McGregor hails LG's 'f---ing good telly'

LG brought Hollywood to Australia to show off the country's first curved OLED television today, with Star Wars and The Impossible actor Ewan McGregor revealing the $13,500 screen in Sydney.

But the 55-inch, curved screen, first unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, will not yet go on sale in Australia, even though pre-orders are now being taken in South Korea.

LG home entertainment marketing head Russ Prendergast said the company was "racing to bring the product to market in 2013" and it would be advertised by its new brand ambassador, Mr McGregor.

"This TV has taken many years to develop and perfect," Mr Prendergast said. "OLED takes the next step in home entertainment."

As a spokesman, Mr McGregor showed either a lack of polish, or refreshing honesty, depending on your point of view.

Asked what message he was here to deliver he said "just to say that they're f---ing good tellys".

McGregor said the colours in the OLED screen made films look more authentic.

"I spend hours and hours of my working day waiting for the lights, waiting for the scene to be lit, and usually when it’s on the television it doesn’t look like that, but these televisions make it look like it should," he said.

The sides of the 55-inch OLED television arch towards viewers at a 15-degree angle, delivering a greater feeling of depth, Mr Prendergast said.

The TV is also just 4.3mm thin and weighs 17kg.

OLED technology, or organic light-emitting diode screens, are widely seen as the replacement for LCD televisions as they offer their own light source, delivering consistently brighter images, significantly thinner forms, and use less electricity.

Television makers including LG, Samsung and Sony have showed off big-screen OLED television prototypes in the past, yet none have gone on sale until now due to problems manufacturing the screens.

Samsung Australia consumer electronics vice-president Phil Newton said the company had recently encountered further problems manufacturing its OLED screens and was still working on solutions.

Mr Newton did not offer a date for the launch of Samsung's OLED televisions in Australia, saying the company did not want to deliver a "substandard product".

LG also showed off a new 84-inch Ultra High-Definition television at the Sydney launch event, which will be available at a cost of $15,999, as well as a more modest 55-inch UHD screen at $6,999 in August.

The UHD screens, also described as a 4K television, will offer four times as many pixels as current full high-definition televisions.
 

View the original article here

McGregor hails LG's 'f---ing good telly'

LG brought Hollywood to Australia to show off the country's first curved OLED television today, with Star Wars and The Impossible actor Ewan McGregor revealing the $13,500 screen in Sydney.

But the 55-inch, curved screen, first unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, will not yet go on sale in Australia, even though pre-orders are now being taken in South Korea.

LG home entertainment marketing head Russ Prendergast said the company was "racing to bring the product to market in 2013" and it would be advertised by its new brand ambassador, Mr McGregor.

"This TV has taken many years to develop and perfect," Mr Prendergast said. "OLED takes the next step in home entertainment."

As a spokesman, Mr McGregor showed either a lack of polish, or refreshing honesty, depending on your point of view.

Asked what message he was here to deliver he said "just to say that they're f---ing good tellys".

McGregor said the colours in the OLED screen made films look more authentic.

"I spend hours and hours of my working day waiting for the lights, waiting for the scene to be lit, and usually when it’s on the television it doesn’t look like that, but these televisions make it look like it should," he said.

The sides of the 55-inch OLED television arch towards viewers at a 15-degree angle, delivering a greater feeling of depth, Mr Prendergast said.

The TV is also just 4.3mm thin and weighs 17kg.

OLED technology, or organic light-emitting diode screens, are widely seen as the replacement for LCD televisions as they offer their own light source, delivering consistently brighter images, significantly thinner forms, and use less electricity.

Television makers including LG, Samsung and Sony have showed off big-screen OLED television prototypes in the past, yet none have gone on sale until now due to problems manufacturing the screens.

Samsung Australia consumer electronics vice-president Phil Newton said the company had recently encountered further problems manufacturing its OLED screens and was still working on solutions.

Mr Newton did not offer a date for the launch of Samsung's OLED televisions in Australia, saying the company did not want to deliver a "substandard product".

LG also showed off a new 84-inch Ultra High-Definition television at the Sydney launch event, which will be available in August at a cost of $15,999, as well as a more modest 55-inch UHD screen at $6,999.

The UHD screens, also described as a 4K television, will offer four times as many pixels as current full high-definition televisions.
 

View the original article here

G'day, cobber, I'm your new telly

SAMSUNG has launched the first voice-controlled TV that responds in an Australian accent.

The technology company developed its system with linguists at Macquarie University to determine a database of about 250,000 questions people might ask their television, from what Tom Cruise movies are on tonight to what time does the football start on Friday night.

The televisions are programmed to respond with one of 18,000 recorded answers, with people choosing between either a male or female Australian voice.

Samsung Australia's director of AV Brad Wright said people were used to speaking to technology by typically issuing specific commands, unlike the natural language of this system.

"And really importantly, (the TVs) will be speaking back in Australian English."

Mr Wright said the natural language system had the potential to change the way people found what to watch on their TV.

