2017’s FLAGSHIP TVS

Adecade ago, we at What Hi-fi? got very excited reviewing a little 11in Sony TV. What raised our heart rate was a new screen technology, using organic light emitting diodes. The potential for the tech was clear – but progress takes time.

In the intervening years, LG took up the OLED reins from Sony, and screen sizes have exploded to 75 inches and beyond. And now the floodgates have finally opened: 2017 will be the year of OLED, with three of the four main TV brands going really big on the tech. Only Samsung has held out against the OLED onslaught – it has plans of its own…

LG W7

LG has unveiled five OLED TV ranges for 2017 – B7, C7, E7, G7 and W7 –with 10 new models in total. The W7 sits at the top of the tree and is also a member of LG’S Signature range of high-end, lifestyle products. This 4K HDR TV comes in 65in and 77in screen sizes, and is due to hit stores during the first week of April.

Design

Given that the W in W7 stands for ‘wallpaper’, there’s only one place to start. At 2.57mm thick, W7 isn’t quite as thin as your average sheet, but LG’S flagship OLED TV is still one of the thinnest of its kind. And LG was more than happy to show off its flexibility, too, with a machine flexing the panel along one edge. Despite the additional stress, this didn’t appear to affect the picture quality.

The W7’s minimalist appearance is aided by a new wall-mounting system that uses ultra-slim magnetic brackets to secure the TV. The slimness of the design allows you to get the TV virtually flush with your wall. The W7 looks stunning – and it should be able to blend easily into any environment when mounted thus.

Features

Like the rest of LG’S OLED TV range, the W7 will support four different versions of HDR – Dolby Vision, HDR 10, HLG (Hybrid Log-gamma) and, new for 2017, Advanced HDR by Technicolor.

LG’S OLED TVS now also boast HDR Effect, which processes non-hdr content frame by frame, to improve brightness, enhance contrast ratios and render more precise images.

All the connections for the screen are hosted in the soundbar that comes with the set. Almost as wide as the 65in screen itself, this supports Dolby Atmos and features upward-firing drivers that rise up from either end of the bar.

The socket count includes four HDMI inputs, three USB connections and one optical, plus one cable to connect the bar to the screen.

LG’S TV operating system gets a tweak for 2017. WEBOS 3.5 looks similar to earlier iterations but brings added features, including the ability to assign buttons to your favourite content providers, a Magic Zoom feature so you can get closer to the on-screen action, and even support for 360-degree VR content.

Picture

The 77in and 65in W7 at CES 2017 were mainly showing the difference between Dolby Vision HDR and standard 4K content, using the usual tradeshow fare: static images of landscapes, seascapes and various colourful patterns. First impressions are promising. Both up close and from a distance, colours appear bold but not overbaked. This is matched by a decent amount of punch, brightness and detail. The test content didn’t have much in the way of motion, though, so it was difficult to get an idea of how the W7 handles slow or more frenzied movement.

Sound

A noisy showfloor is a tough place to show off the talents of any audio product, but LG gave it a go with a dedicated booth where a W7 and its partnering soundbar were mounted. Clearly the bare walls were an attempt to deliver an environment that would encourage reflections and the impact of overhead effects, and to an extent it worked– but sound quality was tainted by noise leaking into the room, inevitably.

Still, the Dolby Atmos effect seems decent enough. In a jungle scene with a mixture of heavy rainfall and powerful, piercing thunder cracks, the soundbar does a reasonable job of making you feel as though you are sheltering from the deluge under the forest canopy.

There’s a decent sense of weight given the subwoofer is built into the soundbar but, with the bare walls and outside noise, it was difficult to discern any real sense of refinement.

Verdict

With any TV on the CES show floor, we’d be worried if the images on display didn’t look up to scratch, and the LG W7 didn’t disappoint.

But pricing has to be taken into account and with the 65in W7 set to cost $8000 (UK price yet to be confirmed), we’re hoping the premium demanded is reflected in the performance.

“You don’t need to be a design guru to come to the conclusion that the W7 looks stunning – and that it should blend into any environment”

Panasonic EZ1002

At CES 2017, Panasonic announced its secondgeneration OLED TV, the flagship EZ1002. On paper, the Panasonic EZ1002 OLED TV ticks every box currently on everyone’s television wish-list – and a few other boxes of which you may not even have been aware. For once, the usual TV manufacturer rhetoric of “boundaries pushed” and “unprecedented performance” looks well within the EZ1002’S grasp.

Design

The EZ1002 is a 65in OLED flatscreen TV – this configuration is distinct from Panasonic’s previous OLED effort, the curved (and mightily expensive) TX 65CZ952B.

The panel – a 4K ultra high-definition affair – is Hdr-capable, and is claimed to output more than double the peak brightness of a ‘conventional’ OLED panel. And, as well as supporting the HDR10 industry standard, the EZ1002 supports the new Hybrid Log Gamma HDR variant launching later this year (see p57). Furthermore, it’s able to output the full DCI colour space that’s a critical component of high dynamic range images.

