Transparent, $60,000 TV is one of five in nation, Glenview retailer says
Abt Electronics is the first, said Marketing Manager Lyndsey Ager, to display the 77-inch see-through device from LG, which they're billing as the 'world's first transparent 4K TV with true wireless video and audio transfer.'
It's not a prototype, Ager said, and it's for sale — for $60,000, or about 10 times the price of other high-end OLED televisions the store sells.
As to why there's a need for a transparent television, Mark Sasicki, Abt general manager, said, 'The whole idea is to have the TV disappear into the room when it's not on. There has always been a demand for an unobstructed view.'
That demand might become more important for people whose homes face a lake or skyline, where a transparent television wouldn't block the view like an ordinary television would, according to a video Abt made for the product.
The television looks like a glass box, and while it's on display at Abt, it's programmed to show screensavers, including brightly colored flowers. Sasicki said the swimming fish are his favorite, since the television looks slightly like an aquarium anyway.
The technology uses an electronic box which functions as a wireless transmitter that sends audio and video to the television, according to an Abt informational video. It must be positioned within 30 feet of the television, although Sasicki said that in the store, it's positioned behind the television. For serious television watching, a black screen can be lowered to cover the device's back wall and make it opaque.
As with all technology, Sasicki expects the price for transparent televisions will come down eventually.
He said Abt has fielded serious inquiries about purchasing the television, but any early adopter who puts money down for it will still have to wait five weeks for delivery.
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Digital Trends
6 hours ago
- Digital Trends
You Asked: Why do people keep asking for brighter TVs?
On today's episode of You Asked: What's the best way to sell or get rid of a TV? When does TV size matter most in terms of features? And why does everyone want brighter OLEDs? Are they not bright enough? How to sell or get rid of your old TV @Soccerloumike asks: What's the best way to sell or get rid of your old TV so you can upgrade to a new one? Great question, and one I'm sure a lot of people ask as they replace older units. Also, nothing is cheap these days, so any way you can put the sale money toward a new purchase helps a lot. Let's start there. If you know you're going to put the money toward your next TV purchase, it's worth looking into trade-in programs offered by some retailers. Not all TVs will qualify, and you probably won't get the most money for your trade-in, but the value is in what should be an easy process. I also recommend looking beyond mainstream stores. See if there are any specialty TV or video stores in your area that might be more open to trades. 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Sustainability of OLED TVs Mr. Blue asks: I have a 2020 Sony AH8 OLED. I want to buy a new OLED this year, possibly 75 inches or larger. Have OLEDs improved sustainability since 2020? I'm answering this assuming you mean sustainability from an environmental point of view. If you meant sustainable in terms of longevity, feel free to follow up with another email. To my knowledge, OLED TVs have become more sustainable as technology has improved. They have the potential to be the most efficient TVs available, but at the same time, they can also be more power-hungry than other TVs because of how they're powered. Let's explain that briefly. OLEDs create light at the pixel level and turn completely off when displaying black. Without a backlight, in darker scenes, many pixels aren't powered on, so the TV isn't consuming as much energy. The opposite is true in brighter scenes, when all these pixels are pumping out light and color, consuming more power. How efficient an OLED is depends on what you're watching. If you watch lots of sports, it's not super efficient, though still comparable to LED TVs. Most TVs today have some form of energy-saving mode, and some are set to efficiency mode by default. These modes limit brightness to save energy and can help make your TV more sustainable. If sustainability is your goal, you can try watching with brightness turned down and see if the picture quality is acceptable. The biggest factors for sustainability are size and brightness. LG's OLED TVs have a good reputation for energy efficiency, and their B-series lineup is a solid choice. It's one of the most energy-efficient because it's not one of the brightest models. I'd recommend it