Bang & Olufsen's Beovision television range just got a new member: the Beovision Contour, a 48-inch OLED TV.
We've only seen a handful of 48-inch OLED TVs so far, it being a new panel size for 2020. The first to sport it was the LG CX OLED, quickly followed by the Sony A9S and the Philips OLED+935 – so it's not surprising to see premium AV manufacturer Bang & Olufsen get in on the action.
The Beovision Contour is described as an "all-in-one TV and music experience", featuring audio technology from B&O's first ever soundbar, the Beosound Stage – but reportedly with improved bass performance.
- Check out our hands on Beovision Harmony review
- What is OLED?
- OLED vs QLED: we explain the difference between these two TV panel technologies
Unlike the Beovision Harmony – an OLED TV available in 55-inch, 65-inch, 77-inch, and 88-inch sizes – there's no mechanical nature to the speakers, or ability to fold up the TV stand when the set is not in use. Befitting the more compact sizing of the Contour, B&O has integrated its speakers into the casing of the set itself, hanging below to give the appearance of the polaroid photograph, with a bold bezel running along the edges.
There's a host of color options, too, from Gold and Silver to Black Anthracite (coal). In order to keep things looking pretty, too, we're told that "All cables are routed through the centre rear of the TV and hidden from view, offering a holistic 360-degree design, which allows the TV to remain visually appealing from any angle."
Buyers can opt for a swivelling aluminium floor stand, wall-mounting, or a tabletop stand to place on higher surfaces.
Christoffer Østergaard Poulsen, SVP of Product Management at Bang & Olufsen, cites "a need for a mid-sized screen solution with flexible placement options" among the company's customers, and that's certainly what they've got.
The Beovision Contour is available now online and in-store across the UK and Europe, with global availability (including the US) from February 2021. It retails for $5,999 / £5,150 (around AU$8,250).
Practise those contours
Why call it 'contour'? Well, it could refer to the geographical features of a landscape, though we expect it's more directly related to the contours of a face, or the practice of applying darker cosmetics to emphasise certain facial features, as framed by the TV's photograph design.
As one online makeup tutorial puts it, "While highlighting draws out certain features and adds light to your face, contouring involves placing darker colors in areas you want to define or recede." For an OLED TV boasting deep blacks and colors dark enough to provide real contrast with other parts of an image onscreen, that seems pretty fitting.
- Here are the best OLED TVs
