All OLED TV Reviews

Despite all the buzz over OLED TVs and the amazing Sony XEL-1 OLED TV reviews over the last year, there are still no firm plans to launch larger screen sizes anytime soon.

Shinya Saeki, from Nikkei Electronics provides an overview of the prevailing OLED TV mood at CEATEC 2008.

“Sony Corp attracted many visitors to its booth last year because it announced the world’s first 11-inch OLED TV on the day before CEATEC. I remember thinking to myself, “The future of OLED TVs is bright.”

“Sony, of course, presented OLED TVs at this year’s CEATEC as well. The company exhibited a new 0.3mm slim OLED panel and an OLED TV that only measures 0.9mm at its slimmest part.

In spite of all this, Panasonic and other manufacturers aiming to commercialize OLED TVs did not have any OLED-related exhibits. And I heard many of the display engineers I met at the show say, “I don’t feel the same impact that I felt last year.” I suppose such an impression stemmed from their disappointment that they could not see any progress toward larger OLED TV products this year.”

Read more on the future of OLED TV at Tech-On

Some not so great comments on OLED TV technology from Panasonic at CEATEC 2008:

CHIBA, Japan–Already skeptical about the ability of OLED to uproot the TV technology dominance of plasma and LCD in the next few years, Panasonic cast even more doubt on the opening day of Ceatec 2008.

Speaking to a group of reporters, Panasonic AVC Networks President Toshihiro Sakamoto reiterated that OLED (organic light-emitting diode) TVs will not be made in sizes of 30 inches or greater for now, and it’s still not suitable for mass manufacturing. Currently, Panasonic does not have an OLED product on the market, but Sony does: it makes and 11-inch OLED TV, and is working on a 27-inch model.

Though Panasonic is working on making its own OLED set, Sakamoto said “we may have to redefine the market position of OLED.”

Full story at: cnet.com

Here’s a short video clip showing the Samsung OLED TV display at IFA 2008 in Berlin. Samsung has their 14″ and 31″ OLED TV models at the exhibition.

At the IFA 2008 exhibition in Berlin, Samsung has announced plans to release mid to large sized OLED TV’s starting in 2010.

At IFA, Samsung displayed two organic light emitting diode (OLED) screens – a 14.1-inch model and a 31-inch model, whereas its arch rival and LCD business partner Sony had the XEL-1 which will be the first OLED introduced to Europe and a 27-inch prototype which was introduced at the CES in Las Vegas earlier this year.

“Samsung will begin commercial production of mid- and large-sized OLED televisions around 2010. OLED is seen as a powerful contender for the future display market mainstream, given it is very high resolution, has a svelte profile and is extremely lightweight,” Samsung said in a statement.

“Electronics manufacturers have already begun exhibiting these next generation displays at major trade shows. However, Samsung is going a step further at IFA 2008, presenting the OLED as a finished TV product that features an elegant, optimised design. Samsung’s OLED TVs represent greater technology innovation and set a new standard for TV sophistication.”

Hopefully we’ll see some Samsung OLED TV reviews from IFA 2008 this week.

Full story at www.current.com.au

The much anticipated Samsung OLED TV will be launched at CES 2009 according to Young Joong Noh, developer of OLED parts at Samsung.

He claims the 14.1″ Samsung OLED TV will be a much better product than the Sony XEL-1 OLED TV as the Samsung model will be full HD and 120hz capable. The Sony OLED TV is standard definition.

“Noh also claimed the technology was well in place for the larger sized screens, like the 31inch OLED screen on display at the Samsung stand, but the amount of TVs that make it through production is too low, as the larger size means they contain too many defects.”

See the full story on Samsung’s OLED TV plans at techradar.com

OLED TV research and development recently received a big boost from the Japanese government. Sony, Sharp, Toshiba and other Japanese consumer electronics companies are to get government funding to help the development of big-screen OLED TVs.

¥700m /$6.6m will be available to the companies from NEDO, a Japanese government agency that funds the development of emerging technologies. The funding will be provided over the next five years to March 2013.

Full story at: reghardware.com

Despite the widely spread news of a Panasonic OLED TV last week, Matsushita has confirmed that 2011 is not a set date for release of a large OLED TV.

From Tech On

Some media sources reported June 24, 2008, that Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd are making final adjustments to start volume production of a 37-inch OLED TV in fiscal 2011.

Matsushita responded to our interview and commented on 14:00, June 24, on the news, saying, “We are currently advancing research and development in view of OLED production at IPS Alpha’s Himeji Plant for the future, but nothing specific has yet been decided on the commercialization of our OLED TV at the moment.”

According to some reports, Matsushita is planning to mass-produce OLED panels on the new lines to be installed and dedicated to OLED panel production at the Mobara and Himeji plants (which is slated to begin operating in January 2010) of its subsidiary IPS Alpha Technology Ltd and assemble them into TVs at its plants both inside and outside Japan.

It has been reported that Matsushita will take six 37-inch OLED panels from a sixth-generation glass substrate at Mobara Plant, while taking 10 panels from an eighth-generation glass substrate at Himeji Plant.

Matsushita feels that the era of the OLED TV is fast approaching. At its management policy meeting in January 2008, President Fumio Otsubo said, “Large OLED TVs will start replacing the existing TVs from about 2015, I expect.”

Good news from Korea. LG Display has launched an OLED TV and OLED Display production line:

“LG Display formally launched an organic light emitting diode (OLED) division at its Gumi plant in North Gyeongsang Province on Thursday.

OLED is touted as a driving force in the next-generation display field, and companies like Sony and Samsung Electronics have already entered the business. Because it does not require additional backlight, OLED panels can be made thinner than 1 millimeter.

LG Display will first focus on developing and producing small products but expand business to producing medium-sized to large televisions, the company said.

LG Display developed an active-matrix OLED (AMOLED) for a 20.1-inch television in 2004, and was the first in the world to produce a 4-inch flexible OLED in May 2007.”

From Digital Chosunilbo

Sony has responded to the claims of decreased longevity of its XEL-1 OLED TV. The XEL-1 recently received a number of negative OLED TV reviews after it was claimed it would only last around half the 30,000 hours stated by Sony before fading.

Practically speaking, this won’t have any effect on the average viewer as 30,000 hours will last you a good number of years.

Register Hardware has a reply from Sony on these findings. Read more at reghardware.co.uk

Dupont and Dainippon have announced a partnership to develop a new OLED manufacturing process.

From digitimes.com

“The companies also have signed an agreement relating to their intention to bring together the elements needed – materials, technology and equipment – to mass produce OLED displays, delivering higher performance at a lower cost.

“The flat panel display market is about US$100 billion annually and growing. DuPont is applying its science to make possible more vivid displays that are lower cost than current LCD displays,” said David B Miller, group vice president of DuPont Electronic & Communication Technologies.

The companies are developing integrated coating and printing equipment for the fabrication of OLED displays from solution, an approach which is unique in the industry and can significantly reduce manufacturing costs for OLED displays.

DuPont brings to the alliance its distinctive small molecule-based OLED solution materials and proprietary process technology from which excellent performance has been obtained in testing. Dainippon Screen has developed a unique printing technology, called nozzle printing, in which the OLED materials can be printed accurately at very high speed.”

This is good news and helps to balance out the bad news on the Sony XEL-1 lifetime issues.