LG set to release big-screen TV next year that can roll up like a poster

[Zorro]

LG Electronics Inc. plans to begin selling big-screen TVs next year that can be rolled up and put away like a poster, the centerpiece of an effort to revive an ailing business, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The envisioned 65-inch TVs will retract automatically at the touch of a button like a garage door, the person said on condition of anonymity because it’s an internal matter. They will sport organic light-emitting diode, or OLED, screens that produce crisper images and fold more easily than traditional liquid-crystal display, or LCD, panels.

LG is counting on “rollable” and OLED televisions to revive a consumer electronics business that’s grappling with price declines and stiffening Chinese competition. The South Korean conglomerate is shedding workers to streamline and refocus around future technologies, such as flexible displays. A prototype of the television displayed at LG’s research center in Seoul can be rolled up and stuffed into a box when not in use.

The company showed off the rollable screen technology earlier this year, but 2019 will mark its first commercial release in TVs. LG declined to comment.

https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-roll-up-tv-20181218-story.html

[pecosbob]

1. I think that's the one that Huawei stole

[Doodley]

2. If you are going to have TVs on a roll, make them big enough to cover whole walls.

[jberryhill]

3. What's the advantage of that?

Seriously, why?

Sure, it’s a technical marvel, but why do I want a TV that rolls up?

Am I going to hang something else on the wall behind it, or just have a blank wall with some housing for the rolled-up screen mounted on the wall?

I just don’t understand the point.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Well, for those who dislike having a huge black blank thing on the wall when not in use,

( like me)
hidden tv screens could address that issue.

My solution was to cut the cord, but I can see why people like big screens, esp.after I watched bout 5 minutes of a football play on one at the neighbors.

I am waiting for the holograms to come out.

[OriginalGeek]

5. "When not in use"

I do not understand these words.

(Lol)

[jberryhill]

6. Then you have a blank wall

One alternative would be to have some piece of art there but, for that matter, the TV doesn't need to be black and blank either.

But if there was a roll-up screen, you'd go back to watching TV? Somehow I doubt that.

This product is a solution looking for a problem. It is a niche problem at best, and won't have a significant market impact.

A few years ago, the buzz was "3D TV". I don't think anyone is even making them anymore.

The "when not in use" comment above typifies the niche that TV fills. It occupies the blank spaces in one's schedule.

Flop onto the couch, push a button, and veg out to TV.

That doesn't work when it is - Decide to watch TV, get the rolled-up TV out of the box, hang it on the wall, hook up the doo-dads and power cord... screw it. I'd just as soon wait for my computer to boot up, since at least I'm not doing calisthenics with a 70-inch wide thing that cost a fortune and will break if I fall over while balancing on my toes to hang it up.

I think sometimes the developers believe everyone lives alone or something. Hey, the kids want to watch TV or play a video game - time to drop whatever you are doing and set up the TV.

It's just a fundamentally stupid idea. 99.99% of the time, that roll-up TV is going to hang, unrolled, on the wall and ready for use (with all the dangly bits attached to to it). The price margin for that .01% feature of being able to put it away is not justified.