Thin TV stuns in all areas
Every once and a while a piece of technology just bowls me over. This time the tech is from LG and is the W7 ‘‘wallpaper’’ TV. It is just 2.5 millimetres thick and is bendable. It is so thin that it attaches to a wall using magnets.
At that depth, how do I connect a games console or Sky box?
The answer takes the form of a dedicated tuner/sound bar. It houses inputs along with a built-in Freeview tuner. My usual rule of thumb is: the thinner the TV, the thinner the audio delivered. Not with the W7. A clever mid/woofer combo plus two front speakers deliver decent audio. The frontfacing speakers also have topmounted drivers that bounce audio off your lounge ceiling for an immersive soundstage.
OLED pixels emit their own light; no bulky backlighting is needed. Colours are vibrant and the W7’s contrast ratio is massive. To generate dark regions onscreen, pixels are switched off. Even the best LCD TVs can only deliver dark greys, yet dark colours are pitch black and crisp on the W7.
Another killer feature is HDR. Before HDR, shaded regions on TV screens were dark blobs. With HDR, additional detail is pulled out of dark or bright regions. The W7 also impressed with motion. Fast-moving objects on LCD TVs often ‘‘judder’’. Not so with the W7. On screen motion is fluid, lending everything a cinematic quality.
Thanks to the magic remote, the W7 is intuitive. It is motion sensitive and wrist movements drive an on-screen pointer, while the user interface consists of a selection of small cards listing available content and inputs. Getting set up is bomb-proof, thanks to a cartoon character called ‘‘bean bird’’, who guides users through set up.
Verdict
The W7 is a stunning TV. Its paperthin design may be its headline feature, but picture quality is the real hero.
Video on the W7 is about as good as TV gets. If there’s a downside it is cost. The W7 comes in at a cool $15,000 for 65 inch version and a whopping $39,000 for the 77 inch version. Until prices come down, this makes it a TV for the 1 per cent.