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Curved TVs Nothing But a Gimmick
Lucas123 (935744) writes "Currently, the hottest trend from TV manufacturers is to offer curved panels, but analysts say it's nothing more than a ploy to pander to consumers who want the latest, coolest-looking tech in their home. In the end, the TVs don't offer better picture quality. In fact, they offer a degraded view to anyone sitting off center. Samsung and LG claim that the curve provides a cinema-like experience by offering a more balanced and uniform view so that the edges of the set don't appear further away than the middle. Paul Gray, director of European TV Research for DisplaySearch, said those claims are nothing by pseudo-science. "Curved screens are a gimmick, much along the same lines as 3D TVs are," said Paul O'Donovan, Gartner's principal analyst for consumer electronics research."
Curved TV's aren't better? I can't believe it!
Who watches TV anymore, let alone with friends, that is just some cruel torture
They are hoping it the tech catches on, then it would force competitors to pay them royalties.
Samsung and LG claim that the curve provides a cinema-like experience by offering a more balanced and uniform view so that the edges of the set don't appear further away than the middle...
Reality: the curved TVs provide a cinema-like experience by charging roughly four times what a reasonable person would pay.
That way they'd fit into the corner.
Tapered Greek Columns (entasis): Also pseudoscience.
Preaching to the choir.
Curved screens are a gimmick, much along the same lines as 3D TVs are.
Ok, I was right there with you until the end. You see, I agree - curved TVs are entirely a gimmick intended to appeal to people who want the latest and greatest. 3D TVs, however? Ok, yes, there was an aspect of "what can we offer people that will help drive re-investment and get them to buy a new TV again?" but, let's be real, 3D TVs actually do offer something new and different.
3D.
Curved TVs don't offer anything different and to imply that they are better picture quality than a flat TV because there's no distortion is pure snake oil salesmanship. But 3D TVs actually do offer 3D which non-3D TVs cannot offer.
Now, most people didn't feel it was worth the high price tag nor did they need a new TV since they'd just bought a new one a couple years ago, but let's not compare 3D TVs, which offer something, to curved TVs, which offer nothing what so ever.
Samsung and LG want curved TVs to become all the rage because the only way to currently make them are using OLEDs and they own many of the patents for OLED screens. With that said, the Samsung OLED television got a glowing review from Consumer Reports - basically the only downside to the TV was the cost which is sure to come down in the future.
Don't get me wrong, I think they're a gimmick too...
But why do movie theaters do it then?
Isn't the *near* edge of the screen distorted for off-center viewers, and the far edge of the screen closer to perfect?
Again, I think it's largely a gimmick, and wouldn't use it as a sole or major purchasing decision. For two otherwise equivalent (including price or at least a VERY small discrepancy) TVs, I might choose the curved one. Then again, I would be sitting in the sweet spot.
From convex, to flat, to concave TVs, all in the last 50 years! Progress is a sweet thing, my friends.
You know what? I predict that, by 2050, we will all be using donut-shaped screens, to better utilize our ear-vision for maximum possible immersion.
First, I sit about 9 feet from the TV, not 16.5, so the curvature will be wrong anyway. Second, the price difference is already more than I am willing to pay for the whole TV.
As TFA points out, only one person in the room would get an optimal view anyway.
Finally, if the whole problem is just a bit of geometric distortion, couldn't it be mostly fixed by performing the opposite transform on the image before displaying? That would allow you to optimize for your actual viewing position and come up with a happy average for everyone in the room, or turn it off.
I'm guessing they'll avoid my suggestion like the plague since it doesn't make the TV look expensive enough.
They have curved screens. Curved. Screens.
What about the curved screens in movie theaters like Archlight Cinema's in Hollywood? I didn't like how some parts get cropped off when I saw a few movies there.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
The solution is simple: more innovation!
All they have to do is make a 'smart' 4K glasses-free 3D curved tv, and everybody wins!
Over on the AVS forums, someone got their hands on a prototype 4K based glasses free 3D TV. He is testing it for a company in the city he lives. He states that glass free 3D on this 4K set he has is amazing. It works well and thinks that once it is past the prototype phase that it could make 3D more accepted.
