LG remained constant in their performance in terms of winning awards at the major consumer electronics shows as it won nine awards at the CES this year as well. Among many awards such as the IMS Research TV Innovation Award, Popular Mechanics Editors’ Choice Award and a series of HD Guru Awards, what stands out is the Best HDTV Award, presented to LG by CNET. The LG 55EM9600 OLED HDTV is the one that made LG proud in most of the departments, and CNET added the adjectives “exciting”, “innovative” and “promising” to express their enthusiasm regarding the OLED TV. Everyone who saw the TV in action is awaiting its release, which LG promises is going to be soon. The price though unannounced, will be interesting to take note of as OLED TVs have always had the reputation of a high price tag.
While Samsung and LG were busy displaying their OLED HDTVs, Sony had something else up its sleeves for the CES 2012. This new ace in Sony’s hand is being called Crystal LED technology and according to them, it’s better than even OLED technology. It was expected that Sony would come up with something to compete with the upcoming OLED TVs as the Japanese giant has forsaken OLED technology for HDTV manufacturing for quite a while now.
What is even more interesting is the fact that these Crystal LED lights are going to be arranged according to a totally new engineering plan. They are not going to be used for backlighting as LEDs are used nowadays; instead, the Crystal LED lights are going to be fixed right in front of the TV panel. There are going to be roughly six million blue, green and red LED lights used in the Crystal LED TVs when they come out later this year. However, Sony’s claims that they will be better than OLED TVs are not quite supported by neutral parties. Some of the experts were even of the opinion that though Crystal LED is impressive, OLED seemed a little better.
We will hold off our opinions till we are able to see and compare the finished products side by side when they are available. This technology has one advantage over OLED and that is the cost of production. According to Sony, They will be easier and cheaper to produce and thus a more acceptable price tag will be possible for the company to place on the final shipments. Although The Crystal LED TVs might not have convinced everybody about their performance being better than OLED TVs, rest assured that these LED TVs will offer ten times the refresh rates that most Sony TVs of the contemporary times are able to offer. The executives representing Sony were also quite confident that the new technology will allow the viewer to experience wider color gamut, wider viewing angles, better in-light visibility and astoundingly clear contrast level improvements over all current gen plasma and LCD TVs. It will have to wait a while before we can get hold of one of the models and test them out.
It seems like the much awaited next-gen OLED TVs are finally going to be on display in January at the CES in 2012, at least by the two Korean giants LG and Samsung. What is even more exciting to know is that the same technology might also be incorporated into Apple’s upcoming TVs. Although the Organic Light-emitting Diode or OLED technology is highly appreciated for its low power consumption and awesome black levels, it has so far been in use for high end touch screen mobile devices only. There were a few OLED TVs released a few years ago, but they did not make it big due to two main problems. The first was the production cost which made the final product a bit too expensive and the second was the difficulties that were associated with producing larger flat panel versions based on OLED technology. Now, with the news of Samsung and LG showcasing 55-inch OLED television sets at the CES in January and launching them by the time of the next Olympic in London, England; we can safely assume that they have sorted out the second problem at least. However, what we are not sure of is whether or not these new OLED TVs will be any more affordable for the general population than the first generation OLED TVs were.
There have recently been reports from Japan that Apple has plans to release their much awaited television sets in three sizes primarily. The smallest being a 32″ flat panel, followed by a 42″ or 43″ model and finally the largest one, which is a 55″ model. The question that popped into everyone’s mind was why Japan is involved here? The answer to this, as far as rumors go is that Apple is probably going to tie up with one of the Japanese TV giants in their debut venture into the world of television manufacturing. Whether it is going to be Sony, Panasonic or Toshiba, we are not aware of at this time. Another source reports that the famed Siri application which is now used by the iPhone 4S, is going to be used in these new TV sets, enabling them to be voice controlled as well. What is expected by everyone in the upcoming Apple TV is the use of the ARM A6 chip (successor to the A4 chips used now in iPhones and iPads). This of course will raise the bar for other companies and once again, rumor has it Korean giants like Samsung and LG are also getting ready for the competition with ARM powered OLED TVs of their own.
After the mind boggling Mind Control TV prototype, Haier has brought another unusual television set to the IFA this year. This time, they have displayed the organic transparent TV which has a 22″ OLED panel and displays media at a resolution of 1680×1050. The display is ultra-slim and its bezel is made out of polished metal. Based on what is seen so far, the quality seemed remarkably sharp on its 22″ OLED screen, but the color reproduction was a little below expectation. What is unique and quite beautiful about the TV set is the fact that the media displayed on it was actually transparent (translucent to be appropriate really!). Also, you could see the same image if you go behind the TV because it was displaying the same image with equal clarity on its backside as well. This however, is just a prototype like the Brain Wave TV shown earlier by Haier and thus there is no word on when it will be made available for the consumers.
With 2012 on the horizon, major manufacturers like LG are all geared up to bring the OLED TVs to their consumers. However, the question is that are they so expensive to manufacture that the end price might deter consumers from opting for them? According to Paul Peng (AUO vice president), the technology and capacity currently associated with the production of big OLED panels are indeed at the moment, making it hard to decrease their cost. Improvements in pricing and production are expected by Peng to reach some sort of a standard in and around 2014. Whatever the situation is at this time, LG Display is expected to produce around 30,000 OLED TV panels per month for their 55″ television sets in the latter half of 2012.
David Su, the chairman of Lextar Electronics, estimated that the OLED TVs will in all probability be quite costly indeed. According to him, the cost of the OLED TVs, when they come out could be so hefty that they may not turn the attention of the customers toward them right away. However, as is the case with new technology, it is expected that OLED TVs will find their ground as well if the manufacturers are willing to invest and wait. In the meanwhile, check out the fabulous LED and plasma TVs like the LG LW6500, Panasonic TC-PGT30, Sony XBR-HX929 and plenty of other models that are at the top of the list right now.
