CES 2015

In a hidden room on the show floor, LG was showing two prototype High Dynamic Range (HDR) 4K sets (not shown in the photo here). One was an LCD design with full-array backlighting (full-array will be found in best HDR LCD sets, when they arrive in stores), the other an OLED. It was demoed in an area with some lighting. I found the LCD uncomfortably bright, but that will likely be adjustable in a production version.

The star of the demo, however, was the 65-inch, HDR, OLED set. Spec’d at 470 nits linear peak output—that’s a bit less than 150 foot-lamberts—it will produce over 800 nits, but won’t hold a D65 white point at that level. The point of HDR, however, is not just high brightness, but high brightness in the areas of the image that need it. It requires proper grading of the source material to achieve this. It looked spectacular in a darker space on a range of challenging material. Expect to see a production model later this year, though appropriate source material may lag a bit..