LG loves a wacky televisual concept. For years, it brought the largest and best TVs it could possibly muster to the tech grotto that is CES and this year is no different.
At this year’s CES 2022 – which is supposed to begin in the first week of January – the company is showcasing the future of curved OLED displays in the form of a media-friendly massage chair and an exercise bike with an immersive screen that’ll simulate the sensations of riding outside.
The latter is called the Virtual Ride and features three 55-inch OLED displays stacked vertically and curving above the rider’s head. We’ve seen plenty of e-bikes that offer virtual rides via the display, but LG’s concept promises to take it to a whole new level. It’ll showcase your live heartbeat and distance travelled, while allowing you to ride through green and luscious forests and bustling cities.
LG’s press release points out the panel that curves about the head delivers a 500R curvature radius, which it says is the most extreme curve it has mustered thus far in a display this size.
I don’t know man, these companies are going to some lengths to replicate the experience of going outside for a bike ride, when it’s actually pretty easy to do it.
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The second concept LG is bringing to the show floor is the Media Chair, which is far more imaginative than its name. It also has a vertically aligned, curved 55-inch OLED TV, which is integrated into a throne like circular pod. There’s a button that can rotate the display between a landscape and portrait orientation and it also has access to LGs Cinematic Sound OLED tech.
There’s integrated 5.1 channel sound system, LG says, but with speakers in the display and headrest, as well as a subwoofer in the base. You’ll sit in an actual, working massage chair at what seems like a far-too-close 1.5-metres away from the screen.
It’s unlikely either of these concepts will make it into production as products you can actually buy, but they may be indicative of the display products we’re buying several years from now.
