OLED

Sony: CE spending still up despite economic uncertainty

SAN FRANCISCO--Though times may be tough for other TV manufacturers, Sony says it isn't feeling a thing yet in its electronics division here in the U.S.

At a press briefing with reporters here Wednesday evening, Sony Electronics President Stan Glasgow said that despite indications of a weakening U.S. economy, all is well with the Japanese electronics giant.

"I don't think consumers buying consumer electronics yet feel that," Glasgow said. "Sony did particularly well during the holidays. It was the best in the history of Sony Electronics in the U.S."

A boon … Read more

Why Americans don't buy DVD players that record

The recording DVD player. These have been popular in Europe and Asia but have fallen flat in the U.S. Most companies don't even bother to put much effort into marketing them in this country.

The same phenomenon will likely hold true for recording Blu-ray and HD DVD players.

Makato Ebata, CEO of the consumer business group at Hitachi, gave us an explanation in a recent interview. Cable TV penetration is far higher in the States than Asia or Europe. With cable, the same show can appear on a channel several times. In Europe and Japan, you need to … Read more

CES 2008 HDTV wrap-up

The whirlwind of CES 2008 is finally over, and now that we've had a few seconds to gather our thoughts, let's reflect on some of the major HDTV trends we observed at the show.

Thin is in

Flat-panels are popular for a reason, and part of it is people love thin screens. While plenty of people are satisfied with standard 6-inch-deep screens, HDTV companies are betting there's a market for ultrathin sets measured in millimeters rather than inches. The most impressive thin TV tech we saw was Pioneer's "Project Kuro" prototype plasma, which measures … Read more

Funky TV phones from Sanyo

Sanyo has these "Infobar 2" phones showing at their booth, in lots of funky colors. They are quite large (about 1.5"/40mm longer than a standard candy bar phone, and relatively thick), but have a nice rounded smooth shape to them and interesting texture finishes. The smooth keys make them a bit of a challenge to use, but the 2.6" OLED screen has a 16:9 ratio that is geared toward watching movies and TV. They come with a built-in digital TV tuner.

They also come with a docking stand that charges the phone … Read more

Manufacturing a challenge for OLED TVs, Sony confirms

LAS VEGAS--Why do the organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TVs from Sony measure only 11 inches across? Because large OLEDs are really tough to make.

While praising the OLED format during a press conference here with a few reporters at the Consumer Electronics Show on Monday morning, Sony executives acknowledged that producing large OLED screens in large quantities remains a work in progress. OLEDs now are mostly used in cell phones, which have small screens.

"The difficult challenge with the larger screen sizes is improving the yields. There are a lot of complications, many more than with LCD," said … Read more

Sony's challenge for 2008: Take on software companies

Sony has shored up the problems in its electronics, and will concentrate in 2008 on bringing more video content to its devices and improving its software, said CEO Sir Howard Stringer.

"We will see if we can enter the battle against the software companies. This is probably the year we need to demonstrate that," Stringer said during a meeting with reporters at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Monday morning.

One of the first examples of this strategy will be an expansion of the PlayStation Network. The network now is mostly used by gamers. Sony wants to … Read more

Is Sony stuck in neutral with OLED?

LAS VEGAS--Sony will bring its organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TVs to the U.S., but the company may be having a size problem.

The version of the TV coming to the states measures 11-inches across, the same size as the one the company currently sells in Japan. That's smaller than the average TV currently sold in the U.S. The TV, however, is only 3 millimeters thick, about the same thickness at three credit cards, Sony CEO Howard Stringer said at a press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show taking place here this week. It also has a 1 … Read more

Sony to introduce first OLED TV in U.S.

Although Sony introduced its 11-inch OLED HDTV in Japan already, the company's big splash announcement at the 2008 CES is that the model, dubbed XEL-1, is now available stateside, for the cool price of $2,500. While the relatively tiny, exorbitantly expensive HDTV itself won't attract many buyers, it represents an important milestone by shepherding in the latest flat-panel TV technology, which may eventually replace plasma and traditional LCD.

OLED, short for Organic Light Emitting Diode, promises better picture quality, smaller size (the XEL-1 measures just 3mm thick) and more efficient operation. Sony claims a contrast ratio of … Read more

LG goes small with latest plasma

It's not often--if ever--that a TV maker brags about a smaller model these days, unless it's talking about some type of new technology. Yet that's just what LG is doing this week in announcing what it calls "the world's only 32-inch plasma."

There are a lot of reasons for this, one of them being that this size is the fastest-growing segment in the industry primarily for price but also for the "second TV" market, as noted by Slippery Brick. And LG and other plasma makers are responding as much to competition as … Read more

HDTV's evolving alphabet soup: LED, OLED, LCD, DLP

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif.--So you've finally got your mitts on that 42-inch LCD TV you've been lusting after since last Christmas. Congratulations. The major television manufacturers would like to thank you for your business by finding ways to make your shiny new display look old and out of date very quickly.

It's nothing personal, of course. But such is the nature of a commoditized and maturing industry like high-definition televisions. There are more than 70 TV brands on retail shelves competing for your dollars and eyeballs, and the only way to differentiate themselves is to keep tweaking … Read more