only if the TV doesn't need to compete with too much ambient light. Bottom line: you'll see improvements in picture quality with an upgraded OLED, but sustainability largely depends on your preferred brightness settings and the type of content you watch. Why do people keep asking for brighter TVs? @Simon-oy5uv asks: Why does everyone want more brightness? I've got my LG C4 at 15 percent. Everyone has different needs from their TV. I love that you only need 15 percent, and I assume you watch in a dark room. But those in brighter rooms or with daylight coming through windows will want extra punch in brightness. For instance, if your TV is in movie or filmmaker mode, which preserves the creator's intent, dark scenes may appear too dim. Watching sports during daytime with ambient light also creates a need for more brightness. Most importantly, brightness is critical for viewing HDR content. Highlights that look flat or should be brighter can appear dull without extra nits. Those extra nits make the sun, stars, and bright objects stand out. This is a question we get often. I'd be curious to know what the rest of you run your TVs at. Are you maxed out, or do you take your foot off the gas a bit? Do smaller TVs lose features? @_Jiggle asks: Does it matter if I get a 42 or 48-inch TV if 55 inches and up are too big? Am I going to miss out on features? I'm looking for a small OLED with superb upscaling, like the Z95B or Z90A, depending on price. The features a TV offers depend on the model. For example, the Panasonic Z95B comes in 55, 65, and 77 inches with the four-layer RGB Tandem OLED panel. I don't know if smaller sizes meet your needs. Other brands, like Samsung, also have differences by size. With their S90F, smaller 42 and 48-inch models don't get the Quantum Dot OLED panel, which is only on 55 inches and above. Every other size, including the 83-inch, comes with a W-RGB OLED panel. It's still excellent, but not their best. You may also see differences in speaker size, included stands or wall mounts, and other features that vary by size. Before buying, check what's included and do research on sites like Rtings that publish panel types and differences between sizes.
CNET
9 hours ago
- CNET
LCD vs. OLED: TV Display Technologies Compared
Nearly every TV sold today is either LCD or OLED. LCD TVs, also called LED TVs, have been around since the early 2000s. The best ones feature technologies like quantum dots or local dimming to create a vibrant, 4K HDR image. Because they've been on sale for so long, LCD-based TV are often marketed with fancier-sounding names like QLED or mini-LED, but the core technology is LCD -- which stands for Liquid Crystal Display. The other TV tech, organic light-emitting diode, is newer to the mainstream market, although they've still been available for more than a decade. OLED panels are made by LG and Samsung, and are also called QD-OLED and WOLED depending on the specific version of the technology used. How they work (the oversimplified edition) The biggest difference between the two technologies is in how they work. Every TV's picture is composed of millions of tiny "pixels," or picture elements, that combine to create the image. 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OLED is consistently, year over year and test after test, the picture quality king, but LCD TVs usually cost less and can still provide excellent picture quality. A variety of new technologies, which we'll discuss, help keep LCD from getting too far behind its newer tech competition. So which one is better? Read on for their strengths and weaknesses. In general we'll be comparing OLED to the best (read: most expensive) LCD has to offer, mainly because there's no such thing as a cheap OLED TV (yet). Light output (brightness) Winner: LCD Loser: OLED Take this category with a grain of salt. Both TV types are very bright and can look good in even a sunny room, let alone more moderate indoor lighting situations or the dark rooms that make TV images look their best. When it comes down to it, no modern TV could ever be considered "dim." LCD gets the nod here specifically because the whole screen can be brighter, which is a function of its backlight. Generally, it's mini-LED that offers the highest brightness. Both QD-OLED and LG's new 4-stack OLED still offer impressive brightness though, so the difference here isn't as big as it once was. Raúl Vázquez/EyeEm/GettyImages Black level Winner: OLED Loser: LCD At the other side of light output is black level, or how dark the TV can get. OLED wins here because of its ability to turn off individual pixels completely. It can produce truly perfect black. The better LCDs have local dimming, where parts of the screen can