Samsung’s new TVs can tell you if you are doing your workouts right

Samsung’s new TVs can replace your gym trainers, in a manner of speaking. Samsung’s Smart Trainer can spot your planks and squats for you.

This feature could of great help for all those home workouts, given that most people are not comfortable with going to the gym just yet since the TV acts more or less like a personal trainer. (Samsung)

While Apple might want to remind you to stand up or take a walk, Samsung's TVs are going to spot you while you workout and keep an eye on your reps. One of the features on Samsung's recently announced Q7-series TV sets, called the Smart Trainer, uses a camera to help count each pushup, each squat etc and analyse your form.

This is a part of Samsung's Health app that was launched on the company's TVs last year and the new Q70A models and up, including the 8K TVs will be getting the new feature. Now, the TV screens themselves do not come with cameras, you need to attach your own camera for the system to see you. You can also use these cameras for Google Duo calls and video chats.

This feature could of great help for all those home workouts, given that most people are not comfortable with going to the gym just yet since the TV acts more or less like a personal trainer.

Endgadget's Cherlynn Low tried this feature out at Samsung's preview event in New York and was impressed. Going by Low's experience, her workout involved jumping jacks and squats, she first had to go through a calibration process to make sure the attached camera on top of the TV could see her entirely. 

Post that every time she jumped, there was a chime to signal if she got it right. Low pointed out that some of her jumps were “not right”, according to the smart trainer and she speculated that it was possibly because some of her moves were rejected because she moved slightly out of the frame. Also the colour of clothes seemed to matter, her video producer was dressed in all black and working out in front of mostly white background and his moves were factored in just right.

At the end of the workout, the system displays rings with percentages showing how well the target of reps were met along with how well you fit the overall form.

The Smart Trainer relies on the third-party camera you are attaching to your TV so it is likely that the accuracy of this all depends on the quality of the camera you attach. Also, the Smart Trainer, for now, works with about 24 workout videos from the company's partners like Jillian Michaels, Obe Fitness etc. Samsung will have to increase its repertoire to cover more videos and sign up with more partners for more diverse content.