Trouble with the curve: What you need to know about curved TVs After a month living with a curved TV at home, and more time in the lab comparing it to flat TVs, Ive learned a few things. Heres the short version. Sarah Tew/CNET When curved TVs were first announced last year, we said they needed to be bigger to fulfill the promise of a more immersive image, like that of a curved IMAX screen. On something the size of a living room TV though, we called it nothing more than a gimmick. Now that Ive lived with one in my own living room for a month and a half, and spent hours more in the lab comparing it to flat-panel TVs, Ill say it again with more certainty: the Samsung UNHU9000 has great picture quality, but the curved screen is a flat-out gimmick. Heres why. 1. Curved TVs are more expensive than flat ones. When people ask me why Samsung made a curved TV in the first place, I tell them its probably because the company wants to eke profit out of a tough market, where even 4K resolution sets are dropping in price rapidly (and just wait till Vizios P series comes out this fall). Any company can make a 4K TV, but only Samsung, for now and with one exception , is offering curved LED LCDs. LG and Samsung also sell curved OLED TVs, one of which I also tested , but their pricing keeps them as niche products for now. About that price differential: at the 55- and 65-inch sizes, Samsungs curved UNHU9000 series currently costs $1,000 (44 and 30 percent, respectively) more than the non- curved UNHU8550 series. At 78 inches, the curved HU9000 costs $2,000 (33 percent) more than the 75-inch HU8550. Sure, there are other feature differences between the two series, but the curve is by far the most important.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 05:24:27 +0000
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