All OLED TV Reviews

A recent Sony XEL-1 OLED TV review from the folks at Digital Journal TV. They give a good look at the Sony XEL-1 and discuss the pros and cons of OLED TV technology.

Well, after a few months of running this blog I’ve finally got a look at the Sony XEL-1 OLED TV. There are currently dozens of OLED TV reviews out there on the XEL-1 ranging from praise to criticism. (More on these later). This is my first opinion.

It all depends on how you look at it.  I visited the Sony Store at the Rideau Centre in Ottawa, Canada. The XEL-1 display model is set up on top of a Blu-ray DVD player which is playing a demo disk. The XEL-1 is secured to the wall with a very heavy looking cable and is surrounded by signs and a spec sheet.

You may wonder why I just don’t post some photos and be done with it. Unfortunately I hiked down to the store and my camera crapped out. “Card Error” was all it said. I’ll have to head back later and try again. (more…)

Although this won’t have a real effect on Sony OLED TV production until 2009, it’s an indication of where Sony is heading:

Sony has announced plans to invest approximately 22 billion yen (US$204 million) to strengthen its OLED panel production technology. With the investment, Sony intends to accelerate the shift to medium- to large-size OLED panels.

Sony began researching OLED technology in 1994, and has since positioned OLED as a future-generation display technology. In December 2007, Sony launched the world’s first OLED TV, “XEL-1″ in Japan.

In order to advance the shift towards medium- to large-size OLED panels, Sony has decided to invest towards the further development of production technologies starting from the second half of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2009. Sony will reinforce its TFT and EL (electroluminescent) layer coating processing facilities at Sony Mobile Display’s Higashiura factory, and plans to implement this production technology during the fiscal year ending March 31, 2010.

We’re looking forward to OLED TV reviews on the larger sized Sony OLED TV’s in 2009.

From Digitimes

This story helps confirm Sony’s earlier statement about OLED TV manufacturing being a challenge. From Digitimes.com

by Greg Wu

In order to expand the OLED TV market, Sony, which released the world’s first OLED TV last year, is looking for strategic partners to cooperate in the production and sales of OLED panels, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report.

The report also cited Taiwan-based Topology Research Institute (TRI) as saying shipments of OLED TVs will rise from nearly 4,000 units in 2007 to 3.75 million units in 2012. While Digitimes Research recently estimated that shipments of OLED TVs will grow from 2,000 units in 2007 to 18,000 units in 2008, while further shooting up to 50,000 units in 2009 and 120,000 units in 2010.

Click link above for the full story. OLED TV Reviews.

Here are some of the latest OLED TV clips from CES 2008.

First, the Sony OLED TV display:

Next, Sony’s introduction to OLED TV at CES 2008 along with an good interview with a Samsung spokesperson:

Now that the Sony XEL-1 OLED TV is available in the U.S. you think you could just tear over to SonyStyle.com and order one. Unfortunately not. You have to find your nearest SonyStyle retail store, check that the XEL-1 is in stock (probably not) and get over there quick. That is if you live anywhere near one. If like most of us you don’t have a store nearby, and can appreciate the rave OLED TV reviews why not bid on a brand new XEL-1 on eBay? The selection of XEL-1’s available below should change as more are added for sale. Check it out and let me know if you pick one up by leaving a comment below. Thanks.

Engadget has posted a video clip of the Sony 27″ OLED TV prototype on display at CES2008 in Las Vegas.