LG's Signature OLED T: Transparent, wireless - and with 3D effect

Luca Fontana

8/1/2024

Translation: machine translated

Transparent OLED TV: LG brings innovation to the TV world with the Signature OLED T. Despite enthusiastic reports, the question remains: are the aesthetics more convincing than the picture?

Clever 3D effects (almost) without cables

Without having seen it with your own eyes, it's difficult to give a true assessment. But LG's efforts to make the transparent OLED TV accessible to the masses appear for the first time to be more than a simple media show-off. At least that's what the reports from Denison and Welch suggest.

In any case, the photos show that the transparent OLED TV from LG is embedded in a shelf-like piece of furniture with a black frame. LG has not yet decided whether this is included in the scope of delivery or is available separately.

Denison, Welch and co. also report that the OLED T creates an impressive 3D effect in which the image appears to have several levels. Like on a theatre stage, where the backdrops in the foreground, middle and background form different levels.

To ensure that there is no cable clutter behind the TV, LG's T-Series borrows the Zero Connect Box from the M-Series, which I was able to see at IFA 2023:

The advantage of the box is that it can be placed up to ten metres away from the TV. External playback devices such as consoles, Blu-ray players or set-top boxes are no longer connected directly to the TV, but to the Zero Connect Box. It then streams the video and audio signals to the TV and audio device with UHD resolution and at up to 120 hertz - uncompressed, including all HDMI 2.1 features, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.

And what about black?

The question of the typical OLED true black remains. Because where there is no black, the contrast values suffer. The picture looks milky and washed out - literally transparent. I criticised this back then with Panasonic's prototypes at IFA 2019.

LG wants to solve the problem by raising a black film behind the glass at the touch of a button. This blocks unwanted background light. This creates black and thus acceptable contrast values, even if they are far from peak values.

Despite the euphoric reports, I'm still not entirely convinced by the transparent concept. The aesthetics cost too much for me and the image doesn't deliver enough - still the most important criterion for me.

How do you see it?

Luca Fontana

Senior Editor

Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.ch

I write about technology as if it were cinema, and about films as if they were real life. Between bits and blockbusters, I’m after stories that move people, not just generate clicks. And yes – sometimes I listen to film scores louder than I probably should.

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