One of the literally and figuratively flashiest booths for last month’s Consumer Electronics Show held in Vegas was for Samsung’s “The Wall”. It is basically a humungous 219-inch TV that drew throngs of curious tech journalists, YouTubers, and aficionados. The truly fascinating thing about it is that it is a modular TV made up of smaller displays put together. It is one of the first of its kind and I am pretty sure that it’s not going to be the last.
The modular TV also introduces us to a new display technology with MicroLED. It is a long time coming as the constant barrage of AMOLED and OLED burn ins is starting to make some manufacturers worried. News of this has even affected sales of certain products that sport it such as Google’s Pixel 2 XL and Galaxy S and Note phones. The new MicroLED could be the high-end display tech to end these weaknesses.
MicroLED
Other than the fact that it’s huge, there’s a lot going on under the hood with Samsung’s “The Wall” too. To make things simple, they shrunk traditional OLEDs thus the name MicroLED. They’ve also removed the filters and other layers.
Traditional OLEDs offer great screen quality for the sizes that they currently come in. However, if the image is scaled larger to multiple LEDs put together, say to 219-inches, the resolution is going to have to take a hit. Up close, you're going to be able to discern individual sets of LEDs light up for what traditionally would take just one. Therefore, large LED displays have only been utilized in outdoor settings where people cannot get close enough to discern individual pixels.
The Wall is made up of smaller 1x1 square MicroLED panels. Each of the modular squares has a backplate that mounts directly onto the wall. There is going to be one master panel that controls everything that happens with the other sections. They are connected by latches that pop up from behind the peripheral squares and clips into the panel next to it. This feat of engineering is the mechanism that makes it seem like it is one big display instead of the multiple tiny ones.
Shrinking the LEDs eliminates this problem. Images, when scaled up, would remain crisp even when viewed up close because the LEDs are so tiny. So whether you have a 1080p, 4K, or 8K video, the A.I. built within the system automatically scales it to whatever the demands of the physical size of the interconnected panels.
Furthermore, The Wall no longer need filters and liquid crystal panels. With “The Wall”, you’ll be looking directly at the MicroLEDs. This translates to brighter colours and better contrast than an OLED panel. To be exact, it can produce up to 1,600 nits of brightness which is unmatched by any high-end OLED display. As such, you’ll still experience the true black and bright whites high contrast goodness of an OLED, only this time, it’s more intense.
Modular Freedom
What drew the crowd the most was probably the huge screen. The truth, however, is that they were just looking at multiple screens cleverly put together to make the seams virtually invisible. You will only vaguely see it if you look closely during super dark scenes.
It is an excellent strategy for what I would predict to be an obscenely expensive TV. You can buy just a few panels at first and work your way up to more panels should you want a larger screen in the future.
This implementation also helps buyers to customize the fit of the TV to an entire wall. This would mean that you can never really go wrong with the screen size. It will always fit the wall that you set out to install the TV on.
This implementation of the large display also gives you the ability to attach and detach top and bottom modules to eliminate the dreaded black bars. For cinephiles, this is going to be one of the most attractive features.
Availability
Right now, “The Wall” is available only to business customers who would most probably use it as a product display or some sort of dynamic backdrop. However, regular consumers would also be able to deck out their homes with this humungous TV later.
It is also expected to be super expensive. So, only the filthy rich or those who are really into their home entertainment systems are going to be able to afford it. However, there’s a practical side to it also. I’ll get to that in the next portion.
Who is it for?
A 219-inch display used to belong to outdoor displays because it was a pixelated mess when viewed up close. Samsung’s MicroLED makes it possible for us to imagine now.
Competitive gamers and fans, for example, are thoroughly excited for the potential of the 219-inch display. The brightness, contrast, and the resolution are all
There is also a practical side to it. If, for example, you only have a limited budget for a TV this year, you can buy just a few panels. If and when you get more budget, you can always purchase more panels to make your TV rig bigger.
Reparability-wise, this set up also makes it easier to repair your big screen TV because you can easily remove and replace a damaged panel. This way, your viewing experience would not be interrupted because of a broken panel. You are just going to have to settle for a slightly smaller screen than you’re used to. Considering that you have a 219-inch display, I assume that you probably would not mind a few inches off.
Could This Be the Future of TV?
MicroLED is one of the few developments in display technology since OLED, and it is looking to be the most useful out of each of them. It is brighter and has more contrast than anything else on the market which makes it perfect for outdoor displays and brightly lit home theatre systems.
The modularity of The Wall is also something that is welcome in the TV industry as it introduces both practicality, reparability, and upgradeability. These are all definitely lacking in the current market.
