Q: What is OLED?
A: OLED, or organic light-emitting diode, is a display technology using man-made, carbon-based molecules that emit light when charged with electricity.
Q: How thick are OLEDs?
A: The latest prototypes are as thin as a credit card (0.3 millimeter), because OLED pixels produce their own light, with nothing behind the screen. LCDs need a fluorescent or LED lamp to illuminate the pixels, and plasmas need compartments of electrically charged gas.

A: Significantly. The light-emitting molecules glow in color rather than sending white light through a filter, as an LCD does, which limits brightness and color purity. And the molecules create deeper colors than the phosphor material used in plasmas.
Q: Why are OLEDs so efficient?
A: The screen itself lights up on demand. In LCDs, the backlight is turned on even when the screen is black; OLED pixels switch off to display black. And charging the molecules in an OLED requires less energy than ionizing gas in a plasma TV.
Q: Are OLEDs expensive?
A: Yes—for example, Sony’s 11-inch TV sells for $2,500—mainly because glass suitable for OLED displays is currently made only in small quantities. Building a large-capacity factory would cost about $3 billion.
Q: When can I buy a large OLED TV?
A: LG, Samsung, Sony and others may sell models of up to 50 inches as soon as 2012. First, they need new factories and an efficient method for applying the light-emitting molecules to large screens.


Five amazing, clean technologies that will set us free, in this month's energy-focused issue. Also: how to build a better bomb detector, the robotic toys that are raising your children, a human catapult, the world's smallest arcade, and much more.


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rockon cant wait till these tvs are cost effective enough to go around my home! lol!
http://www.microprojector5.co.uk - micro projectors ftw now though!
Not that far from Bradbury's vision in F451.
Square room, these for walls, Wii type remotes, online connection, and 360 multiplayer surround sound co-op first person zombie shooter = heaven on Earth. 3-D imaging, floor sensors to denote direction and virtual movement (rolling to the side, etc) and you would have to intsall a toilet, people would spend so much time in it.
I've seen the Sony XEL-1 11-inch OLED TV in person and Wow! The picture is the best I've ever seen. I have a 50-inch TV now that I really like, so I can wait (hopefully) a long time for OLEDs to become cost-competitive with LCDs and plasmas. The thinness aspect is nice but irrelevant. Picture quality is the most important thing.
Affordable OLED's are not as likely to hit the market as soon this article suggests.
First, the data on the Sony unit. This unit sells for $2,000.00 and lasts a grand total of 2,000 hours. the actual cost of the unit is reported to be about $4,000.00. This release was a "statement". BTW, Sony really knows very little about OLED's. The display itself is actually made by United Display -- a California corporation that has a plant in China.
OLED's are hard to make and the OLED molecules do not have more or less equivalent lifetimes or emissivity across R, G or B. Further, new data from a recent Nature Materials paper suggest that potential OLED efficiency is very much less than that suggested by previous theory.
This last fact goes along with experimental observation that the devices "were not behaving" as predicted in terms of electrical consumption.
Meh... who cares? It can't be that much better than lcd.
If it is as thin as a credit card it had better as flexible too. Anything that thin and wide will get bent at some time. If it can't be bent then it will need a rigid frame which will be a lot thicker. At the TV station where I work someone mounted a new 50 inch plasma display in a set. They didn't used an approved mount they just built a rigid frame around it. It cracked before ever being turned on because the set flexed slightly as it was moved.
I would like to see the technology proven first on laptops, cellphones, desktop monitors, before going to large screen TVs.
Two years ago Sanyo came out with the HD Xacti (Don't remember the exact model) video camera and it had an OLED. I don't know exactly why the reds were not very good on it. (Maybe it was the sensor on the camera that made the reds look awful).
The article states that the screen emits deeper colors than your standard LCD or plasma TV, which admittedly only display about 40% of what the human eye can detect, how much more color do they display?
Mitsubishi already has a TV out there that, while not as thin as LCD or plasma, is more energy efficient, displays more color(80% of what the human eye can detect), is already 3d ready, and does this all by the power of lasers.
Sure it's DLP, but it being more bright due to the lasers, allows it to overcome the "Screen door effect". the DLP also helps maintain picture quality during fast action sequences, unlike plasma.
As yet, the only reason I haven't bought one is due to the prohibitive cost.
Its cool that its as thin as a credit card but there are some things that could add a qaurter inch such as inputs where you plug in your xbox 360 and kick butt on halo.Then you would have to attach all the receivers just so you could turn up the volume from a remote and switch to dish or TIVO and what if you want to watch movies with a bluray dvd player.We might have the tecnology to make it but we dont have the technology to keep it thin with all those receivers.
I want one those Film like TV screens I seen on the TLC! Those TVS are so slim why aren't they out on the Market! YET!
I wonder if a multilayer OLED could be produced and programmed for 3D display...
Sorry to say but you sir Senfelone, must not have never watched a plasma. Because i have never experienced motion issues with plasmas, and had worked with them every day for 3 years before joining the military. I love how everyone tries to discredit plasmas by what they read and what this and that guy said. I have heard good things about the laser technology, but, if you walk into any magnolia store, they will tell you the best TV available right now, picture quality wise is the pioneer elite plasma, hands down. And if they do tell you different, i would ask for a different associate cause that person is worried about sales numbers.
I might buy one in a few years when the prices come down significantly. For now I'm fine with my LCD.
John
http://www.yourloan.ca
Is this really a good idea? Aren't these essentially screens of lasers that are literally capable of emitting wavelengths that are able to blind you?
Any experts on lasers, diodes, and fiber optics that might be able to comment on this?