X

LG ships largest LCD TV this summer; will its 4K rez help passive 3D?

LG has confirmed details on its massive 84-inch, 4K LED-based LCD TV--the largest shipping TV announced at CES 2012 so far--and hints that it may improve the passive 3D experience.

David Katzmaier Editorial Director -- Personal Tech
David reviews TVs and leads the Personal Tech team at CNET, covering mobile, software, computing, streaming and home entertainment. We provide helpful, expert reviews, advice and videos on what gadget or service to buy and how to get the most out of it.
Expertise A 20-year CNET veteran, David has been reviewing TVs since the days of CRT, rear-projection and plasma. Prior to CNET he worked at Sound & Vision magazine and eTown.com. He is known to two people on Twitter as the Cormac McCarthy of consumer electronics. Credentials
  • Although still awaiting his Oscar for Best Picture Reviewer, David does hold certifications from the Imaging Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Standards and Technology on display calibration and evaluation.
David Katzmaier
2 min read

LAS VEGAS--LG's pre-CES teaser release already confirmed the company's plans to ship a massive 84-inch 4K resolution LCD TV this year, but now we know when, and can speculate whether it will provide "lossless" passive 3D images.

The LG 84LM9600 will be the largest LCD confirmed for U.S. shipping this year, outdoing the 80-inch Sharp. LG has shown the screen size before but this is the first time it has promised a U.S. ship date: June or July of this year, according to the company rep we spoke to, price TBD.

The TV will have a resolution of 3,840x2,160 pixels, aka 4K, since it's four times the number of pixels employed by garden-variety 1080p TVs (1,920x1,080). For its part, LG calls the resolution "UD" for "ultra-definition," making this a (wait for it) "UDTV." We asked a company rep whether that improved resolution would help with reproduction of passive 3D and while he was quick to assure us that current passive 3D by LG is superb in every way, he did mention the potential for "lossless" resolution.

Current passive 3D TVs by LG, Vizio, and Toshiba use a film pattern retarder (FPR) system that essentially sends half of the 1080p resolution to each eye, which can cause some jagged line artifacts and visible line structure in our experience. A 4K TV like the 84LM9600 has double the vertical resolution, so it's capable of sending full 1080p to each eye even with an FPR system. We're curious to see how it works since this system comes closest to the ideal of passive glasses with full resolution to each eye (more info).

We don't expect the extra resolution to have much impact for 2D material since native 4K content is basically nonexistent.

Although it shares a series name with the 2012 LM9600 Nano line of full-array local dimming LED TVs, we don't know for sure what kind of LED backlight technology the 84-incher uses. We do know that it shares those models' feature sets, including the four-way Magic Motion remote with voice control and LG's redesigned Smart TV suite.

LG 84LM9600 features:

  • 84-inch LED-based LCD
  • 3,840x2,160 native resolution (4K)
  • passive 3D compatible
  • Smart TV with Magic Motion remote

Watch this: LG's mammoth 84 inch LCD TV