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LG's OLED TV shows the highlights and shadows of HDR

Take a look at LG's OLED televisions, which claim to show off the eye-popping contrast of high dynamic range movies and TV.

Richard Trenholm
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
Richard Trenholm
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BERLIN -- This is LG's OLED TV with high dynamic range (HDR), which is set to be the next big thing in televisions.

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LG's OLED TVs with HDR aim to give you a rich and life-like contrast between deep dark shadows and bright white highlights on the same screen.

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Unlike recent TV innovations like high definition and 4K, HDR isn't about adding more pixels: it's about doing more with the pixels you have.

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OLED TVs like this one are well suited to HDR because the strength of OLED TVs is producing a perfectly dark shade of black and a very bright white on the screen at the same time.

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There isn't a huge amount of content yet that shows off the new technology, but Amazon Instant Video is leading the way and LG says Hollywood studios are on board.

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Here you can see the difference between an LCD TV on the left and an OLED TV on the right. It's worth noting, though, that this is a demonstration by LG. So of course it's designed to show off the OLED TVs in their best light.

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Adding HDR makes a clear difference to movies and TV. The brighter highlights really pop from the screen without losing the solid black shadows that provide such a pleasing contrast.

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Here you can see how slim the OLED TVs are.

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The contrast between those shining highlights and deep shadows gives an almost 3D-like depth to the picture.

For more from IFA 2015, check out CNET's complete coverage.

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