Topic: Well... saw the first OLED TV on sale

[scottws]

...and the 11-inch TV is $2,500!!!

I thought OLED was supposed to be much cheaper to manufacture than LCD and plasma?  I guess economies of scale haven't kicked in yet... plus it's Sony.

[idolminds]

Why even sell that? How many people are really going to buy an 11 inch TV now, let alone at that price?

[sirean_syan]

People with more money than they know what to do with. There are enough of them. Look at the early buyers of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD players.

[iPPi]

It's a brand new piece of technology that still needs to be improved.  If you followed some of the news, they are currently investigating on expanding the OLED technology and making larger TVs, but most companies still think LCDs can be used for another 3-5 years before OLED TVs become more mainstream.

[Xessive]

OLED sounds like an interesting new tech but besides the material what is the difference from LCD and Plasma? Is there a visible difference in the image quality?

[scottws]

As far as I understand, OLED is more similar to LCD than plasma, but it is better in almost every way:  cheaper to manufacture, much more energy efficient, brighter, have more vibrant color, doesn't suffer from the viewing angle problems LCD has, contrast ratio on the order of 1,000,000:1 since there is no backlight... black is black, have a faster response time, and are thinner.

It's a pretty impressive and exciting piece of technology.  It means a lot for the future of laptop and cell phone battery life, as the backlight of an LCD is a significant power draw.

The only downside is life.  The OLED elements can have a lifetime as short as 14,000 hours (compare to 60,000 hours for LCD).

[WindAndConfusion]

As far as I understand, OLED is more similar to LCD than plasma.

Isn't it the other way around? An LCD is just a fluorescent panel with a transparent layer on top, whereas both plasma and OLED displays consist of a grid of light-emitting cells. The only real difference between OLED and plasma is the composition of the cells.

[scottws]

You might be right about that.  I guess I was referring to it more in a general sense, like all the uses of LCD that OLED could fill like on cell phones or on laptops.

[Xessive]

The only downside is life.  The OLED elements can have a lifetime as short as 14,000 hours (compare to 60,000 hours for LCD).

So 2-3 years and you'll likely need to get a new one.

Remember the Optimus Maximus OLED keyboard that came out a year or two back? It's over $1800 USD!!

[scottws]

Well I was reading and it's the blue OLED element that has that short life.  But I guess there is something called PLED where experiments have indicated slightly over 60,000 hours or life for the blue element.

But then I saw something else where a lot of PLED manufacturers were pulling out of the technology for financial reasons, so who knows how far this stuff is off.

Just remember, white and blue LEDs didn't exist for a long, long time.  LCD used to have a ridiculously narrow field of view, and was monochrome.  With time, the technology will improve and they'll solve the few problems that OLEDs have.

Here's a cool clip that shows off a couple of OLEDs best tricks, namely the possibility of flexible screens and also the very thin design of the technology.

[Xessive]

That's neat! I love how slim the OLED TV's are too!

In the malls here they have these cylindrical screens playing ads. I don't think it's based on the same technology but the idea of a flexible screen is cool.

[WindAndConfusion]

Just remember, white and blue LEDs didn't exist for a long, long time.

I hate blue LEDs so fucking much.

[Antares]

That's just because when they finally became cheap everyone was like OMGBLUELIGHTSLETSPUTTHEMEVERYWHEREINEVERYTHINGALLOVERTHEPLACENOWOMGGG!!!!11

[WindAndConfusion]

Incorrect. They're still putting them everywhere, and they're still making them way too bright.

I was driving a friend's car a few weeks ago, and he had a radar detector mounted at the top of his windshield, where I couldn't possibly look away from it. It had a super-bright LED that stayed on even when the unit itself was off. Even worse, I was driving at night.

I ended up stopping the car and pulling the fuse out of the entire accessory circuit - disabling the radio, windows, climate controls, and, mercifully, the radar detector. (It also disabled the dashboard illumination. That kind of sucked.)

[Quemaqua]

I like blue.  It's... bluey.

[scottws]

I ended up stopping the car and pulling the fuse out of the entire accessory circuit - disabling the radio, windows, climate controls, and, mercifully, the radar detector. (It also disabled the dashboard illumination. That kind of sucked.)

Wouldn't it have been easier just to disconnect the radar detector's power cord, either from the unit itself, or the outlet?

[Cobra951]

I was wondering the same thing.

I hope this OLED thing works out eventually.  It seems like the perfect solution.  I don't care if they ever get the flex screens right.  Flat and rigid works fine for me.

[WindAndConfusion]

Wouldn't it have been easier just to disconnect the radar detector's power cord, either from the unit itself, or the outlet?

Non-detachable power lead soldered directly into the electrical system. No chance of disconnecting it without breaking something.

[scottws]

Non-detachable?  Who makes this piece of junk?  I know Escort detectors have detachable connectors.

Whatever, I guess it doesn't matter.  Yes, blue LEDs are bright.  But white LEDs are brighter.  I have a flashlight that has a single white LED and damn, it's pretty bright.