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Could LG's new 55-inch OLED be the best TV ever?

LG is expected to release the "world's largest" OLED TV in 2012 with a greater number of colors and better off-axis viewing than competitors'.

Ty Pendlebury Editor
Ty Pendlebury is a journalism graduate of RMIT Melbourne, and has worked at CNET since 2006. He lives in New York City where he writes about streaming and home audio.
Expertise Ty has worked for radio, print, and online publications, and has been writing about home entertainment since 2004. He majored in Cinema Studies when studying at RMIT. He is an avid record collector and streaming music enthusiast. Credentials
  • Ty was nominated for Best New Journalist at the Australian IT Journalism awards, but he has only ever won one thing. As a youth, he was awarded a free session for the photography studio at a local supermarket.
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Ty Pendlebury
LG

LG is expected to release the "world's largest" 55-inch OLED TV in 2012 that features four colors instead of the three-color RGB standard and promises better off-axis viewing than competitors.

Where Sharp added a yellow pixel to its Quattron technology, LG has added a white pixel to its OLED (organic light emitting diode) panel for a "brighter picture".

In terms of image quality, Sharp offers some stiff competition to the OLED, with its Elite Pro receiving a deeply impressive 9.5 rating from David Katzmaier last month

Traditionally, OLED offers higher contrast than both LCD and plasma, and LG claims the new 55-incher takes on all-comers with "infinite" contrast ratios.

LG claims the new system (red, green, blue, and white) is not only more accurate but more economical to produce than previous technologies--which should translate to cheaper large-screen OLEDs in the future.

The 4mm thin television uses an "LG algorithm which is designed to improve and refine hues and tones" when viewed from a wide angle. According to LG, other OLED TVs "exhibit drastic changes in hues from different viewing angles and abnormal color gamut."

LG has had OLED TVs on display on CES for many years, but the 55-inch will be one of the first to be released in the U.S. market. Prices are to be determined, but we doubt you'd see much change from 10 grand. We're looking forward to getting this one into the labs.