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LG to show off new 55-inch 8K display at CES 2015

LG Display is set to show off a new 160 ppi, 55-inch 8K display at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show 2015.

Cho Mu-hyun Senior Writer, ZDNet Korea
Cho Mu-hyun is a native of South Korea living in Seoul and working for ZDNet Korea as a senior writer covering Samsung, LG, Hyundai, SK and the Korean conglomerates, or chaebols, in general.
Cho Mu-hyun
2 min read

LG

The South Korean tech giant recently airlifted its 8K display, codenamed 'Mabinogion', to Las Vegas in preparation for the CES 2015 tradeshow, according to LG insiders directly involved in the matter. LG Display engineers will accompany the display to the South Korean tech giant's booth to set it up, they said.

The 55-inch 8K display bears a resolution of 7,680x4,320 pixels (that's 33.2 million pixels total), with over 20 display driver integrated circuits installed. A prototype was made in early November, while LG earlier this month decided to unveil the display at the upcoming CES.

LG ramped up the brightness of the Mabinogion to 500 nits using a new method of controlling the aperture ratio. "Unlike conventional displays that use RGB sub-pixels, LG added a W sub-pixel to increase the brightness," one of the sources said.

A PC with strengthened display was used during development. As there are no video sources that currently support 8K resolution, LG used 3D images generated by an unnamed high-quality Nvidia GPU during development, the insiders said. Nvidia's South Korean office also cooperated making the display and its driver ICs.

Mabinogion was not just developed as a showpiece to show off technological prowess but as a test-run to aim for mass production. "With the know-how acquired from making the prototype, if LG finds good grounds to commercialize the display for mass production, it will do so. LG has already finished up approving the technological viability of the 55-inch, 8K display, and is now starting preparation to commercialize it to make it a product."

LG Electronics, LG Display's biggest client, is also rumoured to be adding an 8K TV to its Full HD and 4K UHD TV models in next year's lineup.

An LG Display spokesman confirmed that it was developing 8K and other high-resolution displays that met the market trend, but declined to comment on specifics.

Kwon Bong-seok of CNET Korea contributed to this report.