Next generation UHD OLED televisions have gone on sale in Australia as LG one-ups market leader Samsung.
LG’s 55-inch and 65-inch EG960T televisions combine a trio of cutting edge technologies, including support for ultra high definition content (aka 4K), a curved screen form factor and the enviable OLED panel.
OLED panel technology has long been limited to prototypes due to the difficulties associated with its manufacturing and concerns over its lifespan.
Rival Samsung previously promoted the technology up until last year, when the company backflipped in favour of traditional LED-backlit televisions.
Improved manufacturing techniques have made it possible for LG to commercially release the superior panel technology, said Grant Vandenberg, the marketing manager for LG Home Electronics.
“LG has been working on OLED panels for six years. It’s not an easy technology to manufacture.
“The yield rate is up over 80 per cent and we use a white sub-pixel to help longevity.
“These televisions have been designed and tested to last 30,000 hours. That’s ten years, based on eight hours of television a day.”
These televisions join an already offered Full HD OLED television, the 55-inch EC950T, which has a recommended retail price of $3999. Approximately 6000 OLED televisions have been sold in Australia since its release in October of 2014, said Vandenberg.
Organic light emitting diodes (OLED) televisions are organically backlit. This means individual pixels can have their backlighting turned off for levels of blacks that are absolute.
Not needing a separate panel for backlighting proves advantageous on the aesthetics front as parts of an OLED television can be as thin as a pencil.
“This TV is capable of producing over 1 billion colours,” said Vandenberg.
“When the pixels turn off, it’s pure black. Its the ability of these pixels to turn on and off individually.
“We’re the only TV company in the market to offer OLED TVs.”
Other notable features include a the WebOS 2.0 smart television platform, a quad-core CPU, in-built Wi-Fi and a 6-step upscaler, the latter of which will elevate ordinary content to near-UHD levels.
Fleshing out the range with ultra high definition models will help familiarise customers with OLED televisions, said Vandenberg, and give LG a distinct competitive advantage over market leader Samsung.
“Now there will be an OLED zone in stores. There will be a number of dedicated racks or displays and information set up around [the OLED televisions].”
The 55- and 65-inch EG960T televisions are already on sale in select Harvey Norman stores at $5999 and $9999 respectively. More retailers are expected to stock the television in the near future.
