CES 2019

LG came to CES to launch the industry’s first roll-up OLED TV (at 65 inches), introduce its first two 8K TV sets, and expand its selection of TVs with screen sizes of 70 inches or more to 11 models in all.

The Korean electronics giant will also build three AI voice assistants into all of its 4K smart TVs, which will incorporate Google Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa, and LG’s own ThinQ AI. LG’s assistant expands natural-language voice control to hundreds of TV functions compared with the more limited TV controls available through the Google and Amazon assistants. In 2018, LG’s 4K TVs featured Google Assistant and ThinQ. All of the new 4K TVs come with microphone-equipped remotes to send voice commands to the TVs.

In detailing its lineup, LG said its roll-up Signature Series 65R9 OLED smart TV (far left in photo) will be available in mid-2019 in the flagship Signature series. The TV’s OLED panel rolls up into a tabletop enclosure to disappear from sight. It’s targeted at decor-conscious homeowners who don’t want a big black screen dominating a room’s interior design and could be the solution that entices people to add a big-screen TV to more rooms of the house.

The company’s two 8K TVs consist of an 88-inch Signature-series OLED TV (middle in the photo) and the 75-inch SM9970 LCD TV in the NanoCell series, the step-up LCD TV series formerly called Super UHD. The 8K LCD TV offers full-array back-lit local dimming to heighten contrast. Both 8K TVs feature HDR10, Dolby Vision, HLG, Advanced HDR by Technicolor, and proprietary Active HDR, which adds active metadata to HDR 10 to deliver scene-by-scene control of dynamic range. They’re slated to ship sometime after March.

In expanding its selection of TVs with screen sizes of 70 inches or more, LG will offer the following models: the 88-inch 8K OLED TV, the 75-inch 8K LCD TV, two 77-inch 4K OLED models, three 75-inch LCD models, two 86-inch LCD models, one 82-inch LCD model, and a 70-inch LCD model.

Prices were unavailable.

The company is also upgrading the HDMI inputs on all OLED TVs and on three series of NanoCell TVs to add 4K 120fps HFR (high frame rate) capability, which was previously available only on USB inputs. These models also upgrade their HDMI connections to add these HDMI 2.1 features: variable refresh rate (VRR) and auto low latency mode (ALLM) for gamers and enhanced audio return channel (eARC), enabling a TV’s HDMI inputs to pass through wide-bandwidth Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master (accompanied by Dolby Atmos and DTS:X metadata) to an eARC-equipped AV receiver or soundbar for decoding.

In other TV-audio developments, LG is making Dolby Atmos decoding available in all 2019 OLED TVs and in four of the five 4K LCD NanoCell TVs, enabling the sets to deliver Atmos height effects through the TV’s internal speakers. LG became the first TV supplier to support Dolby Atmos playback through TV speakers in some of its 2018 TVs.

Also new: the new HU85LA ultra-short-throw (UST) 4K laser projector, which features dual red and blue lasers to expand color gamut to 92% of the DCI P3 cinema standard. It is LG’s first projector with both built-in Google Assistant and LG’s ThinQ AI. The projector delivers 2,500 ANSI lumens and supports HDR 10.

LG is carrying over current 4K Blu-ray players and intends to stay in the market, a spokesman said.