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Slashdot Asks: Are Curved TVs Worth It? (cnet.com)
New submitter cherishjoo shares a report written by David Katzmaier via CNET: When the first curved TVs appeared more than three years ago I asked whether they were a gimmick. As a TV reviewer I had to give the curve a fighting chance, however, so I took a curved Samsung home to live with my family for awhile, in addition to subjecting it to a full CNET review. In the end, I answered my own question with the headline "Great picture quality, but the curved screen is a flat-out gimmick." Since then most of the video geeks I know, including just about everybody I hear from on Twitter, Facebook and article comments, pooh-poohs curved TV screens as a useless distraction. A curved TV takes the traditional flat screen and bends it along a gentle arc. The edges end up a bit closer, ostensibly providing a slight wraparound effect. Curved TV makers, citing huge curved screens like IMAX, call their sets more "immersive" than their flat counterparts, but in my experience that claim doesn't hold water at in-home (as opposed to theatrical) screen sizes and viewing distances. The only real image-quality benefit I saw to the curve was a reduction in reflections in some cases. That benefit wasn't worth the slight geometric distortions introduced by the curve, not to mention its awkwardness when hung on the wall. That said, the curve doesn't ruin an otherwise good picture. In TVs, assuming similar prices, curved vs. flat boils down to a choice of aesthetics. As Katzmaier mentioned, curved TVs have been on the market for several years now, and while manufacturers continue to produce them, the verdict on whether or not the pros outweigh the cons is still murky. Here's our question for you: Are curved televisions worth the inflated price tag? If you are in the market for a new TV, does the fact that the display is curved entice you or steer you away?
I wouldn't buy one. I can't imagine it being particularly better to watch. Given the same $$ I'll spend on higher resolution and framerate over curved.
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Duh.
Curved monitors do make sense for the desktop PC, where you're sitting very close to the screen. They make no sense whatsoever in the living room, though. You're far too far away for the curve to make any noticeable difference to viewing *other* than making it even harder to avoid reflections. Don't buy one, they're idiotic.
I have a curved ultra-wide monitor, and I like the curvature -- I think it looks better than the same sized flat monitor I use at work when I look to the edges of the screen.
But sit much closer to my monitor than I do to my TV.
However, if I had a 4K TV and sat close enough to it to see an advantage in 4K (4.5 - 7 feet for a 55" TV), then maybe I'd see a similar advantage with a TV.
This title is not an exception.
I had the benefit of being able to do a home trial of Samsung's higher end 65" 4K HDR displays for my living room. Other than the curved thing, it's my understanding that the KS9000 is pretty much the same as the KS9500. I tried them both for a week, feed them both 1080p, 4k, 4k HDR and noticed no real difference in terms of quality. I didn't care for the curve, but it didn't detract from the image....and I ended up purchasing the non-curved variant.
So for me, there was no benefit of one over the other and I preferred the aesthetics of the flat screen.
Best,
... all TVs were curved.
They also had rounded corners. Maybe the next hot thing will be TVs that have corners with acute angles.
I've had one curved TV, and it was very nice when my head was in the sweet spot at the center of curvature, but anywhere else, meh. Monitors are another thing: I've got one of the 34" Samsung monitors, whose curvature is set for a good reading distance, and it's an awesome experience. I now find extended periods with flat monitors to be awful.
Curved monitors do make sense for the desktop PC, where you're sitting very close to the screen. They make no sense whatsoever in the living room, though. You're far too far away for the curve to make any noticeable difference
It's a scalable situation. If the TV occupies a similar viewing angle to your monitor, then curvature would have just the same impact. As I type this, my laptop's screen occupies about the same amount of my view as my further-away TV.
That doesn't mean I don't also think it's a bit of a pointless fad, though.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
For the one person who sits close to the TV right at the center, a curved TV reduces the distortion slightly and helps improve the uniformity of screen brightness. For someone watching the TV significantly off-center, the curvature of the screen makes those problem worse on one side of the image.
I'm well aware of that. I'm also well aware that nobody except perhaps the 1%ers and those living in shoe boxes will be sitting close enough or own a TV large enough for that scalability to make a lick of difference.
I gotta say you're wrong. A curved monitor has much more tangible effects as a monitor simply due to how closely you sit to it. With that said there are situations which produce even more staggering results. Samsungs new 21:9 panel the CF791 produces not only excellent picture, but due to its width and curvature produces a much more immersive effect. The unfortunate take-away is that there is virtually no content for 21:9 and as such it's only suited for gaming due to the poor OS scaling. But god damn is gaming awesome on it.
TV make you dumb, regardless of its curvature.
Stupid marketing ploy.
