CES 2020: LG’s New 8K TVs Use α9 Gen 3 SoC with AV1 Decoding & AI Support
by Anton Shilov on January 17, 2020 12:00 PM EST
Modern smart televisions do much more than just display broadcasted programs, so these days TV makers need to equip them with powerful applications processors to decode HD and Ultra-HD content, as well as handle other complex tasks. To that end, LG has revealed that it plans to use its new α9 Gen 3 SoC for its latest Signature OLED and NanoCell 8K televisions set to be available this year.
LG’s latest α9 Gen 3 processor supports playback of 8Kp60 content encoded using HEVC, VP9, and particularly important going forward, the recently released AV1 codec. But since 8K videos are not common just yet, the SoC supports LG’s AI 8K Upscaling algorithm that relies on its machine learning capabilities to analyze videos it upscales and properly apply Quad Step Noise Reduction and frequency-based Sharpness Enhancer.
In addition to intelligent upscaling, LG’s new 8K TVs also support AI Picture Pro technology to correctly enhance sharpening and skin tones as well as Auto Genre Selection to apply general picture settings common for a particular type of content. Also, the televisions monitor background noises and adjust their 5.1 audio subsystems accordingly.
High-end televisions from LG are based on the webOS operating system and therefore the company can add support for new features just by installing appropriate applications. The 2020 Signature OLED and NanoCell 8K TV’s support LG’s Home Dashboard to control IoT using Hands-Free Voice Control (enabled by ThinQ voice recognition). Also the webOS supports a host of third-party voice-based services, including Apple’s AirPlay 2 and HomeKit, Amazon’s Alexa, and Google’s Assistant. In addition, it can access a variety of content streaming services, such as Apple TV/Apple TV+, Disney+, and Netflix.
LG’s 2020 8K television lineup includes 88 and 77-inch class Signature OLED TVs (models 88/77 OLED ZX) and NanoCell IPS TVs (models 75/65 Nano99, 75/65 Nano97, 75/65 Nano95). The OLED models will variable refresh rate support (including NVIDIA G-Sync Compatible certification) right out-of-box. The Ultra-HD TVs will be available in the coming months.
Related Reading:
- LG at CES 2020: LG's Press Conference Live Blog 8:00AM PT
- LG’s E9, C9 & B9 OLED TVs to Get NVIDIA G-Sync via Firmware Update
- CES 2020: Samsung’s 8K QLED TVs Use AI Quantum 8K SoC, Add Support For AV1 Video
- 8K Association Sets Minimal Specs for 8K Ultra-HD TVs
- Samsung’s 8K QLED TV 55-Inch: A More Affordable 8K Ultra-HD TV
- Samsung's 2019 QLED UHD TVs: 8K TVs Revamped, 4K TVs Get New Panel & Backlighting
- Samsung Starts to Take Pre-Orders on 85-Inch Q900 8K UHDTV
- Sharp to Demonstrate 120-Inch 8K LCD TV & 8K TV with 5G Modem at IFA
Source: LG
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Santoval - Saturday, January 18, 2020 - link
It is *far* easier (and far less expensive compute-wise) to do AI upscaling of still images than video content. AI still has some trouble in general handling video, so I also doubt this new SoC of LG does any effective upscaling. Unless it is as powerful and effective as Nvidia's DLSS is up to 4K, which I doubt. Even DLSS cannot handle 8K video, as far as I know, and that includes the RTX 2080Ti.Whiteknight2020 - Sunday, January 19, 2020 - link
"grainy because the lens kept open"?You don't know anything about cinematography or video do you?
Shallow depth of field is about selective focus, it's a creative tool and has absolutely zero effect on grain, which is a function of the absolute levels of light hitting the sensor or film. Grain is also a creative tool or, in a lot of cases, is present not because the original copy was "poor", but it was the best achievable *at the time*, e.g. 95% of the finest movies ever made, shot on 35mm.
Lolimaster - Sunday, January 19, 2020 - link
In fact most of the hd content is some crappy 1080i MPEG2 encoded junk.Would love 720/1080p cable content true progresive encoded in hevc.
kalgregor - Sunday, January 19, 2020 - link
Netflix won't even let you do more than 720p in a decent browser, and their entry level subscription is SD. They're not really incentivising a higher level subscription due to piracy concerns.Basically, if you want to watch a show legally, you can watch it on optical media (complete with load time, maybe even an anti-piracy message or ads). Or, you can embrace streaming, and have your resolution slashed.
AnandIdiots - Wednesday, January 22, 2020 - link
Streaming services have become mainstream and are all 4K/UHD. What rock are you living under?JeffFlanagan - Friday, January 17, 2020 - link
I have a 4K HDR video projector with a 10-foot wide screen. My amazingly nice picture could be improved a little bit by an 8K projector, but most people won't see any improvement on a less than 80" screen.Santoval - Saturday, January 18, 2020 - link
That depends on the viewing distance.George Biz - Sunday, January 19, 2020 - link
As much as we like it or not, or buy it or not, the likes of LG, Samsung, Sony, Panasonic etc. they will invest in technology and they will put it on the market, regardless of the general demand. If one of them is doing it, the others have to do it also, otherwise they are out of the game. That goes for everything that comes with tehinology on all fields, not only TVs. And to be honest who can blame the manufacturers? They are investing loads of money, they need to recover some of them back. It's up to us to decide price/quality and what to buy.artifex - Monday, January 20, 2020 - link
Might as well wait for ATSC 3.0 TVs at this point, so you don't have to buy an external tuner later.poohbear - Monday, December 7, 2020 - link
Who makes the A9 cpu? Is it an ARM based design?