TheBolt

Announced earlier this year, the curious new Samsung Frame is now available at Abt. Part piece of art and part high-tech display, the Samsung Frame is a product intended for those who find that the traditional “black mirror” of a TV is a bit of an eyesore in an otherwise nicely-decorated home. TVs have gotten better looking as technology allows them to be made thinner, with smaller bezels, and out of materials like sleek aluminum or stainless steel. But at the end of the day, they’re still big chunks of glass, plastic and metal that tend to look out of place in most design schemes when they’re powered off. The aim of the Frame is to allow the TV to function as beautiful piece of art when it’s not being used as a television.

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Since the beginning of the flat-screen TV era, manufacturers have been slowly marching towards creating the “perfect” TV. Plasma TVs produced a phenomenal picture, but their glass screens were susceptible to bad glare and the technology was an energy hog, plus the TVs were still quite heavy. LCD TVs—and then LED TVs—were much more energy-efficient and could be made significantly lighter and thinner than plasma displays, but they never quite measured up in picture quality. Whichever technology a user opted for, there was a compromise to be made, until now. OLED TVs check every box on the list of traits you’d ever want on a TV: nearly infinite contrast ratio, vibrant colors, 4K resolution, extreme energy efficiency, and an ultra-thin construction.

OLED TVs were, for many years, something of a technological holy grail. They’ve existed as prototypes for years, and were often dismissed as vaporware. But now that two of the biggest names in television have multiple models of OLED TVs for sale, it’s safe to say that the technology has officially arrived. Both the LG Signature OLED TV and Sony A1E OLED TVs are available at Abt, so we unboxed one of each and compared the two. If you’re in the market to buy an OLED TV, this is the comparison you need to see:

For over 40 years, JL Audio has been considered one of the foremost brands in the audio industry. And though they began as a home audio company and continue to put out some stellar products for home listening, many know the company more for their highly-regarded car audio components. They’ve been one of our favorite mobile brands, with JL Audio speakers and subs finding their way into our Jeep Wrangler and Nissan 370Z project vehicles. So we’re more than happy to have extended our JL Audio product offerings to include the brand’s home products as well.

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CES 2017 wasn’t much for shocking new technology debuts or any real game-changers. Instead, we saw plenty of refinements and advancements to the wowing tech that debuted maybe last year or the year before. That trend was especially evident with televisions and associated home theater stuff. Here are our Top 5 Developments in TV from this year’s CES.

1.) More OLED

For nearly three years now, LG has had run of the court as the only manufacturer with a commercially-available OLED set. While a bit pricey, they also produced what was unanimously considered the best picture possible in a backlit display that you could fit in your family room. That changed this year, with both Sony and Panasonic showing off their own OLED models.  The Sony Bravia A1E OLED has a few other tricks up its sleeve, in addition to the stunning picture. Meanwhile, Panasonic’s 65EZ1000 OLED is claimed to have double the brightness of a typical OLED, which may make it reigning champ of the home theater picture quality, a crown they often wore in the Plasma TV days.

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Klipsch is a brand that most would not consider when hearing the words “vintage design.” Though they’ve been in the game for seventy years, most of their current product line has a decidedly modern aesthetic, from the sleek black cabinets to the characteristic copper cones. But many have never been introduced to the Klipsch Heritage lineup, a series of high-end products that are hand-made in Hope, Arkansas, the town where Klipsch was founded. Each Heritage product features a vintage-inspired design, but is packed with the brand’s top-of-the-line audio technology, creating heirloom products meant to be treasured for generations. We caught up with Klipsch at CES and got a look and listen at some of the newest products in the Heritage line.

The Forte III speakers resurrect one of the most popular nameplates in the company’s history. These full-range, floor-standing speakers are crafted to deliver a multi-dimensional listening experience in just a single pair of speakers, without the need for an external subwoofer. Loaded with Klipsch’s newest technology, the Forte III meld the best of past and present Klipsch.

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There has never been a better time to look at an LG TV than now, because once again LG has set the benchmark with a new feature called Channel Plus, which gives you an all new way to access content through your TV. Channel Plus takes all of the confusion out of watching content from multiple sources by combining all of them into a single system for a seamless viewing experience. LG has partnered with Xumo to provide more than fifty channels of digital content for their users, featuring content from network stations and streaming channels, and combined this with over-the-air broadcasts. The result is a stress-free interface that makes it easy to watch content from across all sources. Perhaps the best aspect of the new Channel Plus feature is that all this new content is completely free of charge. Thats right, 50+ channels of original programming that won’t cost you a penny in monthly subscription fees.

