[daikide]

I await for a glorious march OLED into 42 inch and beyond. But based on what we have today 11ich XEL and some other smaller and test displays out there... WHAT are the downsides of the current OLED technology?

I mean there should be already more or less viable base of XEL1 users... have they wrote any big complains about Burn in or how long the screens can last? Is it known from any companies what are the other serious challenges other than price right now.

I mean OK, sooner or later we will have 42 ich OLEDs. Let's just pretend I can afford the first generation and I'm buying it. Will it last say only 5 years or so? And how big chances will it have of getting a burn in, since I'm a gamer too... Or it's REALLY better to wait for the say 5th or 10th gen before buying... Like in Plasmas. In answering you should not think of the price, I'm interested just in the technological shortcomings of early OLED screens.

[andy1249]

The biggest issue with Oled at the moment is the radically different lifetime of the Red , Green and Blue materials that make up the screen.

Currently the difficulty is making a Blue material with a life expectancy that comes close to the lifetime of the other two materials.

See here ,

Howstuffworks

Obviously to make big screens , these figures need to improve dramatically , as at the moment , any large screen Oled is going to cost a lot of money and only last 2 -3 years before the picture integrity becomes severely degraded.

[daikide]

Originally Posted by andy1249

The biggest issue with Oled at the moment is the radically different lifetime of the Red , Green and Blue materials that make up the screen.

Currently the difficulty is making a Blue material with a life expectancy that comes close to the lifetime of the other two materials.

See here ,

Howstuffworks

Obviously to make big screens , these figures need to improve dramatically , as at the moment , any large screen Oled is going to cost a lot of money and only last 2 -3 years before the picture integrity becomes severely degraded.

2-3 years? WOOW! (0_0) Hmmm, maybe I just buy Panny Plasma... V10 or something... I knew about Green material thingy, but I did not knew it meant such a small lifetime. Besides I was hoping that this issue was fixed already...

[andy1249]

As you can see from the dates on the reports included with the above links , the issue is still current , however improvements are coming along at a good pace , this may have been slowed down by the current recession , but viable screens with a reasonable life expectancy should be available within five years or so ,

I wouldnt be a first adopter with this tech though , certainly not at the moment anyways.

[daikide]

Originally Posted by andy1249

As you can see from the dates on the reports included with the above links , the issue is still current , however improvements are coming along at a good pace , this may have been slowed down by the current recession , but viable screens with a reasonable life expectancy should be available within five years or so ,

I wouldnt be a first adopter with this tech though , certainly not at the moment anyways.

So you say 5 years... wow.. I really thought it was just around the corner, like 1-2 years... Well I guess you just told me I should buy Plasma...

May I ask, how do you think 42 ich Oleds will be price wise in say 2015? More or less same as Plasmas?

[andy1249]

If they start selling then yes , the price will freefall rather quickly. For that to happen though , they need to overtake the advancements in already entrenched technology such as LCD and plasma.

Getting people to move from CRT's was easy , as the jump up in size and quality was a no brainer for most people , however a TV is a big buy for most people and they will hold onto sets for 5-10 years , getting people to move from a current flatscreen of a certain resolution to an OLED of a certain resolution will be much much harder.

The benefits will be no where near as obvious to most people.

[dspratt]

There are some technical downsides, yes, especially the lifetime of the displays. But it is still a fascinating technology that has a long way to go and is definitely worth exploring in my opinion. I mean it is already working on a small scale, with things like the XEL-1 and the Sony Walkman X series. It certainly is the future of displays, but it will be years before viable models become available at competitive prices.

But give it time, I'm sure LCD wasn't invented nor became the market leader overnight. The advantages of OLED greatly outweight the disadventages, and of course any opposition from other technologies. I believe they are looking at it for lighting too. Imagine walls or windows that light up a room - or transparent displays. OLED is the new kid on the block and has a long way to go before being the new LCD but with companies pushing it as they are I can see it happening.

[daikide]

Originally Posted by andy1249

If they start selling then yes , the price will freefall rather quickly. For that to happen though , they need to overtake the advancements in already entrenched technology such as LCD and plasma.

Getting people to move from CRT's was easy , as the jump up in size and quality was a no brainer for most people , however a TV is a big buy for most people and they will hold onto sets for 5-10 years , getting people to move from a current flatscreen of a certain resolution to an OLED of a certain resolution will be much much harder.

The benefits will be no where near as obvious to most people.

Aha, I understand and agree. But also you mean that the difference will not be HUGE between say 42 inch Panny V10 and nice 40inch Sony Oled.. I saw XEL1 in Japan... but it was just too small, but well yes it had great picture... but 11 inch, lol...

