CES Wrap-Up: Six Takeaways From 2017 
January 17, 2017

1. There is basically no distinction between traditional TV and streaming, and TV manufacturers want it that way? In a bid to win over younger customers who are starting to opt out of expensive cable and satellite packages, TV brands are making it easier for them to watch streaming content on their TV. Samsung, LGE and new comers like Hisense and TCL rolled out lines of smart TVs that incorporate streaming services directly into their main interface, allowing users to browse between streaming content and live TV on one screen. These TVs allow people to flip between HGTV and Netflix with the ease of toggling between 2 broadcast channels, in what is probably not a welcome development to cable and satellite industry.  Dish Network’s Sling TV officially unveiled its AirTV Player at CES, an Android TV-powered device that combines over-the-air television (picked up through a HD antenna) with streaming services. Sling TV offers relatively limited “skinny bundles” with less than 50 channels for the most part, but placing the service on an interface with Netflix and broadcast channels makes it seem more robust — and makes cutting the cord seem like less of a sacrifice. 
2. Samsung’s version of Quantum dot technology tries to fool consumers. ?Liu Hong Xin, the president of Chinese conglomerate Hisense, told a crowd at CES “manufacturers are approaching a technology intersection.” And it appears most of them are taking the quantum dot route. Quantum dots are microscopic circles less than 50 atoms in diameter that emit different colors when they are hit by light depending on their size. There are multiple sizes of dots, depending on the color-- larger ones for red and smaller ones, for green. They are used in combination with blue LEDs to produce primary colors within white light. Several major brands have hitched their wagon to it as the future of flat screen TVs, including industry leader Samsung as well as Chinese upstarts Hisense and TCL. What they tend to leave out is that these TVs are still LCDs and suffer from the limitations of transmissive devices.
3. But LG fights back with OLED … While most major manufacturers focused on quantum dots and short projection TVs, LG won the convention’s best in show award with its latest flagship wallpaper OLED TV, which features an 0.2-inch thick design replaces clunky TV mounts with magnets. Ironically, Samsung, which is thriving by supplying OLEDs for smartphones, VR devices, tablets and notebooks, claims the use of organic luminous material may present a disadvantage over time compared with inorganic quantum dots — or at least that’s what Samsung wants consumers to believe.
4.  Virtual reality is becoming an obligatory part of tent pole movie marketing … ?Cellular equipment supplier, Qualcomm showed off its Snapdragon processor at CES by using it as the engine for a smartphone-based “Power Rangers” virtual reality experience, which was the main attraction at Qualcomm’s convention center booth. It was developed in partnership with Reel FX and Lionsgate, which is releasing “Power Rangers” on March 24. Fox rolled out “Planet of the Apes” VR and “Alien” augmented reality experiences, developed at its Fox Innovation Lab, and announced it would develop a VR experience for its “Alien: Covenant” movie with Ridley Scott as an executive producer. TheWrap did not talk to a single person at CES who expects a mega-budget blockbuster to be released anytime soon without some kind of VR tie-in.
5.  The living room TV isn’t dead – it’s reinventing itself as the control center for the smart home … TheWrap attended a private demonstration of the graphics card firm NVIDIA’s new Shield set-top box where execs showed off its 4K streaming and gaming capabilities, but they saved its Google Assistant integration for the grand finale, using its voice-controlled remote to raise the thermostat, start a pot of coffee and find specific TV shows according to a set of parameters. And while standalone virtual assistants like the Amazon Echo and Google Home can control smart thermostats, locks and lights without using a screen, having 65 inches (or more) of Ultra HD real estate does enhance the experience and allow for visual feedback.
6. Lower-tier brands Seiki, Element and Westinghouse tried to stand out … Incorporating Amazon’s Fire TV interface and its Alexa software, the technology behind the Echo. Samsung surprisingly hasn’t yet incorporated its SmartThings hub directly into its smart TVs, but with the NVIDIA Shield and a not-yet-released USB SmartThings dongle, there’s a not-too-difficult workaround. And manufacturers from TCL to Samsung and LG have dedicated efforts to making bigger and bigger screens look as unobtrusive as possible, whether they’re on or off. TCL unveiled its flagship X series, which has TVs as thin as 6.9 mm — and announced plans to develop a model just 3.9 mm thick. Samsung also introduced a “Lifestyle TV,” which displays a rendering of a piece of art instead of a black screen when it’s turned off.

 
Of course, none of these pieces of work can compete with the < 2mm thickness of LG’s OLED Wallpaper TV and Crystal Acoustic Sound

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