Products of the Year: Best OLED TV, TV Mount, Projection Screen and More

Determining the best vide products for a home is by no means and easy task. But each year, the judging committee and Electronic House magazine selects from numerous submissions entered by many manufacturers the top products and systems for your home. The judges consider innovation, uniqueness, and practical benefits to end users when choosing the winners of categories including audio, video, home control and automation, home theater, smart lighting, and home security. In this, our last announcement of our Products of the Year, we present the Best Video products of 2017 (go here for a look at all of this year’s winners).

 

Flat-Panel Display

WINNER: LG SIGNATURE 77-inch OLED 4K TV

The LG SIGNATURE 77W7 OLED is the world’s first ultra-thin Wallpaper TV with the thickness of just one credit card. LG’s radical new Picture-on-Wall aesthetic uses the most advanced OLED technology to achieve this first-of-its-kind design. The 77W7 attaches to the wall with magnets and delivers Active HDR plus 4K resolution, as well as next-generation Dolby Atmos surround sound.

LG OLED pixels create their own light, and can switch off to achieve outstanding black levels with zero light bleed, providing the ideal foundation for displaying lush, vibrant color.

webOS 3.5, LG’s updated smart TV platform, makes switching between content options simple and fast. webOS 3.5 also allows users to pair smartphones with the TV and serves as both a remote or content panel, meaning content on the mobile device can be displayed on the big screen. Additional connectivity features include PCs for screen sharing as well as DNLA, WiDi and Miracast.

Plus, new in 2017, Magic Link allows consumers to find related videos and content on YouTube using the 1-step Magic Link hot key on the remote.

The 77W7 can be tuned to the same specifications as those used by Technicolor films so that viewers at home can experience the entertainment onscreen exactly as Hollywood content creators intended.

Price: $27,999

 

TV Lifts & Mounts

WINNER: Nexus 21 Concealment Systems Transcend Pull-Down Wall Mount

In many homes, the fireplace is the focal point of a living room. Those who choose to orient their furniture around a fireplace are challenged with finding the most natural location to mount a TV screen. Placing it over the mantel has become increasingly popular, but there are very few mounting solutions that have resolved the obvious “pain in the neck” problem of forcing your head upward into an unnatural position to see the screen.

Nexus 21’s Transcend Pull-Down Mount provides a solution: a slim wall mount featuring precision counterbalance technology, allowing a user to pull the screen forward and down in front of the mantle, to the perfect viewing position.

This compact, sleek mechanism has over 2 feet of downward extension and adjustable screen tilt function, making it easy to customize to the perfect viewing height for any room. It also has a 4-way swivel, so the user can turn the screen 30 degrees in either direction. The mount features a pre-made, in-wall enclosure so it has a very thin profile, with the screen resting just 2.1 inches from the wall.

The Transcend’s robust counterbalance system suspends screens up to 125 lbs. in mid-air, creating a floating effect, making it possible for homeowners to effortlessly move a 75-inch TV with two fingers.

The product ships fully assembled with all hardware necessary for installation included. Once the wall is prepared, the unit only requires 4 lag bolts and as little as 15 minutes to secure. A full-sized mounting template is included and cable control is simple and intuitive. Knock-outs in the wall enclosure and wire management clips are provided.Accessories for mounting a soundbar are available.

Price: $799.00

 

 

Projection Screen

WINNER:  Stewart Filmscreen Phantom HALR

Stewart Filmscreen’s Phantom HALR High Ambient Light Rejecting black screen was developed to satisfy the most demanding critics in the world; the filmmakers. A new, flexible front projection screen material, Phantom HALR offers excellent ambient light rejection capabilities and incredible image uniformity that delivers an exceptional entertainment experience, day or night.

The Phantom HALR is available in seamless image sizes up to 40 feet by 90 feet. And, it is the only black screen on the market that can be perforated for acoustical transparency, which includes Stewart’s exclusive Microperf X2 THX Ultra or Cinemaperf options depending on the size of the screen. For installation versatility, Phantom HALR can also be configured with any of Stewart’s ElectriScreen models or as a fixed frame wallscreen.
Future-proofed with category-leading 16K+ resolution, Phantom HALR is not susceptible to color shift. It will calibrate out to REC 2020 or REC 709 without obvious color aberrations that skew the primary and secondary colors.

Price: Depends on size and customization

 

Video Component

WINNER: OPPO Digital, Inc.OPPO UDP-203 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc Player

The design of the UDP-203 focuses on quality playback and universal compatibility with multiple disc and file formats. In addition to the latest UHD Blu-ray, the UDP-203 supports regular Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, DVD, DVD-Audio, SACD, and audio CD. The UDP-203 is equipped with two USB 3.0 ports on the back and another USB port on the front. Users can play video, music and photos from USB hard drives or thumb drives. Built-in 802.11ac Wi-Fi or Gigabit Ethernet connects the UDP-203 to users’ home networks, so users can easily play media files stored on computers and home servers.

 

The player features two HDMI outputs – an HDMI 2.0 port for connecting to the latest UHD TVs, projectors and A/V receivers, and an HDMI 1.4 audio port for connecting to older A/V receivers.

The UDP-203’s video performance and universal compatibility is further complemented by its support of lossless high resolution audio. The player decodes audio file formats such as AIFF, WAV, ALAC, APE and FLAC. It also directly plays Direct-Stream Digital audio files in stereo DSD64/128 or multi-channel DSD64. With internal decoding of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, and bitstream output for object-based immersive audio formats such as Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, the UDP-203 delivers great sound for both movie soundtracks and music. Besides HDMI, audio is concurrently available through the 7.1-channel analog outputs, featuring “Velvet Sound” 32-bit premium digital-to-analog converters from AKM of Japan.

 

A brushed aluminum front panel, steel chassis and gold plated connectors not only present a sleek aesthetic, but also ensure dependable operation and reliable connection. Integration-friendly features such as RS-232 control, back panel IR sensor and third-party IP control make the UDP-203 a great choice for any home theater system.

Price: $549

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