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Panasonic's extra-bright OLED TV is aimed at cinephiles
Panasonic is known for building costly TVs with exceptional image quality, and it's keeping that trend going at CES 2020. Its latest HZ2000 model is the first OLED TV to support Dolby Vision IQ and Filmmaker Mode, features aimed at cinephiles who want to view films exactly as the creators intended. It's built using Panasonic's Master HDR OLED Professional Edition panel, which also delivers up to an extra 20 percent peak brightness compared to other OLED TVs.
Watch LG's CES press event in 9 minutes
This morning, LG used its CES press conference to reveal more details about its "Real 8K" televisions and rollable 4K OLED TV. LG also offered a glimpse of its 48-inch 4K OLED and its GX Gallery Series ultrathin wallpaper OLED TVs. Additionally, the company confirmed that the 2020 lineup will support Dolby Vision IQ and Filmmaker Mode, and US viewers will be able to get additional details about specific scenes.
Sony's 8K and OLED TVs adapt their sound to your room
Sony is coming to CES with its customary TV lineup revamp, and this year the focus is as much on sound as it is picture quality. Its newly unveiled Z8H 8K LED (shown above), A9S 4K OLED, A8H 4K OLED, X950H 4K LED (pictured below) and X900H 4K LED sets bring an Ambient Optimization feature that fine-tunes the picture and sound to your viewing space, including an Acoustic Audio Calibration feature that supposedly delivers the "full sound potential" of your TV during the initial setup process. And if you spring for the top-of-the-line Z8H, you'll get a Frame Tweeter that vibrates the frame of the TV itself to generate sound -- if you can't hook up dedicated speakers, this should be more immersive than what you'd normally get from built-in audio.
LG's 2020 TVs: Massive 8K screens and the first 48-inch 4K OLED
Prior to LG's CES 2020 press conference this morning, the company had already revealed a slew of "Real 8K" televisions, and announced that the rollable 4K OLED TV we saw at last year's show will be ready to go on sale later this year. Both of those were present in its demo area, and looked impressive. 8K is sharp on LCD "NanoCell" screens, but the 8K OLED really popped, even if it was only playing demo content and hard to compare directly to what we've seen before from 4K OLED screens. Meanwhile, the rollable screen LG is planning on selling still only rolls one way, and won't have some of the features other new TVs have (like ATSC 3.0 compatibility to receive 4K via antenna) when it finally ships. Of course, those aren't the only TVs that LG will put on the market in 2020, and now the company is ready to talk about more of the lineup.
Vizio's new soundbar rotates its speakers for Dolby Atmos, DTS:X content
Vizio isn't just the brand that makes cheaper TVs with high-end features, over the last few years it's increasingly become known for offering a number of excellent home theater audio options too. For CES 2020 its soundbar lineup is getting a rebranding to match the popular M-Series and V-Series 4K televisions it sells, while a new premium soundbar is made to match the new OLED TVs it just announced. The Vizio Elevate Sound Bar (shown above) has 18 total drivers, with a pair of channels in the main soundbar that point forward when playing stereo or 5.1 audio, but automatically rotate up to increase height effects when they play Dolby Atmos and DTS:X encoded audio. It's made to work on its own with any TV, or to dock "seamlessly" with the Vizio OLED TVs. There's also a wireless 8-inch subwoofer and two satellite surround speakers that add p to 107dB of output. Like everything else Vizio is announcing today, there's no word on a price or release date. Other than that model, instead of simply branding its soundbars by size and speaker configuration, they now have M-Series and V-Series names just like its midrange 4K TVs (the Elevate has a P-Series model number, P514a, just like the high-end TVs). The M-Series and higher models with Atmos and DTS:X will have HDMI 2.1 inputs along with eARC support, so that you can pass through uncompressed Dolby and DTS Audio from built-in TV apps.