From the readings I made there it sounds like the move to 8K glasses free 3D would bring 3D to the masses. When that happens, I think 3D will become mainstream.
Point being, analysts are idiots that can only tell you about the past. Not much of a shock there. But I agree, curved TVs provide no rational basis.
This is actually a good idea for a computer monitor for one person. Any reasonable two monitor setup is going to be at some angle instead of completely flat anyway, it seems to me that a monitor with a large curve that you sit 1-3 feet from would be a pretty sweet idea (in particular make it so that you can fit multiple together). You might even be able to make a monitor that is adjustable (the screen is made of gel).
Also I bet it is pretty much just as easy to built a curved one as a flat one, so there is no reason to expect a big price increase.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
In a movie theater, which uses projection, the curved screen is to alleviate the pincushion effect (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pincushion_distortion) created by the anamorphic lens (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anamorphic_lens) that the theater uses. This is utterly irrelevant to the image created by a monitor TV.
In short, yes; pure marketing BS.
"Don't blame the log for the fire." --Andrew Ratshin
If you take enough TV's and put them together, you get a seamless 360 degree view.
Is there any potential there?
A few months ago I started using a 4k panel as my primary monitor. Wonderful, I absolutely love it, with one* slight annoyance - At a distance of 2ish feet (rather than TV-viewing distances of 10+ feet), the edges have enough of an angle that the foreshortening becomes distractingly noticeable.
If we could get a decently priced panel (c'mon, Big Names, Seiki has proven you can do it, quit trying to get $2500 for the same thing they list for $499!) with a slight curve to it, it would significantly improve the experience when used as a monitor. For TV, maybe not so much; but monitors, yes.
* Well, no, the biggest problem comes from the fact that in 2014, Windows still can't sanely handle displays over 96dpi. But I can't blame the display itself for that.
We don't want curved, we don't want 3d.
We want High Dynamic Range (!)
Looking at a TV is still nowhere near looking out of the window.
If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
TV screens are not being projected on with an anamorphic lens. There is equal spacing between each pixel on a TV. So making a TV screen curved simply ADDS the distortion that curved cinema screens are designed to prevent.
This is the worst part though:
The slight curvature also reduces visual geometric distortion. When you watch a perfectly flat TV screen, Soneira explained, the corners of the screen are farther away than the center so they appear smaller. "As a result, the eye doesn't see the screen as a perfect rectangle - it actually sees dual elongated trapezoids, which is keystone geometric distortion," Soneira wrote.
WHAT? The screen is a rectangle, so our eye sees it as a rectangle, just as it would any other rectangular object! The visual cortex of our brain makes sure of that. How can someone who works with TVs not understand basic concepts of human vision?
Curved TV? Couldn't care less. But I wouldn't mind one of those ultrawide screen curved monitors. Now if they would only make the price practical. At $6000 plus, nobody but rich PC gamers will be buying them.
Lucas123 wrote the summary. Also http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/further
for a moment there I thought they was bringing back the CRT!
mfwright@batnet.com
The common retort is "Why spend hundreds of dollars a year for cable to sit and watch sports when you can join a club and play sports?"
I have a 30" computer monitor at work, and while I like it better than my old dual-screen setup, I've noticed this issue with windows placed close to the edges. I wonder if there are curved computer monitors in the works, or if this is just for huge TVs. The main problem mentioned with curved TVs (distorted view for anyone off-center) would rarely be a problem with a screen that usually only has one viewer, and it would fix the edge distortion problem.
handling. That's a big deal as screens get bigger. A curved surface is stiffer/stronger than a flat surface of the same area. That's one reason why all the sheet metal in cars is curved.
The marketing dept was charged with the task of selling the curve to the public so they came up with the BS about more realistic images.
I wasn't aware movie theater screens were curved.
What, you mean like Circlevision? Disney's been there, done that, tore it down all ready. Next!
I lived long to witness television screens transform from convex tubes to flat screens and now to concave OLED.
These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
*Pendant-face*
All we have now is stereoscopic TV.
