Samsung has confirmed a workaround that means its new range of 8K televisions will comply with the new EU TV power consumption regulations – but it isn’t ideal.
The new regulations reduce the permitted power consumption for TVs so they must sit in the lowest energy consumption class.
FlatpanelsHD calculated the maximum permissible power consumption under the new restrictions and it isn’t pretty: 55-inch will be allowed a maximum 84W, 65-inch will be allowed 112W, and 75-inch screens can use 141W.
8K televisions are all by banned under these new measures.
However, Samsung has noted these requirements apply to the ‘standard’ video mode, and simply lowered its default settings so that the out-of-the-box picture quality is a lot less bright than possible.
Samsung’s 2023 8K TVs will therefore ship with a locked-in low-power, low-brightness picture mode, named ‘Eco’ as the default setting.
Forbes is reporting the Samsung will also need to lower the local dimming systems for a number of new models in the default picture preset to stay within the EU’s requirements.
Users will need to toggle to Standard, Dynamic, Movie, modes to break out of the power regulations.
Given that most users don’t toggle with these picture settings, this means Samsung’s 8K range will be underwhelming on first sight – unlikely to attract fairweather shoppers that don’t wish to delve into the nuts and bolts just to get an acceptable image.
The labelling of the mode as ‘Eco’ rather than ‘Standard’ suggests aa power sacrifice is being made, and Samsung confirmed to Forbes that “picture preset choice will be raised during the new 8K TVs’ initial installation process, making end users aware of the Eco mode situation and enabling them to explore alternatives”, so it isn’t as dire as it may seem.
Still, considering the investment in the new QN700C, QN800C and QN900C 8K TV ranges, this isn’t ideal.
