Sony XEL-1 OLED-TV
In December 2007 Sony started to sell the first OLED TV, the
XEL-1, which is actually more of a technology prototype than a commercial set. The XEL-1 is a small television (11"),
expensive (around 2,500$) and Sony only makes it in small quantities (and have
recently announced it will cease production of it altogether in Japan). But the picture quality, colors and contrast are amazing, and the whole TV is just 3mm thick!
Sony XEL-1 OLED TV
Samsung OLED TVs
In June 2009
Samsung has revealed two new OLED TV Panels,
14.1" and 31". They are both "ready for production", and we can assume Samsung will start to produce them yet.
Samsung 31-inch OLED HDTV LG OLED TV
LG have unveiled their
first OLED TV, the Object 15". It has a 1366 x 768 resolution, contrast ratio of 100,000:1 and it's only only 1.7mm thick. It is on sale now in Korea (for around $2600), and will arrive in Europe in May 2010 (
and will cost 1999 euro). Hopefully it'll be sold in the US too, soon.
The future of OLED Televisions
Several companies already have large-sized OLED TV prototypes. Samsung has shown a beautiful
40" HDTV OLED, and Panasonic has a
37" display of their own.
LG display has revealed their OLED TV roadmap: 15" displays in 2009, 20" in 2010, 30" in 2011 and 40" or larger panels in 2012. The 40" panels in 2012 will be "fairly expensive"... LG says that in 2012, OLEDs will cost about 50% more than LCDs, and by 2016, OLEDs will cost 20%-30% less than LCDs.
Currently the companies are trying to keep the costs down, and also there is a problem of lifetime - OLED displays go 'dim' faster than Plasma or LCD ones - but this aspect is advancing rapidly.
OLEDs are great as 3D Displays, and at least two companies (Sony and Samsung) have shown prototypes of such sets.
15-inch OLED TV prototype (LG) It might take a few years yet until OLED TVs become competitive with LCD or Plasma displays. Several companies have plans for OLED Televisions in the near future:
Sony 27-inch OLED prototype Other companies such as CMEL and Sanyo have active OLED research, but haven't yet revealed commercial plans.
Samsung 40 HD-AMOLED TV Prototype
25-inch OLED prototype by CMEL A little bit about the technology
OLEDs are made by placing a series of organic thin films between two conductors. When electrical current is applied, a bright light is emitted. The OLED materials emit light and do not require a backlight (unlike LCDs). In fact OLED TVs are better than LCDs in many ways:
- OLED TVs have Faster refresh rate, better contrast and better color reproduction.
- OLED TVs are really thin - the Sony XEL-1 for example is just 3mm thick. The new prototypes by Sony are merely 0.3mm thick!
- OLEDs have a much better viewing angle - almost 180 degrees.
- Better for the environment - they draw less power, and contain no bad metals.
- OLEDs can actually be made flexible or transparent. Imaging a foldable large OLED TV that takes no space when not used...
Rollable OLED televisions?
Like we said before, OLEDs can be made flexible, or transparent. In the future we might see an OLED displays that is actually rollable. So maybe you could just roll it when you want to watch some TV, and then remove it when not needed.
Or perhaps the OLEDs will be so thin and transparent that they will just be invisible when not in use - you'll just see the bare wall, but when lit up, it'll display your TV picture.
Samsung flexible OLED This future technology is already being worked on, but it will obviously take some time before we could buy such TV sets...