LG’s $100,000 Rollable TV Is So Slick, It Hurts

Some of the costliest TVs nowadays are big microLED TVs designed to span whole partitions. But the LG OLED R’s signature function is having the ability to disappear (and reappear) on command. That’ll value you $100,000.

While that price ticket places the OLED R out of attain of just about everybody, that determine is much less of a illustration of its worth and extra of a mirrored image of how exhausting the OLED R was to make. LG confirmed off the primary prototype for what would grow to be the OLED R greater than two years in the past at CES 2019, and within the time since, LG has been working to shine and refine the idea into an precise retail gadget. And even now, LG says the OLED R takes round two months to make.

Starting this summer season, the OLED R is lastly obtainable for buy, so we took a visit to LG’s new North American headquarters to test it out in particular person (surprisingly, a $100,000 TV is somewhat too wealthy for a blogger’s wage).

I’m not going to lie, after I first walked as much as the OLED R, I used to be barely underwhelmed. Unlike lots of LG’s tremendous premium Signature TVs, the OLED R maxes out at 65 inches throughout and doesn’t include help for 8K. But as soon as I sat down in entrance of it, none of that mattered. That’s as a result of apart from its measurement, LG says the OLED R doesn’t endure any trade-offs in picture high quality, with vibrant colours, a 120Hz refresh charge, and 4 HDMI 2.1 ports.

Of course, for a TV this costly, the OLED R can also be a press release piece, so along with its tremendous minimalist design, the entrance of the TV includes a 100-watt 4.2 channel speaker system (so that you don’t have to hook up additional wires for a soundbar), and the newest model of LG’s webOS TV UI. LG even left the underside part of the TV open so you possibly can maintain your sport consoles close by, however out of the best way. Then once more, would you actually need to break the OLED R’s clear traces with an Ouya? But I digress.

Aside from that, the OLED R may even be used as an ordinary Bluetooth speaker when its display is rolled away, or as a photograph gallery or a pretend fire with its show half raised, a function LG calls Line View.

But clearly, the true magic is that whenever you’re not watching TV, the OLED R’s versatile show merely retracts into its base, so that you aren’t caught with a black rectangle staring again at you. Sure, it takes 15 or 20 seconds for its display to totally retract, however it’s a mesmerizing course of. Meanwhile, the perfect that rival TVs can do is show some artwork whereas making an attempt to trick individuals into considering you’ve obtained a portray on the wall. Or when you’re wealthy, you may be capable of pay somebody to make a personalized TV cupboard.

The OLED R’s outlandish worth means it’s not precisely a viable choice for most individuals proper now, it’s a reasonably secure wager that LG is already engaged on methods to make future rollable TVs a bit extra reasonably priced. Until then, I’ll be dreaming about it.