The CES sometimes holds surprises. In the aisles of the American living room, a gadget seems to catch the eye of journalists and enthusiasts of all kinds: a 137-inch folding TV.
If you don’t know the C Seed brand, that’s probably normal. Unlike Samsung, LG, Sony and the others, this Austrian company founded by former Bang & Olufsen employees does not exactly build what we could call consumer televisions. At CES 2024, it demonstrated a 137-inch folding TV that costs a whopping $200,000.
Halfway between TV and art sculpture
The N1, by its nickname, has all the characteristics of a cutting-edge technological prototype, but it is indeed a real marketed product. The 4K micro-LED screen is capable of boosting up to 4000 nits of brightness, supports HDR content, offers a contrast of 7000:1 and has USB, HDMI, DisplayPort and RJ45 ports. On paper, you might just think it’s a high-end TV like The Frame from Samsung, but the N1 is much more than that.
On its website, C Seed describes television as an object “sculptural» which will have its place in the middle of your loft, between your marble bust and your original by Jackson Pollock. It must be said that when folded, the television actually has the appearance of a modern art object, halfway between a stylized bench and an abstract sculpture.
A cutting-edge technological object
But beyond the crazy price and the surprising concept, the N1 is still a jewel of technological engineering. These 5 panels fold and unfold in approximately 2.5 minutes and provide an impeccable viewing experience. The gadget measures the spacing between the different micro-LED panels to make even the slightest day invisible. It also adjusts the brightness of adjacent LEDs to hide the fact that they are 5 separate panels rather than a single piece screen.
Obviously, you won’t find C Seed N1 at Darty tomorrow. The company builds its folding televisions to order and has sold barely 200 in the past 10 years. The N1 has so far been produced in two copies, one of which is on the company’s CES stand. If you want to treat yourself, there’s also an outdoor model that sells for $240,000 and a 165-inch model that adds up to just $300,000. A case.
Source : Cnet
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