TOKYO, April 12 - Sony Corp. said on Thursday it planned to start selling ultra-thin TVs using organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology this year, aiming to become the first to market with a TV using the promising next-generation display. Posted on 04/12/2007 9:55:36 AM PDT by LibWhacker
TOKYO, April 12 - Sony Corp. said on Thursday it planned to start selling ultra-thin TVs using organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology this year, aiming to become the first to market with a TV using the promising next-generation display.
Several companies are investing in OLED technology because it can produce bright, colourful images and does not require a backlight as do liquid crystal displays (LCDs), allowing for a thinner panel. OLED panels are also said to be energy-efficient and good at reproducing fast-moving images.
At a display forum in Tokyo, customers, suppliers and even rival TV makers turned their backs on 50-inch and bigger TVs to throng before Sony's tiny 11-inch OLED TVs.
"LCD and plasma displays look faded in comparison," said a Denso Corp. employee who declined to be named, fighting to take a picture of the new TVs.
OLED displays are already used in digital cameras, cellphones and other devices with relatively small panels. But cost and technology hurdles have so far prevented them from being mass produced for use in larger equipment such as TVs.
The OLED TV to be launched this year will be made by ST Liquid Crystal Display Corp., a joint venture between Sony and Toyota Industries Corp., Sony spokesman Daiichi Yamafuji said, declining to give unit targets or a likely price.
Sony has invested aggressively in LCD technology and is now the world's largest player in the LCD TV market. It makes big LCD panels in a joint venture with South Korea's Samsung Electronics
"It won't be easy for OLED TVs to replace LCD TVs, but we would like to turn OLED TVs into a big new business," Sony Executive Deputy President Katsumi Ihara said in a speech at the display forum.
The Nikkei business daily reported earlier that Sony would begin by mass-producing about 1,000 of the 11-inch OLED sets a month -- a fraction of its LCD TV business -- and would aim to keep their price within a few times that of existing flat TVs.
"OLED sets are very expensive, and we mean to begin first by marketing the TVs as a status symbol," said Sony's Kazuhiro Imai, a senior manager of the company's TV and Video business group. "We will see where the business goes from there."
Ihara said Sony slightly exceeded its target of selling 6 million LCD TVs in the business year ended last month, and reiterated a target to sell 10 million units this year.
Other companies investing in OLED displays include Seiko Epson Corp., Canon Inc., Samsung and a joint venture between Toshiba Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.
Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida said on Thursday the company hoped to make larger TV-use OLED panels at the joint venture, Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology Co., by 2009, taking aim at the $35 billion flat TV market, which is currently dominated by LCD and plasma display technology.
And all those people who recently dropped $10 grand on a 1080 high def are freaking out today.
We just got a Sony Brevia 1080 HD LCD and can’t imagine an even better picture. And like the early HD sets, the price of this new generation television will come down too.
How short is short?........
I’ve been waiting for this tech to hit for years. Sure I’d like a 50 inch TV, but if it weighs over a hundred pounds, its too much trouble. With OLED a 50 inch display might weigh 10 pounds. This stuff is approaching sci-fi levels of coolness. Printable, wearable displays.
You can catch E-coli from that organic stuff.
Ditto us, last October...it's only 32" due to small room size, but a depth of 3 1/2 inches and a weight of maybe 15 pounds are good enough for me.
‘Ya got me. Given the price and short display life, I think I’m going to be quite happy with our Sony 1080 HD LCD — at least for a while.
I've read about different advances in display life for OLED. I don't know what tech Sony is using. The truth is we won't know till this hits the market.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
HDTV Pingerootus...
I can’t get over how narrow in the back they are. It’s changing furniture building and decorating already.
Watching Planet Earth in HD is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
I bought one for my husband for Christmas. We continue to compare ours with others we see in stores. They don’t come close. We couldn’t be happier with ours.
Oh yeah....I’m thrilled to even watch the reruns.
We keep comparing ours too :-)
I think Consumers Digest gave the Brevia the highest marks for picture. Now we’re just hoping Direct TV comes through with their promise of broadcasting 100 shows in HD by the end of the year.
We’ve saved all the episodes so far and when my brother comes here with his laptop computer I’m going to see if he can help me transfer the episodes from the DVR to a DVD. (I think I’m using the right initials?!)
IIRC they have had problems with one color in particular - blue. When I last read a story on OLED’s they were working on extending the lifetime of blue. When they started it was around 1,000 hours, but they’ve gotten it up to around 20,000 hours.
If you leave your display on 24/7, that’s a little over 2 years and 3 months worth of lifetime. For most people it will be around 10 years or so.
If they keep that promise, we may just switch. Comcast is dragging its feet.
It'll never beat my forty year old B&W. And if it ain't broke, I don't fix it :)
OOh la la! I wonder how much?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.