I think you have convinced me now. I'm gonna get Panny Plasma...

[NicolasB]

Originally Posted by andy1249

Currently the difficulty is making a Blue material with a life expectancy that comes close to the lifetime of the other two materials.

That problem was solved quite some time ago: they simply stopped using blue OLEDs and switched to using white ones with a blue filter.

[andy1249]

That problem was solved quite some time ago: they simply stopped using blue OLEDs and switched to using white ones with a blue filter.

"Solved" it most definitely is not , good progress is being made but the lifetime is still quite short in comparison for the "blue" material no matter what method is used.

Link is here for materials progress reports , all quite recent ,

Howstuffworks

Quote from 25th may 2009 report

A few years ago, lifetime was the biggest issue with OLEDs, but it seems companies are showing very rapid advances. Dupont announced today that they developed new (third Generation) printable, solution process OLED materials.

The Green Gen3 material has over one million hours lifetime (that's over 100 years of constant use!) with 25 cd/A efficiency. The color coordinates are 0.26, 0.65.

The light-blue Gen 3 (color coordinates 0.14, 0.12) has 38,000 hours from 1000 cd/m2, efficiency of 6.0 cd/A, and a lifetime of 38,000 hours. A deeper blue (color coordinates 0.14, 0.08) was developed with 7,000 hours. Due to its deep blue color, the lifetime of this material at the luminance required for a 200 cd/m2 display is calculated to be approximately 41,000 hours.

The Gen-3 red has a lifetime of 62,000 hours, current efficiency of 13 cd/A, and color coordinates (0.68, 0.32).

Note that until all 3 materials exceed 100,000 hours , big screen TV's are considered non viable ..... whites will turn yellow within 2-3 years otherwise.

[NicolasB]

Originally Posted by andy1249

Note that until all 3 materials exceed 100,000 hours , big screen TV's are considered non viable ..... whites will turn yellow within 2-3 years otherwise.

Material lifespans are generally quoted as time till half brightness - and 100,000 hours is over 11 years, even assuming that you are watching 24 hours a day. If you watch only 4 hours a day then 100,000 hours is 66 years, which seems a little more than you'd need. Hardly any existing display has that kind of lifespan. It's only a couple of years ago that plasmas were typically rated with only about 30,000 hours until half brightness.

[siteguru]

Can't comment on the long-term viability of the technology, but ... I saw some LED TVs in Comet last weekend (don't worry, I wasn't buying - I was just letting the Mrs see what the various TVs looked like! ) ... anyway, these LED TVs were very thin, and the colour depth, contrast and visual reproduction was astounding!

[LV426]

Perhaps, but the LED TVs currently seen in stores are not OLED or FLCD sets. They are actually regular LCD sets with LED backlighting - something quite different. Manufacturers' labelling doesn't help make the distinction.

[rikkyreardon]

I bet thousands of people have actually bought these new LED TV's thinking they are the new big thing that everybody has been talking about (and so cheap) .... best not tell them they have just bought a souped up LCD.

[TVrepairman000]

Like another poster said the material used to make the red green and blue light just does not last long, blue being harder to make and needing more power to run.

Have a look at the current LED full colour display boards in Las Vegas and other areas where big moving display advertising is done and see when text / graphics scroll across if you can see anything in the back ground bet you can if you look, colour is not 100% even all over.

LED's suffer from a from of "burn in" just like CRT, as they get used they get hot and slowly change colour may take a a few years but it DOES happen very visible when solid orange is displayed.

Much like LCD if one LED is duff like one pixle on an LCD you can't do naff all about it and LED's do fail.

[eddgreen25]

Originally Posted by daikide

Aha, I understand and agree. But also you mean that the difference will not be HUGE between say 42 inch Panny V10 and nice 40inch Sony Oled.. I saw XEL1 in Japan... but it was just too small, but well yes it had great picture... but 11 inch, lol...

I think you have convinced me now. I'm gonna get Panny Plasma...

The XEL-1 is yes to small for home cinema
but ok for kitchens and bedroom viewing

[3point14]

How is the power consumption compared to LCD and plasma ?

[daikide]

Originally Posted by 3point14

How is the power consumption compared to LCD and plasma ?

It is significantly more efficient than Plasma or even LCD...

[l34052]

My samsung phone (i8910) has an oled screen and it never stops amazim me with its greatness, i absolutely cannot wait 'til the probs are all ironed out and affordable big screen oled tvs are available.

I realise i may be waitin a while but if the brains can actually make a tv as good as the screen on my phone then i am sooooooooo sold!!!