The hit of this year’s televisions. Anyone who doesn’t brag about artificial intelligence doesn’t seem to exist

The smarter TVs get, the more they turn into entertainment centers. The image and sound parameters are already so similar that manufacturers are looking for any additional technology that will open the wallets of customers. A popular marketing and business assistant is artificial intelligence. Its use is emphasized in the promotional materials of every major brand for new products introduced to the Czech market.

“We are integrating artificial intelligence into our products in a way that significantly improves traditional viewing experiences,” announced Samsung, for example. Its new Neo QLED 8K models feature the NQ8 AI Gen3 processor with a “neural unit”.

For the customer who buys such a TV, it should benefit when watching content recorded in low quality. 8K AI Upscaling Pro2 technology, according to Samsung, “takes advantage of generative AI” to create a “perfect 8K (7680 x 4320 pixels) image” even from something that has never been shot in such high resolution.

However, as the Korean manufacturer further clarifies, this claim about a perfect image only applies to the specific QN900D series. These are receivers whose price on the Czech market starts at 140,000 CZK for a model with a diagonal of 165 cm. The advertised enhancement is supposed to render image details and adjust brightness. However, these are findings from the manufacturer’s internal study, not an independent comparison.

Another featured feature, again unique to the QN900D series, is Motion Enhance Pro. It handles fast movements to stay sharp while watching sports. For example, it recognizes a soccer ball. The related function Real Depth Enhancer artificially adds spatial depth to the shots (the closer description implies that it increases the contrast of objects in the foreground of the scene).

Of course, it is also possible to turn on the sound enhancement. The Active Voice Amplifier Pro setting emphasizes the spoken word and suppresses background noise. Object Tracking Sound Pro technology synchronizes the direction of the audio with the direction of the action on the screen, so the scenes are supposed to be more engaging. In addition, the TVs have adaptive sound, so the volume and other parameters change according to the ambient conditions in the room – and what else but in an “intelligent way”.

Today, even quite ordinary system settings are referred to as artificial intelligence. At Samsung, we can also find the abbreviation AI in the item indicating the automatic switching of the TV to game mode when starting a video game. Or for a function that allows the user to set the preference of brightness, contrast and sharpness according to his own taste.

The lower Neo QLED 4K models also have an AI processor (NQ4 AI Gen2). These TVs can also adjust the spatial depth of scenes, convert a lower quality image to 4K resolution or improve brightness and details in dark scenes.

Last week, the Hisense brand also presented its new televisions for the Czech market. For this year’s models, the company promises “a more powerful proprietary image processor Hi-View Engine with artificial intelligence”. And like its Korean competitor, it points out that it “uses a powerful neural network to analyze images in real time”. It helps with recalculating the image to 4K resolution (3840 × 2160 pixels) and improving color rendering.

Hisense also has focusing of fast movements during sports broadcasts or AI Picture technology. “Automatic image evaluation and optimization will always ensure the best experience for playing games, watching sports matches, movies and shows,” claims the manufacturer.

It refers to its patented Hi-View Engine X system, which it claims “simulates the patterns of the human brain”. “With extremely precise brightness control of more than 60,000 levels and amazing image clarity with added detail and suppressed noise, it offers the best picture quality and sets a new standard in the entire LED TV industry,” promises Hisense.

Even TCL is not left behind with artificial intelligence. Its smart processor is called AiPQ Processor 3.0. “It perceives and thinks like a smart mind to capture every detail of the real world,” boasts the manufacturer. In practice, this should mean that the TV detects objects in the scene in real time and balances their contrast. It suppresses noise and “intelligently restores” missing details.

TCL also detects fast-moving objects based on their size and position in the image. Thanks to this, the image should be smooth, without tearing and without blurring. An example of a TV with artificial intelligence functions is the X955 model, which entered the Czech market with a price tag of CZK 140,000, or the C955 model, whose price is currently around one hundred thousand crowns.

Simulated fast motion scene comparison. On the left after processing by the processor in TCL TVs, on the right without processing

Author: TCL

TCL believes in artificial intelligence so much that it created a short animated film with its help to put into its TCLtv+ streaming app. The TV manufacturer founded its own production studio. “We have built our own AI models and are using the latest technologies including Stable Diffusion at this early stage of research. We try to create content across formats. There are several series and specials in preparation, not only with artificial intelligence, but also more traditional ones,” claims TCL. The first sample suggests that the use of generative artificial intelligence still has great potential.

In the middle of the month, LG introduced OLED TVs in the M4 and G4 series to the Czech market. The α (Alpha) 11 processor chip was created especially for it. The company claims that it brings up to a fourfold increase in artificial intelligence computing power, a 70% increase in graphics performance and a 30% higher processing speed compared to the previous generation of the α9 processor.

For example, when converting programs to 4K resolution, the processor detects objects on the screen and recognizes which are in the foreground and which in the background. “It can effectively sharpen specific elements of the image and improve the depth of the image with additional separation,” explained the company in press materials.

“Today, televisions are no longer just content displays. The chipsets inside are the key part and we have developed our own AI processors that can accentuate the most important parts of the image at the right moment. The television thus adjusts the image and sound itself for the best possible audiovisual experience. Our AI processor also, according to Rtings.com’s very recent test results, is able to eliminate the burning process most perfectly compared to the competition, especially for the α9 and α11 processors,” said Product Director Peter Lee.

Japan’s Sony has been rather sparing with the use of the term “artificial intelligence” in recent press releases. At least she highlighted the Voice Zoom 3 technology, which algorithmically recognizes dialogues and boosts or reduces their volume, so that even less expressive dialogues sound loud and clear. Of course, Sony TVs can do what the competition does, so they also improve the image and focus fast movements.

And even on these receivers, the scene depth is automatically corrected: “Bravia TVs use technology that simulates human perception and improves depth and texture for an immersive home experience. With cross-analysis, cognitive intelligence can analyze/generate a depth map,” claims Sony.

The processor in Sony TVs evaluates which part of the image is the most important at any given moment

Author: Sony

“Conventional artificial intelligence detects and analyzes image elements such as color, contrast and clarity only individually. This means that the image element is only enhanced up to a certain level. However, the way we perceive the world is based on a variety of information that comes to the brain from the eyes and ears at the same time. The XR Processor works in the same way, analyzing hundreds of thousands of elements at once. One of these elements is the focus point – thanks to it, it is possible to find out what a person focuses on most often,” the Japanese manufacturer points out.

So the TV evaluates the place you tend to focus on and your eyes are naturally drawn to it. The processor will enhance this part of the image. The player with the soccer ball or the main character have more depth, but the tables with the results of the match can also be more prominent.