LG 55-inch OLED TV out July, to cost £6,000

Interesting! LG have announced their 55" (!) OLED will be released in July for £6000.

I wonder how this will impact future B&O TVs and, of course, their price? BV7 OLED, anyone? :)

More info: http://www.techradar.com/news/television/lg-55-inch-oled-tv-to-cost-6000-1081832

And if can be made reliable with consistent quality, and if the figures are correct, it will blow everything out the water including the 10-46 I've just got :-/.

It's a technology that does need to prove itself though even in he short term(2-3 years), but what an upgrade this would be after that timescale. Quality and longevity assured, a Visionclear upgrade...

10-46 mk3, 12-65 mk2?

Chris Townsend:

And if can be made reliable with consistent quality, and if the figures are correct, it will blow everything out the water including the 10-46 I've just got :-/.

And me Chris. Mine was only installed just after Christmas - 30th of December, I think.

Will be interesting to see how this shakes up the TV market. Once people see OLED TVs in stores, it will become the next "HD", will drive down prices and will result in consumers asking if TVs are OLED. If not, you might find some people hold off spending large amounts on LCD TVs....which isn't great for B&O. Why buy a BV7-55 for £15K when an OLED version is now less than a year away?

One thing for sure - no more "clouding" issues on BV10s with OLED :)

I did note this from the TechRadar news piece "Actually, for this price you might expect the actors to come round and perform the film in your lounge.". And that's for a £6K TV!

That bit did make me laugh. I'm very happy with my 10-46 and the Beolab 11 should come with it as a bundle as it compliments it very subtly. Your 3 year trade in click is ticking away in my head already, but OLED will have to prove itself first. Bleeding on LCD led tv's might be a mere irrelevance compared to the issues even small OLED panels throw up.

Chris Townsend:

Your 3 year trade in click is ticking away in my head already, but OLED will have to prove itself first. 

Exactly. I can't see B&O bringing out an OLED TV until late 2013. With LG not shipping pre-ordered OLED TVs until Christmas, this means that panel availability will be low. Plus, it appears there are various OLED standards, with Samsung pushing "Super OLED", a panel manufacturer that B&O has traditionally selected for their panels.

We have plenty of time to enjoy our BV10s. Combine the TV with a top notch HD source and I'm more than happy with the picture! I rented the latest Sherlock Holmes movie the other day and the picture quality was immense, and that was a (HD) download. In some scenes, the picture was so crisp and clear, you felt like you were watching it being filmed live.

Given that LG have quality control,and other,issues with their,even top of the range,LCD TVs,I personally would not get too excited by an OLED TV.

http://www.avforums.com/reviews/LG-LM960-55LM960V-55-Inch-3D-LED-LCD-TV%20Review_305/review.html

I think it will initially excite, but also flounder like plasma did technically when it was first introduced. Early plasma or a matured Avant?

The future nonetheless.

TerryM:

Given that LG have quality control,and other,issues with their,even top of the range,LCD TVs,I personally would not get too excited by an OLED TV.

http://www.avforums.com/reviews/LG-LM960-55LM960V-55-Inch-3D-LED-LCD-TV%20Review_305/review.html

I think I'd disagree, any chance the manufacturers have to sell an "improvement" over LCD and recoup some of the heavy losses they are taking will be jumped at. Once they publicise and advertise the "advantages" then it will quickly become the "must have" TV.

Besides, just because you can't make washing machines doesn't mean you can't make tumble dryers.

TerryM:

Given that LG have quality control,and other,issues....

More or less than the "quality control" issues I had with my BV7-40 and BV10-46?

2 x BV7-40 MKIII replacement TVs (two broke)
1 x BV7040 MKIV replacement TVs (one died)

Multiple s/w issues and engineer visits.

On top of this, within a few weeks of my new BV10-46 being delivered in December, a B&O engineer had it in pieces replacing the mainboard. He then had to come back to clean the screen where dust had settled on the LCD after removing the glass cover.

Add to this mix the clouding "issues" than some users have reported with the BV10 (and continue to report).

I think we quickly forget that our own brand has had, and continues to have, issues from time to time. Granted, many can be fixed via sw, but us in glasshouses (as the saying goes) etc.

moxxey:

TerryM:

Given that LG have quality control,and other,issues....

More or less than the "quality control" issues I had with my BV7-40 and BV10-46?

2 x BV7-40 MKIII replacement TVs (two broke)
1 x BV7040 MKIV replacement TVs (one died)

Multiple s/w issues and engineer visits.

