For the most part smartphones are designed to be used in portrait mode, while most TV shows, movies, and home videos have historically been shot in landscape/widescreen.

So while there are still plenty of purists who complain whenever they see vertical videos on YouTube or elsewhere, it’s also not exactly surprising that Instagram, Snapchat, and other phone-first platforms have largely embraced vertical video — you can shoot videos without rotating your phone, and people who watch will do so the same way.

But with a growing amount of vertical content being shot on phones, it leads to the question… is it just for phones? Samsung’s betting that some folks might want to watch those videos on a bigger screen, because the company has just introduced a 43 inch TV designed for vertical video.

One of these things is not like the others

The Samsung Sero goes on sale in South Korea next month for about $1,600, and it’s a QLED television with 60 watt, 4.1 channel speakers, support for NFC for pairing with your smartphone, and the ability to mirror your phone’s display — allowing you to stream vertical videos straight to your TV.

The good news is that the Sero isn’t just a vertical TV. You can also rotate the screen 90 degrees to watch videos in landscape orientation… just the way you can on your phone.

In fact, while Samsung is pitching this as a TV that can be used for vertical video, it might be better to think of it as a TV that supports 90 degree screen rotation. And if that’s a trend that takes off, it’s one that I could even see vertical video-haters getting behind, since it could open the door to displaying portrait-orientation artwork or other content on a TV when you’re not using it to watch videos.

via SamMobile and The Korea Herald

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11 replies on “Samsung Sero is a vertical TV for watching vertical videos”

  1. I think these new designs that include the stand are smart. People don’t need TV stands to hold anything anymore.

    The Sero is just a TV with a built in stand/mount that lets you rotate 90 degrees and TV software that reacts appropriately. There’s barely anything new here but marketing but I think it’s a useful upgrade. I’d love for my TV to be able to rotate 90 degrees to read my news sites from my RSS reader in the morning. Widescreen is not ideal for reading, it’d be like if a book’s words spanned across both pages before going to the next line.

    I wish it was motorized and self leveling though. Whenever I move my TV, I end up sitting down, then getting back up and adjusting it at least once, if not twice or three times.

  2. Just a few random thoughts:
    Other than the placement of speakers and slots for heat dissipation, what makes a TV/Monitor a horizontal or vertical TV/Monitor?
    Human vision has a wide field of view, not tall field of view. How does a vertical monitor make sense?
    How difficult is it to rotate your phone 90 degrees to shoot video (or take a photo)? It means you will most likely be holding your phone with both hands which should lead to a more stable video, less nauseating, video.
    Have I gotten so old that I really can’t understand the basic thought processes of the 20 somethings?

    1. Personally I don’t take a lot of photos or videos or use social media sites, but I suspect many people do this because of selfies. I don’t know just how many photos/videos people typically take that are of themselves or other people, but if it’s enough, say, at least 40%, it could become the default instinct to hold the phone in portrait while photographing anything.
      Also, snapchat doesn’t let you send landscape photos/videos.

  3. Vertical displays have been around for digital signage for many years, but it must be the first time I see one for the consumer market.

  4. Theoretically, any flat panel TV is physically capable of this, provided it’s on a mount that can rotate 90 degrees, and monitors more so. But it’s not like this solves the problem of a phone being rotated mid-recording!
    However, if modern video formats actually include camera orientation in the video stream dynamically, and it rotates automatically in response (the linked articles don’t suggest that it does), then I guess this is a way you can work on yourself, to be more welcoming, accommodating, and tolerant of “the millennium generation” [sic].
    Blegh. I hope nobody actually tries to make it like it’s my fault that I don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on a gimmick TV. Maybe it’ll see more use as versatile signage.

      1. Or…. Apple can implement a software update, where it defaults on a setting, that causes the camera to record in landscape even if you hold the phone in portrait mode (by using the gyroscope).

        Then after Apple does this, Samsung will follow soon then Google’s Pixel.
        And who knows after that, maybe the rest of the industry…?
        Basically a smartphone for dumbperson.

  5. I was actually thinking of drawing a web comic a while ago that was mocking the possibility of this in the future.

    In 2030, a family gathers around the TV and dad says “Okay kids, lets watch family videos from 2018”, and the dad rotates the TV by 90 degrees.

    1. You lost me at the family in 2030. Even now most professional people are not having kids.

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