oled tvs

OLED TVs are as much a tradition at the annual CES electronics conference as anything else: you see, you drool, you shake your head and remember that OLEDs are still several years away. But CES 2012 seems to have broken the curse: Samsung promised to release their 55-inch OLED "this year," and LG, according to a "respected Korean business daily," will release theirs in May, after a big to-do at the Cannes Film Festival. They've even got a price: 9 million Korean won, about $7,900 USD. That sounds like a ton for a TV, but remember that just a few years ago, an 11-inch OLED TV sold for $2,500--I'm actually impressed by the $7,900 number, if it's true. We'll keep you guys updated if we learn more. [via The Verge]

As the world's largest and most popular TV manufacturer, it's worth paying attention to the direction they take at the high end. This year, that high end is defined by their own 55-inch OLED TV, which it sounds like they intend to actually sell this year.

At the very first press conference of this year's CES, LG started things off by making my (pretty nice!) TV feel like the 32-inch CRT that's in my hotel room. There are precious few details about this guy, including when (or if) it will ever go on sale. But based on my limited time with the screen, crammed in with a hundred other people at the press event, I am very, very impressed.

Making consumer OLED screens hasn't been easy. Sure, pocketable gadgets like the upcoming Zune HD have had them for a couple years now, but so far Sony has been the only company to get a screen on the market with a size in the double digits.

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 body-image crisis for televisions

Think a flat-panel LCD or plasma set is slender? Think again. Its time to replace your 4-inch-thick porker with a new model measuring under a deuce.

Following on Hitachi, which introduced 1.5-inch panels in the fall, JVC is introducing its own waifs here at CES. JVC also gets down to 1.5 inches (at its skinniest part, bulging to 2.9 inches in the center). JVC launched two screen sizes: slim 42 and 46 inches (pricing not set).

Triming the sets involved some radical re-working of their innards, as we describe in an article from our upcoming February issue. But now that its been done, expect other companies to follow. (Actually, you can expect another announcement in a few hours.)