OLED or OLED as it’s commonly known is often used in the everyday cell phone. But now for the first time we’re seeing it applied to TV technology giving it that thin, very sleek look. This is the case in point, it’s the Sony XEL1. This is the first organic LED TV, OLED TV from Sony. What makes it so great? It consumes no power, wala, unlike your traditional LCD or plasma. It also consumes as little as 35 watts while on, that’s less than a light bulb. The vivid picture is stunning and Dave let’s take a look at what makes this baby so special. The big benefits with this TV Dave, it has an incredibly wide viewing angle, vivid color, very bright. It comes, the XEL1, in an 11-inch screen, 16:9 aspect ratio, the wide screen.
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Sony OLED TV- Future of TV’s Technology, good? bad?
httpv://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=TwZ_POgH2Iw
What’s so amazing about this TV is the screen is actually three millimetres thin without the stand. It has a 1080 p signal so it’s high definition. It has two HDMI inputs, no component inputs but you can still get that high def signal. It also comes with a memory stick so you can view all of your photos and the menu navigation’s just like in the play station. The XEL1 sells for $2500 in North America. Organic LED TVs, Dave, I feel almost crazy saying this but this TV has perhaps the best picture I have ever seen in a television. That’s a big statement Chris. It is and the Sony brand, there are other manufacturers that are jumping in on this, just the technology is so incredible and that’s where we’re going for the future of television. Yeah it’s estimated that the OLED market is going to be reaching 4.5 billion by 2010 so that’s really just a sign that the future of home theatre is going to be OLED. And technology’s always moving forward. Everyone out there is probably hitting their heads saying oh my God something else I have to invest in.
There are some cons with this right now. The XEL1 only comes in an 11-inch screen, so how many people do you know are going to want to go and shell out for something that’s smaller than a laptop. And for $2500 it’s a big bruise on the walled and you can get a 50-inch LCD for that much thereabouts so it’s going to have to be an investment for those early adopters. And that’s something that we’ve looked at; this technology going forward. We want to take a look at how much Sony’s planning on spending and where the industry is actually going because we do think that this is going to one day replace LCD and plasma. Sony has taken some criticism for showing the same 11-inch prototype of their OLED screen at both the 2007 and 2008 Consumer Electronics Show. Sony’s really been focusing on what’s currently available.
However in the 2008 CES event they actually did show a 27-inch prototype so they are looking at making it bigger thankfully. And that means more money, more investment. Sony is investing $250 million into the technology so that you can really tell they’re taking it seriously. The other thing is we talked to Sony and they said they’re available, they currently can produce about 2000 units per month so at the 11-inch model I don’t think it’s going to fly off the shelves but you never know. As it gets bigger it’s something we’re seriously going to consider and seriously going to look at. This’ll be making headway at Super Bowl parties everywhere I imagine. But I have a feeling it’s going to be the Super Bowl party 2009-2010, nothing really happening in your friend’s basement or over at the corner store within the year. This is what’s to come and so we’re giving you a sneak peak of the future. And until the price comes down I probably would guess you might not be too interested but if you are available and have a Sony store or something near you go check it out because it is amazing.
“Hi, I’m Veronica Belmont [In Gadget] and Mahalo and we’re at the Sony booth at CES 2008 taking a look at a prototype of the OLED, the 27-inch model. Now they have 11-inch versions that are available at Sony style stores right now. It’s the width of three credit cards, about three millimetres thick, has a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and it doesn’t have a backlight. It looks really, really good but who knows when we’re going to see it. At CES 2008 I’m Veronica Belmont. What’s up, I’m Brian Tong with CNET at CES 2008 and you guys know you come to see us to see all the new goodies, the latest gadgets. Well here behind us at Samsung we’ve got a concept model. It’s their 31-inch OLED. Now it’s got a ridiculous contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1, it weights 40% less than LCD TVs because it’s so thin and you’re actually staring directly at the organic light-emitting diode so that’s why you see these things are super sexy and they’re going to be coming out some time around 2010 so we’re just going to have to wait until then.
I’m Brian Tong and once again it’s the concept OLED TV from Samsung coming out in 2010. Sony has developed a full color flexible display built onto a sheet of plastic that can be bent but still show video. The 2.5-inch screen which is one of the first of its type in the world has a resolution of 160 x 120 pixels making it a little larger than a typical cell phone screen with a little lower resolution. It’s a OLED, or organic light-emitting diode, display. In such displays the pixels emit their own light and so an additional source isn’t required as it is in a conventional LCD panel. That means the screens consume less power and can be made thinner. OLEDs also handle [inaudible] images while they offer good color reproduction. Building the screen on flexible plastic instead of glass introduces some problems such as keeping the various layers inside the screen aligned and working while the panel is flexed. Look closely and you’ll see some glitches on the screen but it’s still a work-in-progress. Sony sees OLED technology as important for its future products.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January Sony showed off prototype TVs based on larger non-flexible 11-inch and 27-inch OLED panels. Thanks to the lack of a backlight the 11-inch prototype was just 11 millimeters thick but displayed a vibrant colourful image. Sony plans to have its first OLED TVs on sale in Japan this year. In Tokyo this is Martin Williams IDT News service. At this year’s CES you’ll see and hear much about OLED technology. Sharp recognizes OLED technology and we are exploring our options for the future in that area. However, there are two major reasons why OLED will not replace LCD any time soon. First, the product lifetime of the OLED TV is approximately three to four years and we believe it needs to be at least 10 years in order for it to be used as a TV. Second, it is also difficult to mass-produce OLED in the larger sizes consumers are demanding for their homes. Until these challenges are overcome we will refrain from introducing a commercial OLED product.