Have we just witnessed the worst edition of CES in terms of TV ads. The question deserves to be asked as the various players in the market have lacked inspiration or quite simply lack of presence. After a black year in terms of sales for the TV market, we expected this CES to give a second wind to a sector which is struggling to recover after having taken full advantage of the Covid-19 crisis and the various confinements. .
Traditionally, even if these are not the televisions found in most homes and apartments, the models announced at CES have two undeniable advantages: they highlight the various technological advances of recent months and, above all, , they make you dream, not to say drool over their image quality or their huge diagonal.
At the time of taking stock of this 2023 edition, a scathing observation is essential: there is no model and even less one technology that stands out from the crowd. If previous editions of CES have not always highlighted a particular television, they have almost always been a sign of more or less marked innovation for the television market. An innovation that was most often embodied by a model or technology, like the QD OLED last year, the mini-LED the previous year or announcements such as The Wall during very grand crus. But then what happened during this CES 2023?
The year of the great absentees
Difficult to mark an edition when you decide to ignore it. This year, Sony made Philips. Admittedly, the Japanese manufacturer, a key player at the Vegas show, was present, but above all to present its electric car project, Afeela and its new PS5 controller. The TV division? Sony preferred to keep this part of its activities in the background. It is rumored that the Japanese will organize his own TV event at the end of February.
This absence is added to that, more classic, of Philips. The brand owned by TP vision traditionally prefers to bet on the IFA to launch its new range. So it’s no surprise not to see her in Las Vegas. However, with these two, they are two of the most important players in the segment who will not have spoken during one of the essential moments of the TV year.
Samsung, LG and Panasonic: the same recipe with a little more butter
Let’s be realistic. This TV edition of CES could undoubtedly have been “saved” despite the absence of Sony or the poor form of one of the other players. What makes this record so pale is that no manufacturer has been able to pull out of the game.
If we were to roughly reduce the major announcements of the main actors to one sentence, we could sum it up as follows: “the same models as last year, except for one letter and a few nits”.
Indeed, it is the announcements on the OLED that best reflect this lack of inspiration. For LG and Panasonic, which benefit from the same LG Display panels, they effectively come down to a gain in brightness, certainly substantial, but which will only speak to the most demanding observers. Indeed, approaching or exceeding 2,000 cd/m2 on an OLED screen is in itself an incredible technical challenge considering the limits of OLED technology in terms of brightness. The only notable innovation this year bears the name of MLA and consists of the use of micro lenses capable of redirecting light more efficiently.
Of course, the impact on image quality, especially for HDR content, will be significant. But the panic of the probe, when measuring the brightness of the next G3 or MZ2000, will probably only delight within the 01Lab. For the general public, these few extra nits will not have the same value.
As for QD OLED, Samsung’s competing technology, despite its relative newness, it is content with the same objective: to exceed 2,000 nits. The Korean manufacturer, which outrageously dominates the market, seems to have returned to OLED only to put a spoke in the wheels of its main competitor… while waiting to be able to bet on its next screen technology, micro-LED.
Micro-LED: near the eyes, away from the wallet
For a few years now, micro-LED has been announced as the next major evolution in terms of image. The Wall was certainly a show of power, but the announcement of commercial models during CES 2022 was to mark the beginning of the great history of micro-LED.
A year later, Samsung is still as sure of its technology. The few models sold last year (only for professional purposes) will be accompanied by new diagonals, including one of 50 inches. Good news ? Not necessarily, because in one year the price of micro-LEDs hasn’t really gone down. You always have to count around 1,000 euros per thumb. For the small 50-inch model, this would simply cost more than 50,000 euros. In short, democratization will have to be ironed out.
TCL and Hisense close the gap
When the big ones do not give satisfaction, it is often necessary to seek some from the “smaller” ones. On this side, the two attentive followers that are TCL and Hisense had a somewhat different record. TCL has chosen to address itself above all to the American market, even canceling the announcement of a particularly anticipated QD OLED model a few hours before its conference.
