OLED is here...seriously

[hitchface]

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9056478&source=rss_news10

Sony and Samsung are having at it with OLED TVs. Cool stuff.

[Lespaul20]

It's going to be a while before that's cost effective enough to compete with the current display technologies and there are some pretty big other disadvantages to it right now.

[hitchface]

Man, but it is still so cool!

[Lespaul20]

Yeah, it is. I see other uses better suited for it other than TVs. It can be printed so flexible displays has some real potential.

[Hi Ho]

I have been looking forward to OLED displays for a long time now and it's very nice to see them finally coming to market. $1,800 for Sonys' 11" screen is a bit much though. ;)

OLED has the potential to offer amazing picture quality with true blacks that trump just about every other technology in existance. If they can pull it off in a cost effective manner I'll be first in line. OLED also promises extrememely efficient and thin laptop screens.

[novie]

I saw one of those prototypes in person in the SonyStyle store bout 6 weeks ago and it was really a beauty, just still quite 'small', I still wish I had one sitting on my desk in front of me... If they're not careful they're going to make current HD obsolete before it's fully adopted :)

[Lespaul20]

As long as they can overcome the life and bring down the cost they have something worth pursuing. LED backlit LCD's seem to make quite a bit of difference compared to florescent backlit LCD's and are able have a 100% or more of the NTSC color gamut. 1080p is going to be around a while. Look how long it took to get where we are now.

[HAL9000]

Everyone brings up about flexible printed displays..... practical applications? I don't need to watch TV on my T-shirt.

[hitchface]

Makes for things more portable though. Folding or rolling laptop screens...there is a big one.

[Lespaul20]

Everyone brings up about flexible printed displays..... practical applications? I don't need to watch TV on my T-shirt.


That's why I said there are better uses other than TV. There are many devices and application that use displays. Flexible displays doesn't necessarily mean it needs to be folded and put in your pocket but I guess it can. How about curved displays? Or displays that can be stuck on something. And laptops, like Hitch said.

[HAL9000]

For a standard sized laptop, sure, a thinner screen would be the only advantage.. not overly huge... I don't see any advantage in a folding or rolling screen... now if you're talking palm sized item, maybe.... I don't see why anyone would want a curved display... although, I could see usage as a roll up screen to replace old projector screens.

[David M]

Hmmmm....we could all become walking billboards.

I had to laugh when the CEO of Sony said the price would not be pretty. Coming from Sony?....of course! :)

I wonder if they can overcome the 3 to 4 year expected lifespan?

[Lespaul20]

Roll up projectors is idea I've heard of. Surround display could be used instead of multi-monitor setup. Instead of flat display in car they could integrated into the dash more seamlessly. Not only for GPS but for gauges also. There tons of things that will have some sort of display in them. Just think how many things that have an LCD display in them that might have sounded stupid 15-20 years ago. Heck, we have a toothbrush that has it's own display now. How practical was that 15-20 years ago. That may not be a good example since I don't really see that as practical but it illustrates my point.

[David M]

Roll up projectors is idea I've heard of. Surround display could be used instead of multi-monitor setup. Instead of flat display in car they could integrated into the dash more seamlessly. Not only for GPS but for gauges also. There tons of things that will have some sort of display in them. Just think how many things that have an LCD display in them that might have sounded stupid 15-20 years ago. Heck, we have a toothbrush that has it's own display now. How practical was that 15-20 years ago. That may not be a good example since I don't really see that as practical but it illustrates my point.

I really like the idea of a high definition display that wraps around your entire horizontal field of view. How cool would that be for gaming?

[Nuclear Krusader]

Could this be the technology that finally dethrones CRTs on my desktop? We shall see in a few years.

[Lespaul20]

Could this be the technology that finally dethrones CRTs on my desktop? We shall see in a few years.


I'm pretty sure LCDs have done that already.

[Nuclear Krusader]

Not on my desktop. CRT all the way.

[Lespaul20]

What are you waiting for?

[Nuclear Krusader]

Why LCDs suck, let me count the ways:

-Crappy viewing angles. With my CRT I can position myself anywhere and the image remains the same. Sorry, I can't be always perfectly positioned in front of the monitor, sometimes I need to move to the side, or I want to move to the couch to watch a movie.

-Ghosting. Sure, sure, they have gotten better; not good enough yet. The only monitors that are suitable for gaming are TN panels and those are hardly 8-bit panels anymore.

-CRTs offer a full colour spectrum. No dull 6-bit panels trying to emulate 8-bit colour with sneaky and flaky technological workarounds.

-Horrible blacks. This goes without saying; this is the reason why I'm waiting for those LED panels.

-CRTs allow me to change and work on any resolution without loss of quality. With LCDs you're pretty much forced to run at one resolution only: the native for the panel. I still use many apps that run on resolutions all the way from 320x200 to 1280x1024. My preferred resolution: 1152x864.

-CRTs have superb text and picture definition. I can read 5 points fonts with ease, and I can do very detailed work with graphics/photo edition.

-LCD's market is a worse mess than the video cards'. Many types of panels, so many specifications to analyse, deal with, and decide from. And if that were not enough to give anyone a headache, one has to be doing all kinds of research because manufacturers are so bent on trying to make an underdog technology look good that they omit the specs that mar it in the eyes of the consumer. Just trying to find out whether a panel is 8-bit or 6-bit is a real pain.