Picture

To further beef up its credentials, the EZ1002 is driven by Panasonic’s Studio Colour HCX2 video processing – it draws on the company’s professional film-making and monitoring expertise and is claimed to be the most powerful video processing incorporated into a consumer TV. “The most accurate colours in the TV world” is how Panasonic describes the results.

It’s also equipped with Panasonic’s proprietary Absolute Black Filter, which the company insists can absorb ambient light and reflections in order to keep black areas of an image absolutely as black as possible. And as further evidence of its commitment to give ‘black’ just as much attention as ‘other colours’, the HCX2 processing strives to overcome an inherent OLED shortcoming – wonderfully deep and inky blacks but a shortage of detail therein – by minimising the time and energy required to switch a specific pixel from ‘off’ to ‘on’.

The EZ1002 also attempts to bring a little of Panasonic’s know-how to the consumer, by not only including ISF (Imaging Science Foundation) calibration settings but allowing users to upload their own colour 3D look-up tables via USB or SD card (‘users’ in this instance should more correctly read ‘inveterate tweakers’). And Panasonic has applied for THX certification, ‘Ultra HD Premium’ certification from the Ultra HD Alliance and Crestron certification from, well, Crestron.

Sound

Elsewhere, the EZ1002 is similarly thoroughly specified. Its audio performance has been specified and tuned by Panasonic’s legendary Technics subsidiary, and its ‘Dynamic Blade Speaker’ array consists of no fewer than 14 drivers (eight woofers, four midrange and a pair of tweeters) underpinned by a passive radiator. They’re integrated into what looks a very neat and stylish stand.

The operating system is the latest incarnation of Panasonic’s My Home Screen. Highlights include a Media Player app supporting 4K HDR10 and Hybrid Log Gamma, and (for the UK) a new version of Freeview Play with refined search functions and live thumbnails. Netflix, Amazon and Youtube 4K streaming are, of course, just a button-press away.

Verdict

It’s a flagship, and an exciting one at that. The EZ1002 goes on sale in Europe in June of this year, at a price yet to be confirmed. We’re guessing it’s not going to be cheap.

“On paper, the Panasonic EZ1002 OLED TV ticks every box on your television wish-list – and a few other boxes you may not have been aware of”

“Samsung was keen to show off QLED’S capabilities by sitting them next to rival OLED sets. The Samsung models appeared markedly brighter”

Samsung Q9

It looks like another TV tech rivalry is brewing: OLED versus QLED. And, from what we saw at CES 2017, we expect this one to be a gruelling contest. For the coming year, Samsung has announced three QLED ranges: the flatscreen Q7 and Q9, and the curved Q8. Naturally, it’s the flashy flagship Q9 that has caught our eye…

Design

Samsung has put a lot of thought into how its Q9 range looks (the company calls this new aesthetic ‘Q Style’). The Q9 bezel has shrunk to near-zero, with Samsung opting for a sleek metal finish.

Thanks to the absence of backlighting, the mammoth 88in Q9 we looked at on the Samsung stand was impressively thin, even if it didn’t quite match the 2.57mm thickness of LG’S new W7 OLED flagship. In a word, the package is gorgeous.

Practicality hasn’t taken a backseat either, with users having the choice of two TV stands: an easel-inspired ‘Studio’ stand and a ‘Gravity’ stand designed to make TV rotation easier.

Features

For the past few years Samsung has done away with built-in connectivity for many of its TVS, instead opting to house all inputs in a separate One Connect box. Samsung is sticking with the concept, and for its 2017 models the box connects to the TV via a 5m optical cable, though an optional 15m cable is also available.

The box itself is very similar to last year’s – it’s still roughly the size of a pencil case – only this time it also houses the ethernet port, and has IR blasters so your TV can respond to its remote even if the box is tucked away in a cabinet.

The new smart wand looks pleasingly similar to last year’s – it’s just a little flatter and is now silver as opposed to black. Samsung appears to be keen to highlight the remote’s voicecommand feature which, on first impression, appears surprisingly intuitive. Even giving it a vague request such as ‘sports’ results in the Q9 serving up a decent range of sports programmes and channels to choose from.

As well as the usual TV apps such as Netflix, Amazon and BBC iplayer, and Samsung’s recommendation and discovery features, the Tizen-powered operating system on the Q9 includes new personalised services.

‘Music’ allows you to search for songs and artists across streaming services, and similarly ‘TV Plus’ (currently on US models only) lets you pull 4K and HDR content across sources into one place. Lastly, ‘Sports’ is a hub where you’ll find information and broadcasts on your favourite teams. The interface gets more than a lick of paint compared to last year’s version. Not only do the pop-up menus look cleaner, you also get extra functionality. For example, in the source selection menu you can now power your sources on and off, thanks to the remote’s universal device control. It doesn’t sound like particularly groundbreaking stuff, but these tweaks should be welcome. We’ll dig deeper into the Samsung TV user experience when we receive our review sample.

Picture

Quantum dot technology doesn’t mean just thinner screens but, Samsung claims, marked improvements in colour and brightness too.

