Sam Oliver
Samsung, one of Apple's chief rivals, is hyping the announcement of a brand new HDTV set with an "unprecedented new shape" at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show.
The South Korean electronics maker recently a video on its YouTube Page teasing the upcoming product announcement. The advertisement shows a number of anthropomorphized television sets, most of them in a widescreen 16:9 format that currently dominates the marketplace, racing across town to see Samsung's latest TV.
At the end of the video, a device taller than it is wide is shown covered by a white sheet. As the camera zooms in, the upper portion of the set lights up, revealing a traditional 16:9 widescreen display up top, hidden behind the sheet.
In addition, Samsung also posted a press release last week boasting that "true innovation of TV design is coming up with an unprecedented new TV shape and timeless gallery design." An accompanying image shows a rectangle that looks like a widescreen HDTV turned on its side, into "portrait" mode rather than "landscape."
With Samsung's announcement and the news that Intel is expected to launch a new cable service and accompanying set-top box, this year's CES is shaping up once again to focus on the future of television. Last year, HDTVs were also the big attraction, though whispers that Apple could release its own full-fledged television set were characterized as the "elephant in the room" at the 2011 CES.
Last year, Samsung introduced new HDTV sets with Siri-like voice control and motion detection for controller-free input. The company also unveiled its "Smart Evolution" concept that will allow select models to be upgraded each year by installing hardware kits to add new features, rather than buying an entirely new television set.
Apple doesn't appear at the annual CES tradeshow, but earlier this month the company's CEO, Tim Cook, did fan the flames on rumors that his company is working on a television set or a expanded set-top box functionality. In an interview with NBC's Rock Center, Cook said current televisions make him feel like he's "gone backwards in time by 20 to 30 years," and he admitted that the television market is an area of "intense interest" for Apple.
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217 Comments
The idiotic nature of SamScum is bad. But it is fighting hard. If it is on its own, Samsung is the best. It has to invest in Bada OS. It has to kick the bloody Android OS.
mmmm... portrait mode. I guess it's for all those people that make videos on their iPhones vertically.
This is all just misdirection.
IT'S A CIRCLE. APPLE IS DOOMED. CIRCULAR TELEVISIONS WILL RULE THE WORLD.
Either that or they're just idiots pushing 2.39:1 again. Certainly doesn't look like a different shape to me.
No comment whatsoever on the "Hi-ya!" or "Boi-oi-oing"…
But, no, but let's examine the premise here. Televisions of all shapes and sizes want to see the new TV from Samsung. Okay. So… when someone buys a new TV, what happens to the old ones? They get destroyed. And since we're apparently assigning intelligence to these televisions roughly equivalent to that of a higher ape (or perhaps even that of a human), should it not be assumed that they would only head toward the new TV for the purpose of its destruction to prolong their lives? Otherwise they should be running away as fast as they can.
Certainly they shouldn't be excited about it.
I like it. When it's not tuned to some trashy widescreen entertainment, you could hae a slide show of the world's portrait-format paintings by old dead Masters with no copyrights. I'm guessing that's what they mean by "gallery."
Unleash the power of The Pyramid! But seriously, the cinematic AR is my best guess as well. So all the idiots with analog cable can stretch the picture even more than they do now on 16:9 HDTVs.