CNET’s Brian Tong and David Katzmaier discuss wallpaper-thin OLED, bright quantum dots and huge screens
For the last week I’ve been staring into the future of TVs , and it’s hella bright.
CES 2017 is over now we know all about the year’s newest, biggest sets. I saw many, many inches of screen real estate (measured diagonally), all of it in 4K resolution and most of HDR compatible, with more light output, blacker blacks and crazier designs than ever.
My favorite TV technologies, like OLED, HDR and local dimming , proliferated to new manufacturers. More players in the game increases competition, spurs innovation and drives down prices. At the high end of the market, TV makers are getting even more creative as they strive to outdo one another to earn buzz (and your buck). And at the budget end there are more good choices than ever, especially from unfamiliar brands.
Let’s dig in.
If you were waiting for an OLED that isn’t an LG , the wait is over. Sony will begin selling the A1E series in the US later this year, finally bringing another brand to the competition for best picture quality ever. I saw glimpses of the set at Sony’s booth and in a closed-door comparison Sony put on, and it looks as good as you would expect a Sony OLED TV to look.
LG rules the OLED roost for now, however, and the most impressive TV at the show for me was its W7 wallpaper OLED TV. So thin it basically blends into your wall, it’s easy to imagine it being what every TV will look like in 5 or ten years. For now, however, it’s crazy expensive at $8,000. That’s OK, one of LG’s myriad less-expensive OLED sets, like the B7 series , makes a pretty good consolation prize.
The Roku operating system is my favorite among any TVs, but until now it’s been the province of value-centric models with just “good enough” picture quality. The TCL P series , with full-array local dimming and Dolby Vision HDR, might be the first Roku set to score higher than a “6” in our picture quality tests. And it starts at $500.
This sweet cabinet-based laser projector is bright enough for any room and expensive enough for almost nobody’s budget.
Yawn, you say, a sensible $500 TV. What can I get for $25,000? The Sony VPL-VZ1000ES is a 4K short-throw laser projector that can fill a 120-inch screen yet look as good as many TVs in bright light. Then again, if I had that kind of money to throw around on a TV I might move my sat a bit closer to one of the 77-inch OLED TVs from LG or Sony. First world problems.
To me high dynamic range is more exciting than 4K, 3D or any other TV innovation since high definition itself. In 2017 the Dolby Vision HDR format will be adopted by a slew of new TV makers, including Sony, TCL, Hisense and Philips. Meanwhile a 4K Blu-ray player from LG , as well as ones from Oppo and Philips, will support Dolby Vision too, and the first discs for those players will appear in early 2017. The more HDR, the better.
Speaking of players nothing is quite as powerful as the new Nvidia Shield at providing stuff to fill your TV. Sure you get Netflix and Amazon in 4K and HDR, but it also delivers loads of games (including some in HDR), can command your smart home devices, and even replace a Google Home. Now when you talk to your TV, it talks back.
Hulu walked me through its upcoming live TV service for cord cutters and lemme tell ya, it looks pretty good. Profiles, plenty of live channels and Hulu’s massive on-demand catalog blend together seamlessly to provide stiff competition to DirecTV Now, PlayStation Vue and Sling TV. And there’s even a cloud DVR.
CES is always filled to the gills with intriguing TV announcements, but 2017 was one of the best I can remember. Rather than vaporware and marketing fluff, most TV makers and home entertainment companies showed products that I’m actually excited to test in person. Some are sure to disappoint, of course, but some may deserve to entertain you sometime soon. We’ll see.

