THE AWE VIEWS

TELLYTASTIC TIMES

AWE Product Manager, James Drummie, gives EI the lowdown on the latest TV tech advancements.

Despite OLED grabbing all the headlines for its amazing blacks and phenomenal colour in recent years, this isn’t the only technology that has moved forward. Just look at what Sony has been doing with mini LED technology. Its X95 and Z9K ranges use this system. With these mini LEDs, Sony has packed five times more LEDs behind the screen than its conventional counterparts. This means the screens are much brighter and give many more dimming zones, to create better blacks and less blooming. This, coupled with the XR cognitive processor, gives an amazing image. If that wasn’t enough the Z9K screens are 8K (that’s around 33 million pixels, four times more than 4K TVs). The Z9K screens can take any SD, HD or 4K content and upscale it to 8K.

The LG Objet is a very different take on the TV market

If you’re looking for something a little more unique, LG has its new Objet collection. This is more than just a TV, it’s a work of art. Its easel design turns the TV into a design feature. When not in use the screen hides away behind a panel, displaying only the top portion of the screen. This can show a clock or be used to display music being played. The easel itself can be upright against the wall or at an angle to look more like artwork being displayed. You can even use the Gallery mode to display artwork when the TV is not in use. The LG Objet has a very different aesthetic to other televisions and helps it blend in within minimalist or contemporary environments – but this isn’t just a pretty-looking TV. It uses LG’s OLED evo technology and α9 Gen5 AI Processor for the best image quality.

But what if you want to go really big, say 100in or 120in? Hisense has the incredible L9 Laser TV. The L9 is a TV in all the traditional ways. It has a TV tuner, 40-watt Dolby Atmos speakers, smart functionality using Hisense’s own VIDAA smart operating system and comes with a standard TV remote control. The only difference is that it comes in two parts – a console (ultra-short throw projector) and an ambient light-rejecting screen. The console is a three laser DLP projector that Hisense claims can show 107% of the BT.2020 wide colour gamut. The screen is an ultra-short throw ambient light-rejecting screen, allowing the laser TV to be used in rooms with very little light control. This sector has exploded in 2022 giving a far greater audience the ability to have that large screen experience in their home. We can only see this growing in 2023 with the likes of Epson introducing the EH-LS800W Superultra-short-throw projector that can produce an image of 80in just 2.3cm away from the wall. With 4,000 lumens of brightness this 3LCD machine can create an image up to 150in.

However, the fact still remains - to really get the true cinema experience there is still nothing better than a dedicated home cinema room with a projector and full surround sound system.

At AWE you can come and experience these technologies for yourself. Currently on demo is the LG Objet TV, Hisenses 120L9 and of course, if you want to see the full cinema experience, we have two dedicated cinema rooms showing Epson and Sony projectors.