After about a decade of research and occasional previews, Sony brought its OLED TV monitor to CES this week and announced the new technology product’s availability in a limited number of Sony stores in the United States by later this month.
The organic light emitting diode screen (model XEL-1) is a mere 3 cm thick, but only 11 inches in diameter. It carries a MSRP of about $2,500 to start with. Despite its relatively small size, the technology requires virtually no backlighting, and provides extremely bright, high-contrast imaging with vivid, subtle colorization. Its response time is also acute, according to Sony, which said it can handle the true black tones and has a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1.
OLED technology is based on electro-luminescent organic material which, among things, allows the extremely thin screen. Sony, as well as Toshiba and Samsung, are thought to be working on larger OLED screens for possible introduction later this year. Sony has had to delay shipments of its initial 11-inch OLED unit on a few occasions, as recently as early December (HD Notebook, Oct. 3, 2007).
