Samsung announces cutting-edge HDTVs

Samsung has announced two new lines of innovative LCD HDTVs which should be available in August from a variety of vendors, including LG Electronics, Philips, and Sharp.

One new line - the 71 series - features a 120-Hz refresh rate. This is twice as fast as the 60-Hz of standard LCD TVs.

The 71 series incorporates technology called McFi (Motion Compensated Frame Interpolation) to provide significantly sharper fast-moving images.

McFi technology allows motion blur to be smoothed through the creation of new interpolated video frames which are inserted between each frame of video to smooth out fast motion.

The technology identifies any movements and creates a new interpolated frame based an average of the movements.

A second new line - the 81 series - features LED backlights to enhance contrast and enable the display of a much wider range of colours.

The 81 series of displays can automatically optimise the backlight for specific parts of the picture. This gives deeper blacks and crisper whites than possible with Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp technology (CCFL) traditionally used by LCD HDTVs.

According to Samsung LED backlighting gives a dynamic contrast ratio of 100,000:1, four times better than the contract ratio provided by CCFL technology.