dim independently of others. This isn't quite as good as per-pixel control because the black areas still aren't absolutely black but it's better than nothing. The best LCDs have full-array local dimming, which provides even finer control over the contrast of what's onscreen -- but even they can suffer from "blooming," where a bright area spoils the black of an adjacent dark area. Most notably, mini-LED has significantly more LEDs than traditional LED LCDs, so they can look almost as good as OLED in some situations. Check out this LED LCD backlights explainer and LED local dimming explained for more info. Contrast ratio Winner: OLED Loser: LCD Here's where it comes together. Contrast ratio is the difference between the brightest and the darkest a TV can be. OLED is the winner here because it can get extremely bright, plus it can produce absolute black with no blooming. It has the best contrast ratio of any modern display. Contrast ratio is the most important aspect of picture quality. A high contrast-ratio display will look more realistic than one with a lower contrast ratio. There's a far greater difference between the best LCD and the worst, with mini-LED once again offering the best performance overall for that tech. The "worst" OLED will still look better than almost all LCDs, however. For more info, check out the basics of contrast ratio and why it's important to understand contrast Winner: Tie This one's easy. Both OLED and LCD are widely available in UltraHD, aka 4K, form, and there are 8K versions of both if you're particularly well-heeled. There are also small, inexpensive 1080p and even 720p resolution LCDs. There are no 1080p or lower resolution OLEDs currently on the market. Refresh rate and motion blur Winner: Tie Refresh rate is important in reducing motion blur, or the blurring of anything on screen that moves (including the whole image if the camera pans). Sadly, the current version of OLED has motion blur, just like LCD. OLEDs, and mid- and high-end LCDs, have a 120Hz refresh rate. Cheaper LCDs are 60Hz. Keep in mind, most companies use numbers that are higher than their "true" refresh rate. OLEDs and many LCD use black-frame insertion, which is a way to improve motion resolution without resorting to the (usually) dreaded Soap Opera Effect. Don't stand this close when checking out a angle Winner: OLED Loser: LCD One of the main downsides of LCD TVs is a change in picture quality if you sit away from dead center (as in, off to the sides). How much this matters to you certainly depends on your seating arrangement but also on how much you love your loved ones. A few LCDs use in-plane switching panels, which have better off-axis picture quality than other kinds of LCDs but don't look as good as other LCDs straight on (primarily because of a lower contrast ratio). OLED doesn't have the off-axis issue LCDs have; its image looks basically the same, even from extreme angles. So if you have a wide seating area, OLED is the better option. High Dynamic Range (HDR) Winner: OLED (with caveats) Watching High Dynamic Range content lets your TV really expand its potential. Sort of like driving on the highway vs a two-lane dirt road. It lets your TV produce more colorful bright highlights and typically a wider color gamut. Nearly all current TVs are HDR compatible, but that's not the entire story. Just because a TV claims HDR compatibility doesn't mean it can accurately display HDR content. All OLED TVs have the dynamic range to take advantage of HDR, but lower-priced LCDs, especially those without local-dimming backlights, do not. So if you want to see HDR content in all its dynamic, vibrant beauty, go for OLED or an LCD with local dimming, for example mini-LED. In our tests comparing the best new OLED and LCD TVs with HDR games and movies, OLED usually looks better. Its superior contrast and lack of blooming win the day despite LCD's brightness advantage. In other words, LCD TVs can get brighter, especially in full-screen bright scenes and HDR highlights, but none of them can control that illumination as precisely as an OLED TV. It's also worth learning about the differences between HDR for photography and HDR for TVs. The smallest triangle (circles at corners) is what your current HDTV can do. The next largest (squares) is P3 color. The largest (triangle edges) is Rec 2020. Geoffrey Morrison/CNET (triangles); Sakurambo (base chart) Expanded Color Gamut Winner: Tie Wide Color Gamut, or WCG, is related to HDR, although you can technically have one without the other. It's an expansion of the colors possible on "standard" TVs. Think richer, deeper and more vibrant colors. Most mid- and high-end LCDs and all new OLED models are capable of WCG. In some