Wireless HD, improved LED lead LG 2009 TV charge

Despite kicking off at the frankly preposterous time of 8am, LG's press conference at this year's Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show was actually worth getting up for, revealing as it did a plethora of genuinely intriguing new TV tech.

Particularly intriguing to us, given how many years we've spent untangling the bloody cables in our test rooms, is the introduction of wireless HD functionality to LG's flagship 2009 models.

LG's 'wireless HDMI' system adopts a 60GHz RF/smart antenna approach with a massive 3Gbps transfer rate – enough, claims LG, to deliver truly lossless video up to 1080p/60fps HD.

240 reasons to care

Also looking very promising indeed is LG's new LCD TV with LED backlighting. LG launched a 47in LED TV in the US last year, but the new 'LHX' model is bigger (55in) and better, chiefly thanks to its use of 240 separate LED light sources – almost double that of the previous model.

Thanks to the LED system, the LHX model claims a huge 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio, with other eye-catching specifications including four v1.3 HDMI inputs, 24p support, and the small matter of 240Hz processing.

For yes, LG has jumped on the 200Hz bandwagon (240Hz becomes 200Hz in the UK, with its 50Hz PAL video system) started by Sony, offering processing on its new high-end models that quadruples the normal video refresh rate in a bid to completely remove LCD's traditional motion blur issue.

We won't detail all the sets in LG's new range here, as so far we've only received US information; UK-specific details are due tomorrow, after which we'll do a quick model-specific update.

But don't worry: the LED backlighting and wireless HD highlights are definitely going to arrive in the UK in one form or another within the next six months. Watch this space.