It may be onerous to discover a TV with good sound high quality. Typically talking, if you wish to expertise high quality sound, you’ll want to purchase a soundbar or encompass sound system to reinforce the customarily pitiful sound you’ll get out of your TV’s built-in audio system.
There are, nevertheless, a couple of exceptions to that rule – a couple of TVs that throw conference out the window and give attention to delivering a strong sound high quality with none compromises.
Like, for instance, the Bang and Olufsen BeoVision Eclipse.
Not solely does B&O’s newest supply the most effective in sound with a large 450-watt speaker, but it surely packs all of it along with an OLED TV display that oozes inky blacks and shows a dizzying quantity of colours.
The one factor stopping this triumph of audiovisual mastery? Its extremely steep price ticket.
Design
There’s actually no denying it, the BeoVision Eclipse is a murals. It’s engineered to be stunning, and it’ll look proper at house in any modern-looking home.
It’s accessible in each 55-inch and 65-inches, and by default it comes with a wall-mount, however not a ground stand – although one is obtainable to buy individually. (For the needs of this assessment, we’ve been despatched a 65-inch mannequin with the ground stand.)
It’s value mentioning that the ground stand doesn’t simply look cool, it serves a objective, too. As a result of it’s motorized, you possibly can rotate the TV each across the base, and swivel it to face whichever path you’re sitting. All this may be managed straight from the distant, and it features easily and silently, serving to spotlight the premium feel and appear of the TV on the whole.
You’ll be able to set totally different presets for the positioning of the TV too – so, for instance, you possibly can have it pushed all the way in which again and flat towards the wall when it’s off, after which set it to robotically lengthen and face the sofa when it’s on.
Spin the TV round your self and also you’ll discover it’s actually skinny, too. At its thinnest level close to the highest, the show is just 1 / 4 of an inch thick – solely a little bit thicker than the now-famous LG OLED W7 TV. That’s maybe to be anticipated contemplating the show itself is constructed by LG.
BeoVision Eclipse specs
Display sizes accessible: 65-inch, 55-inch | 4K: Sure | HDR: Sure | Panel expertise: OLED | Sensible TV: Sure/webOS three.5 | Curved: No | Dimensions: 1118(h) x 1611(w) x 122(d) mm | 3D: No | Inputs: 4 HDMIs, eight Ethernet, three USBs, RF tuner
In the event you’re after good construct high quality, the TV is essentially constructed from a pleasant, robust aluminum that wraps its approach across the again of the TV, the soundbar and the ground stand.
If that mixture doesn’t fit your fancy, nevertheless, there are different choices should you so select. For instance, as an alternative of the aluminum soundbar, you possibly can as an alternative go for an oak wooden cowl or perhaps a material cowl, if that may match higher in your house decor.
On the again of the TV, you received’t instantly see all of the connections – that’s as a result of they’re hidden in enclosures, as a approach to make sure the design stays modern and trendy. Underneath these enclosures, nevertheless, you’ll discover connectivity galore.
In whole, there are 4 HDMI inputs, eight Ethernet ports, and some USB ports too. Protected to say, it’s best to have greater than sufficient connectivity choices right here to cowl all of your enter gadgets.
If this sounds prefer it may very well be numerous work to setup, don’t fear, setup is a breeze … since you received’t be setting it up your self.
The TV is designed – and required – to be arrange by professionals (shout out to World Link Installations for his or her superior service). Whereas the required set up is a bit unorthodox in follow, there’s an excellent likelihood that should you can afford this TV, you possibly can most likely afford the extra charge to rent an installer to set it up for you, too.
Design TL;DR: The BeoVision Eclipse is stunningly stunning with an industrial design that stands out amongst even probably the most modern-looking TVs. You additionally get greater than sufficient connectivity choices for the overwhelming majority of use instances and even an installer who’ll come to the home to set your new TV up for you.
Sensible TV (webOS three.5)
B&O could also be chargeable for the general design of the TV, the distant, and the TV’s sound, but it surely’s LG who’s chargeable for the OLED panel used within the TV and for the related platform that runs on the TV. Which means the TV runs LG’s webOS three.5.
