What is an OLED TV?
An OLED TV screen is a TV which uses a new display high technology called OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diodes). OLED technology presents a brighter screen, more efficient, thinner and feature better refresh rates and contrast than either LCD or Plasma.
OLED Technology
OLEDs are perfectly designed by placing thin films of organic (carbon based) materials 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). Each pixel is a small light-emitting diode, in fact. OLED TV panels offers several advantages over LCDs:
- Faster refresh rate, better contrast and better color reproduction
- Thickness: the LG's EL9500 for example is just 1.7mm thick. We've seen prototypes of OLED televisions that are merely 0.3mm thick!
- Better viewing angle - almost 180 degrees
- Greener: OLEDs draw less power, and contain no bad metals
- OLED panels can potentially be made flexible and/or transparent.
LG's 55" OLED TV
LG officially announced their first real OLED TV, the 55" 55EM9600, in December 2011. This is a Full-HD panel that features 100,000,000:1 contrast ratio and fast response time (1,000 times faster than LCD according to LG). The panel is only 4mm thick, and the whole TV weighs just 7.5Kg.
The TV is based on LG Display's Oxide-TFT white-OLED with color filters (RGBW, more on this below) OLED panel. We do not know the release date or price yet (although DisplaySearch estimates that it will cost $8,000 and be released in 3Q 2012). The 55EM9600 will be officially unveiled at CES 2012 and is expected to ship by July 2012.
Sony 11" XEL-1 OLED TV
Sony was the pioneer of OLED TV by launching Sony's XEL-1 back in December 2007. The XEL-1 was actually more of a technology prototype than a commercial set - it's a small TV (11"). This TV was expensive (around 2,500$) and was only produced in small quantities. It has great picture quality, colors and contrast.
LG's first OLED TV was actually the 15" EL9500 15". Like Sony's XEL-1, this was more of a technology demonstration, as the price was very high for a 15" display (around $2600 in Korea and €1,999 in Europe). The EL9500 features 1366 x 768 resolution,a contrast ratio of 100,000:1 and it's only 1.7mm thick.
True-OLED vs WOLED-CF
The basic OLED TV design (called a "True-OLED" TV) uses 3 color OLED sub-pixels (Red, Green and Blue) to create each 'pixel'. But some companies are using a different archicture, called WOLED-CF which uses four white OLED subpixels with color filters on top (RBG and W). This is also called a RGBW design.
OLED TV prototype
Kodak developed the WOLED-CF technology and it should make the OLED panel easier to make. However it will also be less efficient. LG Display's OLED TVs which will be released in 2012 will be based on this design.
OLED TV in 2012
These TVs are amazing, but the price will be high as high as their technology. They will only be produced in small quantities (tens of thousands of units per month).
Hopefully the market reaction to these new premium TVs will be good, and both Samsung and LG will start to mass produce these TVs - which will bring the cost down dramatically. This is expected to happen during 2013-2014. Other companies (such as Toshiba, Panasonic and Sony) are expected to start producing OLED TVs too in the coming years.
LG has officially announced a 55" OLED TV and it is expected to launch at around July 2012. Sony is currently focused on professional OLED monitors (such as the $30,000 25" BVM-E250), and has no plans to start producing consumer TVs.
Officially, Panasonic does not have plans yet, but it is reportedly building a pilot 8.5-Gen OLED plant for R&D purposes.
AU Optronics have also shown some OLED TV prototypes, the latest being a 32" Oxide-TFT panel.
While DuPont don’t want to be left in this competition, they announced that a leading OLED maker has licensed their nozzle-printing technology in an effort to make cheaper, printable OLED TV panels.
Be ready for sophisticated gadgets era. Gadget your life.
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