[Todd Anderson]

The preliminary television line-up for Value Electronics’ 2016 Flat Panel Shootout has been officially revealed, and the much celebrated industry event has confirmed it will be returning the site of this year’s CE Week in New York City.

“Our TV Shootout has proven to be a ‘must attend’ event among true video enthusiasts and industry leaders each year, demonstrating how premium TVs perform and compete with each other,” said Robert Zohn, founder and president of Value Electronics. “With the continuation of Ultra HD and OLED as well as the great advancements of TV technologies, this will be a great year for flat panel displays.”

It should be a great year, indeed, as image improvement technologies such as High Dynamic Range and wide color gamut are becoming standards that are expected, not just discussed.

Televisions included in this year’s event will include both flat and curved designs, featuring LED LCD and OLED 4K UHD technologies. While a complete list of models hasn’t been officially finalized, it appears that competing televisions will include Sony’s XBR-75X940D, Samsung’s UN65K9800, LG’s 65UH9500 and OLED65G6P, Vizio’s 65-inch R-Series, and Hisense 65-inch H10C.

Noticeably absent from this year’s list is any kind of representation from Panasonic, which did have an entry in the 2015 version of the event. It’s worthy to mention that Panasonic’s 2015 event model (LCD based TC-65CX850U) had notably poor performance as compared to the competition. The company has released a new OLED model this year, but it has yet to begin shipping in the United States.

Hisense's H10 Ultra UHD television.​

Both Vizio and Hisense are exciting to see on the preliminary list. Vizio’s new reference 65-inch R-Series ($5,999 MSRP) carries Dolby Vision technology, HDR, wide color gamut, and a full-array LED backlight system. And the Chinese-born Hisense offers HDR, full-array local dimming, and LCD quantum dot technology at a market-busting price of $2,799.

Of course, the 500-pound gorilla in the event is LG’s OLED television. Despite last year’s OLED model demonstrating some dark scene reproduction issues, LG was handed the event’s crown. This year’s entry is said to have radically better performance and is an easy early pick as the event’s overall winner. This could be the final year of LG being the only manufacturer showcasing OLED technology at the Shootout, with several companies (including Panasonic and Samsung) scrambling to bring competing OLED sets to world-wide markets.

Joel Silver of the Imaging Science Foundation will moderate this year’s event. Silver, in addition to other experts, will calibrate and test the televisions prior to the event. They will then present their findings (contrast ratio, peak brightness, black level, color accuracy, color saturation, motion resolution, lag input time, and energy efficiency) during several presentations scheduled on June 22 and June 23 at CE Week 2016. Manufacturer representatives will also present at the event.

For more information contact Value Electronics at [email protected].

Image Credit: LG Electronics, Value Electronics Inc, Hisense

 

[Robert Zohn]

Thanks Todd for covering our 2016 TV Shootout evaluation event!

Every TV Shootout year is very exciting for me, however, this year tops them all as the new crop of high-end TVs are all 4K, HDR, WCG, 10-bit panels and PQ digital gamma. This represents not only the best displays we have ever assembled, but it demonstrates the new 4K HDR TV System. The last time we had a new TV System was 1998 when digital HDTV was introduced and we got resolutions up to 1080p, the new rec. 709 color gamut and higher contrast displays. Before 1998 we had rec. 601 color and the highest resolution was 480i.

Once you experience well produced 4K HDR content you will see for the first time image quality that was never possible before. For 2016 the flagship 2016 TVs from every major manufacturer deliver images that will amaze the most knowledgeable video enthusiasts and even novices.

Put this all together with Joel Silver leading us through the new TV System displayed on the world's best 2016 TVs and this event will be the most important one we have ever produced in the 13 years of Value Electronics TV Shootouts.

I look forward to you and many of our fellow HTS members participating in the 2016 TV Shootout at CE Week. BTW, all who email me for free attendance to the 2016 TV Shootout at CE Week in NYC will also be entitled to free access to the entire CE Week Expo show floor.

Very exciting time for novices and videophiles.

 

[JimShaw]

Robert.

Does sound like fun and now you have me thinking, maybe I should go ahead and do it this year even though it is not in your store.

I'm going to start planning and see how things turn out.

 

[Robert Zohn]

Here's a few updates on our upcoming 2016 TV Shootout.

- Joel Silver of Imaging Science Foundation, ISF will be our moderator and Keynote speaker

- Jeff Murray and Matt Murray of AVPROSTORE are our primary presenters

- Several VIP special guests (well known respected TV reviewers) will also present

- We'll have the World's first full 18Gbps HDMI 2.0a/HDCP2.2 8x8 matrix switch to distribute all of our sources to every TV

- Our 4K HDR BD will be fed from Panasonic's new 4K BD player, model DMP-UB900

- We'll have new high-end meters that can measure down to OLED MLL

- We'll have Konica/Minolta's reference CS-2000 Spectraradiometer and the brand new LS-150 Luminance meter

Of course, most of you know Joel Silver and for those who don't know the Murrays here's a snip of who they are. Jeff and Matt run the top tier ISF tech support team for many thousands of ISF calibrators worldwide - and Jay serves and supports the Infocomm Contrast Standards committee and the CTA Home Theater Standards committee.

Jeff is the CEO of AVPro Global Holdings - a company that manufacturers connectivity and testing products for systems integrators.

Jeff is certified by THX, ISF Level I/II, ISF Commercial, and DSEG. Jeff served in the Military for 20 years as the Electronics maintenance Chief.

Considering the new TVs, and the new 4K HDR TV System and our very distinguished technical presenters our 2016 TV Shootout is the most important event of our well respected 13 consecutive years of producing our high-end TV evaluation event.

 

[JimShaw]

Our 4K HDR BD will be fed from Panasonic's new 4K BD player, model DMP-UB900

Robert

I noticed that you chose the Panasonic over Samsung's 4K player.

Was there a reason for that choice? Did you think one had an advantage over the other?


.

 

[Robert Zohn]

Yes, from what I know Panasonic's DMP-UB900 will be one of the best 4K BD players. Unrelated, but the DMP-UB900 has excellent build quality. It has a quality feel, fit and finish and is solid heavy construction.

 

[JimShaw]

:spend:

Yes, from what I know Panasonic's DMP-UB900 will be one of the best 4K BD players. Unrelated, but the DMP-UB900 has excellent build quality. It has a quality feel, fit and finish and is solid heavy construction.

Robert

I thank you for the input. I almost had you place the Samsung 4K player in with the OLED that you sent me. Now I am glad I didn't. I will take a look at the Panasonic.

Finished hanging the OLED Yesterday. Yesterday, my wife asked if I could lower it by 2". Just finished re-hanging it today. Would you believe, she thought one more inch would do it. I told her a white lie and said the way the wall is built there isn't another inch available :smile:

What a beautiful picture. Thanks for the Q/C and cal on it.

Jim

 

[Robert Zohn]

No exact launch date for Panasonic's 4K BD player, but I expect July - August.