The best TVs of CES 2013

Westinghouse showed up at CES this year with a bit of a surprise: a 110-inch Ultra High-Definition television. We met up with the company here at the Las Vegas Hotel (don’t ask us how they managed to roll the set into a suite) to get a look at this monster of a television for ourselves. After stepping into the room, the TV completely overwhelmed us. However, unlike nearly every other massive TV we’ve seen out there, the QX110 was not disappointing to look at. While 1080p doesn’t suit a gigantic TV very well, 4K does fill out the display with enough pixels to make a pleasurable viewing experience. However, the model we saw had some other issues to speak of. A large, dark band went down the center the screen, and colors did appear to be slightly washed out. We were assured that these issues were only present on this prototype unit, and the company claims the TV uses the same display from ChinaStar as Samsung’s 84-inch 4K TV. The TV’s body showed its early stage: the back isn’t covered in any way, and light leaked out of the rear. Still, Westinghouse expects to sell the TV for $299,999.99 as a made-to-order product by the end of Q1.

If you’re looking for a cheaper 4K alternative from Westinghouse (we can’t blame you), it has also introduced 50-, 55-, and 65-inch UHD televisions here at CES. The 55-inch wasn’t here, but the other two looked identical. Like all other 4K TV’s we’ve seen, they looked great and had excellent viewing angles, though we weren’t impressed with the supposed 1080p upscaling feature. It’s worth noting that there are little to no extra features here: the design is spartan, to say the least, and there’s no Wi-Fi or other smart TV features — though you can plug a Roku Streaming Stick into them. The three TVs will be available later this quarter for $2,499.99, $2,999.99, and $3,999.00, respectively.

4K displays are all the rage here at CES 2013, but the vast majority of the ones that we have seen have been traditional TV sets. In addition to all of those high-resolution TVs, LG is showing off something different. The company is demoing an 84-inch 4K Ultra HD display prototype with five-point multitouch interaction. If you ever wanted to own an iPad the size of your living room wall, this would be it.

The display runs a proprietary software interface built on Windows, but with a number of custom-built demos to show off the touchscreen functionality. LG’s demo apps let you pan and zoom around a virtual library —not unlike how Photo Spheres work on Android 4.2 — as well as read massive ebooks and paint and draw on canvasses. It’s possible to zoom in on an image without losing color fidelity and quality, provided the source image has enough resolution, of course.

A recurring theme we’re hearing this year at CES is the idea of getting the family around the TV instead of isolated on their own devices. One way Panasonic thinks that might happen is with its Electronic Smart Pen — a new product for 2013 that lets you write on the screen of your 2013 Panasonic 1080p plasma.

After you connect your battery-powered pen to your TV with Bluetooth, you can use Panasonic’s Swipe and Share app to flick images off your mobile device and onto your big screen. That is, unless your device runs Windows — Panasonic says Swipe and Share is only available on Android and iOS for now. Once you have a picture on the screen, you can use some bundled software to paint and scribble onscreen, then send the photo back to your device. It makes for a fun demo, but isn’t exactly a killer app. The more down-to-earth uses for the tech are the digital whiteboard app and tablet-style games that Panasonic’s rep showed us, both of which were responded well to the pen input.

Since first seeing it yesterday, we’ve gotten to spend a little more time with Sony’s 4K OLED TV prototype, possibly the best-looking screen you’re going to find at CES. The 56-inch TV merges this year’s two high-end TV formats with a super high-definition screen and the gorgeous colors of OLED, though while both 4K and OLED TVs are now coming to consumers, this combination is still in an experimental stage. Interestingly, Sony isn’t the only one to announce a prototype this year — Panasonic has just unveiled its own 56-inch 4K OLED competitor, which we haven’t yet had a chance to examine in detail. Either OLED or 4K can push a TV over $10,000, so if this does come to market, expect it to be out of the price range of just about everyone for some time.

Samsung’s just announced what it’s calling “the world’s first curved OLED TV.” A curved screen on your TV may sound like a bit of an oddity, but Samsung boasts that it creates a more panoramic, more immersive viewing experience, and actually improves viewing angles from the side. The 55-inch TV on display at Samsung’s booth is due to come out the second half of this year, and has what Samsung reps have called “an IMAX feel.” The TV is incredibly sharp and crisp, with fantastic colors. Unfortunately, though, details are still otherwise scarce — we’re not sure of the resolution, details of the curvature, or the like – but we’re already thinking about putting our piggy bank savings toward a curved OLED and not an easel-mounted TV.

