Like many of you, we at Digital Trends take the holidays seriously. It’s a time for family, friends, gifts, drinking and hopeful optimism – and drinking. Unfortunately for all of us, this doesn’t mean that the juggernaut that is the 24-hour tech news cycle takes a breather.
Over the recent holiday break, the PR mill was plenty busy doing its best to stir up interest about the loads of new products that we can expect to see at next week’s International CES 2013. But it was Korean electronics giant LG that stole the show before it got started.
Don’t worry if you missed it, though. Our stalwart home theater guru, Caleb Denison, set aside his holiday traditions (except the eggnog, of course) to cover all of LG’s announcements. Catch up with our round-up below.
OLED
At CES last year, OLED TVs by LG and Samsung were the devices du jour as the technology blew away those who were able to get their eyeballs on them. Unfortunately, neither company managed to put an OLED TV into the field, and as a result, the technology lost a bit of its shine. It didn’t help that LG and Sony both successfully launched consumer-ready 4K sets, either.
Not to worry, though. LG has promised its 55-inch OLED will be hitting the company’s home market of Korea in February with details concerning a U.S. release due in the coming weeks. For a few more details, check out our full coverage here.
47 flavors of HDTV
If LG’s advertisements for its 2013 TV-lineup sound like a rerun of the Six Million Dollar Man, you’re not far off. That’s because LG is making much of its new, almost exclusively LED TV line-up faster, smarter and brighter. The 2013 line is even losing a little bit of weight and more than a little bezel, though LG hasn’t confirmed how much yet. Beyond the size and look of LG’s new TVs, 2013 seems to focus on control and connectivity with all the company’s sets getting better smart app integration (which LG lagged in last year) and a pimped out version of LG’s Wii-esque Magic Motion remote control.
We will note that LG hasn’t completely abandoned you plasma lovers…yet. The company is bringing three plasma models in 2013, though its focus is clearly trending toward LED TVs.
Google TVs
Google TV has struggled to find its place in the TV marketplace, and with manufacturers getting aggressive with smart app integration and Internet connectivity, it’s only going to get tougher for the floundering platform.
However, that doesn’t mean LG is giving up on Google TV. In fact, the company is showing Google some big love with seven new Google TV-based models for 2013. Coupled with Magic Motion remote control integration and an overhaul of the user interface, 2013 might be the year that Google TV breaks though.
100-inch Laser projection TV for any home
Projectors are a hard sell in the home theater world. For many, the burden of installing a projector into their homes isn’t worth the promise of a movie theater experience, especially when you can get an enormous television that’s half-again as easy to install (and half as expensive, for that matter).
But LG may have cracked the code for making large-screen projection TV a family friendly proposition with its new Laser TV projector unit. The black box that anchors this system is part TV, part projector, and only needs 22-inches of distance to display up to 100-inches of HD-quality images. It’s an interesting gamble that could change how you view the term “Home Theater”.
All the home theater you can handle
Lest we forget, LG doesn’t just make TVs, though you’d be forgiven for thinking so. The company also produces what has become an expansive line of audio and video equipment.
Some highlights include four new sound bars that LG will introduce at CES 2013, two of which feature Internet streaming for video-on-demand apps like Netflix and Pandora. For those not interested in shelling out the extra bucks for a connected TV, a streaming sound bar might be the way to go.
The media connectivity doesn’t stop there, as LG is introducing two new blu-ray players that will also offer Magic Motion integration and smart app connectivity. LG’s blu-ray players are also getting faster with the flagship BP730 slated to feature a dual-core processor for snappier loading times and navigation.
Of course, for all of the products mentioned above, LG has kept the price and full technical specifications close to its chest. But we’re sure to see more as CES gets rolling this Monday. Be sure to check back with Digital Trends for the latest developments.
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