Almost a decade ago, curved televisions and the first 4K resolution televisions were among the most advanced panel technologies we could find on the market and at fairs such as CES. And along with unconvincing 3D TVs, curved TVs also had their moment of glory as they became the “future of television.” But as you see nothing could be further from the truth.

We wanted to make a review in this article. A brief history of curved televisions and we see how this concept is evolving into another sector where it fits well: monitors.

Curved televisions are another dying technology

The first curved televisions were already seen in 2013. Manufacturers such as Samsung, LG or Sony, among others, have launched the offer of huge curved panels for our living room. There were all kinds: 4K resolution, LED panels, OLED, 3D and more. Although they have practically passed into history, the theory of this technology is not far off at all.

Curved TVs make sense at the time user wants to cover a wider viewing angle. If our screen diagonal is larger but our space is reduced, we will see how we lose vision in the corners. This effect is similar to when we find ourselves in the first rows of a cinema and have to shift our gaze to the corners to see everything. This effect was tried to be minimized by using wide diagonal televisions in small spaces with curved screens.

Another prominent feature of this type of television is Offers greater immunity to light reflections By avoiding most of the reflection from the room’s windows, light from the environment is blocked.

But they had an obvious drawback: If there was more than one audience member in the room away from the central point, they would see the content worse.especially if the curvature is obvious because there are TVs that are extremely curved. In general, curved televisions offered more advantages than disadvantages when viewership dropped to one or two people, but if people were sitting at too many angles it was easy to be distracted by seeing the side edge of the TV.

Another disadvantage was that at that time The manufacturing processes used to bend the panel were expensiveThat’s why curved panels were initially reserved for the most premium models.

In 2017, there were very few manufacturers that offered curved displays among their offerings. LG and Sony abandoned ship, and Samsung was one of the few companies that continued to release such panels for a while longer. 4K and OLED displays conquered the marketand the days of curved and 3D panels were numbered.

Curvature is more significant on monitors

Image: Xataka

Currently, the curvature on Smart TV panels is practically absent, but this implementation has managed to convince many monitor users. And this Every time we find monitors with larger diagonalsand the trend towards ultrawide displays continues. At 21:9 or extreme 32:9 aspect ratios, curvature makes sense because it offers extra immersion to the single user in front of the screen. And the latter, although still a niche market, has been the differentiating factor in the success of curvature in panels.

Among the latest curved panel products we can find Samsung’s Odyssey monitor series such as the Neo G9, the new generation of QD-OLED monitors and many other monitors that offer this option in their catalog. These panels are still offered at high costs, but Looks like they found their marketAlthough it is a niche product, it seems unlikely that manufacturers will want to give it up right now.

A previous version of this article was published in 2022.

at Xataka Smart Home | What happened to Blu-Ray’s great rival, HD-DVD, which soon destroyed readers and movies?