By Claire Reilly

After revealing its new product line-up at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier in the year, Samsung unveiled the new additions to its Smart TV line-up in Sydney overnight, with an entry-level LED range joining its Slim LED range and marking the end of the company’s involvement in the LCD category.

Phil Newton, director at Samsung Electronics Australia presented the new range, talking up the “four pillars” of Samsung’s Smart TV strategy: Smart Interaction, Smart Connectivity, Smart Content and Picture Quality.

Newton noted that the last 12 months in the television category had been typified by “low cost and low quality” and that Samsung was attempting to remedy this situation for retailers and consumers with its new range.

The new EH Series of LED televisions are slightly thicker than Samsung’s Slim LED range, largely because of the rear-projection technology used in the units (as opposed to side projection), and as a result, they have a lower selling price than the high-end models.

According to Newton, Samsung’s “LCD range will disappear in favour of the EH range,” which will be “situated next to LCD products” on the retail floor. There are six models in the LED range: the E420, EH4000 and EH4500 in Series 4; the EH5006 and EH5306 (exclusive to The Good Guys) in Series 5, and the EH6000 in Series 6.

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Sitting at a higher price point with more added features (including gesture and voice control, web browsing, Samsung apps and 3D on some models) is the Slim LED range. This range spreads across Series 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, and includes: The ES4000, ES5000, ES5500, ES6200, ES6600 (exclusive to Harvey Norman), ES6700 (exclusive to Narta stores), ES6800, ES7500 and the top of the line ES8000.

In an interesting value add that could push consumers over the line towards a Samsung product on the retail level, Newton said that Samsung were offering free installation and education for consumers, to inform them of the technological benefits of the high-end models.

“We need to be closer to the consumer,” said Newton. “We’ve done a lot of social interaction with our consumers, through things like Facebook, and what they’ve told us is that we assume a lot about what they know and what they don’t know. And that’s a mistake.

“What we’re going to do is go right through the A to Z of the product. It is our most complex product that we’ve ever released. No technology is perfect, and with this product specifically, the environment you set it up in is critical. We need to explain to you how it’s going to work.

“So it’s about having a conversation with consumers, and it’s about learning how they operate as well. It’s not about taking anything out of the retailers’ hands – certainly we hope it drives our sales, but most of all it’s for education.”

Samsung Electronics Australia director, Phil Newton.

The Samsung launch event in Sydney last night.

Samsung's top-of-the-line ES8000 includes a range of apps, including games for kids.