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New LG LCD TVs Feature Seamless Design Style

New York – LG Electronics
used Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall here yesterday to present its summer
products showcase highlighted by the unveiling of two new series of LCD TVs with
an ultra-slim seamless-glass design style.

Making their debuts were the SL90 LED backlit series and the SL80 series, the latter featuring 240Hz
TruMotion circuitry and CCFL backlighting.

Both continue a
design style that LG started last year in its PG60 plasma TV series and
continued in this year’s PS60 and PS80 plasma series.

Central to the new seamless
single-glass panel over an ultra thin-bezel design in both series is LG’s Invisible Speaker approach that accentuates the
seamless style by eliminating large speaker grilles on the front bezel for a
more streamlined home entertainment system aesthetic.

“Consumers
are looking for stylish technology that fits seamlessly into their existing
home environment, without sacrificing the advanced technology they’ve grown
accustomed to,” stated Peter Reiner, LG marketing and
strategy senior VP. “With the SL80 and SL90, LG has combined
the best of design and display technology – transforming the home entertainment
experience from something ordinary into something better.”

The new sets all incorporate
a non-reflective internal cell structure to minimize glare of ambient lighting.

The SL80 series
includes the 42- ($1,699 suggested retail), 47- ($1,999) and 55-inch ($2,999)
screen sizes, all of which will ship in August. The SL80 series sets measure
less than 1.8 inches thick at their slimmest points.

The FullHD 1080p
sets offer a 150,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio and include 240Hz processing to
smooth fast motion images.

The SL90 models,
which are due to ship later in the year in the 42- ($2,099) and 47-inch ($2,599)
screen sizes, use LED display technology to increase energy efficiency and
achieve a 1.15-inch panel depth.

The SL90 series models
offer Full HD 1080p resolution, a 120Hz TruMotion circuitry to reduce motion
blurring and a 3,000,000:1 mega contrast ratio.

Both series include:
the A/V Mode II system with three A/V Modes that are preset to optimize picture
and sound settings based on cinema, sports or game content; a picture wizard
that enables easy self-calibration by providing on-screen reference points for
elements including, black level, color, tint, sharpness and backlight levels;
and a Clear Voice II system that automatically enhances and amplifies the sound
of the human voice frequency range to make dialogue more audible against
background noise swells.

The SL80 features
energy-savings technology that meets the Energy Star 3.0 ratings and also comes
equipped with LG’s Intelligent Sensor technology, which
senses the ambient light in the room and adjusts color and brightness
accordingly. In addition, a mechanical on/off switch offers users the ability
to eliminate standby power consumption in exchange for the ability to turn the
set back on with the remote control.

In other news, LG Electronics said it is adding instant-access to
the Vudu HD movie service on LG’s LH50 1080p LCD series and PS80 plasma 1080p
series with “NetCast Entertainment Access,” beginning in late August.

Neither of the new LS80 or LS90 LCD TVs just announced have the
NetCast capability.

LG will make a firmware update available for existing NetCast TV
customers to access the service and will install it in new sets in the factory
going forward, according to Tim Alessi, LG product development and advertising
director.

The LG application of Vudu will feature “an industry first”
streaming of content in 1080p. Previoulsy, Vudu’s service had been designed to
download content to hard drives on its set-top boxes. The service allows
consumers to instantly buy or rent movies and TV titles, including more than
2,000 HD offerings, with no monthly fees and without having to buy, install, or
connect any additional hardware.

Movies are made available via Vudu’s HDX format with FullHD 1080p
resolution and Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 surround sound.  Purchased films will be stored for 24/7 access
on Vudu’s “virtual locker.”

LG’s NetCast Entertainment Access now offers access to millions
of streaming movies, TV shows and web videos from Netflix, Yahoo! Widgets,
YouTube and Vudu, among others.

Alessi said
there are no plans at this time to add Vudu access to LG’s Blu-ray Disc players with IPTV capability supporting CinemaNow
HD selections. The company plans to add CinemaNow service to the NetCast TVs,
he added, “but as a Yahoo Widget, not as a
stand-alone application.”

Commenting on LG’s recent financial report showing 12 percent
growth in global sales from a year ago and 6.1 percent in operating income,
Teddy Hwang, LG Electronics USA president, said, “If you consider the particular
industries that we participate in today, these are phenomenonal results.

“We are a consumer products company, and the innovation pipeline
is very important.  So even in this
recessionary period, we have not reduced our budget for marketing or R&D. As
a result, we are able to maintain innovation – innovation around design,” Hwang
added.

John
Herrington, LG Electronics USA sales president, said, “We have a unique opportunity to offer products to
customers across demographics. And it’s very important that their experiences
with LG are great experiences. Our primary goals are to continue to bring the
LG brand to our customers more effectively in-store and across platforms, so we
can earn a greater portion of our retailer’s business, and reach more consumers
where they’re shopping.

“Our brand has evolved to a point where there’s an expectation
now from the consumer that we will continue to be on the cutting edge in terms
of design and style.”

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