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It's time for the annual CES event where all kinds of tech products and accessories are being debuted, and we sent MacRumors videographer Dan Barbera to check out what's new this year. While CES officially begins tomorrow, there are pre-show events like CES Unveiled, plus Samsung shared highlights.


Samsung often uses CES to show off new TV technology, and 2025 was no exception. There's a new NEO 8K flagship TV, plus a new Frame Pro. The Frame Pro has better brightness and contrast, and an option to wirelessly display whatever output is connected to a One Connect Box, which gives more flexibility for the location of Apple TVs, consoles, sound bars, and more.

Select Samsung Smart TVs are set to gain Live Translate, an AI-powered feature that offers real-time translations as subtitles, even when subtitles aren't available as built-in content. AI is being used for generating wallpapers and some new personalization features, too.

Samsung has a new OLED Smart Monitor M9, a Studio Display competitor that has a sleek design. It offers an AI Picture Optimizer for adjusting display parameters to fit what's on-screen, and there is 4K AI upscaling. For gamers, Samsung showed off an OLED display with a 500Hz refresh rate and a 27-inch 4K OLED display.

LG was also showing off new TV and display technology. The company had a new Evo OLED TV that's much brighter than prior models, plus there's also a connect box for peripherals so you don't need them by the TV.

At CES Unveiled, Belkin showed off the Stage Power Grip, a 10,000mAh MagSafe powerbank that works as a camera grip for iPhone photography. Lexar had a tiny USB-C SSD that connects to an iPhone, and Sharge had a Qi2 power bank with active cooling and an integrated kickstand.

Atmos Gear demoed electric roller skates that can go up to 18 miles an hour, and there was a clever salt spoon that's supposed to zap your tongue in a specific area to make you taste salt without actually adding salt to your dish.

Make sure to watch the full video to see the products in action, and stay tuned to MacRumors because we'll be sharing CES videos and articles for the next few days.

Article Link: CES 2025 Day 1: Samsung Adds AI to TVs and Companies Get Clever With MagSafe
 

New is using a new Brightness Booster Ultimate system, combining the latest so-called ‘four stack’ OLED panel designs (which use an extra OLED layer to enhance brightness and efficiency) with advanced pixel color and light control courtesy of the new Alpha 11 processor, is claimed to hit brightness peaks three times higher than those achieved by ‘regular’ OLED TVs such as LG’s B series models.
 
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AI for personalization in TVs? Why?

Screenshot 2025-01-06 142706.png
 
Samsung has a new OLED Smart Monitor M9, a Studio Display competitor that has a sleek design. It offers an AI Picture Optimizer for adjusting display parameters to fit what's on-screen, and there is 4K AI upscaling. For gamers, Samsung showed off an OLED display with a 500Hz refresh rate and a 27-inch 4K OLED display.
Meanwhile we still have the 6-years old Pro Display XDR (at the same price).

Apple, wake up!
 
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Ones that don't have processors in them that get old and lack updates?
Unfortunately, the current digital signals require computing power, a CPU, to operate properly. Add HDMI requirements and some intelligence is needed. Manufactures want to use the extra CPU power to add stuff to stay competitive. I too would like the absolute minimum in a TV.
 
Does anyone else miss 'dumb' TVs? Ones that don't have processors in them that get old and lack updates?
I would love to buy not just a dumb tv, but one with a full-function remote (i.e. with a number pad). Only LG seems to still include them with their tv's.

I cannot be the only one who still watches regular over-the-air tv (nightly news, sports, certain tv shows, etc) using a digital antenna.
 
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I would love to buy not just a dumb tv, but one with a full-function remote (i.e. with a number pad). Only LG seems to still include them with their tv's.

I cannot be the only one who still watches regular over-the-air tv (nightly news, sports, certain tv shows, etc) using a digital antenna.
Panasonic also has remote with number pad.

I am not against "smart" TVs as long as these do not share my data with anybody.
 
As much as I use AI many times a day now in my life, I'm not sure it will be a good addition in TVs, not in 2025.

To be able to add translated subtitles, you need to either display them a few seconds late, OR be able to know the subtitles in advance, so you need to preload the video, because some languages structure their sentences the opposite from other languages (i.e. Latin languages vs English). This is a great idea though for Apple in their App Store - because we could have DVDs in like 10 languages before, but now when you download a movie from the App Store, it basically has English + another language if you're lucky, and if you're also lucky you'll have translated subtitles in a few languages.

As for 4K upscaling of older games, I need to see it myself. This is also a good idea, but there has been a few filters in the past which kinda got the job done. I know AI can do better, but it can also do worse at the same time. It produces funny artifacts.

As a last part, I keep saying this : Samsung's computer monitors are pure junk quality-control-wise, and Samsung as a whole is junk customer-support-wise. I couldn't believe it myself because Samsung shines in some product categories like smartphones and storage, but I did experience it twice in 2024, and I promise you it's never gonna happen again.
 
Select Samsung Smart TVs are set to gain Live Translate, an AI-powered feature that offers real-time translations as subtitles, even when subtitles aren't available as built-in content. AI is being used for generating wallpapers and some new personalization features, too.
Cool. Another feature to disable as I continue to use my TV only with the HDMI signal from Apple TV :)
 
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For most of these TV's just dont connect them to the internet, and use an Apple TV/etc and you are set. No AI, no ads, no privacy concerns to worry about.
Still need FW updates for 4K operation/performance on recent better quality 4K TVs. ;)

Example video mode performance such as filmmakers mode. Tone Mapping improvements is a example. Unless your set is really a budget model most people can’t ignore this. The Smart Apps and voice control can not be used if that bothers people.

While the Apple TV4k is a good tool, a lot of more expensive 4K TVs offer even better picture quality with OTA, 4K, 1080P media players. :)
 
To be able to add translated subtitles, you need to either display them a few seconds late, OR be able to know the subtitles in advance, so you need to preload the video, because some languages structure their sentences the opposite from other languages (i.e. Latin languages vs English).
A problem and potential solution in one sentence.
 
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