Often at CES, you’ll see a very impressive new technology debut at exorbitant prices before trickling down to more affordable models a couple years later. Lo and behold, that’s exactly what we’re seeing with LG and its Zero Connect Box. We got our first look at it with the M Series OLED in 2023. Now the company is bringing that Zero Connect Box, which beams audio and video to the TV panel, to one model of its still-terribly-named QNED Evo Mini LED lineup.

The box can transmit 4K video at up to 144Hz, and by all accounts from reviews last year, it works as advertised and poses no issues for gaming. The only cable that runs to the TV screen itself is the power cable.

LG says the QNED Evo series is also ditching quantum dots this year for a “proprietary wide color gamut technology, Dynamic QNED Color Solution” that supposedly produces “pure colors that are as realistic as they appear to the eye in general life.”

Unfortunately, I predict we’re going to see a lot of hype about AI on TVs at CES 2025 — even more than usual — and LG is already backing up my theory. It’s even putting a new AI button right on the Magic Remote for this year’s TVs. In what’s destined to be a controversial decision, the AI button actually takes the place of the traditional inputs button:

A short press on the AI button guides users to relevant keywords and TV features, while a long press enables personalized searches based on a large language model (LLM4). For example, if a user is planning a trip to France, they can ask their remote, “Recommend movies to watch on my trip to Paris.” The AI will understand the context and suggest movies set in the French capital, including specific genre recommendations based on the user’s viewing preferences.

Do people actually want this functionality from their TV? I digress. LG claims AI will also allow for more advanced upscaling, more fine-tuned HDR, and the conversion of two-channel stereo sources to a virtualized 9.1.2-channel sound output. LG claims its new AI tricks can also better distinguish voices from background noise — a challenge that TV makers never seem finished addressing — and make them clearer.

LG hasn’t yet shared pricing or a release timeframe for the 2025 QNED Evo lineup. But again, this is how CES TV announcements always go. You hear about the flashy new tech and better-than-ever picture quality months before learning how much it’ll cost you. The Verge will be in Las Vegas in just a few short weeks for the show, so you can at least count on some first-hand impressions of LG’s latest TVs.

The holidays are right around the corner, and we hope you’ve already secured gifts for everyone on your shopping list. I mean, we’ve been doling out plenty of gift guides to help with that, like the best gaming gifts under $100, the best D&D gifts, and a guide to shopping for luxury editions of classic […]

The Nintendo Switch continues to dominate portable gaming to this day, even with the imminent arrival of the Switch 2. It stands out with some great exclusive games for all ages, and each model comes with everything most people need to have a good time. However, the experience of using a Switch can improve in big ways […]

We’re here: last stop for 2024, everybody off, the GDCo newsletter is heading to the depot. Before we quit for the annum, massive love to our increasing band of colleagues at GDCo: Alejandro, Avi, Matt, Tomek and Strale – building our game data and info platform right, behind the scenes. (Some exciting news about that […]

A24’s lineup of films for 2025 is starting to become stacked — with fantastical creatures, that is. While the fantasy adventure The Legend of Ochi is slated to hit theaters next February, the dark comedy Death of a Unicorn is due out in the spring. And you can get a feel for it in the brand-new trailer above.

The film follows a father and daughter (Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega) who are driving to a weekend retreat, and accidentally kill an animal ... which just so happens to be a unicorn. From there, it seems as though the dad’s rich boss (Richard E. Grant) and his family can’t help but see ways to exploit the creature’s magical powers for profit. While the vibe is light and funny early one, things not only get darker, but take a turn towards horror by the end of the trailer.

Death of a Unicorn is the directorial debut from Alex Scharfman, and it also stars Will Poulter, Sunita Mani, and Téa Leoni. Hereditary director Ari Aster serves as a producer, while horror legend John Carpenter.