models of both that capability is caused by the use of quantum dots. Read more about how TVs make color, how they will make color and how Wide Color Gamut works. Uniformity Winner: OLED Loser: LCD Uniformity refers to the consistency of brightness across the screen. Many inexpensive LCDs are pretty terrible with this, "leaking" light from their edges. This can be distracting, especially during darker movies. On mid- and higher-end models this is usually less of an issue. Energy consumption Winner: Basically a tie OLED's energy consumption is directly related to screen brightness. The brighter the screen, the more power it draws. It even varies with content. A dark movie will require less power than a hockey game or ski competition. The energy consumption of LCD varies depending on the backlight setting. The lower the backlight, the lower the power consumption. A basic LED LCD with its backlight set low will draw less power than OLED. Overall, though, all new TVs are fairly energy efficient, and even the least energy efficient modern TV would only cost you a few dollars more per year to use. That said, larger, brighter TVs will use a lot more energy than smaller, dimmer ones. shaunl/Getty Images Lifespan Winner: Tie (sort of) LG has said their OLED TVs have a lifespan of 100,000 hours to half brightness, a figure that's similar to LED LCDs. Generally speaking, all modern TVs are quite reliable and should last many years. Does that mean your new LCD or OLED will last for several decades like your parent's last CRT (like the one pictured). Probably not, but then, why would you want it to? A 42-inch flat panel cost $14,000 in the late 90's, and now a 55-inch TV with more than 16x the resolution and a million times better contrast ratio costs $250. Which is to say, by the time you'll want/need to replace it, there will be something even better than what's available now, for less money. Because they are quite reliable on the whole, you won't have to replace them anytime soon. Burn-in Winner: LCD Loser: OLED All TVs can "burn in" or develop what's called "image persistence," where the ghost of an image remains onscreen. It's really hard to do this with most LCDs. It's easier with OLED, so LCD wins this category. Even with OLED TVs, however, most people don't have to worry about burn-in. Some edge-lit LED LCD, typically cheaper models, can have their own version of burn in where the LEDs age poorly and the plastic layers that help create the image warp and discolor. Which is to say, both technologies have issues but how those issues manifest is different. If you want a REALLY big TV, neither OLED nor LCD will do. LG Screen size Winner: LCD Loser: OLED OLED TVs are available in sizes from 48 to 97 inches but LCD TVs come in smaller and even larger sizes than that -- with many more choices in between -- so LCD wins. At the high end of the size scale, however, the biggest "TVs" don't use either technology. The easiest, and cheapest, way to get a truly massive image in your home is with a projector. For about $1,000 you can get an excellent 100-inch-plus image. If you want something even brighter, and don't mind spending a literal fortune to get it, Samsung, Sony, LG and some other companies sell direct-view LED displays. In most cases these are microLED. Price Winner: LCD Loser: OLED You can get 4K resolution, 50-inch LCDs for less than $200. It's going to be a long time before OLEDs are that price, but they have come down considerably. So if your goal is to get the cheapest TV possible, that's LCD. If you want something with great picture quality, the prices are fairly comparable. The most expensive OLED TVs are more expensive than the best similarly sized LCD TVs, but that difference shrinks every year. And the picture-quality winner is ... OLED LCD dominates the market because it's cheap to manufacture and delivers good enough picture quality for just about everybody. But according to reviews at CNET and elsewhere, OLED wins for overall picture quality, largely because of the incredible contrast ratio. The price difference isn't as severe as it used to be, and in the mid- to high-end of the market, there are a lot of options. LCDs continue to improve, though, and many models offer excellent picture quality for far less money than OLED, especially in larger sizes. Which is to say, there are a lot of great TVs out there. In addition to covering cameras and display tech, Geoff does photo essays about cool museums and other stuff, including nuclear submarines, aircraft carriers and 10,000-mile road trips. Also, check out Budget Travel for Dummies, his travel book and his bestselling sci-fi novel about city-size submarines. You can follow him on Instagram and YouTube.