Vizio's 4K TV lineup adds OLED and a new voice remote for 2020
For CES 2020 Vizio is showing off a refreshed TV lineup that's upgraded across the board. Beyond picture quality improvements, the SmartCast UI that Vizio's TVs rely upon is moving to version 4.0 with easier input switching, personalization and a new remote with push-to-talk voice control that should help it fight back against competitors like TCL. This new version of SmartCast will bring performance and personalization updates to TVs going back to the company's 2016 models. While it already works with Siri, Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, the new version is supposed to allow with easier pairing for Assistant and Alexa-compatible devices n the SmartCast Mobile app. Its voice remote is also capable for more than just TV operation, with support for Wikipedia searches, weather updates and more.
LG delivers 'Real 8K' in 2020 with eight new OLED and LCD TVs
With CES about to start, LG has unveiled some hints about its new top of the line TVs for 2020 without mentioning prices or release dates. In this era that means jumping from 4K to 8K, and the company will have eight new models that it says promise "Real 8K" performance that "exceeds" the CTA's spec for 8K. The way LG sees things, even though Samsung's QLED tech may be certified as 8K, that doesn't make it "real" without surpassing a minimum test for contrast modulation (CM) threshold requirements. Those eight 8K models include two LG Signature OLED sets in 88- and 77-inch sizes (88/77 OLED ZX) as well as six of its NanoCell-branded LCD televisions (75/65 Nano99, 75/65 Nano97, 75/65 Nano95) in 75- and 65-inch sizes. In terms of getting 8K content (whenever and wherever that's available), they can handle YouTube's preferred AV1 codec as well as HEVC and VP9, 8K inputs from USB or HDMI, and finally, 8K 60FPS via streaming as well as 8K 60P via HDMI.
LG's new rollable OLED TV concept unfurls from the ceiling
Last year at CES, LG was all about the Signature Series OLED TV R, a 65-inch television that rolls up from a brushed aluminum base -- a device we saw the bare bones of a year early courtesy of its screen-manufacturing arm. At CES 2020, LG Display will unveil the latest iteration of its rollable TV line, a 65-inch, UHD OLED display concept that rolls down from the ceiling (though hopefully not only brushed aluminum ones). The company says the screen "can be pulled down when desired and rolled up when not in use," maximizing space.
Samsung's QLED 8K TV will be one of the first certified by the 8K Association
Samsung has fired a shot in a brewing 8K standards war by announcing that its 8K QLED TVs will be among the first to be certified by the fledgling 8K Association (8KA) sometime next year. That means the sets will hit a minimum 7,680 x 4,320 resolution (twice that of UHD), while peaking out at 600 nits of brightness and supporting HDMI2.1 and HEVC (H.265) standards. That could include models like Samsung's rumored bezel-free Q950T.
Cadillac’s 2021 Escalade will boast a 38-inch curved OLED screen
In a teaser video published today, Cadillac offers a glimpse of the 38-inch, curved OLED screen that will arrive in its 2021 Escalade. Cadillac says the display will have "twice the pixel density of a 4K television." It didn't share much beyond that but plans to reveal the Escalade during Oscars week, on February 4th.
These Coca-Cola bottles use OLEDs to light up Rey and Kylo Ren’s lightsabers
With Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker coming out on December 20th, you're bound to see a lot of products that tie into the upcoming movie, but few will probably be as unique as these Coca-Cola bottles. They feature main characters Rey and Kylo Ren, with lightsabers that light up anytime you touch the labels.
Samsung gets closer to building 'QD-OLED' TVs that rival LG's OLED
While Samsung has become dominant in using OLED technology on mobile displays -- even Apple uses its screens for iPhones -- in TVs, the big name in OLED is its competitor, LG. LG's TVs have wowed testers with their ability to control light precisely because each pixel is self-illuminating, unlike the "QLED" branded quantum dot LCD tech Samsung relies on exclusively, which still puts LED backlights behind a filter. That could change soon, however, as Samsung announced in October that it's investing $11 billion by 2025 to build a plant capable of manufacturing true QLED TV screens that self-illuminate. It tried building TVs with the technology earlier this decade, like the 55-inch Super OLED screens shown above. But it opted out of further development, claiming burn-in is too much of a problem and saying the TVs would have a short lifespan. Now two Samsung researchers, Dr. Eunjoo Jang and Dr. Yu-Ho Won have published a paper in Nature about new quantum dot LED technology that relies on indium phosphide instead of toxic cadmium, and has a lifetime of up to a million hours. Their improved shell design appears to increase efficiency by preventing oxidation and energy leaks. For Samsung to make that big investment in building "QD-OLED" displays it must believe any issues are going to be resolved soon, it's just a matter of when we'll actually see new TVs on shelves.
