Best of CES, Television: LG’s 55” OLED TV

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LG is planning to release its first 55” OLED TV in US with its 55-inch 55EM9600 TV.  The LG 55EM9600 presents a unique piece of technology with an additional fourth white pixel on top of the traditional OLED RGB (Red, Green, Blue) color pixels.  The extra white pixel was added to save cost and produce brighter picture according to LG.

Design
LG 55EM9600 features a 55-inch edge-to-edge screen with a very thin bezel.  It is 4mm thick and weighs in at 16.5pounds.  At 55 inches wide and 4mm thick, it’s almost like a giant sheet of paper – beautiful, color-rich, OLED paper.

Performance and Features

The LG 55EM9600 has the more familiar 1080p resolution (1920 × 1080 at 60fps).  The TV features OLED display technology, which is supposed to combine strength of both LCD and Plasma displays, combining deep blacks and bright whites which produces amazing contrast ratio. Furthermore, OLED panels do not require backlighting; each pixel produces its own light when charged with electricity.  In addition to the standard red, green, and blue pixels, they’ve added a white pixel. LG promises that this results in a “more accurate color depiction”.


3D
The LG 55EM9600 implements a passive shutter 3D technology, LG calls this the “Cinema 3D.”  Passive 3D uses far less expensive glasses that also weigh less, making them more comfortable. LG is leading the troops on passive 3D, while, Samsung, Sony, and Panasonic have put their efforts behind active shutter.

Specifications

Series Name 55EM9600
Size 55 inch
Format 1080p
3D Yes
General Type OLED
Internet Features Yes
Resolution 1920 x 1080

LG is not the only TV manufacturer to hit the market with OLED TVs but it will be the first to deliver the 55-inch display.  The exact pricing and release dates are not clear as of now but do not expect this puppy to cost anything less than $3000. We are hoping that other companies will jump in on the OLED bandwagon and the prices will eventually drop with high consumer demand.  LG has been saying that the OLED TVs will cost the same as LCD TVs by 2016, which is a long wait time for any price-sensitive consumer.

  • Mojo_LA

    Disappointing resolution? Bite me, since when is full 1920×1080 disappointing? OLED is the future, I’ve been excited about this technology for years and it will finally bring back all the picture quality we sacrificed when CRTs were kicked to the curb. Yes, CRT! They were big and bulky but even today they still have superior picture quality: better contrast than either LCD or plasma, perfect blacks (it is impossible for LCD or plasma to reproduce true black), no motion smearing (even that 2ms reponse time on your favorite LCD results in blurry fast motion in comparison) and no viewing angle issues (with LCD, when you look at the screen off-center, brightness and color noticeably shifts. Not so with OLED, moving side to side will look the same as if you were moving around a photograph).

    And of course OLED is super thin, super light and uses next to no power, all because they require NO BACKLIGHT. The backlight is where the bulk, weight and power consumption comes from LCD. Since OLED pixels are self-luminous, they essentially light themselves up. Power consumption is based on pixel brightness, much like a flashlight – the darker you go, the less power you use. With OLED, a black screen essentially uses no power! So if you want to save money, watch movies like Blade Runner and Dark City often :-)

    Also, since the manufacturing process is far less complex than LCD, all the major players have already said prices will drop fast and eventually be CHEAPER than LCD! They make them by essentially ink-jet printing the OLED particles onto the screen).

  • Guest

    resolution is very disappointing