Samsung South Africa recently launched its Smart SUHD TV range, claiming it delivers best-in-class display available in the market today. However, not all UHD TVs are created equal, and Samsung believes that pseudo UHD TVs have found their way into the South African market. A pseudo UHD TV is in fact misrepresented and uses inferior 3K resolution that delivers 25% less pixel power, which is tantamount to false advertising in the South Korean manufacturer's eyes.

“UHD stands for Ultra High Definition and this is precisely what consumers should get when they purchase a television,” says Matthew Thackrah, deputy managing director and head of Consumer Electronics at Samsung Electronics SA. “Samsung’s SUHD TVs produce 64 times more colour expression than conventional televisions and have a pure 4K resolution of 3840x2160 pixels. The inferior pseudo UHD TV only offers 3K resolution of 2880x2160 pixels. This is because the sub-standard 3K technology uses RGWB (red, green, white and blue) technology in order to minimise production costs. The technology replaces some of the RGB sub-pixels with white sub-pixels and reduces the resolution significantly.”

What a pseudo-3K UHD TV looks like up close.

Thackrah adds that while 3K television might offer improved brightness and resolution compared to traditional TVs, some manufactures are misleading consumers because they aren’t producing and selling true UHD TVs, thus misleading consumers and the wider UHD TV market.

“The risk to consumers is that they aren’t getting what they pay for. The pseudo UHD might seem more affordable in the short term, but the quality and additional functions you get when you purchase a true UHD more than justify the investment,” he explains. “The influx of pseudo UHD TVs confuses consumers and impacts negatively on perceptions of what UHD truly offers."

The UHD Test

In order to help consumers make an informed decision between buying a true UHD TV and a pseudo UHD TV, Samsung notes they can ask the following questions in store:

What is the resolution?

A true 4K UHD TV has a resolution of 3840x2160 pixels.

What is the aspect ratio?

A true 4K UHD TV has an aspect ratio of at least 16:9.

What is the colour bit depth?

A true 4K UHD TV has 8 bit colour depth.

What is the frame rate?

A true 4K UHD TV has a 24p/25p/30p/50p/60p frame rate.

Another clear indicator that you might be purchasing a pseudo UHD TV is that the cost may be considerably less, but this is because you’re in fact not purchasing a true UHD TV.