Tom's Guide
14 hours ago
- Tom's Guide
This breakthrough TV tech has Samsung, Sony and Hisense seeing dollar signs — here's why it could beat OLED in one big way
Here's a promise I can keep: In the coming years, you'll be hearing a lot about something called RGB Mini-LED. Recently, several companies unveiled TVs that sport this brand-new display technology, and each of these brands couldn't be more excited about the benefits RGB Mini-LEDs bring to the viewing experience. We're talking brighter pictures, improved contrast, and color volume that very well could exceed what we've seen on the best OLED TVs on the market. Here's everything you need to know about how Samsung, Hisense and Sony are putting their own spin on RGB Mini-LEDs, and why these sets could be the start of a new era in TV tech. While each TV maker exploring post-Mini-LED panel technologies is playing around with different formulas, the basic approach is similar for Samsung, Hisense and Sony. Previous iterations on LED backlighting have revolved around making the LEDs smaller with more controllable zones, thus enhancing contrast. This is why Mini-LEDs are considered the current gold standard for consumer LED TVs. However, in addition to their super-small size, RGB Mini-LEDs have an additional trick up their sleeve: color variation. RGB Mini-LEDs have an additional trick up their sleeve: color variation. Even the best Mini-LED displays on the market today use white LEDs and color filters to produce color. RGB Mini-LEDs, however, tap red-, green- and blue-colored LEDs that can be independently controlled across all dimming zones. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. This hardware upgrade allows for some seriously sensational hues. According to the brands leading the charge, RGB Mini-LED TVs are capable of covering 95% to 100% of BT.2020 (an international standard for color accuracy that industry folks use to measure a display's color production). If OLED TVs are the kings of contrast, an advantage like this would make RGB Mini-LED the undisputed kings of color. To date, even the best, quantum dot-equipped OLED TVs hover around 89% to 92% coverage of the BT.2020 color gamut. Remember: Not all TV brands are leveraging this new tech in precisely the same way. There are key hardware- and software-related differences from one brand's design to the next, and exactly how this new technology is deployed depends on a number of factors. With that in mind, let's take a look at where Samsung, Hisense and Sony stand with their take. Samsung recently unveiled the first of its TVs to bridge the gap between traditional Mini-LED and next-generation Micro-LED with the Samsung Micro RGB TV. Currently, it's only being made available in a 115-inch model, which will set you back a whopping $29,999. Samsung claims that it's capable of covering 100% of the BT.2020 color gamut. That would be higher than any TV I've measured in my ten-year history of testing TVs. The Samsung Micro RGB TV comes with a native 144Hz refresh rate, built-in smart features and Samsung's Vision AI software suite. Similar to the brand's flagship OLED, the Samsung S95F, this Micro RGB TV is dressed with a matte, glare-free finish. Credit where credit is due: Hisense was the first brand to introduce me to this next-generation TV technology earlier this year. Originally, Hisense was calling its take TriChroma LED, but according to recent press materials, this has been swapped out for the name RGB Mini-LED. Originally unveiled at CES 2025, the Hisense 116UX is launching this year in an exclusive, 116-inch version. If you're keeping score at home, that's one inch bigger than Samsung's Micro RGB TV. It'll also be available for the same eye-watering price of $29,999. The 116UX debuts alongside a slightly smaller (but still huge) 100-inch version, the Hisense 100UX. This TV is reportedly hitting shelves at $19,999. Hisense claims that the 116UX can clear 95% coverage of the BT.2020 color gamut. We've already been lucky enough to take a look at the 116UX with our testing equipment, and according to measurements, the 116UX is the brightest commercial TV we've ever tested, easily cracking the 5,000-nit mark in HDR. Of the brands tinkering with this technology, Sony is taking the most time to forge its own path. To date, Sony hasn't officially given a name to its take on RGB Mini-LED, nor has it given a name to the model we saw during a press event in Tokyo earlier this year. For now, at Tom's Guide, we're colloquially referring to the TV as the Bravia 10 and to Sony's take on the technology as Sony RGB LED. Neither of these names are confirmed. Based on what we know, Sony's version of this display operates similarly to that of Samsung and Hisense. Sony says the display covers 90% of BT.2020 and can get as bright as 4,000 nits. Unlike its competitors, Sony is currently planning on debuting this TV sometime in 2026, so we'll have to wait to get more details There's no way around it: Most people can't afford TVs in the $20,000 to $30,000 price range, and while big screens are more popular than ever, 100-inch TVs just aren't practical. But if you're hoping to put a 65-inch RGB Mini-LED TV for your living room, you'll probably have to wait a while. As time moves on, these TV-makers are banking on RGB Mini-LED being brought down to popular sizes, like 75 and 65 inches. Display technology can be tricky to scale down. When it comes to pricey, carefully engineered display hardware, it's much more cost effective to start at larger display sizes before developing a reliable way of manufacturing it at smaller size points. This is why most of these TVs are both gargantuan and expensive. But as time moves on, these TV-makers are banking on RGB Mini-LED being brought down to popular sizes, like 75 and 65 inches. In the meantime, consider RGB Mini-LED to be a bridge between the Mini-LEDs of today and the TVs of the future. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
