Looking at the slow lurch of technological progress in the latter half of the 20th century, it is apparent that the pace of change has been dwarfed by the improvements made in the past 15 years alone.
The catalyst for these changes began once manufacturers were no longer shackled by the limitations of cathode ray tubes. No longer reliant on bulky tubes, the capabilities of TVs began to grow exponentially. Picture quality drastically improved, screens grew in size and production became more cost-efficient. For the first time, TVs were able to offer with more colours, smaller bezels and thinner casings.
The accelerated pace of change means that a TV that was state-of-the-art just five years ago is woefully outdated compared to current products, despite representing a massive leap forward over what was available 10 years ago. Just as cathode ray tubes represented the turning point in television design, the unrivalled picture quality of OLED represents a similar turning point for TV innovation. OLED may prove to be the spark, which causes TV technology to explode at an ever-increasing rate. Leading electronics manufacturers are now intensely investing in research and development in order to come up with modern TVs that address various consumer needs. One of such companies is LG Electronics with its large array of game-changing TVs.
The most impressive TV innovation at the 2016 CES surprisingly came from LG. The long time peddler of wild wacky and crazy expensive living room technology showed off a 4K OLED TV that is as thick as four credit cards. Nothing will be as revolutionary as the invention of TV except for the world’s first Curved OLED TV.
Commenting on present TV trends, General Manager, Home Entertainment division, LG Electronics West Africa operations, Mr. Steve Ryu said: “We are fully committed to bringing next generation technologies to the Nigerian market.
“Our groundbreaking OLED TV marks the beginning of a whole new era in home entertainment. Its IMAX-like curvature guarantees an amazingly immersive and comfortable viewing experience. Indeed, it is a point of pride that we were able to bring the OLED TV into the Nigerian market and we will continue to expand and improve our industry leading television technology”, he stated further.
Despite the advent of 3D movies, bigger screens, 4D motion seating and ultra-premium cinemas, the traditional movie theater is under threat from increasingly popular streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. Critically-acclaimed shows like Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad have convinced viewers across the world that what’s on in their living room is just as exciting as whatever’s showing at the theater. This rise in quality of television content has ushered in what critics have called, “The Golden Age of Television”.
In addition to the rich content available to today’s viewers, the explosion in the popularity of television as a medium for storytelling can be tied to the interactive power of smart TVs as well as recent strides in image rendering technology that allow picture quality to increase exponentially every few years.
High definition TVs that once represented the pinnacle of display technology are being replaced by the next generation of 4K ultra high definition (UHD) TVs. As the ability to faithfully render images improves with each passing year, the price of high tech televisions continues to fall, making advanced sets available to more consumers than ever.
Today, several display formats are competing to replace traditional CCFL LCD and become the standard bearer for the next generation of 4K UHD televisions. The two primary contenders are OLED and LED LCD. After a strong showing at CES 2016, there is little doubt that OLED is poised to become the dominant format for tomorrow’s UHD TVs. However, despite OLED’s ability to render images in striking detail, its adoption by the public has been slowed by higher price tags that have warded off all but the wealthiest consumers. LG and other companies pushing OLED continue to invest heavily in R&D in the hopes of developing less expensive screens, and these efforts are yielding impressive results with OLED prices recently dipping below USD 2,000 for the first time. The drop in prices and surge in 4K content is likely to lead to a boom in OLED popularity.
