LG announces 77 and 88-inch 8k TVs in OLED ZX line with av1 support
LG will release new OLED TVs with 8k resolution and screen diagonals of 77 and 88 inches this year. The ZX line offers, among other things, a new generation α9 processor, av1 support and HDMI 2.1. New 8k LCDs are also appearing.
The ZX line of 88 and 77-inch models is the successor to the Z series, in which LG’s first 88 “TV with OLED panel and 8k resolution appeared last year. Prices of the new models have not yet been announced; the current 88 OLED TV with 8k resolution costs 29,999 euros. The 8k LCDs appear in the NanoCell line. The LCDs are three new series, Nano99, Nano97 and Nano95, with full array local dimming and image sizes of 75 and 65 inches.
In addition to HEVC and VP9, the TVs also support av1. This is a video format introduced in 2018 that should save bandwidth thanks to its efficient compression. The technology is released under an open source license and can be used without having to pay royalties. YouTube, Apple, Amazon, Intel, Microsoft and Netflix, among others, support av1.
Furthermore, the TVs get HDMI 2.1 ports to be able to receive 8k at 60Hz. They also support FreeSync and Nvidia’s G-Sync, as well as the hdr formats hdr10, hlg, Dolby Vision and advanced hdr. The TVs support LG’s ThinQ voice control and run webOS, with support for Apple AirPlay 2 and HomeKit, as well as for the Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.
New to the 2020 8k lineup is the presence of the third-generation α9 processor. LG claims that the chip uses deep learning when upscaling from 4k to 8k. Automatic recognition of faces and text would make it possible to optimize those images. In addition, thanks to the chip, the TV can recognize whether the viewer has a movie, sport or animation on it, and automatically select settings for those genres in addition to ‘standard’.
Notably absent from the announcement is the 48-inch OLED TV that the company is working on. LG Display, LG’s division that produces screen panels, says it will demonstrate a 48-inch OLED panel at the CES fair next week. however, no product is shown with that panel yet. It is not yet known when the first 48″ OLED TVs will be released.