We've been waiting for news of Samsung's replacement for its flagship A950-series LCD TVs, which was one of the top-rated LCD TVs in Consumer Reports' LCD TV Ratings (available to subscribers). Samsung has now confirmed reports that the new Series 9 sets (which will use the newer B9000 designation) will, like A950 models, use full-frame LED backlighting with local dimming. The recently announced 6000-, 7000- and 8000-series sets use edge LED backlighting, which doesn't allow for local dimming.

Also, the sets will reportedly use a two-piece media system, with a separate media module that contains the TV tuners, so that signals are beamed wirelessly to the TV. We also expect the TV, offered in 46- and 55-inch screen sizes, to include Samsung's Medi@2.0 Internet suite, which uses Yahoo's Internet Widget interface to provide access to online content, including news, sports, weather, Flickr and YouTube. The TVs are expected to be released late this summer, although final pricing and availability haven't been determined. —James K. Willcox