World's largest and smallest Oled TVs debut at tech show

LAS VEGAS • TV makers are rolling out ever larger displays with recent advances in digital technologies, catering to consumers' demand for bigger screens.

While Oled screens are mostly offered in 50-to 70-inch sizes currently, recent advances in manufacturing techniques have allowed even larger panels to be made without compromising image quality or pushing cost to unfeasible levels.

At CES 2022, the latest edition of the world's biggest tech show, South Korean electronics giant LG, whose subsidiary LG Display is known for supplying Oled panels to other brands, announced the world's largest Oled TV set at 97 inches.

But users without the space for such mammoth screens have not been forgotten. LG also announced the world's smallest Oled TV set with a new 42-inch model - also a world first - made for more compact homes.

At CES this year, which ran from Wednesday to Friday last week, other brands like Samsung, Panasonic, Sony and Hisense also announced a slew of new TV sets and gaming monitors. Here are some highlights.

Oled TV sets have been gaining popularity over traditional LCD ones in recent years, promising better image quality thanks to their self-lit pixels. But this comes with higher price tags and more limited screen size options compared with the older LCD technology, due to a more complex manufacturing process.

LG has pushed the limit in the high-end TV market with the launch of new 83-inch and 97-inch models. The G2 series previously consisted of 55-inch, 65-inch and 75-inch options.

LG also debuted a new 42-inch C2 series model, the world's smallest Oled TV set for console and PC gaming in small spaces. The C2 line-up offers five other size options ranging from 48 inches to 83 inches.

The new TV sets will also come with gaming-oriented features like quick access to presets and settings like G-Sync, FreeSync and variable refresh rate in the "game optimiser" menu.

The new G2 and C2 models are set to go on sale globally from March. LG did not provide pricing details.

Panasonic is similarly offering larger options with its new flagship 77-inch LZ2000 model. It previously offered only 55-inch and 65-inch models.

Mini-LED is a recent innovation that promises to keep LCD displays around for some time to come.

Mini-LED displays are essentially LCD displays with smaller and denser backlight LEDs. This enables more precise dimming to create higher contrast images, allowing for better black levels and more accurate colours.

One advantage of mini-LED displays over Oleds is higher peak brightness - up to 2,000 nits of luminance. By contrast, Oleds typically put out 500 to 600 nits and top out at about 1,000 nits.

LG is expanding its mini-LED offerings with additions to its QNED line-up, which it debuted last year. Four of its new QNED models will come with mini-LED technology in 75-inch and 85-inch sizes.

Chinese multinational white goods maker Hisense is also going big on mini-LED, introducing the technology into its flagship U9H series and mid-range U8H series. Both series will offer 75-inch models, 4K resolution and 120Hz refresh rate.

Similarly, Sony is introducing mini-LED TV sets to its Bravia line-up for the first time, including the 8K-resolution Z9K model and the 4K-resolution X95K model.

Another innovation making its debut at CES 2022 is Samsung's quantum dot (QD) Oled panels, which won a CES 2022 Innovation Award.

This new tech combines the quantum dot colour technology more commonly seen in LCD TV sets with the strengths of an Oled display.

Quantum dots are tiny man-made crystals that emit light at different wavelengths when struck with ultraviolet rays, depending on their size. This means very specific colours can be created by varying the size of the dots.

Sony also announced that its new flagship Bravia XR A95K TV set will feature Samsung's QD-Oled panels.