CES: LG launches new Ultra HD 4K TVs

Life

7 January 2013

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas we took a look at LG’s range of Ultra HD – or 4K – TVs. 4K is touted at the successor to Full HD and offers four times the resolution of Blu-ray to produce stunning picture quality.

Full HD TVs have a resolution of 1920×1080, but Ultra HD sets boost this to 3840×2160. It equates to around 8 million pixels, which is four times the number delivered by Full HD, hence the 4K moniker.

In the 84LM9600, LG uses an 84in IPS panel. In the demo we saw, this produced stunning colours no matter at what angle you view the picture, and excellent contrast too.

As well as the 84" sets, LG unveiled 65" and 55" versions with the same Ultra HD resolution. Of course, all also support 3D content as well as 2D, and use polarising filters (passive 3D) allowing inexpensive, lightweight glasses to be used.

The technology also means two players can play a multiplayer game and see different views of the same game across the whole screen.

We were seriously impressed with the picture quality offered by the TVs. The demo footage consisted of detailed landscape shots and cityscapes and in both cases, the images were clearly better than Full HD. Even from a normal viewing distance, textures such as rock faces, grass and leaves on tress were all sharp and well-defined and obviously more detailed than a ‘standard’ HD broadcast would offer.

Up close, it was almost impossible to see individual pixels and, as you might expect, the effect of all the extra detail had even more impact.

Unfortunately, although Ultra HD TV sets are likely to become more common over the next couple of years, there’s little chance of you being able to afford one right now. The only model currently on sale – the 84" – costs around €25,000, and there are no Ultra HD broadcasts or 4K content for you to watch.

The set, which goes by the model name 84LM960V in the UK, does a great job of upscaling Full HD content, but by LG’s own admission, may not be compatible with an official Ultra HD or 4K standard when one is developed.

IDG News Service

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