PicturePerfect

Samsung Electronics launched this week its Digital Natural Image Engine (DNIe), a collection of four image processing technologies on a chip that make high-end digital TVs produce clearer, extremely detailed and natural images. DNIe’s enhanced video fidelity bolsters Samsung’s aggressive positioning in the digital and home theater technology segment.

Big Leap In A Hot Market

The home theater segment, specifically in high-end video components as well as large, flat, plasma TVs, is a very competitive and popular market. Samsung’s introduction of a clearer standard, one that was in development since 1996, ups its competitive position for the time being.

DNIe’s core enhancements include a motion optimizer, contrast enhancer, detail enhancer and color optimizer – key technologies that are important in themselves but once deployed together bring about unprecedented clarity which was effectively demonstrated during the launch when a DNIe-powered TV was placed next to two competing TVs from other makers.

The DNIe is installed in some Samsung plasma display TVs, LCD projection TVs and selected models of LCD TVs. The technology is expected to be a major competitive factor, along with pricing, for Samsung’s continued growth in the market.

The DNIe technology has 85 foreign and domestic patents to date and is expected to migrate to other Samsung video display solutions like computer monitors and maybe, even notebook screens.

Landmark Year, Key Releases

2003 has been a landmark year and coming out party of sorts for Samsung which has been aggressively promoting its audiovisual components, its home theater systems, and colored camera phones as well.

Sponsorships of popular sporting events and promotions of films like Matrix Reloaded have also pushed the brand’s awareness to consumers who associate Samsung with hip, innovative products that are also affordable.

Another coup staged recently by Samsung was its collaboration with a resurgent Napster (yes, the very same controversial Napster that fueled the anti-piracy debacle years back) by creating the YP-910GS MP3 player that will work hand in hand with Napster’s online music purchasing service.

Samsung’s MP3 player is nearly identical in size to Apple’s iPod and but adds a useful FM tuner and a recording function, and can hold 5,000 songs.

Samsung’s entry into the portable MP3 player market, like its presence in the GSM phone market, should give consumers interesting options. Its tie-up with Napster adds a tech savvy appeal to an upstart in a new but emerging market.

Technology Based On Human Experience

Remarkably, a lot of the research and development Samsung put into its products, specifically for its DNIe technology, focuses on how the human body works and how eyes perceive color and process image signals to the human brain.

DNIe’s motion optimizer takes care of eliminating noise as well as blurring, while the contrast enhancer boosts light and shade by reducing flicker so contrast is high throughout the screen.

The detail enhancer feature makes images seem more natural by processing images so they look more lifelike and less artificial. The color optimizer function calculates saturation of red, green and blue and adjusts this to the shades that the human eye accepts as natural, resulting in far more vivid picture perception.

These new features, coupled with sleek and ultra thin form factors as well as 14-inch, 50-inch and 63-inch screens, make for a compelling array of plasma TVs for the more demanding technophiles and AV enthusiasts.