On top of this, within a few weeks of my new BV10-46 being delivered in December, a B&O engineer had it in pieces replacing the mainboard. He then had to come back to clean the screen where dust had settled on the LCD after removing the glass cover.

Add to this mix the clouding "issues" than some users have reported with the BV10 (and continue to report).

I think we quickly forget that our own brand has had, and continues to have, issues from time to time. Granted, many can be fixed via sw, but us in glasshouses (as the saying goes) etc.

I am not denying that a manufacturer can have problems with a product.

When such a problem does arise the test is how the problem is dealt with.

Mainstream manufacturers,such as Panasonic,and Sony,frequently deny that the problem exists,or claim that the issue is within specification.

The point is that if a manufacturer has a track record of not resolving issues with an existing,fairly mature,technology,then how much faith can one have in them moving successfully to a brand new technology.

Also,as far as I am aware,B & O has never been guilty of downgrading,unannounced,the specification of a new model as LG did last year with their LW980 model.(An announced 288 backlight zones reduced to 96.)

TerryM:

The point is that if a manufacturer has a track record of not resolving issues with an existing,fairly mature,technology,then how much faith can one have in them moving successfully to a brand new technology.

Terry, frankly, there's a big difference between a £8000 BV10-46 or £11K BV70-40 and a run-of-the-mill retail LG or Sony. We were beta-testers for a lot of BV7 sw updates for many months or years. Yes, they got fixed, in most instances, but we paid top dollar for this post-delivery service in the first place.

One of the reasons most of these retail TVs can suffer from issues is that the manufacturers drive down the quality of the TV/panel/components in order to meet an increasingly desperate market for selling TVs. It's a cut-throat market out there.

However, remember one key point: Samsung and LG are driving this panel technology. B&O aren't. They follow the lead. Let's give these manufacturers some credit with their drive to improve technology. Without their R&D, our B&O TVs wouldn't exist - you wouldn't have a BV12 with such a good picture. That's primarily from panel development, which have improved dramatically over the last few years.

I would agree with moxxey.

I'm a big fan of B&O and have their Beolabs and other stuff. Though I never had any problem with the Beolabs my beosound 3 had a very troubled life of constants repair going to the shop five times now (even though it just sits on my bedside table). From the reports of problems with the Beocom 5, BV10, my Beosound 3 etc I can't say B&O quality inspires me and that's even without thinking about the high prices. After all the trouble my wife forbids any future B&O purchases - and I understand how she feels. Yes B&O might eventually fix all the problems but for the price a trouble free enjoyable experience should be there from day one.

OLED and 4K are all driven by the R&D of these 'low end poor quality electronic co'. B&O don't have the billions to build the plants and the money to bring these tech to the market by itself.

You might dismiss OLED now but it's definitely the way forward. I know my next buy isn't going to be a AUD33k overpriced 55inch Led tv, it's going to be a poorly built OLED or a 4k tv

BillC:

I'm a big fan of B&O and have their Beolabs and other stuff. Though I never had any problem with the Beolabs my beosound 3 had a very troubled life of constants repair going to the shop five times now (even though it just sits on my bedside table). From the reports of problems with the Beocom 5, BV10, my Beosound 3 etc I can't say B&O quality inspires me and that's even without thinking about the high prices. After all the trouble my wife forbids any future B&O purchases - and I understand how she feels. Yes B&O might eventually fix all the problems but for the price a trouble free enjoyable experience should be there from day one.

I am always sad to hear of difficulties that people have had with the hardware of their units.  

Software is a different matter - a number of Moxxey's (and others) problems were software based, and having spent some time in the software industry and having been a many times victim of MS Windows upgrades I simple despair.

However some things I have learnt this week are:

• B&O do go to extraordinary lengths to produce quality results during their manufacturing process - components are tested en route the production lines, the assemblies are checked, and the final product is checked
• And the final product is checked at a mandatory level and for a statistical sample at another higher level.
• Any new production/product line is subjected to additional levels of scrutiny
• They also track the products so they can rectify any design / manufacturing flaws
• And Tue is very proud of what he called the "luxury brand" experience where the dealer network will go to extraordinary lengths (just seen Glenn's story in the Struer thread) to satisfy customers

I see you are a fellow Australian, and I wonder whether we suffer from "the tyranny of distance".  As you may know I have a particular problem of my own at the moment - time will tell if this is satisfactorily resolved or not.  What I am confident of is that the B&O processes are sound.  I am also confident of the dealer staff I interact with - although we do miss Tony who had been our confidant of 25 years before he retired (how dare he LOL).

