LG this week officially won the race to release the first 55-inch OLED TV this week, the EM9600U. The next generation can now be ordered with a delivery date in March 2013. Officially the EM9600 will be released first in South Korea, late February,  the rest of the world will see the TV in March.

The cost of this privilege isn’t to be taken lightly; reports vary from $10,035 in South Korea to $12,000 USD in Australia, it all depends on what part of the world you live in.

Construction of the TV is pure high end. The use of carbon fibre as the backplate for the display allows the super slim 4mm profile, also helping to keep the weight down to 10kg. The electronics for the television are be housed in the TV’s base or optionally a set top box is available.

While LG’s new OLED tele will capture much attention purely by design, its the picture that will sell units. With the purest blacks, bright colours and fast frame rates OLED is the best picture available since the peak of the high end CRT monitors. The HD 1920 x 1080 picture seems to float in mid air, an effect generated by the 1mm bezel around the luminous display.

Longevity of the OLED pixels, especially blue, was the last major hurdle that has kept OLED out of the living room, LG devised a clever solution called WRGB. By using white LED’s with coloured sub-pixel filters, to generate the RGB pixels, they avoid the longevity issues and simplify production. A forth white sub-pixel is also included with the RGB sub-pixels, hence the WRGB title. The addition of a white pixel to the usual RGB helps to improve brightness and contrast control.

LG has overcome some major technological hurdles to bring the EM9600 into production, busting the longevity problems, stomping on the cost issues, early models costing over $100,000 to produce.

LG have a high tech wonder TV that looks spectacular when turned off, turn it on and wow’s will emanate from all directions. If the technology lives up to the hype prices will drop, competition will increase and the battle for our living rooms will take an OLED twist.

Related Article:  The OLED Revolution begins