This year’s TVs are bigger, brighter, better and smarter – and they cost a lot!

As we expected, CES 2013 is dominated early on by news of new TVs, bigger TVs and new TV technologies. It seems this is the year for finding new ways to tell people they need to buy a new TV so stand by to be bamboozled.

LG has kicked things off at CES with a few announcements, the biggest being the OLED TV they revealed at CES 2012 now has a release date. March 2013 for those in the USA, and the price will hover at $US12,000 or there about. The same date and price will apply to the Australian launch of OLED from LG as well.

Ultra High Definition is where the big dollars are for the general TV market though. This 4K screen resolution is four times higher quality than the current HD we have.

LG has announced “UHD” will be part of their product line-up, Sharp too have announced two types of UHD TV.

Don’t be too concerned about that TV you just bought being outdated already. Those who shell out for the Ultra HD picture will certainly be impressed, however there is a distinct lack of any UHD content, so what you’ll be watching on it is actually just good old HD “upscaled” to fit.

The big deal this year isn’t actually anything new, it’s all about size. Sharp announced 21 models that are 60 inches or more, going right up to 90 inches. That’s a staggering size for a TV.

The 60-inch market has grown so much in recent years with our hunger for a bigger screen, so much so that all the sales research is showing this to be “the” growth category in TVs so it’s hardly surprising to have all the manufacturers touting their “big screens” this week here at CES.

When push comes to shove, bigger is better, and there will be a huge amount of choice in that bigger end of the market as 2013 progresses.  As for Ultra High Definition or OLED – don’t stress, it’s going to be pricey and won’t add a whole lot to the average viewing experience just yet.