back to article Dulux feel lucky, punk? Samsung wades into paint world with interior emulsions designed to 'complement' your, er, TV

You’ve got the TV. You splashed out on the sound system. But do you have the paint? That’s the question posed by Samsung, which just introduced LivingColour — a range of paint designed to cover the wall behind your pricey flat-screen idiot box. LivingColour is Samsung’s first line of interior paints, and was conceived with the …

  1. 0laf
    Trollface

    Really?

    Is anyone going to buy a paint because some wanky colourist says it'll make your TV feel comfortable or something?

    Does it make you feel better about Samsung's continuous data grab and forcefully inserted adverts for anyone that buys their kit?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @Olaf - Re: Really?

      Never underestimate human stupidity.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Devil

      Re: Really?

      If you can see the wall, your TV's too small.

  2. Dwarf

    Idiot marketing people at work again

    Wrong way around marketing people. Make TV's in neutral colours that fit into different settings. will repaint my room / move house more times than I change my TV - or are you saying your TV's don't last very long ?

    Also, most people stick stupidly large TV's in rooms that are small - since houses are getting smaller, so who actually has this problem of "background" anyhow ?

    <sarc>

    Second thought ... simply paint the TV surround to match the room

    </sarc>

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: Idiot marketing people at work again

      Ultimately televisions will end up with no bezel at all - they get smaller every year. That really only leaves the stand (if the set is not wall mounted) and the sound bar / speakers.

      As for what the wall behind the television looks like, that depends upon the owner. To illuminate the room at low level, a lamp behind the TV is sensible as it can't cast reflections upon the screen. Then there's the people who like Phillips' TVs which illuminate the wall behind the TV in sympathy with the displayed video.

      For watching TV during the day, buy Samsung. For watching movies in dark rooms, buy an OLED from LG or Sony. (Samsung's invention of the term QLED would appear designed purely to confuse consumers - it's just an LED set with a quantum dot filter).

      For many home owners, their chief question is 'how can I make the television disappear when we're not watching it?' - a large black rectangle doesn't sit well with many decor schemes. Jony Ive used the term 'black mirror' when designing the 20th Anniversary Mac and was considering ways of hiding the screen when the computer was not in use.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Idiot marketing people at work again

        Saying "just an LED set" is incredibly deceptive.

        It's NOT a LED TV.

        It's a LCD TV with a LED backlight. OLED and microLED are the only LED panels. Calling a LCD with a LED backlight instead of a CCFL backlight a LED TV is idiotic marketing wank.

        QLED is marketing wank on top of marketing wank.

      2. Daedalus

        Re: Idiot marketing people at work again

        For some TV's, especially those you might by from the likes of Trotters Independent Traders, you need to have a brightish light in front of the TV, otherwise it might think you're lying in a dimly lit room and gradually turn down the brightness to nothing. Certain hotel chains in the USA buy sets from a two-initial company that do this, and I'm sure they'll find their way into the "secondary market" eventually, assuming they're not already sold across the counter at one of those friendly up-selling tech stores, on either side of the pond.

    2. Potemkine! Silver badge

      Re: Idiot marketing people at work again

      New XIAOMI TV set solves the problem!

      1. Dale 3

        Re: Idiot marketing people at work again

        Their marketing looks nice but I'm wondering how their OLEDs are producing black wingtips on the butterfly. I suspect you'll need Samsung's "Black Background" shade of paint to make this work.

        1. TRT Silver badge

          Re: Idiot marketing people at work again

          e-Ink?

  3. mark l 2 Silver badge

    Whatever happened to the technology where the rear of the TV had LEDS which would change colour depending on the content being shown, which would then reflect from your wall and colour the room to match what you were watching?

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      That's from Phillips, I can't remember the what they call it... ' AmbiLight' possibly. They also make a stand alone LED lighting strip, but it's pricey for what it is. It's not in TVs badges as Phillips sold in the USA - the name is licenced out there.

      There are also instructions on Instructables for making a DIY version, probably involving an Arduino. The tricky bit is deciding the HDMI signal (through IIRC the SD part of the signal shouldn't be encrypted).

      1. david bates

        Yes its Ambilight. Even cleverer it'll hook into Philips Hue, and you can assign different bulbs to different positions on the TV frame, so you can throw Ambilight to cover the entire room, should you wish. It works well.

        I did read they're opening the tech up to different manufacturers, which makes sense as to get the whole room effect you need to buy a Philips Hue Hub and associated bulbs.

  4. Sceptic Tank Silver badge
    Alert

    Adjust your TV set

    Why not make the housing of semi transparent plastic and put LED's inside so the owner of the TV can adjust the colour of the TV set to match the room? It's been available on keyboards for quite some time now for no apparent reason. Surely it can be done for appliances as well. Another reason to make it IoT: adjust the appearance of your belongings from your smartphone before you leave $(PLACE).

  5. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    What ?

    No link ?

    1. tfewster

      Re: What ?

      Snot green, vomit brown and piss yellow - The classics.

  6. MOH

    Wonder how long it will be before some genius buys the paint and applies it *on* the TV instead of behind it. And then sues Samsung blaming them.

    Though in fairness, it only makes marginally less sense doing that than the product existing in the first place

  7. Mage Silver badge

    Styling

    Curtains or a roller blind that match the room decor in front of TV?

    Lounge lizards can even have remote operated ones.

    1. Dante Alighieri
      Alien

      Re: Styling

      or an image of what the wall behind the tv should look like, on the Tv as a "screensaver"

  8. IGotOut Silver badge

    Does this paint..

    come with an internet connection to phone home, help create a botnet and render the paint obsolete in a few years?

    1. Alister

      Re: Does this paint..

      It's 5G activated

      1. Dante Alighieri
        Headmaster

        Re: Does this paint..

        just like in Riverworld then.....

    2. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge

      Re: Does this paint..

      Every morning it's the wrong color until you turn on the TV to watch some Samsung ads.

  9. Oh Matron!

    "match the personality and style of each TV"

    somebody has been smelling the paints a bit too much...

  10. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse

    Oh dear...

    "Colour is an amazing phenomenon."

    Oh deary me. Quotes like this really make me glad that I do something worthwhile with my life.

    1. TRT Silver badge

      Re: Oh dear...

      Oddly for the first half of my career the phenomenon of colour was the something worthwhile I was doing. Except it was a little bit wetter, ickier and "taking aparty of brains" than the wankbot marketeer-o-tron has ever done, I expect.

  11. Celeste Reinard

    Appealing Plaster

    I like to paint my face with bricks. To attract the lizzards, and scare away.... well, just to scare. When I go out for the badly needed beer. ... Make no mistake, the lichen is natural. ... Don't they know paint is bad for the environment?

  12. Chris G

    Fortunately

    I don't have a TV and have no interest in buying one, regardless of the colour of it's bezel and the opinion of a colour expert.

    Is that really a proper job? I guess an expert can recognise the exact shade of the BS that is coming out of their mouth.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Bingo!

    “The colour pairings for Samsung’s range of Lifestyle TVs were selected to match the personality and style of each TV, whilst also creating an environment that would be uplifting and ultimately complement your personality and lifestyle.”

    Such a load of wankery in one statement.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Well, I hope their paint is better than the "top of the range" paint I had applied to the external walls of my house 3 years ago as it's peeling off already, same over the road and I reckon it's all down to water based or something like that. The paint that was up before lasted 10 years+.

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