All OLED TV Reviews

According to Digitimes.com, LG is planning to enter the OLED TV business.

“In addition to investment in next-generation production lines, LG Display has also deployed into the development of AMOLED panels. Despite that AMOLED is mostly applied in small-size panels, LG Display said it would continue investing in the large-size segment, with volume production of 32-inch OLED TVs scheduled for 2011.”

This is good news as more competition can only help bring OLED TV prices to a reasonable level in a few years.

It looks like we’ll see some larger sized OLED TV reviews starting next year. Samsung announced yesterday that their AMOLED panels for medium and large sized applications will be mass produced by the end of 2009.

“Currently the biggest issue with mass-producing AMOLED panels is production costs, but Lee explained once a capacity of three million units can be achieved, economies of scale are reached and production costs become more manageable. Lee pointed out that Samsung SDI will achieve a production capacity of three million panels in 2009, up from a current capacity of 1.5 million panels. The company also expects to double its capacity again by the end of 2010.”

Check out the full story at Digitimes.com

Taking OLED TV development yet a step further, Sony has displayed an even thinner version of the XEL-1 at the Display 2008 show in Japan.

According to audioholics.com;

“The new display was recently shown off at the Display 2008 expo trade show in Japan, where Sony also debuted a new version of its $2500 11-inch XEL-1, the world’s first mass-produced OLED TV. In this unit, the display panel “glass” measures just 0.3mm thick, about 1/4 the thickness of the prior model. We’ll be terribly impressed when the pricing drops by about 1000% and sizes go up to 42-inches or more. Until then, it’s fun to watch and wait.”

A very interesting OLED TV survey has been completed by Displaybank. Their research “is intended to gauge the potential of large-size OLED displays upon the opportunity of Sony’s launching of 11-inch OLED TV XEL1″.

With 709 respondents from an expert panel, the results are pretty much as we would anitcipate regarding future predictions for larger sized OLED TVs.

“Displaybank reports results from its “Large-Size OLED Display Recognition Survey” that includes:

- 50% of the expert panel agreed that attractive price points of OLED TV can be achieved if within 50% of LCD TV prices.
- 60% of the expert panel forecasted 40″ OLED TVs to be available in the marketplace in 2010-2012.
- 37% of the expert panel stated that attractive price points of OLED-based notebook PCs can be achieved if within 20% of LCD-based notebook PCs.”

Full story at Displaybank

From the Personal Tech Column of the Washington Post, here’s a quick question and answer  item on OLED TV;

Washington, D.C.: This month’s Consumer Reports has a little blurb about a new OLED TV. It’s something like $2,500 for an 11-inch screen, but it’s 1/8″ thick (ignoring the substantial base on which it sits) and apparently offers spectacular quality.

As someone who still watches TV on a tube (!), I’m curious — how long till OLED technology is mainstream and affordability? I’m not currently in the market to replace our tube TV anyway, but now I’m wondering if OLED gives me an excuse to hold off even longer. Thanks!

Rob Pegoraro: Don’t hold your breath. OLED is going to take a long time to become as affordable as LCD and plasma, especially at the bigger screen sizes we’re seeing now. 40 inches is apparently now considered “small,” in relative terms.
I agree as it appears to be at least two years until a larger sized OLED TV is available at any reasonable price.

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.

On March 11th, GE made a major OLED TV related announcement that promises to radically reduce the price of OLED panel manufacturing:

NISKAYUNA — Officials at GE Global Research announced Tuesday that they have successfully demonstrated the world’s first “roll-to-roll manufactured organic light-emitting diode,” a key breakthrough into commercializing that technology into a substitute for General Electric Co. founder Thomas Edison’s most famous invention, the light bulb.

Anil Duggal, manager of GE’s Advanced Technology Program in Organic Electronics, said research team of about 30 scientists in Niskayuna over the last four years developed the roll-to-roll process that allows the organic light-emitting diodes, known as OLEDs, to be printed onto thin film sheets, almost like a newspaper.

Be sure to read the full story at dailygazette.com

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