"There's lots of content out there. I went to that TV today and said 'is there any sport showing tonight?'," he said.

"I think it's a genuinely different and unique way to interact with technology."

The language system, which will be in Samsung's new high-end smart TVs, was part of a package of announcements made at a national launch in Sydney, including the launch of the $40,000 ultra high-definition 85-inch Samsung S9 that will go on sale next month.

Philip Newton, vice-president of Consumer Electronics for Samsung Australia, said the top end 4K TV was the biggest TV Samsung has ever released in the Australian marketplace.

"It's not designed for everybody," he said.

"No doubt in the future we will have UHD products at affordable price levels, that's not where we are now.

"But it is the emergence of a new technology."

Mr Newton said there were more than a dozen people already wanting to buy the $40,000 TV in Australia.

Mr Newton also announced new content available through its smart TVs through a range of optional apps, including a sports app which he said would give people access to 90 percent of all globally televised sports.

The Samsung Foxtel app currently allows people to watch Foxtel content on their smart TVs. Samsung will launch a Foxtel Go app in June which will let those customers watch Foxtel content on Samsung tablets and smartphones.

Samsung said the smart TV penetration in Australia grew by a third last year.

View the original article here

G'day, cobber, I'm your new telly

SAMSUNG has launched the first voice-controlled TV that responds in an Australian accent.

The technology company developed it's system with linguists at Macquarie University to determine a database of about 250,000 questions people might ask their television, from what Tom Cruise movies are on tonight to what time does the football start on Friday night.

The televisions are programmed to respond with one of 18,000 recorded answers, with people choosing between either a male or female Australian voice.

Samsung Australia's director of AV Brad Wright said people were used to speaking to technology by typically issuing specific commands, unlike the natural language of this system.

"And really importantly, (the TVs) will be speaking back in Australian English."

Mr Wright said the natural language system had the potential to change the way people found what to watch on their TV.

"There's lots of content out there. I went to that TV today and said 'is there any sport showing tonight?'," he said.

"I think it's a genuinely different and unique way to interact with technology."

The language system, which will be in Samsung's new high-end smart TVs, was part of a package of announcements made at a national launch in Sydney, including the launch of the $40,000 ultra high-definition 85-inch Samsung S9 that will go on sale next month.

Philip Newton, vice-president of Consumer Electronics for Samsung Australia, said the top end 4K TV was the biggest TV Samsung has ever released in the Australian marketplace.

"It's not designed for everybody," he said.

"No doubt in the future we will have UHD products at affordable price levels, that's not where we are now.

"But it is the emergence of a new technology."

Mr Newton said there were more than a dozen people already wanting to buy the $40,000 TV in Australia.

Mr Newton also announced new content available through its smart TVs through a range of optional apps, including a sports app which he said would give people access to 90 percent of all globally televised sports.

The Samsung Foxtel app currently allows people to watch Foxtel content on their smart TVs. Samsung will launch a Foxtel Go app in June which will let those customers watch Foxtel content on Samsung tablets and smartphones.

Samsung said the smart TV penetration in Australia grew by a third last year.

View the original article here

G'day, cobber, I'm your new telly

SAMSUNG has launched the first voice-controlled TV that responds in an Australian accent.

The technology company developed its system with linguists at Macquarie University to determine a database of about 250,000 questions people might ask their television, from what Tom Cruise movies are on tonight to what time does the football start on Friday night.

The televisions are programmed to respond with one of 18,000 recorded answers, with people choosing between either a male or female Australian voice.

Samsung Australia's director of AV Brad Wright said people were used to speaking to technology by typically issuing specific commands, unlike the natural language of this system.

"And really importantly, (the TVs) will be speaking back in Australian English."

Mr Wright said the natural language system had the potential to change the way people found what to watch on their TV.

"There's lots of content out there. I went to that TV today and said 'is there any sport showing tonight?'," he said.

"I think it's a genuinely different and unique way to interact with technology."

The language system, which will be in Samsung's new high-end smart TVs, was part of a package of announcements made at a national launch in Sydney, including the launch of the $40,000 ultra high-definition 85-inch Samsung S9 that will go on sale next month.

Philip Newton, vice-president of Consumer Electronics for Samsung Australia, said the top end 4K TV was the biggest TV Samsung has ever released in the Australian marketplace.

"It's not designed for everybody," he said.

"No doubt in the future we will have UHD products at affordable price levels, that's not where we are now.

"But it is the emergence of a new technology."

Mr Newton said there were more than a dozen people already wanting to buy the $40,000 TV in Australia.

Mr Newton also announced new content available through its smart TVs through a range of optional apps, including a sports app which he said would give people access to 90 percent of all globally televised sports.

The Samsung Foxtel app currently allows people to watch Foxtel content on their smart TVs. Samsung will launch a Foxtel Go app in June which will let those customers watch Foxtel content on Samsung tablets and smartphones.

Samsung said the smart TV penetration in Australia grew by a third last year.

View the original article here