Samsung’s QLED TVS are also supposedly capable of 1500 to 2000 nits brightness – well over the 1000-nit minimum standard of the Ultra HD Premium specification. Last year’s top-tier Samsung sets wore the prestigious badge, so we can only suppose these will too. Samsung was keen to show off QLED’S capabilities at its First Look event at CES 2017 by sitting them next to rival OLED TVS. The Samsung QLED models appeared markedly brighter and seemed to look good even in bright room conditions. Of course, picture performance goes way beyond whose set goes brightest, and we weren’t able to investigate picture settings – we’re keen to get the two side-by-side in our test rooms later this year.

Initially, though, QLED looks promising. Rich colours of stained-glass windows truly popped, and not only did brightness levels seem impressive (no matter the room lighting conditions), but black depth looked like it could give OLED a run for its money.

QLED has wide viewing angles high on its list of selling points, and in a comparison with a 2016 Samsung KS9000 TV, the QLED set appeared to maintain colour saturation and image solidity better than last year’s set.

Sound

Sound quality will remain unknown until we get the sets into a quieter test room environment. Few TVS could compete with the hustle and bustle of the CES show floor.

Verdict

QLED will almost certainly be at the centre of Samsung’s 2017 TV line-up, and only time will tell whether it sits next to OLED as a ‘premium’ TV technology in harmony. But with the Q9 and other QLED TVS delivering a ‘Q’ package (‘Q picture’, ‘Q Style’ and ‘Q Smart’), Samsung is aware of the need to offer a whole experience in the competitive TV arena.

Just how much of an impression it can make next to flagship OLED models from competing brands will be down to the performance of its QLED TVS. First impressions, however, are very positive indeed. Q applause for Samsung.

Sony KD-65A1

On the Sony stand, we made a beeline for the KD 65A1, the 65in model in the company’s new A1 series of 4K OLED TVS, though 55in and 75in screen sizes are also available. Thanks to Sony’s one-slate concept, the KD 65A1 looks gorgeous.

Design

The bezel surrounding the TV is sliver-thin, so there’s nothing to distract you from the 65in 4K picture. The “stand-less” concept is a misnomer: there is a stand propping the TV up at the back –and it’s worth noting that, because of the TV’S design, you will need a rack that’s long enough to support the length of the screen.

Sony has given plenty of thought to the way the back looks, too. The back panel is made of glass, and the connections (including four HDMI inputs, optical output, three USB ports, tuners, power) are housed in the stand. The stand doubles up as the wall-mount, by folding it in so it’s flat against the screen.

The KD 65A1 is 8mm thin – not the thinnest at CES (LG’S Signature W OLED is just 2.57mm) – but Sony’s focus is on performance.

Features

Apart from an OLED panel provided by LG Display, the tech behind Sony’s Ultra HD 4K picture isn’t new. The OLED KD 65A1 uses the X1 Extreme 4K HDR processor we’ve already encountered in its premium ZD9 series.

Sony claims the X1 Extreme chip delivers more accurate noise reduction, detail enhancement to add to the blacks, rich colours and strong viewing angles we expect from OLED panels. The TV also features HDR (High Dynamic Range) using the standard HDR10 format. New to the KD 65A1 is support for Dolby Vision HDR, and Sony plans to implement support for the new HDR variant, HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma) into the A1 later in the year.

Android TV is set to make a return as Sony’s smart home interface and we’re hoping to see the latest Nougat 7.0 version installed in the KD 65A1. Sony has stuck with the same remote provided with the KD 65ZD9BU, which is practical, responsive and intuitive to use.

Sound

Using an OLED panel opens up the possibility of getting creative with how it delivers sound. Instead of conventional speakers, the 65A1 has two actuators placed behind the OLED panel that vibrate it to deliver sound.

Sony assures us this won’t warp the OLED panel, and has also included DSP to make sure the sound isn’t affected when you wall-mount the TV, either. Even from our brief listen in Sony’s demo room, the sound coming from the screen felt weightier, more focused and better localised to what was happening on screen.

Picture

In a darkened demo room, Sony played us 4K HDR footage of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and the black levels are so deep you could barely make out the screen. Yellow text and pinpricks of stars in the iconic opening sequence pop from the screen in a highly impressive manner.

Sony has a good record with motion and the OLED screen held up well with slow pans and fast action scenes in the film. Reds and blues look deep and vibrant, the KD 65A1 showing off those rich hues that we love about OLED panels.

Objects in the demo were all etched crisply and conveyed with a convincing level of subtlety on the 65A1. Sony set the TV up in ‘vivid mode’, so we’re looking forward to seeing how it looks once we’ve calibrated the settings ourselves.

Verdict

LG may have the head start with its Awardwinning range, but Sony seems prepared to give the Korean giant a run for its money.

There’s no word on pricing yet, but considering Sony’s flagship LCD KD 65ZD9BU costs £4000, we don’t expect the 65A1 to come cheap. The Sony KD 65A1 has definitely made a great first impression, and we can’t wait to get it into the What Hi-fi? offices to have a look.

“Even from our brief listen in Sony’s demo room, the sound felt weightier, more focused and more localised to what was happening on the screen”