Samsung shows off state-of-the-art 40in OLED TV
Can't (yet) go any larger
Samsung has demo'd a 40in OLED full HD TV, but the company admitted that the screen is at the very limit of what it can manufacture today.
"This 40in TFT panel is the largest size that can be made on our pilot line, and it cannot be mass-produced right away," a company spokesman admitted, Japanese newspaper Nikkei reports.
"Our low temperature poly-Si TFT mass-production line cannot make panels larger than 31 inches," he added.
Samsung's 40in OLED
Photo courtesy Nikkei
Samsung's screen delivers a 1920 x 1080 resolution, has a contrast ratio of a million to one, sports a 200cd/m² brightness rating and can show more colours than the US TV standard, NTSC, defines.
It's also just 8.9mm thick.
Samsung has, in the past, committed itself to release 40in and 42in OLED panels in 2010, so it's got more than a year to perfect its production process.
Today's TV-centric OLED displays are rather smaller - most notably Sony's 11in XEL-1 - but manufacturers have set themselves the target of making a 40in model, presumably the size they feel is necessary to show the technology as a viable alternative to LCD and plasma TVs.
Panasonic has promised a 40in OLED panel by 2011, and in Juy this year, the Japanese government offered manufacturers like Panasonic, Sony, Sharp and Toshiba cash to fund the development of a 40in OLED TV - before rival Korean companies, Samsung in particular, get there first and dominate the market.
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COMMENTS
@TimM
"This does mean even a screensaver cannot be used, because that requires the OLED to be powered and eat into its lifespan."
You confused two things. OLEDs do have finite life time due to oxidation, and the way around it is by researching tighter membranes. OLED screens are powered off to extend battery life, because (opposite to LCD screens) OLED only draws power for lit pixels.
I am using AMOLED screen (Clix2), which is actual technology used for full-colour screens, more than a year now. Colours and contrast are absolutely briliant, no trace of fading, could be brighter though (it certainly does not have 200cd/m2, more like 20cd)
Re: Fading
No suppose about it. OLED does. Essentially OLED has a fairly short finite life. It's why many handheld devices using OLED resort to powering off the display frequently to keep the lifetime up. This does mean even a screensaver cannot be used, because that requires the OLED to be powered and eat into its lifespan.
But they may have improved this in big screen displays. I don't know.
Thing is though, LCDs also have a limited life in a way. The backlights will only last a few years before they can go. My Samsung LCD has hidden away a counter on the number of hours the light has been running. Presumably to ensure they can wriggle out of any warranty claims on it.
Had a Dell monitor backlight die a year after purchase, just out of warranty and Dell effectively said "bin it, buy a new one", and wouldn't even take money to repair it! Likewise my Acer laptop backlight died in just under 3 years.
Look in the small print on many LCD warranties and you may find the backlight is limited to a year, even if it's a 3 year warranty.
They should be easy to replace, but frequently they charge more than the LCD's worth to replace them. So if OLEDs can manage to outlast an LCD backlight, they're doing good.
@Charles
Urm... jeez... that was the joke. NTSC would struggle to display even 8 satisfactorily...
Over there for the humour bypass surgery... maybe I should have used the joke alert icon?!
Fading
OLEDs don't suffer from burn in, but supposedly they tend to fade with age - unless that's been solved now.
TFT?
"This 40in TFT panel is the...."
Thin Film Transistor? I would have thought they'd want to drop that acronym, as to me, its closely associated with LCD tech, something they would not want to peddle cool new OLED tech as - as if its just a new form of LCD, which it clearly isn't.
I'm not sure even if OLEDs require a thin film transistor arrangement, but I suppose they do.
Well I cant wait to see these babies in the shops too, imagine having the deepest blacks imaginable!
Even my new Samsung Series 6 TV, although very impressive, cant manage this. It made watching Blade Runner somewhat dissapointing cos its such a dark film, esp. towards the end.
Now OLED on the other hand better be totally black when I see one in person, seeing as all it has to do is switch OFF the pixel!
