Skip to main content

We discuss wallpaper TVs, roll-up TVs, and OLED canyons with LG’s Tim Alessi

Digital Trends sat down with Tim Alessi of LG product marketing at our CES 2018 in Las Vegas booth to discuss what LG is showing off at this year’s show.

LG’s novel OLED designs and Google Assistant

The big issue at hand is, of course, LG’s 2018 TV lineup. LG is releasing a new version of its seriously impressive wallpaper TV, known as the W8. While the W8 looks a lot like its predecessor, the W7, there are some big enhancements to the hardware inside. Specifically, the W8 wallpaper OLED will be packing LG’s new Alpha 9 processor. This new processor is designed to not only deliver the best picture possible right now, but in the future as well.

“You can start out with the same panel, but you still have to make the picture on it,” Alessi said in the interview. “With 4K, HDR, and the coming generation of higher framerates, it’s a lot of power required to process all that data. The Alpha 9 is designed to be ready for anything that comes down the pike. It’s the most powerful processor we’ve created to date; it’s got up to 50 percent more power for not only graphics and processing, but also memory to handle all that.”

We’ve also heard about how Google Assistant integration will make LG’s TVs, like the W8, the centerpiece of a smart home environment. And then there’s LG’s mind blowing rollable OLED, which curls up into its base to hide away.

Alessi said we can expect the W8 to drop in mid-to-late March, but there’s no word on pricing yet.

Super UHD TVs, Technicolor HDR, and more

Also at CES is LG’s line of 2018 Super UHD LED-LCD TVs, which use nano display technology. These displays purify the picture, widen the color gamut, and reduce glare. Plus, because the displays are IPS panels, you can watch off-center without losing any picture or color quality.

All of LG’s T’s will be benefiting from its partnership with Technicolor in the form of picture modes specially tuned by Technicolor experts and support for Technicolor’s new HDR format, HDR by Technicolor. As Alessi explains, HDR by Technicolor “is similar to HDR10, but it has some benefits for backward compatibility and very efficient delivery of SDR and HDR content to the screen.”

Watch our full interview above to hear more about LG’s TVs, smart home ecosystem, its 4K laser projector, and the remarkable entrance to LG’s CES booth, which features a 256-panel OLED canyon.

Topics
Brendan Hesse
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Brendan has written about a wide swath of topics, including music, fitness and nutrition, and pop culture, but tech was…
LG debuts two new CineBeam 4K HDR projectors
LG CineBeam HU715Q and HU710P 4K HDR projectors.

LG has unveiled its two most advanced projectors to date. The LG CineBeam HU715Q and HU710P both feature 4K resolution and HDR capabilities with 2,000,000:1 contrast ratios. Both models will be available in the first quarter of 2022, and LG released pricing on February 28.

The HU710P will retail at $2,500. It uses a hybrid laser-LED light source, which LG says doesn't require a color wheel, and can generate up to 2,000 lumens of brightness. The HU715Q, which is a larger, ultra short throw model, uses just laser light and produces up to 2,500 lumens. Both projectors will work in most indoor settings, but LG says they can also be enjoyed outside, after sunset.

Read more
Sony claims mini-LED superiority with 2022 8K and 4K TVs
Sony 2022 Bravia XR TV lineup.

For Sony's TV ambitions, 2022 is looking like a banner year. Not only has it become the first company to bring a QD-OLED TV to market (the Sony A95K), but it is also branching out into mini-LED backlighting for its non-OLED flagship models, the 8K resolution Z9K, and the X95K, a 4K model. And naturally, Sony believes its version of mini-LED is better than the competition, thanks to a new version of its XR Backlight Master Drive and improvements to its Cognitive Processor XR technology.
Better mini-LED?

Why is Sony so confident that its min-LED TVs are better than TCL's mini-LED models, Samsung's Neo QLED TV, and LG's mini-LED QNED models? Apparently, none of these competitors are applying sufficient algorithmic control over their backlights, according to Sony, which results in less-than-ideal picture quality.

Read more
LG 2022 OLED TVs get brighter, bigger and … smaller?
The 97-inch LG OLED EVO G2.

The wait is over. LG has taken the wraps off its 2022 OLED TV lineup, and there's plenty to be excited about.

I traveled to LG's U.S. Headquarters in New Jersey ahead of CES 2022 to get a close-up look at all of LG's new 2022 TVs. Given the predictable excitement about LG OLED TVs in general, I'll stay focused on those models in this report, but you can learn about LG's QNED mini-LED TV lineup and some improvements to its Dolby Atmos soundbars here.

Read more