SAN DIEGO — It’s been a long time since television sets were first made available to consumers in the 1930s, and they’ve evolved and come a long way over the decades. So what does the future hold for TV technology?
“It’s been crazy how fast technology has advanced and improved over the years,” said David Park, Director of Home Entertainment Customer Value Enablement for LG.
Over the years, we’ve seen bigger, thinner screens and picture quality that keeps getting better by leaps and bounds. Whether it be hi-definition, 4K, and now 8K, the world of TV’s has come a long way, and the role a TV plays in our home environment and how we interact with it is changing too.
“The television itself is not only a form of entertainment, but it’s a piece of aesthetic-pleasing technology that’s in your house,” said technology expert Burton Kelso. “Tech manufacturers now don’t want your computer or your TV just to look like another piece of hardware in your home. They want these devices to be part of your environment.”
The big showstopper at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas this past January was the unveiling of an innovative concept come to life for the TV-watching experience.
“The first comment always is ‘Oh my God, my mind is blown,’” said Park, who was at the show for LG to demonstrate their newest consumer model, the Signature OLED T transparent TV.
How does transparent OLED TV work?
“It has the capability of transforming from an opaque screen to a transparent screen, and that’s done with the contrast film that we have on the set,” said Park. “So there’s a second layer behind the actual TV screen, it’s a black film that rolls up and down, and so when that film is down, that’s when the TV is in transparent mode.”
The OLED T has certain built-in features that really highlight the capabilities of its transparent mode.
“We have artwork on there that’s really cool and really changes the TV as kind of a show piece, a statement piece rather than just a TV,” said Park.
According to Park, the new OLED T model will be made available to consumers later this year, at which time we’ll learn more about the pricing.
From the old, big boxes we used to watch television on to the newer, sleeker, more realistic-looking TV’s of today, there is no end in sight for where TV technology will take us.
“People want the immersive experience, and you can tell that now with VR headsets by Meta and by Apple, and so you’re probably going to see an evolution of TV’s that are SMART, that are able to transfer from device-to-device, and are a little more interactive as you’re being able to follow your favorite programming, so yes, something that is tech but also part of the human experience too,” said Kelso.
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