been remaining mum on the matter, fired back against LG as it also held a TV tech conference the same day.
LG said 8K TVs should have a certain number of pixels and more than 50 percent contrast modulation (CM) values, a measurement that describes display resolution, but Samsung’s 8K TVs have a CM value far below 50 percent.
“The 8K TV of our competitor (Samsung) cannot be categorized as 8K TV in terms of resolution,” Nam Ho-jun, director of LG’s home entertainment research center, told reporters.
“According to data by quality assurance companies such as Intertek and VDE, LG’s 8K TVs have 90 percent CM value while the competitor’s one has 12 percent,” he added stating that Samsung doesn’t comply with the International Committee for Display Metrology (ICDM) standard for ultra-high definition TVs.
In response, Samsung claimed the CM value is not an absolute measure to define 8K display performance.
“To define 8K display performance we have to consider both optical elements such as brightness and color volume and systematical elements such as resolution processing technology, not just checking the value of contrast modulation,” Yong Seokwoo, vice president of Samsung’s visual display division, told reporters during a tech session in Seoul in the afternoon.
“To establish a standard for 8K TV, there should be more discussions amongst related companies in the industry.”
The two companies have been in a fierce battle over the superiority of their TV displays as Samsung sold about 2.69 million QLED TVs in the global market in 2018 while LG’s OLED TVs were at 2.51 million, according to data by industry tracker IHS Markit.
Samsung reported upbeat sales in the first half of 2019, selling 1.9 million QLED TVs, while LG sold 1.3 million OLED TVs.
Samsung and LG have been in a rivalry over technological hegemony of TVs for decades. The latest clash came in 2017 when Samsung raised an issue about screen burn-in on LG’s OLED TV. Screen burn-in occurs when a persistent part of an image remains as a background and Samsung claimed LG’s OLED TV is vulnerable to the problem.