Australia to get advanced 4K OLED television technology

AUSTRALIA will become the fourth country in the world to get advanced 4K OLED television technology this week, and it will be cheaper than less advanced models.

‘The TV technology of the future’

AUSTRALIA will become the fourth country in the world to get advanced 4K OLED television technology this week, and it will come at prices cheaper than less advanced models released just over a year ago.

LG announced its ultra high-definition OLED televisions would ship to 38 Harvey Norman stores in Australia this week after being delayed by several months due to high overseas demand.

The advanced technology will come at a significant price, but one a lot lower than that of original OLED TVs launched in October 2012.

LG’s 65-inch 4K OLED television, the 65EG960T, will cost $9,999, while the 55-inch version, the 55EG960T, will cost $5,999 -- $4,000 less than the company’s first 55-inch OLED screen that offered a quarter of the resolution.

On it’s way ... LG announced its OLED televisions would ship to 38 Harvey Norman stores in Australia after being delayed by several months. Picture: Supplied.

LG home electronics marketing manager Grant Vandenberg said the technology was the result of more than six years of research and development, and delivered much better pictures than other TV displays.

“This is an exciting time not just for us but the TV category as a whole,” he said. “This is the TV technology of the future. We’re still at the start of OLED TV in Australia.”

Mr Vandenberg said Australians had bought more than 6000 LG OLED televisions since 2012, but predicted OLED would grow even more to represent 30 per cent of the TV market by 2020.

“We’re actually only the fourth country in the world to be launching this 4K OLED TV,” he said. “We know the Australian consumers are early adopters. That’s why we’ve been prioritised.”

The largest of LG’s ultra high-definition OLED televisions, a 77-inch model priced at $22,999, will not be launched in Australia, however, and the UHD OLED televisions will attract a price premium of $1300 over their LCD equivalents.

Organic light-emitting diode televisions deliver much higher contrast and brighter colours due to their self-lighting pixels, and pure blacks as pixels can be turned off completely. The technology can also deliver fast refresh rates for moving images and lower power consumption.

Samsung initially offered a competing 55-inch OLED television in 2012 but backed out of the market due to problems manufacturing OLED panels, ditching the technology for Quantum Dot LCD televisions.