CES 2013: New TVs promise plenty, but don't expect much right away - Calgary Herald

LAS VEGAS - The latest TV technologies have been all the rage at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, but the price points and lack of content to make use of them will be the real technical hurdle to jump over.

Much of the buzz around the show is centred on Ultra HD (or 4K), a display technology that is four times the resolution of 1080p, the current standard for HD flat-panel television sets. With a resolution of 3840 x 2160, the picture quality is impressive, and particularly ideal for large flat-panels above 65-inches. TV manufacturers like, Sony, LG, Samsung and Sharp, among others, are heavily promoting the new technology at the show, and with a few models having already come to market in the fall of 2012, some of what's being shown here will almost certainly make it to store shelves.

At least for those who can afford them. Pricing for most Ultra HD TVs being showcased has yet to be revealed, but if LG's $20,000 price tag for the 84-inch model is any indication, being an early adopter will cost a pretty penny. 

As prohibitive as pricing is for most consumers, the most ominous challenge is arguably the lack of content. Sony announced that it will be launching a 4K (Sony doesn't use the term "Ultra HD") delivery platform in the summertime that will help customers find and access movies that can playback in the new format. The movies would come from Sony's own movie studio, and with several films, recent past and present, having already been shot with 4K-enabled cameras, there is potential for more.

Sony's announcement was really the only serious mention regarding Ultra HD content. Other manufacturers provided vague references to future offerings, while others touted the Ultra HD's ability to up-convert existing HD content into something resembling 4K. Think of it in the same terms as how certain TVs years ago were designed to up-convert DVD video to HD. Sony demonstrated how a Blu-ray film, which plays in 1080p, can be up-converted to 4K-like quality and sharpness by simply playing it back on a player or TV that can do it.

The added conundrum is how 4K content would be stored. Though not confirmed, file sizes for 4K movies could theoretically be more than double that of a Blu-ray film. A disc needs to be large enough to fit the movie and extra features. Streaming it is a challenge for the same reason. For example, if a consumer in Canada has a bandwidth allotment of 60GB with their Internet service provider, and streaming a 4K film from a cloud-based service (think Netflix, as an example), it would ostensibly be eight to 10GB alone just for one film.

And while the sharpness and quality is undeniable with Ultra HD, it's OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) that offers a starker contrast — literally. LG announced that it will release its 55-inch OLED TV to the U.S. market (Canada may follow later this year) in March for the whopping price tag of $12,000. Samsung is following close behind, and will almost certainly launch its own model sometime later in the year as well. Sony, which had released the world's first OLED TV (an 11-inch model) has opted not to follow suit, while Sharp and Toshiba have done the same.

The promise of OLED lies in how lifelike the image actually is. The contrast ratio of LG's OLED flat-panel is considered infinite. The best LED TV shown at CES can only display a tiny fraction of that. The reason why is because the pixels in OLED screens emit their own light, so colour reproduction and black levels are considerably richer, brighter and more realistic.

The problem is that producing OLED screens in mass quantities is challenging for manufacturers, a point that was repeated a number of times on the show floor today. Since OLED displays in 1080p, there is no major issue with content to watch on it, either. And with a panel that is 4mm thin and weighing just 20lbs., the OLED TVs shown here look more like overgrown picture frames. The technology has been shown at CES for several years, but this year marks the first time a sizeable model has come to market in North America.

Like 3D a few years ago, there is plenty of hype surrounding the new technologies, though more of it is being splashed on Ultra HD. Manufacturers have proven they can make them and make them look pretty, but the question of when and where the content will come from is the question they'll be answering long after this show is over.