In the event you haven’t used a current LG TV earlier than, the webOS interface is usually fairly well-designed and simple to make use of, permitting you to entry many of the companies you’ll want in an environment friendly and fast method.
It additionally helps dwell TV by way of cable or an OTA antenna, the overwhelming majority of standard streaming apps and companies (together with music companies) and fashionable options like a built-in internet browser, display sharing, and extra.
Now, some argue that webOS three.5 lacks the je ne sais quoi of different, extra standard TV working programs – and it is true. However it may be onerous to place your finger on what, precisely the interface is lacking. Our greatest guess at explaining why you won’t get pleasure from webOS in comparison with working programs you have used previously is that it lacks a full-screen interface, like Android TV on the Nvidia Protect, relegating all apps and companies to the underside third of the display.
No matter its minor shortcomings, LG’s webOS is a reasonably full-featured system.
Sensible TV TL;DR: The TV runs LG’s WebOS three.5, which, regardless of feeling a little missing, works nice for the overwhelming majority of use instances.
HD/SDR Efficiency
We nonetheless have a protracted solution to go earlier than 4K content material is ubiquitous, however till then, relaxation assured that the B&O BeoVision Eclipse performs admirably even while you’re restricted to HD/SDR content material.
A part of this has to do with the LG OLED show, which helps the TV carry out much better than its cheaper LCD or LED counterparts, delivering good, deep blacks and clear, vivid colours. Blacks are so deep, in actual fact, that it may possibly generally be onerous to tell apart between the side ratio “black bars” on the prime and backside of the show in comparison with the film itself – and all the pieces blends very nicely with the black bezel across the show.
As a result of the panel is constructed by LG, it additionally provides LG’s upscaling engine, which we discovered to be fairly good, although not the most effective within the enterprise. (That title falls as an alternative to the likes of Sony, with its X1 Excessive processor.)
That stated, it’s seemingly that solely extremely technically savvy customers will discover a variations and we discovered that, within the overwhelming majority of makes use of, the upscaling engine on supply within the BeoVision Eclipse carried out fairly nicely.
The panel additionally options LG’s movement smoothing which, once more, is nice, however not unimaginable. There are a couple of TruMotion movement smoothing modes on supply right here – “Easy,” “Clear,” and “Consumer,” which lets you set the mount of de-judder and de-blur you need.
Each Easy and Clear modes suffered from some interpolation artifacts, which you’ll be able to see in smudges that present round shifting objects on the display. In the event you’re somebody who’s simply taken out of the motion with movement smoothing, then it could be value digging by way of the settings and simply turning it off.
HD/SDR TL;DR: The TV may fit greatest with 4K HDR content material, however the upscaling on supply right here helps any HD content material nonetheless look a lot better than it in any other case may.
4K/HDR Efficiency
In fact, to essentially make the most of all the pieces this TV has to supply, you’ll need to subscribe to some supply of 4K content material (like Netflix’s Extremely HD plan).
Must you deal with your self to added visible constancy, the B&O BeoVision Eclipse will carry out extraordinarily nicely with 4K/HDR sources, providing help for each Dolby Imaginative and prescient and HDR10 HDR codecs.
In HDR mode, the wonderful element may be very spectacular … so long as the display is ready up correctly. You’ll need to guarantee that the right side ratio is chosen (Simply Scan might be the most suitable choice for many customers), however assuming it’s you’ll keep away from any patterning, and obtain loads of wonderful element.
There are a ton of image mode presets to select from: Vivid, Normal, APS, Cinema, Sports activities, Sport, HDR Impact, Knowledgeable (Brilliant Room) and Knowledgeable (Darkish Room).
In the event you’re in a room with reasonable ambient gentle and easily need to select the most effective all-around choice, then we suggest merely sticking with Normal mode. It’ll supply probably the most life like tone for many customers. That stated, there’s nothing fallacious with experimenting a little bit – so should you’re up for it merely undergo the presets and discover the one you want greatest.
A key part of the Eclipse’s 4K/HDR success is Dolby Vision, mainly a top-tier HDR specification that provides a pleasant, brilliant, colourful specification for a variety of content material – together with most of Netflix’s self-produced content material.