Panasonic today unveiled a new 56-inch 4K OLED TV during its CES keynote, just a day after Sony announced its own 4K OLED display — and it’s at least as beautiful as Sony’s new television. We got a chance to see it on the show floor, and the quality is stunning; it’s a sharp display with rich colors and deep blacks, as you might expect for an OLED television at such a high resolution. The company announced the display at its State of the Industry keynote address today, delivered by company president Kazuhiro Tsuga. Much like Sony’s 56-inch TV, Panasonic’s new 4K set up is still in prototype mode, so it’s unclear when we may see it hit the market, though it certainly looked impressive while on stage this morning. The display measures just 0.5 inches in thickness and, interestingly enough, was manufactured using 3D-printing technology. Tsuga didn’t reveal any details on price range, but we’ll provide more information as it comes in.

Confirming our earlier report, Sony has unveiled a 4K OLED TV at CES 2013. The prototype Ultra High-Definition display is 56 inches in size, and marks Sony’s return to active OLED TV development after releasing the first commercially available set back in 2007. The version we saw on the show floor is crisp, vivid, and quite frankly, one of the most beautiful displays we’ve seen, with nary a pixel in sight. It’s just a prototype for now, so we don’t expect a price or release date any time soon, but we’re willing to bet that this gorgeous marriage of OLED and 4K resolution will break the bank when it first hits stores.

New 1080p TVs will also be on offer, with sizes starting from 32-inches and going all the way up to 70-inches. Almost all the models use Edge LED lighting and come with 3D capability. Both the Bravia R550A and R520A are also capable of receiving and recording DirecTV without an additional PVR, a handy addition that should help declutter the living room. Pricing for the new range has yet to be confirmed, but all the TVs will be available starting from the spring.

Back in November, Samsung announced that it’d show off its first 4K TV at CES. Well, the company has followed through on its promise today — the 85-inch UN85S9 is the world’s largest Ultra High-Definition TV, and has some pretty unprecedented industrial design. The huge screen is suspended within a metal frame reminiscent of an easel — it can be tilted up and down — and, while we’re not sure how many living rooms the colossal contraption will fit into, the floating effect is a sight to behold. The frame holds a function, too; a 120-watt 2.2 speaker system that surrounds the display.

Picture quality is fantastic as well, but unfortunately Samsung told us that it has no plans to provide users with native 4K content like Sony is promising; instead, the company prefers to emphasize its upscaling algorithms. Elsewhere the set features Samsung’s new Smart Hub software, S-Recommendation, and voice control, and the set is powered by a 1.35Ghz quad-core A15 processor. You’ll also find standard ports such as 4 HDMI inputs and optical audio. Unfortunately we haven’t heard any pricing information yet, but Samsung will release the UN85S9 in March.

We first saw Samsung’s attempt at a 55-inch OLED TV at CES 2012, and the company has brought it back to this year’s show. The final shipping model will include the same Smart Hub software, a 1.35GHz quad-core A15 processor, and voice control as Samsung’s 85-inch 4K TV. Unfortunately, however, we still don’t have a release date or pricing information, even though LG will start shipping its own set next month. Samsung initially promised its OLED set for the second half of 2012, so the continued lack of detail is disappointing. We do know that it’s Samsung’s first TV to feature Multi-View where two wearers of 3D glasses can watch separate videos at once, and we expect the set itself to be as stunning as it was last year — it’d just be nice to know when we can buy one, and for how much.

Samsung has also announced details of its new 7000 and 8000 series LED TVs as well as the 8500 series plasma sets, all of which will be released in the first half of this year. The 7000 series is available in 46-, 55-, and 60-inch configurations and includes a Smart Evolution Kit connector for future upgrades. The 8000 series is much the same, but adds 65- and 75-inch sizes and features advanced algorithms to improve picture quality by adjusting the localized backlight dimming. Samsung is touting the black levels of its plasma sets as the main selling point for the 8500 series, meanwhile, and all three lines feature the same Smart Hub software and quad-core processor as the 4K and OLED sets. Pricing information, on the other hand, is still to come.

