Posted Sun Jan 9, 2011 at 09:02 AM PST by Dick Ward
LG has plenty of new tech for CES 2011, with a strong focus on their new passive 3D televisions. They’ve also got washing machines that can text you, though I’m still not clear on the “why.”
It’s a pretty good year for LG. Next year’s offerings will almost certainly go leaps and bounds past 2011 thanks to the huge investment the company made in research and development, but this year’s CES looks good for the company.
I started off by checking out the passive tech televisions that LG pushed hard at their press conference and in their marketing material. There were a few different feeds going, including a sports broadcast, a fashion show and a digitally animated film. Just which movie it was I can’t remember, there’s so much Pixar and Dreamworks on display that things start to blend together.
As far as 3D goes, LG’s sets looked good, but not amazing. The center of the screen was nicely focused and really popped nicely, but the edges started to separate and lose the effect. There also seemed to be an issue with the logo that was in the foreground, which didn’t look good at all.
Without seeing the same source playing on all 3D TVs it’s a bit difficult to judge them. If the video LG used was poorly done, then it’s not the TV’s fault. There was also more glare on the LG screens than on the Vizio and Toshiba displays that I saw, and glare on a 3D TV absolutely ruins the effect.
Based on the samples on hand though, I had a better 3D experience with Vizio’s set than LG’s, but LG’s were superior to Toshiba’s. It’s something I’d much prefer to test out in a realistic viewing environment before passing judgment though.
LG’s high-end sets looked great as usual, and don’t hold too many real surprises. Many of them do 3D and offer access to LG’s internet streaming suite. It seems to be the standard for CES 2011.
LG’s set-top box was on display as well, and though it doesn’t really do anything that already existing options can’t, it’s smaller than most and just might be worth picking up. The interface is nice and clean too, and as long as LG keeps up with the updates, the set-top could be a winning proposition.
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