Made in the Shade: Samsung’s Terrace TV packs a powerful 2,000 nits of luminosity, enough to take on any poolside glare.
Indian summers and Southern climes extend the runway for outdoor tech
By Stephen Paczkowski, Expert Warehouse
Here on the East Coast, summer is when we live the good life — la vida buena, relaxo en toto! — and the warm weather can often extend through September and beyond.
Everyone has their own way to celebrate the warmest months of the year, whether it’s poolside, away on vacation or with a dip in a lake or the ocean. But for us tech enthusiasts at Expert Warehouse (EW), September still means spending time by the grill while getting mesmerized by the beauty and convenience of outdoor TV.
EW has had a longstanding relationship with outdoor entertainment. Outdoor TV has been a mainstay in our catalogs and for a long time remained a key segment all year round. A couple of years back Samsung released its Terrace TV series and has moved to the top of the food chain with its current all-weather offerings. What a picture!
The key performance indicator for any outdoor TV is the measurement of the very thing you are fighting against: brightness. You see, the sun is a mass of incandescent gas, a gigantic thermonuclear furnace. That means a visual source like a TV must somehow cut through the glare. To view the same clear, crisp picture you are used to seeing indoors while enjoying the great outdoors requires some serious lumens. And let me tell you, the Terrace TV delivers, emitting 2,000 nits of luminosity. That’s more than four times the brightness of the entry-level competitor and more than double the step-up series. And did we mention that there is an even brighter “full-sun” version (we call it the T9) that is even more brilliant in the 65- and 75-inch screen sizes?
The Terrace is also a smart set, which oddly is not something that seems as important to other manufacturers when implementing streaming features, and is IP55 water rated as well. While not entirely weatherproof, it is nonetheless water resistant, making it a formidable ally in the fight against inclement weather. It also brings Samsung’s proprietary Quantum Dot LED heritage over from the company’s QLED indoor TV range, meaning that a film of quantum particles is placed over a traditional LED-backlit screen. These particles help improve picture display by emitting their own colors. Different colors have different- sized dots, helping refine the color wavelength and increase the brightness. Samsung claims that this technology can effectively produce over a billion different color wavelengths, which surely sounds like it can provide a vastly improved picture source.
And let’s not forget about accessories, friends. Samsung smartly released a dust cover for each screen size, as well as a three-channel soundbar that is also IP55 rated against water and dust. The bar features a center channel for dialogue, which is one of the key reasons consumers step up to a soundbar in the first place. With a 210-watt, built-in woofer, there’s no reason to worry about a separate subwoofer for bass. Plus it is Bluetooth- and WiFi-ready to boot. So, voila! Your patio is all set for entertaining. I will take a burger and a hot dog, please.
This summer also brought a beast to indoor TV as well: The monstrous OLED97G2 monolith from our friends at LG. All models within the G2 series offer what LG is calling EVO panels, which feature a creative heat dissipation that solves the single greatest weakness of OLED technology, which once again is brightness. Moreover, while some insist that size doesn’t matter, LG’s advantage over Sony and Samsung, with their limited OLED offerings, boils down to size selection. From the introduction earlier this year of a 42-inch panel to the new 97-inch behemoth, LG simply has the scale to manufacture more sizes, since this is their technology, after all.
The OLED97G2 is meant to be hung on a wall — it’s razor thin and gorgeous, has an artwork mode like the Samsung Frame, and there’s no base for this monster anyway. OLED presents perfect black levels, is free of judder and presents a color spectrum that is breathtaking to behold. And let’s face it, a 97-inch screen is basically a wall of television. If you have the room (and, ahem, 30 large), you too can be the envy of videophiles and film nerds alike and probably the rest of your ZIP code as well.
In other consumer electronic news, Sound United, parent of Polk, Denon, Marantz, B&W and other top audio brands, said the supply chain shortages it was experiencing in home A/V receivers (AVRs) has lessened greatly. This means speakers and A/V products are back in stock and many models are readily available. While chip shortages still remain for certain products like specialty amps and digital audio converters (DACs), the tightness in AVRs — which comprise the majority of the products Expert Warehouse sells in conjunction with TVs — appears to have receded.
Now, get out there and enjoy the remaining weeks of summer!
And to help with that, here are some entertainment suggestions from your friends at Expert Warehouse:
“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” on Disney+. Benedict Cumberbatch reprises his role as the Sorcerer Supreme, in a bizarre extension of the Marvel Cinematic Universes Post-Infinity War phase. It brings forth the elements explored in “Loki” and “Wandavision,” two other excellent Disney+ exclusives.
“Anchorman” on Netflix. If you haven’t seen it yet, just commit to it. A modern day “Airplane,” only this time skewering network news. It is absurd and yet beloved.
“Formentera” by Metric. The Toronto-based, synth-driven, post-punk group is still pushing out solid releases 20 years on. “All Comes Crashing” is a highlight.
“Will of the People” by Muse. You either love or hate Muse, which is like an over-caffeinated Queen put through a blender with Radiohead and Metallica. These Brits are over the top, but they sure can play. “Compliance” is typical of their style, with ridiculously high-stepping synths and melodies.
Stephen Paczkowski is a product manager at Expert Warehouse, the consumer tech distribution arm of YSN publisher AVB Inc.
