Samsung continues to push QLED-- the rival technology to OLED promising similar image quality while being easier to produce-- at CES 2018, with an upgrade promising improved lighting management as well as any number of smart features.

The Korean giant still has to detail its 2018 TV lineup, even if it does include at least one model boasting brightness reaching over 2000 nits thanks to full-array local dimming (or directly backlighting the quantum dots making the display). This is significant, since 2017 QLED TVs could only reach a maximum 1000 nits brightness.

Further improvements include a layers of black and anti-reflection filters to minimise internal light leakage and external glare as paired with an anti-blooming algorithm. The company also says 2018 QLED TVs will be "tremendously" easy to setup via syncing with a smartphone or tablet, while the addition of Bixby provide voice control.

Customers wanting to know the HDR capability of a future monitor get a helping hand from the DisplayHDR-- a VESA standard setting baseline HDR quality levels for PC displays.

Developed with the input of over two dozen member companies, the High-Performance Monitor and Display Compliance Test Specification (or DisplayHDR) measure 3 distinct levels of HDR performance. These are baseline (DisplayHDR 400), mid-range (DisplayHDR 600) and high-end (DisplayHDR 1000), with each level based on 8 parameters.

The architect behind development of the Cd-free quantum dot technology, Dr. Eunjoo Jang at the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) was just appointed a Samsung Fellow-- an honor also referred to as “Samsung’s Nobel Prize.”

One of the breakthrough achievements of Samsung researchers has been the development of cadmium-free quantum dot technology, used currently in Samsung QLED TVs.

While quantum dot had the benefit of delivering superior light expression, the technology posed harm to the environment with toxic cadmium at risk of being released through nanoparticle degradation. Samsung’s quantum dots, however, are cadmium-free, and Samsung is currently the only company that produces cadmium-free (Cd-free) quantum dot displays.

OLED continues to dominate the high-end TV market in 2018, TrendForce's WitsView says, with shipments reaching a high of 2.5 million-- a "significant" increase over the shipments of 1.5m of 2017.

Driving such growth are more brands entering the OLED market, as well as promotional efforts from major vendors such as Sony. This comes despite the problems of OLED technology, namely colour decay and burn-in issues, and more companies are looking into further developing the technology. On the other hand QLED TV makers, including Samsung, TCL and Hisense, are finding the high pricing of QLED an issue when it comes to promotion.

German customers get further reason to buy a 4K TV-- satellite network QVC is bringing a UHD channel in Germany (the 7th in the country) via the SES Video prime orbital slot 19.2 degrees East.

A ten-year agreement has QVC will use additional capacity for the upgrade to UHD, and rely on SES subsidiary MX1 for encoding in HEVC format and uplink services. In addition QVC also renews capacity for distribution of the channel in both standard and high definition.

"As we carry the largest line-up of HD and UHD channels worldwide, it is part of our DNA to help our customers bring the best possible picture quality to their audience. We are very excited to continue working with QVC for its transmission not only in SD and in HD, but now also in Ultra HD,” SES says. “This agreement clearly underlines the ability of SES Video, augmented by MX1, to offer its customers a full suite of video solutions.”

LG 2017 OLED TVs get an audio update-- one providing customers with Dolby TrueHD lossless sound technology for what the company describes as "the ideal cinematic experience."

The update comes in the shape of an over-the-air firmware upgrade. All 2017 LG OLED TVs ship with Dolby AC-4 decoding, meaning compatible TVs can handle object-based next generation audio for immersive 3D experiences. Meanwhile premium 2017 LG TVs are Dolby Vision compatible, allowing customers to watch over 100 movies on streaming services with Dolby Vision support.

Another update addition is Codec MAT (Metadata-enhanced Audio Transmission) support, enabling Dolbly TrueHD audio bit streaming on compatible TVs when playing console games.