SED TV’s delayed again, OLED TV’s coming to US in 2008
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
First, the bad news: SED
Canon and Toshiba, the companies behind SED (Surface-conduction Electron-emitter Display) television technology that was first shown at the CEATEC 2006 show, are still having a wee bit of trouble.
What’s the big deal with SED?
It promises to offer HDTV’s with CRT quality in a thin package to compete with plasma and LCD TV’s but will offer better picture quality (according to Toshiba and Canon). Those that have seen SED TV’s in action have been impressed.
Why the delay?
A lawsuit, of course.
Nano-Proprietary had licensed technology to Canon related to SED TV’s, thing happened, and a bunch of lawyers got into a slap fight.
According to a story at Engadget, “Presumably, Canon is in no mood to strike a new licensing agreement with both Nano-Proprietary and Toshiba as required by a previous ruling which sided with Nano-Proprietary.”
Canon also has announced that they have stopped working on technology that would have helped reduce manufacturing costs of SED TV’s to that of plasmas and LCD’s.
A little more bad news: OLED & Toshiba
Toshiba, who was working on a 30-inch OLED TV, has shelved it citing manufacturing costs and delayed it through at least 2010.
Now, some good news: OLED & Sony
Sony is ramping up their mass production capabilities of OLED TV’s and they will be ready for limited sales in the US in 2008. They will be more expensive than current TV technologies, but the picture is supposed to be stunning and at just 3mm thick it would certainly give you bragging rights with your friends (if they care about that sort of thing).
[Via Engadget]
