OLED - New HDTV display technology

**MidniteArrow** · 05-09-2002

I'm just now reading up on the next display technology: OLED. It stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode (or Display). It looks like this might be the next generation HDTV display and will soon replace plasma, but I'm having trouble finding info on it online.

What I've come across so far:

The display is high resolution - minimum resolutions will be 1280x1024.
The display is ultra thin - units will be about 2" thick. The thinnest plasma on the market is 2.25" thick.
The display is extremely light weight - a 60" screen will only weight 50-70 lbs - current plasmas of that size would weight around 150 lbs.
The display emits no heat.
And the kicker: The display will be low cost. Some reports predict that a 50" screen will cost around $2000 - and will support the full HDTV resolutions of 1920x1080 (I'm assuming progressive).
The first sets should be out at the start of 2003.

I must admit that my sources on this info are very sketchy and I have absolutely no faith in this data. Personally, it sounds too good to be true to me. Does anyone out there know more about this technology?

**Radar** · 05-09-2002

The cost factor sounds far fetched to me...they'll keep the price high at first and then artificially keep the price elevated because of all the size and weight advantages...

sorry, I have no further information on this tv...

**MidniteArrow** · 05-09-2002

I both agree and disagree with this. My disagreement lies in something I've believed for a long time about making profit by selling items: the money is in units shipped, not profit per unit. The manufacturers will make more money if they sell the unit for lower cost.

Let's say for arguement that a 60" screen will cost them $1500 to make. Currently, if they try to sell them for $8000, they will pretty much get all the 50"+ plasma business. I don't have real numbers here, so I'm making stuff up - but it makes sense to me. For arguments sake, let us assume that at that price, they will sell 1000 units in the first month. That's $6500 profit per unit, or $6,500,000 total profit. Now let us compare with the profit if they charge $2000 per unit. The profit would only be $500 per unit. In order to match the total profit, they would have to sell 13,000 units. In other words, if for every 1 person that would buy the unit for $8000 there were 13 persons that would buy the unit for $2000, then they have lost no proft (until you consider market saturation issues). I personally would expect this ratio to be MUCH larger - as in more like 50 - 1 for the ratio of persons that would pay $2000 as opposed to $8000 for the unit.

You make more profit if you earn $1 10,000,000 times than if you make $1000 100 times - and they will get many,many,many more sales on a $2000 unit. I'm not saying that this price is doable, just that it would result in higher profit if it is doable.

**MidniteArrow** · 05-09-2002

One more thing: I have recently read somewhere that this OLED technology was demonstrated at a resolution near (from memory - not exact) 2500x1500 on a 120" screen (I do however remember the 120" exactly). Additionally, Philips reportedly has a new manufacturing technology for OLED screens that allows them to "print" them using a form of "ink jet" technology. Again, these sources are extremely unreliable and none of this has been verified.

The big names seem to be Kodak, Samsung, Philips, and DuPont. There's another company out there called eMagin, but I think they are not getting into the large screen aspects but focusing more on miniature displays such as headsets, PDA displays, camera displays, .... Sony reported showed a 13" display of this technology at the 2001 SID conference

**DrUnKtAnK** · 05-09-2002

Interesting MidniteArrow, keep us posted

**MidniteArrow** · 05-09-2002

Heh - that's the understatement of the year. If this all pans out to be true, I'm replacing all the drywall in my house with OLED panels. Talk about wall art!

**Radar** · 05-09-2002

Here's some old links on the technology...

Tech TV

CNN

How Stuff Works

**DrUnKtAnK** · 05-09-2002

Originally posted by MidniteArrow
Heh - that's the understatement of the year. If this all pans out to be true, I'm replacing all the drywall in my house with OLED panels. Talk about wall art!

That would be damn sweet

**DrUnKtAnK** · 05-09-2002

Thanks Radar, I'll take a look at those links. All my t.v.'s are always on TECHtv, I must of missed the fresh gear episode....

**Hermes** · 05-09-2002

Have you seen that pioneer car stereo with the swimming dolphin/ stonehenge / otherstuff display. I think that that is an OLED display.

**Spaztic** · 05-09-2002

and this is why I haven't forked over 2500 on a new hdtv....they will be gone faster then they came!

**Brevity** · 05-09-2002

When is this coming out?

**DZNUTZ** · 05-09-2002

i would be ****SSSED if i just ( and it what i was planning on) plopped down 3gz on a hdtv and this chit came out around 2gz.

i want that ish NOW!

**l Maximus l** · 05-09-2002

I am extremely happy that I recently bought my 50" Toshiba Widescreen HDTV. I have never played games and enjoyed them to the same level as I am right now! Even if something better does come out (which ALWAYS happens anyway), I will be very content with my current set-up. I love my HDTV!!

I'll never go back to a regular tube again.... In fact, it's really wierd to play on a tube now! No joke! I played on a 27" tube that had the standard composite cables (no S-Video) and Halo looked HORRIBLE! Seriously! I couldn't believe that I actually enjoyed this game while on a tube!

Playing on an HDTV is amazing. This new technology will be obsolete because something better always comes out.

On a side note, did you guys know that the first color TV was only a 9" TV and costed $2000 when it became available back in the day?!?!? That's about how much these new big screen plasma TVs cost now if you consider inflation and price comparison! Now we can buy 9" TVs for $75!!

**Hugh_Jass** · 05-09-2002

I remember the TechTV coverage of CES when they showed this display on a cell phone. It looked REALLY nice. I can only imagine how it looked in person.

**LynxFX** · 05-09-2002

Very cool stuff. I'm planning on replacing my direct view tv with an HDTV of some sort in the next year that I can use for regular tv viewing, OTA HDTV and gaming. Hopefully this technology isn't far off to becoming a consumer product.

**MidniteArrow** · 05-09-2002

I appreciate you all giving me feedback on how cool this info is... I was kind of hoping "some" of you could feed me some info that I didn't already have!

I thirst for OLED knowledge! Feed ME!

**LynxFX** · 05-09-2002

I would but this is the first I ever heard of it.

There were other technologies being developed and promised to blow Plasma or HDTV away and come at a great pricepoint but none every emerged.

I'm still waiting for those screens that you can roll up an put in your pocket.

**MidniteArrow** · 05-09-2002

Lynxfx, about those roll up screens....

They make several flavors of OLED screens. Some are high definition.... some are transparent.... and some are flexible. This is the technology that is to be used to make the roll-up screens. I even saw a conceptual image of a PDA on one website that was a pen that pulled out into a screen (someone's been watching "Earth: Final Conflict" on the way to their brainstorming meetings).