What's going to be nice, is when we can eye-track and overlay this on the source to shift focus (like what we do when we use our eyes normally). Probably not too hard to bolt onto games, but suspect it'll be a while until devices like the Lytro are providing video.
Since I got my tube black and white, I've needed nothing else! (Except for some foil on the rabbit ears.)
Color? Yuck.. HD? Are you serious? this is TV it's supposed to be fuzzy...
I laugh at you young whipper snappers with your new fangled LCD wide screens....
Now.... GET OFF MY LAWN!
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Yeah, curved TVs are a gimmick.
But a curved tablet that I could wear on my forearm - that would be awesome! I could have it with me 24x7 and never need to worry about losing it or leaving it behind. Granted, I'd look like Leela. But, hmm, the possibilities....
Curved TV's reduce breakage in shipping and handling. That's a big deal as screens get bigger. A curved surface is stiffer/stronger than a flat surface of the same area. That's one reason why all the sheet metal in cars is curved.
The marketing dept was charged with the task of selling the curve to the public so they came up with the BS about more realistic images.
I don't know if statistics bear that idea out, but mechanically it's very plausible. This is worthy of comment.
3D tv, 4K tv...it's all diminishing returns. Yes it's a better picture but it's not THAT much better. Certainly not worth the steep premium. It's the same reason that I'm still rocking my 5 year old MacBook Pro. Sure the new ones are faster but I'm happy with mine.
This is the challenge that all hardware makers face. Whether it's refrigerators, stereos, cars, cellphones. Nearly every category is really good - good enough for most everyone. There will always be the early adopters but many people - like me - are perfectly happy with what they have.
3D printers are still cool right? Totally not a gimmick?
Exactly what a curved panel is for! I use the Seiki 39", and a little curve would make it even better.
That way everybody can see it, no matter where they sit.
Jeeze I remember when Sony's flat screen was all the rage. I also remember a misplaced lamp would wash out the picture.
Now we have concave. Maybe next they will make it 360 degrees and you sit inside the cylinder.
Man, just shine a hologram on the living room coffee table. "Theater" in the round..
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Personally I'd love to have a 48" ultrawide 4K computer monitor, with a substantial curve. As it stands, people with multimonitor setups already curve them, so this would be no different.
I bought one of those curved TV just last week, and last weekend we had a movie marathon.
The cinema-like experience was really breathtaking. The floors became sticky, my friends started talking on their phones during the movies and my bank account was magically reduced by twenty dollars because I made a big bucket of popcorn and gave everyone a small glass of black sugar water.
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Samsung and LG claim that the curve provides a cinema-like experience by offering a more balanced and uniform view so that the edges of the set don't appear further away than the middle...
Reality: the curved TVs provide a cinema-like experience by charging roughly four times what a reasonable person would pay.
New improved glare no matter where you position the TV in relation to your window. Improves your privacy by forcing you to draw the curtains. Sunlight and Vitamin D now a thing of the past!
I went to a dealer training seminar for the new curved TV's a few months ago. The benefit to these units basically boiled down to "This is different so you can sell new TV's with higher profit margin".
If you can find a club that doesn't bite newcomers, you will likely stop sucking with practice.
If you're a gamer who plays alone, one big curved monitor would be pretty snazzy. In fact, it would even benefit from an even-wider-than-16:9 aspect ratio. Curved super cinemascope, anyone?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I would like a curved computer monitor please.
A 2.5-3.0 foot radius covering a 120-180 degree arc would be perfect.
They are making a mistake going for TV's first. The gamers would snap these things up based on the cool factor alone.
I'm not a gamer; it would just be great to tune out all the visual background distractions (like my wife) while gaining more screen coverage!