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For the armchair attendee, the CNET TV has spent the last week capturing what we saw. Here are the videos you need to see and for everything CES, see CNET’s complete coverage.
This gaming monster has three 17-inch 4K displays.
Razer’s three-screened gaming monster, Project Valerie , has a trio of 17-inch 4K displays. That’s right. A laptop that comes with three displays.
This prototype of the FF 91 may lack an interior, but it still goes like hell — and parks itself, too.
Samsung’s latest laundry pair has four individual compartments.
Yeah, it surprised us, too. But Samsung’s multi-unit washer/dryer pair is seriously bonkers.
The 3 millimeter thick, 18 pound LG W7 looks like no 65-inch TV you’ve ever seen.
The LG W7 series TV strips television’s form to the bare minimum but still delivers the world-beating picture quality of OLED.
At a show dominated by gadgets and concept technology, actor and comedian Nick Offerman joined Jeff Bakalar on stage to talk about a form of human expression that has survived the technological revolution.
This Super UHD LCD costs less than LG’s OLED sets and can’t match their picture quality, but LG says they’re much improved over last year.
Hint: It’s big, metal and grippy.
BlackBerry and keyboards go together like peanut butter and jelly on the phone known as ‘ Mercury ‘.
Mattel’s new gadget won’t raise your child, but it’ll definitely make it easier.
The Aristotle is a $300 gadget that’s like a kid-friendly Amazon Echo , a baby monitor and a learning toy all in the same package.
Sore from yesterday’s run? Under Armour’s next-gen smart shoes can tell and will give you recovery tips.
Sore from yesterday’s run? Under Armour’s next-gen smart shoes can tell, and will give you recovery tips.
Imagine if you had a cartoon character roaming your floors, watching your kids and telling them stories — that’s Kuri.
Imagine if you had a cartoon character roaming your floors, watching your kids, and telling them stories — that’s Kuri .
The Acer Predator 21 X is a ginormous gaming laptop with a 21-inch curved screen.
The Acer Predator 21 X is a ginormous gaming laptop with a 21-inch curved screen.

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Every week, we share a number of downloads for all platforms to help you get things done. Here were the top downloads from this week.
Rainmeter is a powerful tool that lets you create a beautiful, information-rich heads-up display that keeps track of your system status, RSS feeds, and tons of other info. This week version 4.0 landed , so here’s how to use it to make an awesome, Iron Man-like HUD for your Windows desktop.
Chrome: Tons of photography apps, like Google Photos and Apple Photos , try and automatically make sense of objects in your photos and add automated tags, and it turns out Facebook does that too, even though you’d never know it. Show Facebook Computer Vision Tags is a Chrome extension that reveals all those tags.
Windows/Mac/Linux: Google’s ADB and fastboot are incredibly powerful command line tools for customizing your Android phone. Up until now, these tiny tools have been bundled in the gigantic Android SDK , but Google will finally let you download these tools on their own.
iOS: When you travel with kids, lugging their gear can be a major headache. Tiny ones need a car seat to keep them safe, maybe a stroller for when their little legs give out, and a crib to sleep in at your destination. GoBaby helps you find gear you can rent while traveling.
Chrome: Trello is an incredibly powerful productivity tool , and Next Step for Trello makes it a little better. The add-on lets you add checklists and check boxes to Trello cards, check them off directly in a card, and arrange them so you see just the next step, all steps, and more.
ravenclawwit ’s desktop is too pretty to ignore. The clock in the center is a combination of awesome-looking cyberpunk and a Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes challenge—but it’s just the time. Here’s how it’s all set up.
iPhone: Way back in 2011, Netflix removed the ability to manage a DVD queue from the Netflix app. Now, they’ve finally brought that option back in the form of a new app.
Windows/Mac/Linux: You’ve got plenty of choices for app launchers , but if you don’t mind getting your hands messy and adding your own features, Zazu is an app that’s worth a look.
Web/Android/iOS: Human trafficking is a massive, global problem—one that an app alone won’t solve, but one that this app may be able to help with, just a little bit. TraffickCam asks you to snap pictures of your hotel room, creating a database that can be matched to rooms in photos with trafficking victims.
Mac: You can access your Kindle highlights from your Kindle itself, the apps, or the web app, but none of those are particularly handy, especially if you use your Kindle for research. Knotes makes it easier to access those notes right from your Mac.

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