Utilizing this TV to observe Dolby Imaginative and prescient (or HDR content material on the whole, for that matter) shall be like a light-weight bulb going off. This is what TV ought to appear like.
4K/HDR Efficiency TL;DR: Vivid colours, glorious black ranges, and fairly good movement dealing with are all commonplace with the B&O BeoVision Eclipse.
The BeoVision Eclipse hooked as much as Bang & Olufsen audio system
Sound
The B&O BeoVision Eclipse doesn’t simply supply an incredible image, it additionally provides an distinctive sound efficiency as nicely.
In fact, contemplating its heritage, you’ll anticipate nothing much less from Bang & Olufsen. The corporate has a protracted historical past in growing extremely high-quality audio merchandise, from audio system to headphones, and it has actually held nothing again for the BeoVision Eclipse. The speaker itself is available in at 450-watts, and it may possibly get severely loud if you’d like it to.
Now, should you’re spending this a lot on a TV within the first place, chances are high you could afford a reasonably spectacular sound system, too. Must you resolve to attach one, nevertheless, you need to use the soundbar with it as a middle channel – so it’s not completely ineffective should you select to put in a extra complete encompass sound system.
In order for you, you possibly can set up as much as eight extra loudspeakers to the system, however most individuals most likely received’t want to do this.
As it’s, the B&O BeoVision Eclipse provides loads of quantity to handily substitute any three-channel encompass sound system, however the truth that you need to use it with exterior audio system too solely makes it higher.
In the event you’re searching for glorious audio high quality, with primary EQ and compression on the disposal of people who wish to tinker, then this is a superb selection of TV.
Sound high quality TL;DR: So far as built-in sound goes, the B&O BeoVision Eclipse provides among the many greatest. Bass is booming right here, but it surely doesn’t depart highs behind – and also you’ll discover loads of readability and element to go round.
Distant
We often don’t go into element on the distant, however contemplating how distinctive the BeoVision Eclipse’s pointer is, it’s value having a look at.
To that finish, the distant that comes with the BeoVision Eclipse received’t simply management your TV, it’s additionally capable of management lots of your different gadgets related in some methods to Logitech Concord, if rather less universally built-in.
Like Logitech’s distant, there are fairly a couple of buttons to get used to – together with a show on the prime – however we discovered that for many day-to-day use you’ll use the identical three or 4 buttons.
On the prime, you’ve received fast keys to entry Netflix and Amazon, which may be very good for people who use these companies, however a little bit pointless for people who don’t.
The distant’s non-standard method could be fairly complicated at instances. Even turning the TV on is totally different from what you may anticipate. As a substitute of there being a easy on button, you’ll inform the TV to enter a mode utilizing the distant’s built-in show.
So, you may need to “Play PS4,” which we set to show the TV on, set the enter to the HDMI port that was related to the PS4, and even flip the PS4 on. Utilizing an adapter, we had been even capable of setup the distant to manage the PS4 itself – although, that most likely received’t assist you when you’re truly gaming.
Whereas we discovered that the distant labored fairly nicely, it wasn’t fairly good during. It’s greatest challenge is that, as a result of it solely controls by way of infrared, we weren’t capable of management the Nvidia Protect TV, which is managed as an alternative by way of Bluetooth. In the event you’re searching for a really common distant, you may need to contemplate the Logitech Concord vary or one thing related.
Verdict
The B&O BeoVision Eclipse is actually the total package deal. It’s good, image appears superior, and the sound-quality is beautiful. However then there’s the value.
The bottom mannequin of the B&O BeoVision Eclipse comes at $9,995 (£7,495, AU$13,990) and that’s for the 55-inch mannequin and doesn’t embrace the ground mount. In the event you go for the bigger, 65-inch mannequin, and wish the ground mount, you’re taking a look at $15,595 (£10,795, $19,990), which is a ton of money.
So must you purchase it? Effectively, should you’re completely loaded, and desire a TV that appears and sounds nice, plus it suits in your ultra-modern house setup, then it’s not a nasty choice. In the event you’re keen to place a little bit extra time into your setup, nevertheless, you might be higher served merely shopping for an LG OLED TV and a devoted encompass sound system – for what may very well be greater than $10,000/£5,000 much less.