As a video engineer all I can do is shake my head at the stupidity.
Curved monitors do make sense for the desktop PC, where you're sitting very close to the screen. They make no sense whatsoever in the living room, though. You're far too far away for the curve to make any noticeable difference
It's a scalable situation. If the TV occupies a similar viewing angle to your monitor, then curvature would have just the same impact. As I type this, my laptop's screen occupies about the same amount of my view as my further-away TV.
That doesn't mean I don't also think it's a bit of a pointless fad, though.
It's a percentage thing. The distance you are sitting from the screen and the amount of curvature are much smaller relatively. The relative distance of say a two inch curvature is much more at two feet than it is at 10 feet. At 10 feet that much curvature makes it flat for all practical purposes.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
And here is why...
Betteridge's Law of Headlnes
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
See title.
This is nearly what I scrolled down to post. I was going to go with "From the dep't. of Betteridge's Law"
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I don't see the allure. I get the idea, but the effect is so small it's not worth it to me. That and I was already completely content sitting on the far left/right side of a screen.
People keep saying, "They really only make a difference up close." What is up close? In my media room the 55" 1080P TV is EXACLTY 8' 6" from my eyeballs when I am in the couch. Would I see a difference upgrading to a 4k, curved TV? Yes, I know I would see the 4k. I am wondering about the curve, at the distance.
Actually, they don't make sense for upclose viewing either. At no point is the field of view for a movie or game or etc. taking a curved screen into account, and so at no point should the screen be curved. If you want "immersive" go buy a VR headset with a high end PC. They're pretty cool if you can afford the price tag. On the other had the only reason curved screens exist is because the industry figured out how to relatively cheaply curve a production screen, and they decided to see if it would sell just because they had them.
I think you mean Cinerama.
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I didn't even like the curved screen in theaters like at Arclight's Dome in Hollyw(oo/e(e/ir))d! :P
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
of course the curved screen looked improper, it wasn't fed with a $1500 braided Monster video cable with iridium plated plugs, delivering crisply delineated zereos and ones ensuring cozy comforting pastels and incendiary unsaturated colors
It's for manufacturing tolerances and component rigidity. A curved surface is more rigid, especially if it has a double-curve. Back when HDTVs had CCFL backlights and were 2-3 inches thick, the extra thickness helped to stiffen them. Just like an I-beam. The sole purpose of the middle section of an I-beam is to separate the two ends by as much distance as possible. The more you can separate them, the more the beam can resist bending moments and the more rigid it is.
But as we moved to LED backlights and HDTVs became thinner, the separation between the front and back halves became smaller and they started to lose this rigidity. When you take something very big and flat and make it thin, it loses its rigidity. It wants to flop over - just like a sheet of paper. Manufacturers wanted to make the TVs thinner, but didn't want the top half flopping over. One answer is to add thick metal stiffeners, but that adds weight. Another answer is add a slight curve. When you do that, part of the bending moment trying to flop the top over gets converted into compressive stresses in the curved parts, and the panel is easily able to resist flopping over.
Before you buy a curved TV, please read this detailed and thoughtful review by a consumer electronics viewer's wife of the Samsung curved TV:
I hate it so much
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
if you put 3d content on a curved tv, what do you get??
glare from every angle and a headache.
It's a questionable benefit for whoever gets to sit at the 'perfect' spot directly in front of it, but a definite downgrade for all other seats in the room who will all get more image distortion and weird reflections. All things being equal, personally I'd pay extra NOT to have a curved screen.
But only if you're watching HD-DVDs in active-shutter 3D.
How many people are in the room with you - or do you always watch by yourself? How close are people to the center of curvature? If you're at too much of an angle the image along the closer edge will be at even more of an angle and hard to see. Also, the floor sample I've seen appears to have a radius of curvature of about 8' (I didn't measure it, though) - if you're much further then flat might be better anyway.
IMAX is more immersive because it subtends a larger viewing angle; if you sat 3' from your curved TV (and wore glasses to make it seem further) you might be able to duplicate the experience. Otherwise, it's not worth it.
My current TV is a 55" flatscreen that has been serving me well... it serves me even better now that I disabled the "smart tv" functions. xD
Here's the thing though: the way it's set up in my living room works well because it's parallel to the balcony. Unless the curved TV is made of some magical material, it'll probably reflect more light than the current setup. And no, I wouldn't trade my glossy screen for a matte one. :P
That's all, of course, not even considering price difference. My ideal TV would be a big one without any of the extra frills that the TV industry came up in the past... what? 10 years? I ended up buying a 3D smart TV because it was in promotion and it came with a second 32" TV free, which was just perfect for my needs. What I really wanted though was a big screen that had enough ports on the back with fullHD resolution and good enough quality. That's it.
