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LG first to market with Curved OLED TV

By Darren Quick
April 29, 2013
LG first to market with Curved OLED TV
The 55EA9800 Curved OLED TV that LG will begin delivering next month
The 55EA9800 Curved OLED TV that LG will begin delivering next month
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The 55EA9800 Curved OLED TV that LG will begin delivering next month
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The 55EA9800 Curved OLED TV that LG will begin delivering next month

Samsung and LG were duking it out at CES this year with dueling curved OLED TVs that each claimed was a world first. But LG is getting a definitive one up on its rival by announcing it will become the first company in the world to commercialize the technology with deliveries of its Curved OLED TV set to begin in South Korea from next month.

LG’s 55EA9800 Curved OLED TV features a 55-inch screen (or 54.6-inch to be precise) with edges that curve forward on the left and right to provide a more immersive “IMAX-like” viewing experience. LG says its researchers spent five years developing the optimum curvature so that the entire screen surface is equidistant from the viewer’s eyes.

Like the non-curved 55-inch OLED TV it began shipping to Korean customers in February, the 55EA9800 features LG’s WRGB technology, which adds a white sub-pixel to the conventional red, green and blue sub pixels. Like its less curvy brethren, the TV also boasts an infinite contrast ratio regardless of ambient brightness or viewing angle.

The curved display is just 4.3 mm thick and weighs 17 kg (37.5 lb). And don’t worry if you want to wall mount the TV and you don’t live in a lighthouse because LG has created a wall mount specifically for the TV.

LG has begun accepting pre-orders for the 55EA9800 in South Korea, with deliveries set to begin through LG's more than 1,400 retail stores in May. The TV will be priced at 15 million Korean Won (about US$13,500). Pricing and release date details for other markets will be announced in the coming months.

Source: LG

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9 comments
Darren Quick
Darren Quick
Darren's love of technology started in primary school with a Nintendo Game & Watch Donkey Kong (still functioning) and a Commodore VIC 20 computer (not still functioning). In high school he upgraded to a 286 PC, and he's been following Moore's law ever since. This love of technology continues as Managing Editor of New Atlas.

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9 comments
Dekarate
5 years to draw on arc from a center point. wow? So is everyone supposed to sit in the same seat to get the sense of surround vision or immersion on a 55-inch screen Those sitting off the side have even less view plane that a typical flat screen Marketing hype trumps basic engineering or physics yet again
mel1552
the look of this is going to take the PC gamers by storm. the thought of having just one screen "curved" wow i can't wait it will beat the likes of 3-4 screens is grate but the cost and the bezels in your view is a pain this will fix that in one
Nibblonian
Hmm, "...an infinite contrast ratio regardless of ambient brightness..."
Does the screen absorb light from the ambient environment? I don't think so...
Technically, if you had a true black with no light emitted, I guess you could say the display itself had "infinite contrast ratio" (as much as I disapprove of this term), but to suggest that any display could achieve this while including the effects of ambient brightness stretches things too far. Ambient light almost always washes out the actual black level of any display. Even an emissive display with a matte surface would scatter at least some ambient light, affecting how black the black really is.
Gregg Eshelman
So it's CinemaScope@Home?
Nairda
Hi Nibblonian,
In theory I suppose you could offset the backlight LEDs using a MEMs style reflector, so if you wanted true black the MEMs would just reflect incoming on to a black matt surface, eg graphite surface.
So in essence incoming/outgoing light would have two options. In reality this design would probably capture a lot of IR especially if the monitor was in a sunny spot.
This would look kind of weird as black would really be black, so it would be like soemone made holes in your screen. People go on about true black, but few really appreciate what true black body black looks like. Its not that nice.
Nibblonian
Nairda,
Nice try...
It is the screen surface (the side facing the viewer) that is the problem--that is what will scatter the ambient light, reducing ultimate black level. No internal light-trapping of the backlight LEDs will compensate for this.
Even if the surface itself does a "beam dump" of the incoming ambient light--in other words, the entire surface a giant MEMs array--how does the light come out of the display when it is not black that you want?
I know, details, details...that was an interesting intellectual exercise, I'll give it that.
PS: My criticism of the marketing-speak notwithstanding, those three curved screens in a row do look pretty awesome.
Joel Detrow
Anybody got 15 grand I can borrow? I'd like to put one on my desk, please.
Nairda
Hi Nibblonian,
You make a good point. The protective coating on the outside is the real pain. Not to be outdone: The only solution that comes to mind is not to have the protective cover, with an exposed mat LED array, and black gaps between LEDs to act as absorption material. There is also a technology I saw a while back that generated airflow using an electric field (fanless fan). Can use this technology between LEDs to prevent dust from settling through repulsion and provide cooling at the same time. ,... or you can just close the curtains when watching TV. :)
pmshah
Unless the screen surface is genuinely and absolutely non reflective there will always be one vertical highlight line somewhere on the screen for every viewer for every light source in the room.