Which is really grasping for straws to up-sell you a new tv;
Each pixel has an optimal viewing angle. On a large screen at a closer than optimal distance, this can become a visible issue at the extremities. Perhaps this is targeted at a Japanese apartment dwellers?
i use my 1080p 50" plasma as my primary PC monitor with a 1080p ~30" LCD for coding / temp read outs / what have you.
i am the sole viewer of my 50" monitor... and i want to go bigger and 4k. so having a larger, slighty curved screen sounds interesting for my specific situation. i sit dead center already, so for me the viewing angle wouldnt be an issue (though LCD viewing angles have always irked me). ultimately image quality is king for me, but... for my specific situation, i can see a large curved screen adding a bit of immersion.
also see a lot of hate for 3D - its understandable. BUT it isnt 3D thats the issue... its the implementation. expensive, cumbersome glasses which negatively affect some aspects of image quality are the real issue (and who wants to wear glasses watching TV?!). if you really hate 3D, find someone with a nintendo 3DS and ask to borrow it... the improvement is fairly spectacular, not because things pop out at you... but because theres an ever changing depth present. and holy crap does depth add something! or, if you cant borrow a 3DS, ask someone who owns one this: "how often do you turn the 3D off?" because the point is, once youre used to effortless 3D... why wouldnt you want it?!
Excuse me while I just poke one of my useless eyes out. It was a gimmick, apparently. Am I the only one who actually enjoys watching 3D movies? It's just the glasses that are a pain. They dim the picture and flicker against other light sources, especially cheap LED bulbs.
I hear if you close your eyes, open your wallet and then really, really believe you can see just how much better curved TVs are. Apparently the key parts according to most retailers are the closing your eyes & opening your wallet parts, the believing thing is entirely optional.
Readers who do not understand the "one good seat" phenomenon of curved TVs are politely referred to any elementary geometry high-school textbook.
Well, 3D TVs are actually 3D though. It's a real thing. Curved TVs is psuedo-science being used to scam people who think their picture quality is improved.
> In short, yes; pure marketing BS.
Can't argue with that. As I said elsewhere ...
Curved screen makes sense where the entire audience sits inside the angle (a'la Cinerama). This is rarely the case for home video or most home theatre.
I suspect the novelty will wear off quickly for most people who actually buy into it, as the viewing outside the angle, esp. off-axis, will be suboptimal compared to flat screen.
I'd love to have a curved 4K display on my computer desktop (constant focal distance from eyes). In the living room, I would only want a curved screen TV to replace my flat screen if it were at least 120 inches diag.
Then there's the question of 4K or higher content to fill that curved screen.
And yes, I'm old enough to have seen Cinerama theatrically.
I went to CES this year in Vegas, and along with the 4k TVs, curved TVs were the "rage". I asked three different manufacturers why they were curved. One of them gave an answer that made so little sense that I can't even remember the response. The second told me it was so that you could see MORE of the screen when viewed off-angle (though I imagine that SOME of the screen is more visible, I'm pretty sure that simple geometry prevents MORE of the screen from being visible). The third one told me that it "enhanced the depth of field". The 4k TVs looked absolutely amazing (especially up-close), but the curved TVs looked like...TVs that were curved. It left me wondering why the manufactures are doing this. It's obvious that a new gimmick is needed to sell TVs, but is there another motive, such as more robustness when being shipped or easier manufacturing.
Completely agree. I'm in the same boat. I've been using Seiki 50" 4k for about a year now, and it is awesome. The only gripe I have is that the corners are kind of far and have less than optimal viewing angle, and curved TVs address that issue. In fact I already plan to by Samsung UN55HU9000FXZA in the next few months.
My company actually has a quasi-legitimate use for curved screens. We make airplane flight simulators, and some of our larger ones have 180 degree wrap-around vision using 5 screens (ok, well, actually [pulls out a calculator] 225 degrees, being 5 sides of an octagon, but you get the idea). Correctly done, curved screens could make the experience more seamless.
Which is not to say that I don't consider them to be a gimmick intended to drive sales.
Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult.
"Curved screens are a gimmick, much along the same lines as 3D TVs are," said Paul O'Donovan". 3D are now a standard in movie theater, it's here to stay. I'm very happy with my 3D TV, I'm not going back to flat movies. It's not fake, nor a gimmick, I'm sorry Paul but you either have a monovision or you just don't know what you're talking about!
because it's not possible to cram one inside an Apple iShiny ?
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
I have more money than sense and need to spend it on something that makes me seem cool.
If i dont waste it on one of these TV's what am i supposed to waste it on?
Oh wait, ill find a kickstarter project where i can lose the money
Crisis averted....