No need for curve, no need for 3D, no need for crappy smart TV software that's both insecure and never updated, no need for embedded camera, voice commands, remote control that acts like a mouse... none of that crap.
Honestly, I also don't need 4K or HDR, nor I'll be paying the extra price that comes with those features. I feel like I already pushed things a bit by wanting a fullHD TV when I already had a regular HD 720p TV, but since I'm using it as a computer monitor at times I thought it was still justifiable.
Truth of the matter is that TV manufacturers have to keep pushing there extraneous features because they need to keep selling units. And hey, it's fine if it makes a difference for you, but I really don't care about those things at all.
I imagine that the next TV I'll buy will have to probably be like a magnetic flexible sheet that you can carry around and throw in whatever room you wanted too. That is, of course, if my current TV lasts that long, which it probably won't. Oh well.
The main problem is the curvature not being adjustable. I would like a 50 inch UHDTV as a monitor instead of two 20 inch ones next to each other, but even for a curved one, if I sit 2 feet away from it, it'll be hard to see the edges.
well Sir, we have this new (shiny) CURVED tv to sell you now, see ITS CURVED! How cool is that! Now just step over here to the register....
Supermarionation
Curved monitors do make sense for the desktop PC, where you're sitting very close to the screen.
But does it really? What benefit do curved monitors give? I was told "the whole the screen is more evenly at the same distance from your eyes". But what I heard was "the screen is laid out in an unexpected and distorted way that screws with your brain".
Seriously look at the history of curved images. They were all designed to completely trick the brain into creating an immerse environment. How does that help when you for example need to create a drawing, edit a word document, or god forbid try and correct lens distortion effects in a photograph?
I could see it maybe making sense for games, but even then I'd probably suggest making a jump straight to a headset.
Yep, and us Aussies have an old colloquial term for the TV... "idiot box".
"Oh is mine curved enough?"
Bread & circuses ;-)
The big practical problem with curved monitors is that there's usually no way to let the monitor correct for the perspective distortion that the curved screen causes.
And even if there is a dial for that, the ideal setting is very dependent on your viewing position relative to the monitor.
Bottom line is, if you're watching a film or playing a game, most lines that are supposed to be straight appear curved. And especially in 3D games that effect gives me motion sickness symptoms.
the screen made it easier to ship large TVs with less breakage, a great benefit for the manufacturer. But the marketing folks have educated me properly now- it makes the picture better! Doh!
The TV industry is hurting, they long for the glory days when everyone wanted to trade their old 20" SD CRT TV for a fancy new 43" HD LCD. Those were great times for the TV industry. Unfortunately for them, HD TVs have hit saturation, and there just isn't the desire for everyone to go out and replace their perfectly good HD TV with whatever today's gimmick is. We've seen 3D TVs, 4 colour pixels, Curved screens, apps, apps, and more apps, and now 4K. Nobody is rushing out to replace their TV for any of these. Sure 4K will eventually catch on, but much slower than HD did because for most people they can't tell the difference unless they can see it side by side with HD at the same time, and even then, it's only marginally better (if at all) at normal viewing distances and screen sizes.
There will likely be a new fad next year too as TV manufacturers try, yet again, to re-capture the glory days of the SD-HD shift. But those days are gone, and I don't anticipate them returning for another generation.
I recently shopped for a new TV. Looked at flat and curved screens, hated the curved screens and couldn't stand the glare. Read the reviews, too, and concluded that curved screens are going away, just like 3D did. Bought an LG that was one step below their OLED's. Couldn't be happier - oh, and it's not hooked up to my network so it's just a dumb TV.
So you've got to say I'm wrong by repeating what I said with different words, and then tacking on a lengthy ramble about how great one specific desktop monitor is as if I hadn't started my own post off with the words "Curved monitors do make sense for the desktop PC"?
Two words: Placebo effect.
In your one specific situation, perhaps. In general, it will make the situation worse in more situations than it makes it better.
Yes, there are some things for which it isn't well suited, even on the desktop. For the things that most of us typically use desktops for these days, though (that is, work), curved monitors arguably slightly better.
Sorry, but no. Depending upon the work you're doing, curved monitors can in fact be noticeably better on the desktop. Not for *every* purpose for which you might use your desktop, necessarily, but for many purposes.
I was thinking of curvature in terms of degrees, or relative to screen size, not absolute inches.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
>"The only real image-quality benefit I saw to the curve was a reduction in reflections in some cases. "
Sorry. In ALL cases, the curved screen creates MORE glare and that glare moves rapidly with even the slightest head movement resulting in HUGE distractions. Curved screens for TV's are 100% worse than even a gimmick. They were from the start.