Because of this, I believe that this technology is going to inspire the next iterations of the TV in the future. If this comes true, then we are all in for a brighter entertainment.
The modular TV also introduces us to a new display technology with MicroLED. It is a long time coming as the constant barrage of AMOLED and OLED burn ins is starting to make some manufacturers worried. News of this has even affected sales of certain products that sport it such as Google’s Pixel 2 XL and Galaxy S and Note phones. The new MicroLED could be the high-end display tech to end these weaknesses.
MicroLED
Other than the fact that it’s huge, there’s a lot going on under the hood with Samsung’s “The Wall” too. To make things simple, they shrunk traditional OLEDs thus the name MicroLED. They’ve also removed the filters and other layers.
Traditional OLEDs offer great screen quality for the sizes that they currently come in. However, if the image is scaled larger to multiple LEDs put together, say to 219-inches, the resolution is going to have to take a hit. Up close, you're going to be able to discern individual sets of LEDs light up for what traditionally would take just one. Therefore, large LED displays have only been utilized in outdoor settings where people cannot get close enough to discern individual pixels.
The Wall is made up of smaller 1x1 square MicroLED panels. Each of the modular squares has a backplate that mounts directly onto the wall. There is going to be one master panel that controls everything that happens with the other sections. They are connected by latches that pop up from behind the peripheral squares and clips into the panel next to it. This feat of engineering is the mechanism that makes it seem like it is one big display instead of the multiple tiny ones.
Shrinking the LEDs eliminates this problem. Images, when scaled up, would remain crisp even when viewed up close because the LEDs are so tiny. So whether you have a 1080p, 4K, or 8K video, the A.I. built within the system automatically scales it to whatever the demands of the physical size of the interconnected panels.
Furthermore, The Wall no longer need filters and liquid crystal panels. With “The Wall”, you’ll be looking directly at the MicroLEDs. This translates to brighter colours and better contrast than an OLED panel. To be exact, it can produce up to 1,600 nits of brightness which is unmatched by any high-end OLED display. As such, you’ll still experience the true black and bright whites high contrast goodness of an OLED, only this time, it’s more intense.
Modular Freedom
What drew the crowd the most was probably the huge screen. The truth, however, is that they were just looking at multiple screens cleverly put together to make the seams virtually invisible. You will only vaguely see it if you look closely during super dark scenes.
It is an excellent strategy for what I would predict to be an obscenely expensive TV. You can buy just a few panels at first and work your way up to more panels should you want a larger screen in the future.
This implementation also helps buyers to customize the fit of the TV to an entire wall. This would mean that you can never really go wrong with the screen size. It will always fit the wall that you set out to install the TV on.
This implementation of the large display also gives you the ability to attach and detach top and bottom modules to eliminate the dreaded black bars. For cinephiles, this is going to be one of the most attractive features.
Availability
Right now, “The Wall” is available only to business customers who would most probably use it as a product display or some sort of dynamic backdrop. However, regular consumers would also be able to deck out their homes with this humungous TV later.
It is also expected to be super expensive. So, only the filthy rich or those who are really into their home entertainment systems are going to be able to afford it. However, there’s a practical side to it also. I’ll get to that in the next portion.
Who is it for?
A 219-inch display used to belong to outdoor displays because it was a pixelated mess when viewed up close. Samsung’s MicroLED makes it possible for us to imagine now.
Competitive gamers and fans, for example, are thoroughly excited for the potential of the 219-inch display. The brightness, contrast, and the resolution are all
There is also a practical side to it. If, for example, you only have a limited budget for a TV this year, you can buy just a few panels. If and when you get more budget, you can always purchase more panels to make your TV rig bigger.
Reparability-wise, this set up also makes it easier to repair your big screen TV because you can easily remove and replace a damaged panel. This way, your viewing experience would not be interrupted because of a broken panel. You are just going to have to settle for a slightly smaller screen than you’re used to. Considering that you have a 219-inch display, I assume that you probably would not mind a few inches off.
Could This Be the Future of TV?
MicroLED is one of the few developments in display technology since OLED, and it is looking to be the most useful out of each of them. It is brighter and has more contrast than anything else on the market which makes it perfect for outdoor displays and brightly lit home theatre systems.
The modularity of The Wall is also something that is welcome in the TV industry as it introduces both practicality, reparability, and upgradeability. These are all definitely lacking in the current market.
Because of this, I believe that this technology is going to inspire the next iterations of the TV in the future. If this comes true, then we are all in for a brighter entertainment.