The impressive entrance to the LG OLED Canyon at CES2018 in Las Vegas. Photo by Marcus Siu.

Article and photos by Marcus Siu

Walking through breathtaking ice glaciers and magnificent waterfalls surrounded with its natural sounds of blistery winds, thunder and rain was quite a spectacular experience.  I was not in Antarctica, but at the CES2018  in Las Vegas; the largest consumer electronic show in the world.  At the LG booth in Central Hall, convention goers were led into the main entrance of the LG OLED Canyon, with its 92 foot long installation of 246 open frame OLED displays in both convex and concave configurations that also featured Dolby Atmos making it even more sonically immersive.  The demonstration had me winding and circling back wanting more.

Even a month later, I’m still not quite over it.

The demo of the OLED Canyon was not exclusively a demonstration of LG’s products, but also can be thought up as a legitimate customized work of art.  The way it was aesthetically sculpted and designed, including its state-of-the-art audio-visuals featuring Dolby Vision, made it a memorable piece of art installation.  Anyone can enjoy and appreciate it at an art museum. LG made its point that TV displays can serve another purpose besides showing your favorite TV shows and movies; showcasing art.

Now instead of having blank screens on our TV’s, we can change it to what suits our lifestyle and give it life so it blends into our living space.  This is the idea that many of the companies had who displayed their latest UHD-TV’s.

The LG OLED Wallpaper TV’s are meant to blend into your living space reflecting your own personality and surroundings. Photo by Marcus Siu.Walking through the floors at this year’s CES, it became evident that the three top manufacturers of 2016 with the highest global TV market share was also out selling their idea that TV’s should showcase ones individual lifestyle and taste in art.  Samsung, LG, and TCL all feature some type of slide show that will feature and display various types of art on their 4k UHD TV’s.

For example, LG introduced Gallery OLED TV in 2014, the 55″ screen display was bordered in an aesthetically pleasing frame, delivering a refined artistic appearance.  When equipped with Gallery Mode, it enabled users to view high-resolution digital images of paintings by legendary artists such as Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin.  Users can simply connect the devices to display classical paintings, transforming the space into an art gallery.

Samsung’s “Art Mode”, which makes their 4K UHD displays in a wooden frame using a white matte around the art work.  You cannot tell it is a set-top box display unless you see a cord hanging from it. Samsung’s “Lifestyle” TV looks like artwork you would find at an art gallery until you turn the power on.

Even Chinese manufacturer, Skyworth’s W8 TV has an exclusive W8 art screen saver,  becoming a painting or a mural with a fusion of art and design, so that the user can enjoy their own individual taste in art and blend it into their living room.

Chinese set-top box manufacturer Skyworth follows the idea of LG’s design. Photo by Marcus Siu.

Think of it as sort of a slideshow screensaver, like the ones on your computer, but with the ultra 4k resolution and the brilliant colors of the OLED or QLED which make you wonder if you really do have the actual painting on your wall, though I assure you that the insurance wouldn’t be as high if you really did have it on your wall.

With the latest technology, TV’s are getting lighter and thinner and TV manufacturers are starting to produce huge “wall” screens that weighs no heaver than a framed painting, so the consumer no longer needs to have a TV mount attached to his wall.  Now the display just needs to be put up onto the wall, just like a picture frame, so a couple of nails would probably do the trick.

TV will disappear as we know it. Just call them smart connected picture frames. Photography by Marcus Siu.

To summarize, todays 4k UHD TV’s are pretty much picture frames that you hang on your wall.  The TV as we know it will probably need to be renamed in a few years and be called something like a “smart-connected picture frame”.   Picture that…

Imagine talking pictures on your wall…and just when you think you saw it all with the LG OLED-W series last year, the company continues to impress with something even more groundbreaking.  They announced OLED displays that can be rolled up, just like christmas wrap or a canvas, but having equal quality compared with their 55″ standard OLED models.  Unfortunately it wasn’t quite ready for prime time on the CES floor this year, but it definitely sounds like another game changer.

Just imagine rolling up your 4K UHD-TV display as though you were rolling up the canvas out of its frame from a masterpiece painting by Matisse that is housed at the Louvre Museum in Paris.

C’est la vie.  Time to wrap up this thing up.