Sony announces OLED screen commitment and demos 27 inch screen - CES 2007

[Scoobiesnacks]

Just to complicate things further, Sony has announced OLED screens at CES today.

http://www.gadgetell.com/2007/01/ces...ss-conference/
quote:
" Sony is also showing a 27” OLED display (which is rather impressive). "

From Yahoo
"Also on view were prototypes of a wall-sized, 82-inch BRAVIA flat-panel LCD and a 27-inch Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display capable of full HD performance in a razor-thin form factor"


They have also announced commitment to FED screens recently. TOKYO —"Sony, which has been positioning OLED and field emission display (FED) technologies for next-generation displays, has elected to focus on OLED and will spin out the FED R&D team as a separate company with the majority of investment coming from a "carve-out" fund."
http://www.itnews.com.au/newsstory.a...&src=site-marq

Sony now, not Toshiba looks like the one to watch possibly

[AML]

Ive seen an OLED screen before and was surprised by how thin it was and how good the viewing angles were. Low power consumption was another + point.

Even after several years of R&D with plasmas, LCDs and SED, nothing has come close to achieving the same thin-ness in terms of screen size.

Will that be enough for OLED to enter the market?

I think it might. Low power consumption and ultra thin screens mean a must have for lap tops and PDAs as well as mobiles.

For home use, im not so sure.

With LCD and plasmas now so well established, I find it hard to beleive that either OLED or SED will stand a chance.

[KingOfGondor]

but crt was well established before flat screens came along

if they are better and not considerably more expensive (in the long term, launch prices will be ridiculous) then they will win out and gradually replace the 2 technologies we currently have

[Scoobiesnacks]

http://news.com.com/2100-1041_3-6148...w%20(ces)&tag=

"Sony Electronics is looking at ways to bring flat-panel TVs based around organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs, Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer and Sony Electronics President Stan Glasgow said in an interview.


"It is not as far off as you might think," Glasgow said. "Perhaps next year."

Sony has managed to make large OLED screens. At the Consumer Electronics Show here, Sony is showing off a 27-inch OLED panel, along with other small OLED screens.

Still, a lot of work remains, and both executives emphasized that Sony is not announcing products or a definitive commitment to OLED TVs. The company, for instance, has to figure out how to mass-manufacture them at a price consumers are willing to pay. SED, a TV format promoted by Toshiba, has been delayed several times, and critics say that when it comes out, Toshiba will have challenges making SED competitive in price with plasma or LCD.

Materials in an OLED display emit light when an electrical current is applied. Because of their luminescent nature, OLED displays don't require a backlight, consume less power and can result in thinner screens than LCDs, which are currently favored in the flat-panel industry.

To date, manufacturers have used OLEDs for screens inside phones and MP3 players. Samsung, like Sony, has also shown off larger OLED screens that can function as TVs.

They are "breathtakingly bright," Stringer said of OLEDs. "The reality is connected to price, but it is so beautiful we want people to see it." If Sony does come out with an OLED TV, it would likely come out in Japan first, Glasgow said."

[AML]

Originally Posted by KingOfGondor

but crt was well established before flat screens came along

True, but people were happy to change from CRT to LCD or Plasma bcoz of the main difference between the techs. The screen sizes and the thickness of the screens was in LCD ans Plasmas favour.
And now LCDs and Plasmas are the only products that can do 1080p.Leaving CRT in the dust.

Even if OLED or SED come out, the differences between these new screens and current LCDs and Plasmas is going to be much smaller. But the prices will probably be much higher.

Its the same story as when people were happy to change from a Chunky VHS format to the DVD format.
And now with the switch from DVD to Blu Ray and HD DVD, the differences are much smaller to notice for the average consumer. Whats happening now with Blu Ray and HD DVD is what I beleive is going to happen with SED and OLED.

OLED stands a better chance to succeed since it offers even thinner srceens as well as lower power consumption.
OLED can also do well in mobile devices.

SED wont be that much thinner than a plasma or LCD. Just a (maybe) better picture. Not really enough to get the consumers attention.

[Tejstar]

I'd love to these screens on laptops. Has Sony given an idea as how long it will be before we see these in the market - they look fantastic!

[Nielo TM]

1,000,000:1 contrast, 100% NTSC color gamut and 30bit color (10bit per shade), WOW!

I've been waiting to here that for a very long time lol

http://www.engadget.com/photos/sonys...hdtv-1/128897/

[Scoobiesnacks]

http://ces.engadget.com/2007/01/08/s...nch-oled-hdtv/

[Pondle]

LED-backlit LCDs, SED, Pioneer's new "Plasma 2.0"... there's always a better mousetrap! Didn't Samsung demo a 40in OLED screen a year or so ago? I don't think it was 1080p though!

