LAS VEGAS—TVs keep getting thinner and thinner, and LG is one of the biggest names to capitalize on this trend thanks to its use of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels. OLED, like plasma, generates its own light instead of relying on a separate backlight to illuminate the panel, so it can be made incredibly thin.
We've seen this in the LG Signature OLEDG6P and OLEDB6P series, both PCMag Editors' Choices for their picture quality. But the new LG Signature W (OLEDW7P) series, announced here today at CES, takes this even further. It completely does away with any electronic component attached to the panel, besides the panel itself.
Mounted on a wall, the Signature W TV has no bezel, backlight, or any power or control systems to make the panel thicker than the OLED technology requires. It's simply a big black rectangle that hangs on a special mounting bracket that keeps it in place thanks to keyhole hooks on the top and magnets on the bottom (which brings up an interesting bonus from the technology: OLED panels are impervious to magnetism, which can disrupt LCD and CRT TVs extensively). It's no thicker than the depth of three quarters stacked on top of each other, and appears virtually flush with the wall on which it's hanging.
All power, connectivity, and processing functions are offloaded to a combination soundbar and control unit that connects to the TV through a ribbon cable. The soundbar is Atmos-compatible, with upward-firing drivers that add verticality to the audio imaging, and retract when the TV is turned off.
I saw the LG Signature W in action, and it's extremely impressive. If comparable with previous LG OLED TVs, the W's OLED panel can produce perfect black levels and generate a very wide range of colors. It's capable of high dynamic range (HDR) video, and compatible with HDR-10 and Dolby Vision (but we can't confirm this performance until we get it into PC Labs for testing). The floating panel design, completely free of any bezel is incredibly striking. I've seen several very thin TVs with tiny bezels, but the LG Signature W is the first that really looks like a floating picture in the middle of a wall. Of course, the need to place a large soundbar underneath it can dampen that effect, but the electronics that drive the TV have to go somewhere.
Most notably, I was amazed by the flexibility of the panel. It peels off the magnets on the bottom, bending slightly without disruptingg the picture or damaging the panel. This isn't a curved or rollable display, and it isn't actually designed to be bent more than the slight flex allowed to mount and unmount it from the wall bracket. But seeing a TV bend at all and not make a heart-stopping crunch that indicates you just destroyed a very expensive piece of electronics is incredible.
This is particularly nice for LG, which has focused on making its TVs as thin and bezel-free as possible. This design aesthetic is impressive when you get it set up, but it also means that getting your new TV out of the box is an incredibly stressful process, since there are fewer safe places on which to grip the TV and the panel is so thin it's vulnerable to damage. Of course, just to reiterate, the LG Signature W is not designed to be rolled or bent; the little bit of give is just a nice touch that's necessary when dealing with such a thin panel that lacks any frame.
The LG Signature W series will come in 65- and 77-inch models, though LG has not yet announced pricing or availabililty. As the new flagship OLED, it will likely be extremely expensive, and we expect a price tag of at least $6,000 when it ships.
LG also continues to expand its OLED TV selection with the B7, C7, E7, and G7 lines. These are more conventional TV designs than the LG Signature W series, but they use the same OLED technology and, according to LG, will show compatible performance. The difference between the different tiers of OLED TVs are purely based on design elements and features relating to them, like very thin body and a Dolby Atmos-compatible soundbar.
The OLED lines offer a variety of prices (still unannounced by LG), but they remain more expensive than most comparable LCD TVs. Fortunately, LG continues to develop its LCD TVs to serve users for whom OLED is out of their price range.
The third generation of LG's high-end Super UHD line of LCDs also feature a new Nano Cell technology developed by LG Display. While the name sounds similar to them, Nano Cell is a different technology from nanodot and nano crystal technologies used in other companies' high-end LCD TVs. Nano Cell is a filtering layer on the panel that affects how much light and color transmits through the panel. According to LG, Nano Cell improves contrast by enhancing the black levels of LCD TVs, and expands the color gamut the panels are capable of showing compared with previous LG LCD TVs.
No pricing or availability yet for these OLED and Super UHD LCD TVs.
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