Loewe began at IFA in 1931 when founder Sigmund Loewe first showed a television. But, like many high end specialty brands, it has suffered as TV supply chains have consolidated in Asia and sales declined. Two years ago, Hisense came to the rescue, and like the Skyworth/Metz relation, Loewe remains a German-owned company with assembly by Turkish-based Beko and support in Germany.
Loewe took a break from IFA last year and spent the time reinventing its product line, making a big debut this year. This year, it unveiled four new TV products: Bild 7, Bild 3, Bild 5 and Bild 1.
Bild 1 is the entry level line with offerings at 32”, 40”, 56” and 65”. It is targeted at current Loewe owners but does not have front firing speakers. Bild 3 models are offered in 40”, 48” and 55” sizes and adds 80W front firing speakers with a new grey acoustic material. Bild 5 is a smartTV with a built in hard disc drive offering 1 TB of storage. It comes in 32”, 40”, 48” and 55” sizes.
The top of the line Bild 7 is the first to offer UHD resolution and the first OLED TV with Dolby Vision HDR support. The 7mm thick display lifts up upon powering on to reveal a 120W sound bar with front firing speaker. The panel is from LG Display but Loewe has developed its own image processing electronics. It is offered in 55” (€4999) and 65” (€6999). Loewe says that it will receive UHD Premium certification soon and that the Dolby Vision support will come via a firmware update shortly after launch.
All the new Bild products feature a new OS for simple navigation of content and new audio solutions with great style (and new wireless capabilities). All should be available in the September/November time frame. – CC
