Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Samsung takes on Sony's new OLED TV release

With just about a month to go until Sony puts the world's first OLED (organic light emitting diode) television on sale, two rival display makers took the wraps off their latest OLED TV panel prototypes at an exhibition in Japan the previous week. OLED technology is being fiercely developed by many panel makers because it offers a brighter, more vivid picture than today's LCD panels. And because OLED pixels emit their own light a backlight isn't required, meaning OLED TVs use less power and are also much thinner - the Sony set is just 3mm thick. Samsung Electronics was showing three prototype TVs based on 14in OLED panels. That's larger than the 11in screens that are in the new Sony TVs but a close look at the Samsung panels revealed some imperfections. In each of the three prototypes on display were pixels locked to a single colour.

The problems stem from difficulties that remain in the manufacturing stage, said a Samsung representative on the company's stand at the FPD Expo in Yokohama. Samsung is one of the world's largest manufacturers of LCD panels and the OLED screens on display were designed to be manufactured using an existing TFT LCD production process. That presents some hurdles now but could mean big cost savings in the future because Samsung won't have to invest in a new factory to make the screens.

No comments: