LG Display debuted its new 97-inch OLED.EX TV panel during the K-Display 2022 event in Seoul, South Korea and it's taking an unusual approach to audio on OLED displays.
The OLED.EX screen sports LG's new Film CSO (Cinematic Sound OLED) feature that means the display itself will vibrate to generate audio without the need for dedicated speakers. Instead, a 5.1-channel sound system is embedded inside the display, which the company claims can create "a cinematic level of immersion." A typical 5.1 system is made up of a center speaker with four other directional channels for the left and right, plus a subwoofer for bass.
LG Display makes the OLED TV screens used in effectively all of the best OLED TVs, including those made by LG Electronics – but LG Display also sells screens to Sony, Philips and others.
Embedded audio
Not much is known about Film CSO or how the sound system will be arranged in the OLED.EX panel. It does, however, remind us of Sony's Acoustic Surface Audio system which can be found on the Sony A80K. Ultimately, we don't know how similar LG's feature will be as there's very little information on Film CSO, but we can look at Sony to guess at how it might work.
Sony TVs with Acoustic Surface Audio Plus have four front-facing speakers, two actuators, and tweeters in the back for immersion. It's the actuators themselves that vibrate the screen delicately to output sound and ensure audio is synched with the visuals. Audio Plus can even be enhanced with an amplifier to have the display serve as the main speaker.
We contacted LG and asked for more information on Film CSO. Specifically, we want to know how does the sound system not interfere with the display, assuming there aren't any actuators. This story will be updated if we get a response.
Better and brighter
LG Display debuted the CSO technology in its 97-inch OLED screen, which is the “biggest OLED TV panel ever made”. Earlier this year, LG launched the 97-inch G2 OLED featuring the screen, so its existence wasn't a surprise, but this is the first time the screen has been shown in Korea outside of its use in that TV, and it's certainly the first time we've seen the new sound system included with it.
OLED EX technology first debuted back in December 2021 with LG claiming it can improve OLED brightness by up to 30 percent. Using different materials (specifically, deuterium) allows for extra energy efficiency that means more brightness is possible, as well as more accurate colors.
LG Display also highlights that its OLED.EX panels use “personalized algorithm-based EX Technology''. This technology is designed to reduce image degradation in the TV. "Personalized algorithms thoroughly study people's usage habits and viewing patterns from day one, predict the degradation of 33 million organic light-emitting diodes on each display, and maintain optimal brightness and performance at the initial state," says LG Display. Basically, the panel analyzes what you watch regularly, so that it can compensate for and deterioration in the organic pixels over time.
See-through TV
Also at the K-DIsplay 2022 event, LG showed off more of its transparent OLED displays, which were first seen back in December 2021.
We've seen how they would look in a store setting, but we got a preview of how transparent screens might work in an office. LG revealed a new model, the Transparent OLED Solution for Conference Room; also known by its more succinct name, the E-Crystal.
The E-Crystal is a glass wall equipped with OLED panels that can be used as a monitor to display charts. It's designed to free up space in conference rooms that might normally be taken up by multiple monitors.
For those interested in display technology that's not see-through but flexible, Samsung just held its Unpacked 2022 event where the tech giant revealed the new Galaxy Fold 3 and the Watch 5 Pro. We recommend checking out our recap for a quick summary.