Now, if you have a curved COMPUTER MONITOR ,where you are sitting just a foot from it and there is some wrap around, that is different and can be useful. But for large TV's viewed at a normal distance, they are far, far worse in every way than a flat screen. Worse viewing angles, more distortion, more reflections, moving reflections, takes up more space, looks stupid on a wall, etc. DIE!
What benefit do curved monitors give? I was told "the whole the screen is more evenly at the same distance from your eyes". But what I heard was "the screen is laid out in an unexpected and distorted way that screws with your brain"
Once you need reading glasses you will suddenly understand the value in having the screen more evenly at the same distance from your eyes. Today I accomplish this by carefully positioning my multiple monitors. At some point I probably will replace them all with a larger curved QHD display.
If it were truly a "dumb" tv there wouldn't be any software or drivers for you to get the source for.... Perhaps you need to define what level of smart you want?
I have a 40" 4K TV as a monitor, I can tell you that having a curved monitor vs a flat monitor at this size would be a huge benefit (I only have a flat screen). I find myself shifting to the left or right a little to focus on some of the text or images on my screen, or just putting up with the slight dimming near the edges). Were the screen curved, I would not have to shift at all as the edges of the screen would be pointing more toward me, rather than at the angle that the flat screen provides.
Anyway, my 2.
...because there's nothing like adding distortion to content collected on a flat film plane.
Curved displays have one use: building an immersive cockpit environment for games. Flight simulators, racing simulators, and giant robot games could benefit from 210 degrees of curved display. Oh, and that farming simulator where you can drive the tractors and combines. There isn't much else that does. Of course they're only useful if you can afford enough of them. The large format ones tend to have a radius of 13 to 16 feet, requiring so many to surround your cockpit and so many stacked vertically to fill your field of vision that it gets prohibitively expensive and ends up with a goofy image distortion problem in the uppermost row of displays. That and some curved TVs are a parabolic arc, not a circular arc, causing further problems.
If you could get ultrawide curved screens with circular arcs of radius of 6 to 8 feet, you've got yourself a great way to build a serious cockpit for simulations.
The cockpit building community[1] has for years now been using projectors and curved projection surfaces. This keeps costs down, but of course means the cockpit structure has strictly limited height, or it will interfere with the projections. If the curved display fad among manufacturers lasts just long enough, they'll get to seriously upgrade.
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[1] Yes, there's a community. With 7 billion people on the planet, there's enough people to form an interest group for literally anything.
The manufacturers can't even agree on which curvature is better, concave or convex (although most are concave now).
If you live on your own and watching TV is purely a solitary experience, or maybe with one other person, a curved TV can be OK, but if you're getting a few friends over to watch a movie or a sports game, only the person in the centre will have a decent view.
For a monitor, on the other hand, you're sitting on your lonesome, right in the sweet spot and a curved monitor can be great for some tasks.
Specialist Mac support for creative pros, Melbourne
Even if you're the sole viewer it is practically useless. Screen sizes are too small for it to be of any real benefit. Just like 4k. Yeah, I said it. Your retinas are no better, so 4k's useless to you, too. :P
If the TV occupies a similar viewing angle to your monitor, then curvature would have just the same impact.
That's not really the case, or even the recommendation. The recommendation for seating distance is 1.5-2.5x the width of the TV. Let's go on the high side of that and say 1.5x (much closer to the TV). Recommended distance from your monitor to your eyes is 15-30". If you have a 24" monitor that means you're probably sitting closer to 1:1, on average. These day's it's not uncommon to see 27" or even larger monitors. So not only is the recommendation not equivalent, in practice it's even worse, generally.
I like 3D TV. Curved seems..... Pointless.
Only boring people are ever bored.
It absolutely makes sense. I bought one for my home-office (35" curved) and I always work in multiple windows simultaneously. The curved monitor has made this so much easier, I don't have to turn my head and feel I'm getting a better overview on the curved monitor.
I can easily compare to the monitor in my office-office, which is a 32" flat monitor, I notice that I am not utilizing the full space of the monitor, and am turning my head a lot more.
Obviously not a major thing, but I am appreciating the curved monitor, and wouldn't go back. As a TV on the other hand, I'd never get a curved screen.
Curved screens can have absolutely horrible reflection. I know, I own one. But I also own one because it was CHEAPER than the flat version.
I wouldn't buy a curved screen unless you plan to sit on a table (what I do) and you get an incredibly good deal on it (because of its curved weakness).
While two years ago, it was true that curved screens carried a slight premium, people don't want them anymore, so I find them to be priced less. You can do a lot more things with a flat screen (e.g. better for wall mounting).
YMMV (apparently)