Standards for quality of displays that were established during a time of black and white cathode-ray tube televisions and have lasted for 20 years will be changed under the guidance of South Korean businesses. Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics presented new standards and it is likely that these standards will be established early next year and be suitable for 4K UHD TVs. Not only for TVs but these standards will also be suitable for quality of next-generation displays such as VR (Virtual Reality) and AR (Augmented Reality).
According to industries on the 17th, ICDM will hold a general meeting in February of 2018 and prepare new standards based on a display’s resolution measuring method presented by South Korean businesses.
ICDM is a group that establishes standards related to displays. In this past September, it held a general meeting in South Korea under the supervision of LG Electronics. At that time, it gathered variety of methods including suggestions from Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics and is planning to establish detailed directions of a new measuring standard called ‘ICDM 2.0’ at next year’s general meeting. This indicates that old standards for measuring resolutions that have been used since end of 1990 will be replaced with new standards.
Previous standards were established based on standards for measuring old-fashioned TVs. Not only they are old but they are not suitable for flat TVs that have been popularized. Especially they are not suitable for state-of-the-art technologies such as next-generation TVs such as OLED and Quantum Dot TVs and HDR (High Dynamic Range). Industries have been requesting changes to these old standards as horizontal and vertical pixels and 4K standards are not also clear for each company.
At a previous general meeting, Samsung Electronics presented an objective method that evaluates black and white pixels. Its method is also called SSIM (Structural Similarity) and it evaluates accuracy and similarity by comparing to an original image rather than just sending information on quality to images and displays.
This new measuring method is also suitable for measuring resolution of 4K UHD displays. While 4K UHD was originally based on 3840x2160 pixels, SSIM can objectively and more accurately measure color of displays besides number of pixels.
“Although there are so many TVs with 4K UHD displays, there are not any standards that can accurately measure quality besides resolution.” said a representative for Samsung Electronics. “Our new measuring method can also evaluate how clear 4K UHD displays are.”
LG Electronics also presented a new method for measuring next-generation displays at a previous meeting.
It seems that new standards proposed by Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics will be materialized at next year’s general meeting. By gathering other suggestions based on ones that are suggested by Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics that are leading global TV markets, ICDM is planning to announce ‘ICDM 2.0’ in 2018 at the earliest. It is likely that ICDM 2.0 will include ‘Color Volume’, which is a measuring method that was established recently. It is expected that ICDM 2.0 will develop into a measuring method that evaluates quality of next-generation displays such as VR and AR displays and HDR.
“Display industries and experts agreed to abolish the old resolution measuring method and to establish a new measuring method at ICDM’s general meeting.” said a representative in this industry. “South Korea will be able to secure competitive edge that will allow it to lead future display markets through new standards proposed by Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics.”
Staff Reporter Kwon, Dongjoon | djkwon@etnews.com & Staff Reporter Kwon, Keonho | wingh1@etnews.com