LG SIGNATURE OLED TV R: World’s First Rollable TV

LG has been going extremely well in the high-end TV market, and the new model 65R9 of the LG SIGNATURE OLED TV R series will further increase the halo effect that the company is enjoying across its OLED televisions.

R stand for “Rollable” and this new series of LG TVs realizes what many had dreamed of ever since flexible or rollable OLED panels were demonstrated more than a decade ago: a true rollable TV product. As you can imagine, it’s not easy to build such television and there’s no doubt that LG has faced many challenges to get there.

After we checked the TV from up-close, we could clearly see the flexible frame that supports the OLED screen as it is being rolled and unrolled in about ~14 seconds. We’re going to upload a video, so now is a good time to subscribe to our Ubergizmo YouTube channel to be notified.

The implications and potential for this technology should not be underestimated. At first, it will likely start as a very small niche market for interior design snobs. However, there are genuine advantages to be able to hide the TV by rolling it.

In time, this kind of technology could allow for very large displays to be infinitely less intrusive than they are today. This first rollable TV is “only” 65-inch big, so in the grand scheme of things, it’s relatively small, but expect large sizes as soon as next year. It’s not impossible to have designs similar to very large projector screens coming from the ceiling as well.

For now, the first buyers will be able to enjoy a TV with an invisible screen, when not in use. However, it’s also fair to say that the TV base isn’t invisible at all, but LG has made the best of the situation by integrating a 100W Dolby Atmos sound system in it. The brushed aluminum base (designed by Kvadrat of Denmark) looks great and can blend in many types of interior.

LG also made it possible to unroll the TV partially for tasks that require a small portion of the screen. It’s a nice concept and its success will depend on how fast the TV can unroll, and how useful in the real-world the feature actually is.

In terms of image quality, the LG Signature Series typically the best that LG has, which includes LG’s best OLED panels and the new Alpha 9 gen2 image processor. From what we could see, the image quality has not been affected by this design.

It seems that 2019 will be a great year for OLED, with this rolling TV, and upcoming foldable phones and tablets. This technology finally fulfills one of the key promises that was expected from it for a very long time.

Hubert Nguyen
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Tags: 4K TV, CES, CES 2019, hdtv, LG, LG Electronics, LG Televisions, oled tv, _breaking