What will 2021 TVs be like?
LG, differently from all other brands, obviously focuses a lot on OLED technology, a bit its workhorse, which this year further improves with OLED EVO. The OLED has several advantages, such as the ability to activate individual pixels separately and turn them off completely, features that allow it to create very high contrast images, as well as very precise images since the technology does not require a backlight system, avoiding phenomena such as halos or backlight bleeding. But this lack limits the level of brightness that can be achieved, a feature that LG wants to improve with EVO. The new TVs will in fact be able to offer even richer colors and above all a wider color range.
Despite the market dominance of LG's OLED panels, the company wants to offer a complete lineup that also includes LCD models with LED backlight, the pinnacle of evolution of which is called QNED. We are talking about LCD TVs with Micro LED backlighting, in huge quantities (up to almost 30 thousand microLEDs on a 70 ”panel) divided into 2400 individually controllable areas. The purpose of this technology is to obtain maximum control to enable high contrasts and deep blacks, which can be as close as possible to the - unparalleled - performance of the OLED.
These are the two new technologies that LG is deploying this year, and which will complement the existing lines (OLED and Nanocell). But let's discover some trends that will accompany us throughout the year. First of all, LG passes almost entirely (only the entry-level TV line is excluded) to HDMI 2.1 connectivity, and therefore also to panels with a refresh rate of 120 Hz. If until last year we made buying guides for the best TVs to combine with a Playstation 5 or Xbox Series X, starting from the next few months all the TVs from the mid-range upwards will probably be a good choice, being the refresh rate and technologies such as the VRR discriminating them. LG seems to believe a lot in this trend - and we can understand it considering the hunger for new consoles in the market - to the point that it has added additional features dedicated to gamers. For example, most TVs will be equipped with functions capable of recognizing the type of game and adjusting the image to improve the experience; nothing particularly new, we have already seen it on many monitors, but these technologies are also becoming the standard for the TV sector. A very interesting feature, however, will be the presence within the OS of the Twitch, Stadia and GeForce Now applications. In practice, if you believe in cloud gaming, LG TVs will practically be game consoles, having everything already integrated. This move could give a boost to the spread of cloud gaming, a technology that on paper represents the future, but which spreads slowly.
Another trend, in which the writer believes little, is the presence of all voice assistants on the entire TV line. We use Google Home and Alexa on a daily basis for the most disparate actions and requests, but we still do not find the real benefit of having them on a TV; the interaction in this case seems to us too slow and ferruginous, but we do not exclude that the experience may improve over time.
LG adds some 8K TVs to the catalog, a still niche market, which will probably remain so. still for several years. To date, the numbers of 8K televisions in Italian homes are microscopic and certainly the situation will not change drastically in 2021. After all, the contents are non-existent and it is probably still too early to think of making a purchase that can last over time, considering that simply the diffusion mass is still too far away. However LG is there, if you want an 8K, and tries to offer the best in terms of upscaling, considering that it is the essential element to offer good image quality.
Finally, the trend is interesting. increase in size. Although this has been the case for a while, we can definitely consider the 50/55 "models as the basic choice for most families, while the 65/70" and up models will become more and more common.
So get ready, between the health emergency that still forces us at home, new game consoles and European football championships at the gates of summer, this is the right year to buy a new 4K TV, from the big screen, maybe OLED and with all the features loved by gamers.