Finally, given its rank and its means, it is undoubtedly Hisense which presents the most balanced balance sheet. Its 2023 range without overturning the table in terms of technology, is likely to be solid. And if the Chinese manufacturer continues to control its costs and therefore its prices, some of these models are likely to stand out. Indeed, the upcoming Ultra HD QLED range promises to be very efficient in terms of its estimated price. Ditto for QLED, with the essential U7 series, which will further reduce the technical gap with the Samsung and LG models.
Make the wires disappear, good idea or hide-and-seek?
In the absence of revolutionary technology, we are reduced to looking for trends. During this CES 2023, the one that seems to stand out is the desire of manufacturers to do without wires for the connector part. As such, two manufacturers have been particularly talked about. LG with a new family of TVs, an M series, whose primary feature is to deport the connectors to a separate box. This process already exists at Samsung, it is the One Connect, which still requires a cable between TV and box. At LG, we certainly go a little further, this connection is no longer really necessary, but this is done at the cost of a more imposing case and no doubt some technical limitations (on this last point, only the lab tests will allow us to compare the capacities wireless of the M-series). Of course, at LG as at Samsung, the television always requires another cable, that of the food.
It is the disappearance of this last artifice that gave rise to the most astonishing presentation of the CES in terms of TV: a 55-inch OLED television on battery and therefore without any wires. It is the company Displace which is at the origin of this curiosity. The Ultra HD panel provided by LG Display is here separated from its connectors which are concentrated in a fairly large box. The signal transmission is done via proprietary technology which shouldn’t be too far removed from that used by LG’s M-series. But what is surprising about this model is obviously the absence of a power cable. The slab works thanks to four batteries, to be recharged on a base, and which would allow 180 hours of viewing. The other particularity of this television is that it can be fixed to the wall thanks to a suction system. It also relies on the battery since it activates a small motor that sucks in air to improve grip. Rather interesting in its approach, Displace’s approach nevertheless raises two concerns: the first is its environmental impact. The other is that once its battery is empty, if you don’t take the trouble to pick it up, the TV can stupidly crash on the ground…
It now remains to be seen whether these models completely devoid of wires will be able to be marketed. The idea is not completely new, in the early 2000s Panasonic even tried it before seeing its innovation banned. The reason ? The transmission frequency between TV and box was too close to that used in military communications in several countries. If the arrival of the LG model poses little doubt, we are much more skeptical about the possibility of one day seeing the Displace in stores.
Nanoleaf and Ambilight: the other light source
Finally, if it were necessary to note another trend, not so new once again, it would be that of accessory luminosity. When you can’t intervene directly on the brightness of the television, why not try to play with it. Philips is particularly familiar with this principle embodied by its Ambilight technology. This will no longer be reserved for him since Sygnify, the company behind Philips Hue has decided to deploy Ambilight on Samsung TVs. Of course, you will have to invest in compatible lights and in a 130 euro application (you read that right) to take advantage of it, but this is an additional possibility available to owners of Samsung televisions.
In a slightly different style, Nanoleaf’s ever-improving light panels are a great alternative for anyone who wants to play with their TV’s light.
We take stock, calmly
Is a seemingly lackluster CES report synonymous with a TV vintage (2023) to be avoided? No, quite the contrary. In the case of OLED, to name just one, the level reached by the various models we tested in 2022 is very satisfactory. The successors to the LG G2, the Sony A95K, the Philips OLED936 or even the Samsung S95B will not only be as good, but they will no doubt have a surplus of what allows them to enhance the image the most: light. Thus, if in terms of advertisements and tinsel the gain in luminosity is hardly perceptible, it should have a real impact on the rendering of content.
This observation necessarily leads us to question our perception of technological progress in TV and our expectations during major events such as CES. Is it reasonable to expect a considerable leap in the quality of the tiles every year? Is it possible to develop a feature every 12 months that can change the way we use or perceive our television? Above all, isn’t it this constant demand for innovation that has led manufacturers to unnecessarily push inconsistent or inconsistent technologies (hello 3D and 8K)?
In 2023, players in the TV market may be less dreaming, they seem to have become more reasonable, but it’s probably not worse.
