LG Lowers Ultra HD Entry Price to $3,500 Via New Line With HEVC Chipsets

DENVER -- LG launched two more Ultra HD TVs at an off-site event during CEDIA Expo Thursday, bringing its 2013 4K TV lineup to five models. LG, which isn’t exhibiting at the Expo, held a post-show event at the Denver Art Museum to unveil the LG LA9650 series 65- and 55-inch 4K TVs, which bring LG’s starting price for UHD down to $3,499 for the 55-inch model.

The 65-inch model rings in at $4,999, creating price deltas between the entry- and upper level 55- and 65-inch UHD TVs of $1,000 and $1,500. After a recent price adjustment, the 84-inch is now $16,999. The new models use edge-lit LED lighting with local dimming versus full-array backlit LEDs used in the step-up models, said Rick Calacci, LG vice president-regional sales. The new models don’t have LG’s sliding speaker that’s in the higher-end models.

The new models “have the future built in,” Calacci said, citing High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) chips that will be able to decode and play back HEVC content when it’s available for streaming. John Taylor, LG vice president-government and public relations, said LG believes it’s the first with H.265 built in. Last summer, LG launched H.265 as a dongle and it’s now built in to the newest series of LG 4K TVs. On LG’s bandwidth capability in the UHD lineup, Taylor said HDMI 2.0 isn’t available on any UHD TV currently on the market and couldn’t say when it will be. Meantime, he said, LG is “reassuring” customers that it will have a solution that will allow early adopters with first-generation sets “to handle 60 Hz 4K content in the future.” He wouldn’t comment on the color coding scheme LG will use.

Taylor promoted LG’s upscaling algorithm that allows viewers to watch content in Ultra HD regardless of its native resolution. The LA9650 series incorporates LG’s passive 3D and smart TV technologies as well. They come with LG’s Magic Motion remote that is now incorporated across the UHD product line, Calacci said. The new UHD sets will ship to the regional chains in October, he said.

LG’s 55-inch OLED TV, meanwhile, will be available this month across the country in stores including BrandsMart and P.C. Richard & Son, Calacci said. The initial launch in Best Buy’s Magnolia Design Center stores was “very well accepted,” he said, and the curved sets will be available to all regional chains as well as online through authorized dealers, Calacci said. The OLED model, part of LG’s Unilateral Pricing Policy pricing program, is selling through Amazon, Calacci said. The OLED TVs will be in distribution too, enabling custom installers to have access to the product, he said. The OLED TV got a price shave earlier this month when LG cut the price to $9,999 to be competitive with Samsung’s model that rolled out in August.

LG can fill whatever demand there is for OLED product, Calacci said. Sales numbers for 2013 depend on demand from retailers, but “we have not been told of any capacity challenges,” he said. LG’s sales team has given an estimate of product demand and the company is “filling those demands accordingly,” he said.

In response to a question about a larger size OLED from LG, Taylor said the company showed a 77-inch UHD OLED TV at IFA and said “stay tuned” for more information. He said LG is selling flat OLED TVs in other parts of the world but plans call for the company to stick with curved models in the U.S., which sends a “unique design statement.”

On how LG is positioning the fledgling new-age TVs against each other at retail stores that carry both OLED and UHD, Calacci said: “Most of those retailers are excited about both of those technologies” because they offer an opportunity to be profitable. In store, retailers are separating the two, and it’s up to the retailer to determine which technology gets prominence, he said. All UHD dealers LG is shipping product to are “also getting OLED,” he said.

LG also showed its new SoundPlate flat speaker designed to be placed under 32- to 55-inch TVs. Pricing hasn’t been set for the model LAP340, a 120-watt, 4.1-channel soundbar, but Calacci said it would be similar to the company’s other high-end soundbars, which are priced at $499. The Bluetooth-equipped SoundPlate will be in stores for the holiday season, Calacci said.