OLED TVs - The Next Step in Television Technology

Posted by: Zach Shedleski on October 14, 2010 at 3:11PM
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What Am I Buying Next? The OLED Moves to the Top of The List

It is the OLED TV, which stands for Organic Light Emitting Diodes, and it is more incredible than when the first flat panel made its way into mainstream living rooms. It works by setting a series of organic thin films between two conductors. Unlike LCD and Plasma televisions, this organic material does not need a backlight, they are capable of emitting their own. With major corporations - Sony, LG, Samsung (among others) - already having prototypes, as well as some in production, OLED televisions are not a glimpse into the far off future but rather what you'll be glimpsing at every night in your man-den.

My LCD TV is Fine - What's All the Fuss About the OLED?

Alright, so what's so great about OLED TVs? "Oh, another acronym I need to memorize and pretend to know about in social situations." Well, you don't have to do that, but it never hurts. Let's start with the basics. OLED TVs have faster refresh rates, better contrast and better color production. So basically your brand new LCD will look like Light Bright next to these things. As far as thickness goes, prototypes have ranged anywhere from 3mm to 0.3mm. Sounds like a typo. It's not. You read correctly, 3mm to 0.3mm. They are also safer for the environment, containing no harmful metals. So when the next mind-boggling leap in TV occurs, you can just chuck the thing into the garbage without the guilt you would normally have when secretly throwing out your old tube TV. Energy use is slashed too, due to the self-emitting light of the organic material. Last, but not least, rather,''' last and most incredibly ridiculous and unbelievable, OLEDs can be made flexible! Well they should be since they are so thin - right? But I'm not talking about some flexibility to avoid damage. I'm talking about a flexible screen that can be rolled up and put away like an embarrassing discolored towel you don't want people to see when they use your bathroom. OLED TVs are the next wave of a never ending tsunami of visual display advancements and I can't wait to get one.

Oh yeah, they can be made transparent too.

Why? - Why Not?

So why do we need a rollable, invisible super TV? I asked myself this and had to sleep on it. I woke up and ate some oatmeal, but still was aloof! But then, as I was throwing out half my oatmeal because oatmeal is gross, it came to me...
"BECAUSE IT'S A ROLLABLE, INVISIBLE SUPER TV!" Tell me that if you had one of these bad boys that you wouldn't show it off to everyone, even your hippy aunt who doesn't watch TV. Tell me that and I'll call you a liar. If (when) I get one of these, I'm going to have it rolled up in my pocket whenever I have company over.

"I thought we were going to watch the game! You don't even have a TV?!"
"Oh yeah, I forgot to put it up."
"Huh?"

Then I will pull it out of my pocket, hang it on the wall like a picture frame and casually sit down on the couch like nothing happened. All the while my friends with their ancient LCDs at home are bowing to my OLED TV like cavemen worshipping the sun. Super Bowl party at my house!

When Can I Get My OLED TV?

Right now there are a few available to the public, but at less than 15" and around 2,500 bucks I don't suggest jumping to it. There is a lot of big company jargon about larger OLEDs "ready for production" and that they are "really close" to being released, but delays and other factors have seemed to set the general availability of the regular sized TVs to sometime in 2012. So yes, I may have been a little dramatic stating that you should keep your LCD receipt. Have fun with it. I just wouldn't suggest buying another TV until you can roll it up and stick it in your pocket.

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Secondary Links: OLED-Info, Reviews, Sony