What will you be watching on these free channels? Well, quite a lot actually, from live sports to news, television programs to movies, and much more, giving you nearly endless content to choose from. Channel Plus was created to make viewing easy for users, so it includes a universal search lets to seek out and watch content across all sources from one screen. Whether you watch from a streaming service or a program tuned in on a set-top antenna, you won’t need to switch to another input to find it.  Channel Plus displays all of the available content in your on-screen cable guide. It’s all available in the same location and there will always be new to choose from. Right now there are about 60 channels to watch, but more will be added every month, so the content keeps growing and growing.

A variety of publications are creating content to further reach their audiences, so rest assured there will be something for everyone. Well-known publications like Time, Bloomberg, and PBS will all be sharing content to educate and inform to make us better people. While other publications like the Onion, Cracked, and Funny or Die will be sharing content that will  keep us entertained and make us laugh hysterically. This unique content, supplied by Xumo, is in addition to the programs you can watch from local stations like ABC, CBS, and NBC.

Because the digital content is being streamed, you’ll also have DVR control over them. You can pause, rewind, and skip through videos at your command. Watching the FOX Sports channel and you want to re-watch that walk-off home run over and over again? The rewind function will become your new best friend. Not into sports? That’s okay! Let’s say you found a channel that you absolutely adore. Now you can scroll through the library of on-demand content to easily binge watch every video they offer.

Once you start using Channel Plus you won’t want to think about what life was like before you had it. One of the biggest obstacles to cord-cutting is learning how to juggle multiple content sources, having to switch inputs to move from your streaming channels to your OTA broadcasts, or needing separate menus to search through a different library for every source. If you’d like an easier way to navigate your content, upgrading to an LG TV with WebOS 3.0 and Channel Plus might be just the ticket. We here at Abt want to say thank you to the folks at LG who continually create new and exciting features that keep pushing the envelope of what was once thought impossible from a standard television.

There’s no better time to buy electronics, especially products for your home theater, than Black Friday. The year’s lowest prices on TVs, audio components, and video game consoles mean that you can put together an impressive entertainment system for under $1000. And this isn’t a collection of leftover no-name electronics—we’re including the latest technology from the best brands in the business.

Getting the best picture and sound for your money

At the heart of any good home theater is a stunning display. We’re going to go with a 50-inch TV, which is a great size for the average family room. This Black Friday weekend (11/24-26), the Samsung UN50KU6300 will drop to just $398. That’s an Ultra HD, HDR-capable Smart TV for less than four hundred bucks, a price that was unheard of even just last year. The KU6300 will play all of the latest content from both physical and streaming sources in 4K UHD resolution, with HDR, which means the picture will have the extra clarity of 4K and contain a dynamic range of tones that a normal TV could never display. This set is probably the bang-for-the-buck TV deal of the year.

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The holiday shopping season is now officially underway with the start of Black Friday Week. There’s no need to skip Thanksgiving dinner or get up at 3 a.m. on a cold Friday morning just to try and score one of handful of limited “doorbuster” deals. Instead, enjoy your days off this week and get your shopping done from the comfort of your own home. The Abt Black Friday Week Sale is now underway!

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If you’re looking for arguably the best picture that’s ever been on a TV screen, then check out Sony’s all new Z9D Series 4K HDR with Android TV available at Abt. Sony has successfully used several different features to make this the most spectacular picture they have ever produced for consumers. Its design alone portrays.. (more…)

Televisions have been getting thinner and thinner every year, bringing us to today’s svelte OLED TVs that measure under a centimeter in depth. An ultrathin TV flush-mounted to the wall blends into existing home decor much better than the huge tube TVs of yesteyear. Even relatively recent plasma TVs are bulky in comparison. But view an OLED TV from the side and it almost disappears. So perhaps the next evolution in TVs will be to make them almost literally vanish with the push of a button. This year at CES, we’ve scoped out transparent TVs from two of the big names in display technology.

Panasonic cleverly integrated their transparent LED TV into home shelving, so when the TV is powered off it acts as a display case for knick-knacks or photos.

Samsung, meanwhile, utilized OLEDs to achieve a similar effect.

Samsung’s display hints towards a more commercial application, as opposed to home use. Although, we do like the suggestion that panels like these may one day replace windows—we’d never have to suffer through a gloomy Chicago winter day again! There’s no definitive release information set for either of these examples, so don’t expect to see transparent TVs (pun intended) in stores any time soon.