LG has just officially announced additonal 4K TVs — 55- and 65-inch models will join the already-announced 84-inch set. All of the 4K sets will include technology to upscale 1080p content to the 4K resolution. LG breezed right through this announcement, probably because it pre-announced these sets a few days ago, but they didn’t give us any details on when these sets will be available or how much they’ll cost.

After missing original international release estimates, LG has finally announced a US release date for its 55-inch OLED TV: it will be available this March for $12,000. LG began pre-orders of the set in its native Korea last week for 11 million won (roughly $10,000), with the first deliveries expected in February. LG says you’ll be able to pre-order a set immediately, but its website doesn’t seem to have any pre-order facilities just yet. We actually got a look at a prototype of the Full HD TV at CES 2012, so check out our video from last year for more details.

LG has just announced its Hecto Laser TV projector will be released in the US this March. The Hecto can project a 100-inch screen from just 22 inches away. The 1080p laser-based projection system ships with the aforementioned 100-inch display, and comes with three HDMI ports, a built-in TV tuner, optical audio out, and direct access to LG’s Smart TV app platform. The entire system can be controlled with LG’s Magic Remote, and features a 1,000,000 : 1 contrast ratio along with WiDi and Miracast compatibility. According to the company, the Hecto Laser TV can run up to 25,000 hours without replacement. LG has yet to announce a specific release date, nor has it revealed a price, but we’ll update you as soon as we hear more.

Some television manufacturers are turning towards Google TV to provide a smart experience, but Haier is skipping the customization and simply using Android 4.2. In fact, the company is throwing a lot of tech into its range of new TVs. Haier will be putting a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Prime MPQ8064 into its HXT line, a quad-core processor that’s paired with an Adreno 320 GPU. The manufacturer says that the TVs will run the apps that you can download on Android handsets right now, not to mention games. In addition, the TVs will use a remote that’s paired to the TV using Wi-Fi Direct rather than relying on infrared.

As part of its refreshed 2013 HDTV lineup, Vizio has announced that it’s joining the 4K market with three new sets. The XVT series of “Ultra HDTV” screens will on display at CES this week and will be available in 55-, 65-, and 70-inch sizes. The sets all feature LED technology, 3D, and a refresh rate of 240Hz, but unfortunately there aren’t any details on when these sets will be available or how much they’ll cost when they launch. That said, we’re imagining Vizio will try and push the price point down from where most 4K TVs are right now — the company says its planning to bring this “expensive new technology to mainstream consumers.” Hopefully by the time these sets debut, there will actually be a little bit of 4K content out there to take advantage of all those pixels. We’ll be checking these sets out on the CES show floor to see how they stack up to the 4K competition.

At a small (for CES, anyway) event at the Mandalay Bay casino in Las Vegas, Toshiba has just taken the wraps off its TV lineup for 2013. It’s headlined by the L9300 series of 4K TVs, which will be available in 58, 65, and 84 inches. The premium line is 4K, but it’s also equipped with Toshiba’s new “Cloud TV” platform, which offers everything from Miracast and Wi-Fi, to messaging, to a family calendar right to your TV. Toshiba also has companion apps for iOS, Android, and Windows 8, which let you manage a lot of the social and productivity features of the platform from your mobile device instead. No word on pricing for the L9300s yet, but a 55-inch iteration of Toshiba’s highest-resolution TV was introduced last year in Japan for around $9,500, and a version with glasses-free 3D launched in the UK for over $11,000. We previously saw Toshiba’s biggest 4K TV at IFA in August, where we were thoroughly impressed by its image quality, and it’s part of a growing group of TVs that push the boundaries of resolution.

The company has also expanded its lineup of smart TVs with the active 3D-equipped L7350 series and the more mid-range L7300 and L4300 lines. As you move down the lineup, the primary changes are in resolution (only the high-end models are 4K), and in design. Toshiba’s introducing a new design language to its TVs, with gunmetal accents and round power buttons, which we’re told will ultimately sweep through all of the company’s products. But for now, it’s on a few of the company’s higher-end TVs. Cloud TV functionality is available on all but the cheapest of the company’s TVs, and the company released new “Media Boxes,” Blu-ray players that offer much of the same Cloud TV functionality, for those users as well.