As always, LG is making a huge splash at CES. The company says that all of its 2023 OLED TVs will be 70% brighter than previous models! But we’re more interested in LG’s weird Signature M3 OLED TV, which lacks any HDMI ports and receives video wirelessly.
Instead of using a wired video connection, the 97-inch LG Signature M3 relies on a small black “Zero Connect” box. It’s basically a wireless HDMI transmitter on steroids; the Zero Connect box can sit up to thirty feet from the TV and deliver a 4K 120Hz signal wirelessly.
We saw a demonstration of the product in person at CES, and it worked quite well. The Zero Connect box can sit up to thirty feet from the TV, though it doesn’t work if it’s shoved in a cabinet. LG’s representatives were pretty tight-lipped about the underlying technology, but they say it transmits data faster than Wi-Fi 6E.
The Zero Connect box has three HDMI ports, all of which support 4K 120Hz video. There are also two USB ports, a coaxial connector for OTA TV, and an Ethernet jack. (The only oddity is a rotating antenna at the top of the Zero Connect box. You need to point this antenna toward the LG Signature M3 to maintain a strong connection.)
Clearly, LG sees this as a solution to cable management. The lack of cables on the LG Signature M3 OLED TV could also make it a good option for flush wall mounting. Of course, you still need to deal with the TV’s power cable, and the TV has a large (and kinda ugly) receiver tacked on its bottom bezel.
To be clear, I don’t think that this is the best cable management solution. Pricing is unknown, but the LG Signature M3 is probably too expensive for a 4K TV. And, realistically speaking, you could achieve a similar effect with an A/V receiver, a long HDMI cable, and any old TV.
We also don’t know anything about gaming performance on this TV. According to LG, the in-game latency hasn’t been tested yet. If the latency is too noticeable, the LG Signature M3 OLED TV may be a hard sell when it launches in the second half of 2023. Unfortunately, LG has no plans to sell the Zero Connect box as a standalone item.
Source: LG
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