What I am a little less confident of is how we (and the designers) are forcing the engineers to try to achieve more and more inside less and less space - and how much of that achievement rests on software.  But I am mightily impressed by what I have seen of the software capabilities inside the B&O Play V1 - much has been made of how the V1 has been designed to a price point - I think that is purely the physical package.  The software is leading edge (oh dear! but at least it is malleable, and the V1 connects to the internet and does online downloads) and certainly not budget material.

So my counsel is for you take a close look at the capabilities of the video engine inside the V1, not so that you buy one - clearly you are in the Bang & Olufsen demographic (as opposed to the B&O Play demographic) - but so you understand the capabilities of what will be behind (inside) what ever OLD and/or 4K model B&O may (no, we were not told, not were those capabilities even asked after not discussed) repeat may choose to produce. 

That's two interesting points you bring up-

1. B&O does select hi end material and finishes for their product. As much as I love the sound of Linn products I can't say I like the looks or material they use. If B&O does become an option to the BMW X5 I'm more than happy to put good cash to that option.

2. The V1 could fill a role. Ive been wanting a video audio server with superb use interface. Knowing that the V1 can play digital video material and audio could make it an ideal media server a say hook up the 32inch to a 84inch 4k tv. Unfortunately my local B&O doesn't have it yet. I'd be keen to see how useable is the video and audio selection works. Though this whole thing only works if it has a simultaneous hdmi output ...

BillC:

2. The V1 could fill a role. Ive been wanting a video audio server with superb use interface. Knowing that the V1 can play digital video material and audio could make it an ideal media server a say hook up the 32inch to a 84inch 4k tv. Unfortunately my local B&O doesn't have it yet. I'd be keen to see how useable is the video and audio selection works. Though this whole thing only works if it has a simultaneous hdmi output

I hope I have not mislead you !

The interface that enthralled me with the V1's video engine was the configuration options - these options highlighted how powerful the engine is with what it can do internally (e.g. as mentioned elsewhere, designate the left hand side BeoLab 5 as the systems sub-woofer).

As a media centre you will still need an end user interface.

My current favourites are:

1. Apple TV (although I think their latest tweak was a backward step, I do understand the strategy behind why they felt they had to make that change)
2. LinkPlayer (I am greatly heartened by PhilLondon(Philippe)'s latest Beta of his version 2 re-write, and once I return to Oz I expect to have much fun experimenting with it)
3. Plex (we now use Plex on the iPad, but maybe, just maybe, the LinkPlayer V2 implementation will swing us back to using Plex on the big screen)
4. I have yet to see how the V1 accesses the alphabet soup world of NAS/DLNA/UPNP

I suggest you take a look at each of these end user interfaces for ideas of your future configuration.

I am not sure how you could achieve and operate simultaneous HDMI outputs ... interesting thought though ... I might try simulating that once I return home.

What state are you based in ?

Thanks for that, I'll look into your suggestions.

I've been wanting to get something like the cinema player from kaleidescape

but with audiophile quality sound, 2 way remote and nicer finishes.

My idea was that the V1 could have a video out like some old TV and use it as a media centre but I guess that's not to be.

I live in Sydney NSW.

BillC:

I would agree with moxxey.

You might dismiss OLED now but it's definitely the way forward. I know my next buy isn't going to be a AUD33k overpriced 55inch Led tv, it's going to be a poorly built OLED or a 4k tv

Actually, that wasn't really my point :)

What I was trying to say was that LG, Samsung and Sharp are the companies putting their cash in to panel R&D and it's companies such as B&O who will benefit from that, longer term. So, for that reason, we have to give these companies some respect. Of course, they then go on to produce market-leading TVs, at rock-bottom prices, in China. Something has to give and it's mostly build quality. Plus they don't have any trade-in value at all, in 3 years.

I'll stick with B&O, despite the problems I had in the past. But I'm also looking forward to OLED and improved panels and, in a couple or so years, I'll be seeking to trade in my current BV10-46 against a B&O TV, hopefully with OLED.

elephant:

I see you are a fellow Australian, and I wonder whether we suffer from "the tyranny of distance". 

I'm not sure that "suffer" is the right word any Australian could use for living in Australia :)

It's also a lot worse in New Zealand. But my brother gets around most of these issues as he buys most kit from America on the way back from the UK (or Hong Kong).