Test shows dark mode really can save battery life on OLED iPhones
Dark mode is a key feature on iOS 13, but can it really extend your iPhone's battery life? If it's an OLED model, the answer seems to be a firm yes, according to tests done by PhoneBuff. They used robotic devices to perform identical tasks on two iPhone XS test devices, one in light and one in dark mode. That included watching a YouTube video, using Twitter, navigating with Google Maps and chatting on the Messages app.
Samsung will gladly help you check if your OLED TV has burn-in
Samsung might be all about OLED in smartphone displays, but it's steered away from using those types of screens for its TVs, instead harnessing LCD and QLED tech. As part of its efforts to remind people that OLED can be susceptible to burn-in, it has released a super-helpful (and not at all borne out of self-interest) way to check your screen for the problem.
LG puts its transparent OLED TVs in Harrods windows
Despite years of trade show demonstrations, we haven't seen jaw-dropping transparent OLED screens put to much practical use. If others won't use the tech, then LG will have to make an example itself, which will be visible to the public this month in the famous show windows of Harrods in Hans Crescent.
LG Display's TV and phone screens struggle against cheaper Chinese rivals
Unable to compete with the glut of cheaper Chinese LCD panels, LG Display has replaced its chief executive and is looking to cut jobs. Early this week, the South Korean company held an emergency board meeting to accept the resignation of Han Sang-beom and appoint LG Chem President Jeong Ho-young as the new CEO, Reuters reports. According to Financial Times, the company has also revealed a voluntary redundancy program in an attempt to reduce its domestic workforce.
LG plugs NVIDIA G-Sync into its 2019 OLED TVs
At CES in January NVIDIA promised more big-screen G-Sync-compatible displays were coming and now LG says they're already here. A firmware update for its 2019 OLED TVs will roll out soon adding support for the feature promising "smooth, tear-free immersion" with compatible PC games. That should make them an ideal setup for gamers seeking big screens with imperceptible response times, as long as the company can quell worries about burn-in. LG G-Sync Compatible 2019 OLED TVs 65-, 55-inch E9 77-, 65-, 55-inch C9 Other features in its 2019 lineup that make the TVs appealing for gaming include HDMI 2.1 features like variable refresh rate (VRR) and Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM). NVIDIA marketing exec Matt Wuebbling said in a statement that "We are excited to bring G-SYNC Compatible support to LG's 2019 OLED TVs and HDMI Variable Refresh Rate support to our GeForce RTX 20-Series GPUs." Until now, if you wanted G-Sync and a big screen you needed to opt for HP's $5,000 65-inch Omen X Emperium set, but these options are great for both gaming and Netflix, with lower price tags to boot. However, that set carries NVIDIA's G-Sync Ultimate tag, while LG's are stamped G-Sync Compatible because they don't use NVIDIA's processors.
Panasonic's high-contrast dual LCD does a great impression of an OLED
Panasonic's cavernous IFA booth had everything from high-concept beauty products through to cameras and TVs. Regarding the latter, it had two prototype TVs, an advanced transparent OLED that Panasonic has showed off at tradeshows in the past, and a "mega contrast" TV that could, one day, power movie production house mastering monitors.
LG's mammoth 88-inch 8K OLED TV goes on sale
LG introduced an almost comically massive 88-inch 8K OLED TV, its largest to date, at CES in January. Now this behemoth is going on sale, offering a viewing experience that makes even the most feature-packed 4K set look outdated.
Samsung's Galaxy A90 5G delivers specs and super-fast connectivity
Being expensive, finicky and hard to find, 5G is still the ultimate early adopter tech. Now, Samsung has brought that incredible speed potential within reach by launching the Galaxy A90 5G. Unlike models including the Galaxy Note 10 Plus 5G or OnePlus 7 Pro 5G, it's one of the few non-flagship 5G phones available, so it might be actually hit a reasonable price point.
