Jordan O'BrienLG has once again astonished audiences at CES with its OLED TVs, as the company rolled out its latest offering – the LG Signature OLED TV W. In previous years the company has showcased improved picture quality and a thinner design, but at CES 2017 the South Korean manufacturer took ‘thin’ to a whole new level.
At its press conference in Las Vegas, LG teased that the W could stand for just about anything the user wants it to. Whether that’s ‘wallpaper’, ‘window’ or even ‘wow’. What the company did confirm is that the key feature with its latest sets will be the Picture-on-Wall design.
Last year LG rolled out a new design language called ‘Picture-on-Screen’, which reduced the thickness of the screens to just four credit cards thick – or around 2.57mm at its thinnest point. While the new Signature OLED TV W is identical in thickness to last year’s generation, there have been a few changes to make it feel even thinner.
Firstly, the LG G6 that launched at CES 2016 came with a bulky attached soundbar that added heft, while all the TV’s internals were also integrated into the set – meaning the bottom of the TV was thicker than the top.
The LG Signature OLED TV W suffers no such issues. Instead this ‘wallpaper’ TV will ship with a separate soundbar which comes equipped with all the input ports the TV should need. This includes four HDMI ports, three USB connections and an optical audio ports.
Those wanting the W OLEDs have no choice but to have the soundbar, because there are no actual physical inputs in the TV itself. It makes the 2.57mm thickness possible as it removes all the internals and instead the TV simply becomes a monitor for the soundbar.
There are a few other things users need to be prepared to give up if they go for the W series. That includes versatile mounting options, or even something as simple as having the TV on a stand. That’s because the LG Signature OLED TV W is wall mountable only, and it can only be mounted using a magnetic strip. The upside to this is that the TV can sit flush to the wall.
LG says that it explored the possibility of shipping a stand but found it difficult to engineer one due to the TV’s size and weight. LG also confirmed that it can only be mounted on flat walls. Despite a little flexibility, the TV cannot be mounted on curved walls.
Despite the insane thickness and a few inconveniences, LG has packed in the technology into its new flagship OLEDs. This includes the inclusion of Dolby Vision as standard, which also shipped with the company’s OLEDs last year. What is new this year is the inclusion of Dolby Atmos – making the OLED W amongst the first TVs to get both Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos support in one package.
In addition to the new features, LG has also enhanced the picture quality of the latest models. This includes better colour accuracy, LG says that the TVs now cover 99% of the DCI-P4 gamut, 25% higher peak brightness and improved anti-reflectivity. All the TVs also support Active HDR, which was a feature that debuted earlier this week on LG’s new LCD models.
It’s not just the OLED W gaining these picture boosts however, as LG is also upgrading its old B6, C6, E6 and G6 models. The new model numbers are appropriately B7, C7 E7 and G7, and are almost identical to the older models, bar the picture improvement.
“With Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos integrated tightly into our newest OLED products, viewers will be able to recapture the magic of the cinema and experience their favourite movies with their original clarity, depth and imagination intact,” says Brian Kwon, president and CEO of LG’s Home Entertainment Company.
“The stunning new TVs on display at CES this week demonstrate our commitment to innovation and leadership in OLED and the premium TV market globally.”
The LG 2017 OLED TV line-up consists of 10 models, with the W7, G7 and B7 coming in 77in and 65in variations, while the E7 and C7 will be available in 65in and 55in. Pricing has yet to be confirmed, but last year’s G7 started at $4,999 in the US – meaning it’s likely that the W series will start at even more. There’s also no word on when each TV will be made available.