Heron Fidelity

LG Electronics is the leading manufacturer of organic light emitting diode (OLED) televisions, and its 2017 models impressed many eyeballs with superb color accuracy and picture contrast. For 2018, LG's flagship OLEDs further the company's quest for picture perfection with improved video processing that gives a glimpse of premium 4K UHD content to come.

The lineup
Familiar faces return refreshed in the 2018 LG AI OLED TV lineup with the Picture-on-Wall (W8), Picture-on-Glass (E8 - pictured below), and Blade Slim (C8/B8) designs. Screen sizes continue with 55-inch (B8/C8/E8), 65-inch (all models), and 77-inch (W8/C8) options.

The good news here is that the 77-inch size has migrated to the (relatively) more affordable C8 series with a sub-$10,000 retail price seeming likely. Spec-wise, LG's 2018 OLED panels retain 10-bit color output and 120Hz refresh rates.

Video processing
A new video chip dubbed the Alpha 9 Intelligent Processor will drive the visuals on most of LG's 2018 OLED televisions. The Alpha 9 handles all current flavors of high dynamic range (HDR) video including HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision, and a newly updated Advanced HDR by Technicolor that simplifies professional production by combining standard dynamic range (SDR) and HDR formats into a single stream package.

For HDR sources that lack the means of dynamically adjusting video contrast on a per-frame or per-scene basis, namely HDR10 and HLG, LG's HDR 10 Pro and HLG Pro technologies will analyze that content and provide real-time picture quality enhancements. Interestingly, this dynamic tone mapping system is applied to virtually all video formats and sources on LG's top 2018 TVs to ensure the vast variety of content available today is optimized for the panel's performance characteristics.

The Alpha 9 processor also enables High Frame Rate (HFR) playback with 4K HDR video content. Content creators that have captured and authored 4K HDR video at 120 frames-per-second now have a platform to recreate that visual experience in all its smoothly detailed glory. While we await the arrival of the bandwidth beast known as HDMI 2.1 (and compatible external sources devices), expect the first taste of 4K HDR + HFR visuals on a 2018 LG television to arrive via streaming apps.

One oddity in LG's 2018 OLED offerings is the B8 series. The B8 features a different core processor (the Alpha 7) that can display 4K HDR or 4K HFR video sources, but not both simultaneously. Considering the complete lack of 4K HDR + HFR sources at this time, streaming or otherwise, this limitation may not matter much for people looking for the best OLED TV value.

LG's AI leverages Google
LG's best 2018 TVs are imbued with the company's new ThinQ artificial intelligence (AI) that enables its updated webOS platform to understand "hundreds of voice requests" to simplify usage in addition to the full integration of the increasingly capable Google Assistant. Third-party AI services are also supported including compatibility with Amazon's Alexa.

Calibration
In a partnership with Portrait Displays, 2018 LG OLEDs (and Super UHD LCD TVs) gain auto calibration capabilities when configured with appropriate measurement hardware and the latest version of the CalMAN software package.

CalMAN's LG TV AutoCal feature claims it will optimize individual picture presets for standard dynamic range (SDR) as well as three flavors of high dynamic range (HDR): HDR10, HLG, and Dolby Vision. CalMAN's ability to access and directly configure three-dimensional look-up tables (3D LUTs) enables professional-grade color correction on consumer-orientated displays without resorting to an external 3D LUT box that adds cost and complexity.

Another key benefit of LG's Alpha 9 chipset is its expanded color look-up table (LUT) with more than 35,000 data points compared to a little less than 5,000 points for previous models. Ideally, more data points translate into enhanced color accuracy across a given color space. For the Alpha 7-equipped TVs that lack a supersized LUT (including the B8 series OLED and LG's new Super UHD LCD TVs), it will be interesting to see how the calibrated results of CalMAN's AutoCal workflow compare.

The retail arrival of the 2018 LG OLEDs is expected to begin in a few months with the bulk of the models coming toward mid-year.

This article will be updated with new information as details are made public.