Samsung HDTV Technology:
Multimedia and Networking Functions

Samsung HDTV models were some of the first to offer multimedia extras. In the current generation of devices, the Korean manufacturer has taken this to dizzying new heights - no TV supports as many media formats.

The media-playback interface on Samsung's UE 40 B 7090 - also read our full review on the Samsung UE 40 B 7090.

From USB storage media (including external hard disks), a corresponding Samsung HDTV can display videos in the formats AVI, Matroska (.mkv), and ASF. These are container formats that work in conjunction with a variety of video codes: The Samsungs accept DivX 3.11, 4.x, 5.1, and 6.0, XviD; H.264 (BP/MP/SP); MPEG-4 ASP; and even Motion-JPEG.

Currently, however, the TVs only support DivX up to a resolution of 800 x 600 pixels. Furthermore, the TVs also support Windows Media Video (WMV), as well as MP4-, 3GP-, VRO- and MPEG-format videos. Last but not least, the repertoire also includes MPEG program and transport streams (.ps/.ts), which many hard-disk recorders use to store video material - these streams can in turn use MPEG-2, H.264, or VC1 encoding.

The list of audio formats that'll run on a Samsung HDTV is similarly extensive: AAC and HE-AAC (common on mobile phones with music players), AC3 (Dolby Digital, common in digital TV and on DVD), Dolby Digital Plus (also in digital TV and, rarely, also on Blu-ray Discs), and LPCM, which refers to uncompressed digital audio, such as that found on CDs, for example. In terms of compressed audio, recent Samsung HDTV models will happily play back MP3 and ADPCM (μ-law, A-law). And, last but not least, the TVs can also process JPEG digital photos with a resolution of 15,360 x 8,640 pixels.

Anyone who's installed a PC network in their home can also use all of these file types on the TV via the Ethernet connection. Alternatively, the Korean company offers the WIS09ABGN ‘dongle' (available separately for 50 GBP, a wireless (WLAN) adapter that connects to the TV via USB.

Connecting the latest Samsung TVs to a PC network is easy - just make sure you've got the right software for your computer.

All that's left is to make sure a PC in the network is running DLNA-server software. Samsung's relevant models ship with a copy of "PC Share Manager 2.0", which is suitable for Windows PCs. Alternatives include the latest version of the free Media Player add-on for Windows or - for more convenience and support for other operating systems - programs such as "TwonkyMedia Server" (around 18 GBP).

Samsung HDTV Technology: "Internet@TV"
Today, many Samsung HDTV models can also use their network connections to access the Internet, but the extremely limited functionality stands in stark contrast to the TVs' multimedia capabilities. Developed in collaboration with Yahoo, "Internet@TV" offers access to around a dozen internet services, which display in small, hovering windows ("Widgets"). These include news, finance, and weather from Yahoo, as well as access to the photo service Flickr, the "micro-blogging" service Twitter, an online poker game called "Texas Hold'em", and the video portal YouTube.

The following were involved in producing this article on Samsung HDTV technology:

Author(s): Karl-Gerhard Haas
Editor in Chief: Florian Friedrich
Photos: Manufacturer and AV T.O.P. Messtechnik GmbH
Last updated: September 2009