July 19, 2012 at 11:05 AM ET
Wednesday, on board the USS Intrepid Museum in New York, Samsung announced its entry into the "giant screen" HDTV category with the UN75ES9000, the industry’s first 75-Inch LED-lit LCD screen. As the most expensive 2012 TV Samsung offers to date, with a retail price of $9,999, Samsung's flagship UN75ES9000 comes with top-of-the-line features.
While Sharp makes larger LED LCDs (80- and 90–inches), Samsung’s 9000 provides features not found in the competitor’s large screen HDTVs including:
- A very thin curved bezel measuring 0.31 inches
- Built-in pop-up camera and microphones
- Built-in Skype video via the integrated HD camera and microphones
- Face recognition
- Gesture control
- Voice control
- Wireless audio via Bluetooth
- Slim cabinet
- Edge-mounted LEDs with dimming feature
- The highest rated Samsung contrast ratio to date
- Upgradeable hardware for future apps via Samsung’s Smart Evolution kit
The 75-inch Samsung also offers active full HD 3-D and Internet streaming movies via Netflix and other providers. (Sharp offers this in select giant-screen models.)
Samsung revealed that the UN75ES9000 will be available to consumers next month. Samsung also announced a free “Angry Birds” game app for all of its LED TVs that are 7500 series or greater, and its 8000 series plasmas. The game will become available at the end of the month.
At the end of the event, Samsung disclosed that app developers can now receive its latest software development kit to permit the integration of gesture, camera and voice control into future third-party applications. (How far can programmers go? Time to re-read our article “Is Your New HDTV Watching You?”
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