OLED HDR - Page 8

Update: LG lowered the price of the 65EC9700 again to $7,999!

Amazon.com now offers LG's 65" 4K OLED TVs for $8,999 - down from $9,999. This actually matches the price of LG's 2015 65" 4K model (the 65EG9600). The 2015 model is still not shipping - Amazon says it will ship within 4-6 weeks.

LG's 65EC9700 is a UHD (4K, 3840x2160) 65" curved OLED TV, that supports LG's High Dynamic Range (HDR) algorithm, the True 4K Engine Pro (to upscale SD, HD and FHD content to 4K) and support of H.264 and HEVC H.265 formats (30p and 60p). The TV also supports automatic color temperature control for individual pixels via LG's Color Refiner.

One of the latest buzz words in the TV industry is HDR - High Dynamic Range. HDR video captures images with an expanded brightness range - darker shadows and brighter whites. An HDR TV will need to be able to display a wider range of brightness levels compared to a regular TV, and so the maximum brightness of any pixel needs to be higher - about 1,000 nits (compared to about 400 nits as the brightest pixel in a regular TV).

One of the challenges with OLED displays is making them bright enough, and usually LCDs offer a brighter image (although for mobile devices, the latest OLEDs are actually brighter than the best LCDs). LG seems to be confident that they can solve this issue, and during a press event in the UK company officials promised that LG will unveil an HDR OLED TV in Q3 2015 - around the time of the IFA 2015 exhibition in Berlin.

Best Buy has been offering LG's 65EC9700 65" 4K OLED TV since September (although shipments have been very limited) and now Digital Trends posted the first review of LG's flagship TV. And the verdict? it's the best TV they ever saw, nothing else comes close (not even LG's 55" FHD OLED TV).

In fact, the reviewer says that "best TV ever" doesn't really do it justice. LG's 65EC9700 got incredible resolution, a top-notch resolution upscaler, perfect black levels, insane contrast, eye-dazzling color, and class-leading WebOS smart TV interface.

LG's first 4K OLED TV, the 65" 65EC9700, is now shipping in the US - for $9,999. The 77" 77EC9800 will also launch soon, and you can already pre-order it for $24,999.

LG's official price for the 65" OLED TV is indeed $10,000 - but I assumed the real price will be lower. The 55" Full-HD 55EC9300 is still listed as $6,999 while it is being offered for $3,499 or even less). There were also reports that the real price for the 65" will be around $6,250. Cleveland Plasma for example lists the TV for $8,250 - but they are not shipping it yet.

LG officially launched its first 4K OLED TV, the 65" 65EC9700 in the US - and it will start shipping in October 2014. The official price is $10,000 - but the real price will be lower. Cleveland Plasma offers it for pre-order for $6,250 for example. The 77" 77EC9800, which will launch in November through "select retailers" has an official price of $25,000.

It's actually weird how way out of touch are LG's official prices for those OLED TVs. The 55EC9300 55" FHD model is still listed as $6,999 while it is being offered for $3,499. The 2013 model (55EA9800) is listed at $8,999 (yes, higher than the new model!) while prices are usually below $3,000.

Update: I just got word from Gibbys that the TV isn't shipping yet. In addition, they will not ship it to the US, only to Canada.

Canadian retailer Gibbys is now listing LG's 77EC9800 77" curved UHD (3840x2160) OLED TV, for $26,999CAD (that's about $24,600 USD). According to their web site, this huge TV, LG's flagship 2014 model, is now shipping.

LG already launched this TV in Korea last month, and it's great to see it on sale outside of Korea. Even though it's likely that Gibbys is simply importing the TV themselves and this is not an official launch in Canada. In any case it's actually cheaper than we thought - back in January LG said it will cost $29,999.

LG announced that it plans to launch their 77" curved UHD OLED TV, the 77EC9800, in Q2 2014. The price will be $29,999. That's a very steep price of course, but this will be probably the best display you could buy in 2014 (unless you want an even larger panel, of course).

The 77EC9800 features LG's Color Refiner that results in superior color consistency and balance, High Dynamic Range (HDR), passive 3D FPR, LG's Tru-ULTRA HD Engine Pro that can upscale resolutions from SD to 4K and Motion Estimation Motion Compensation (MEMC). The TV also includes LG's newest Smart-TV platform.