Anyway, in a recent article Atsutoshi Nishida, President of Toshiba, cited OLED as a potential successor to SED. However, he also said that "the technology has only become applicable to a 3- or 4-inch display and it is impossible to create a 40-inch organic EL display in 2 to 3 years. It is even difficult to achieve it in 2015 to 2016. We will pursue the SED until then, but management requires to consider about 10, 20 years ahead."

[Tejstar]

Does that mean that the fact Sony have prototyped a 27" OLED screen mean its ahead of the game?

[Nielo TM]

I don’t think it’ll be that long cos the pixel lifetimes have improved dramatically over the past year and many manufactures have been manufacturing "prototype" OLED displays that is larger then 20" for some time. Now Sony has best OLED technology!

PS: I wonder what happed to Sony’s FED project?

[AML]

Way too many screen types if you ask me. All it does is confuse the average consumer.

OLED should stick to being used in portable devices such as lap tops, phones, PDAs and gaming systems.

This would help with battery longevity and offer even smaller/thiner products with better viewing angles and brightness/color.

SED/LCD/Plasma are best for large screens for HT use. (40"+)

[CAS FAN]

I must say that the OLED screen does look very impressive - the contrast levels are clearly amazing just from looking at the picture of the fruit and wine glass. Also the thinness of the screen is exceptional. I would presume that it is pretty light as well.

I'm not sure that the consumer being confussed is a problem really. The people who will drive any new technology are the enthusiasts initially and by the time the TV filters down to Currys and Comet I don't think it really maters what the technology is called. What is important to the average consumer is the picture quality, the price and the size of the set. If an OLED TV is priced competitively and is beside even one of the next gen LCD's or Plasma currently being discussed then I feel it will sell.

Yes there are always going to be the consumer's who are just driven by price and they will pretty much always opt for a cheap LCD but i'd say a large proportion of buyers (whilst maybe not being fully tech savvy or know how OLED or even LCD works) do take into account more factors than just price when making a purchasing decision. The fact is that if you have a 50" OLED (say 1-2 cm thick with a 1,000,000: 1 contrast) say beside a 50" LCD (say 15 cm thick with a 50,000: 1 contrast) and there's £500 - £1000 in the price then i'd say that the OLED will still get a fair proportion of sales. The picture should look considerably better on the OLED and people will be bowled over by how thin it is. Other factors such as lower power consumption (in this green age we are living in), weight and ease of wall mounting could well tip the purchasing decision in favour of the OLED. Also, most people (unlike us on here ) tend to perhaps buy a new TV every 10 years or so and there is a strong feeling from those customers that they want to get as up to date technology as possible, given that they will not be upgrading for a while. Paying say £500-£1000 more in that case doesn't seem as bad.

I think that on here we often make the mistake of thinking that because people may not be enthusiasts, they are not really capable of making intelligent purchasing decisions and will always opt for the cheapest option. Whilst that is true of some, i'd say that a lot of people still put a great deal of thought into spending £1000 - £3000 on a new TV, whether enthusiasts or not.

I feel that OLED (unlike SED IMO) is a big enough step up in technology to sell, where as LCD & Plasma technologies seem to have almost caught up with SED already.

[Nielo TM]

Nice post

Other then then contrast ratio, I think the OLED’s biggest advantage is the color depth! No LCD can truly display 30bit (10bit per shade) due to the limitation of the design but they can simulate color depth of 30bit or more using dithering. So OLED would be the ideal choice for graphic designers and consumers.

Also, there are many types of OLEDs to comes, from transparent to flexible and I would love to see a full color transparent OLED.

[CAS FAN]

Originally Posted by Nielo TM

Nice post

Other then then contrast ratio, I think the OLED’s biggest advantage is the color depth! No LCD can truly display 30bit (10bit per shade) due to the limitation of the design but they can simulate color depth of 30bit or more using dithering. So OLED would be the ideal choice for graphic designers and consumers.

Also, there are many types of OLEDs to comes, from transparent to flexible and I would love to see a full color transparent OLED.

Indeed, there are many potential uses for flexible OLED's and something like that is a huge USP over the other technologies.

The colour depth is indeed outstanding and again referring back to the picture of the fruit and wine glass that is obvious to see. The picture looks basically real, just like looking out of a window and imagining films, video games etc. on a screen like that is a mouth watering proposition.

Transparent OLED's are a very interesting one and could produce something looking almost holographic!