Canon to produce ultra-thin SED TV sets in 2008

Published on October 3rd, 2006

Canon Inc. said on Tuesday it will start mass production of ultra-thin energy-conserving TVs in early 2008, defying predictions that steep price falls in flat-screen TVs would make it tough to roll out the new technology.

In 2004, Canon and Toshiba Corp. set up a joint venture to produce surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED) panels, which are thinner and consume less energy than liquid crystal display (LCD) and plasma display panels, the main technologies used for flat panel TVs.

But steep price falls in existing flat TVs had cast doubt on SED TVs’ commercial feasibility as a newcomer in the competitive flat TV market.

Analysts have been concerned that incessant price erosion in existing flat TVs and ballooning output capacity for LCD and plasma panels, which helps TV makers cut per-unit costs, might dim the chances of SED TVs’ commercial success.

These critters certainly are thin. I hope they make it to the street without busting the companies. Energy savings never harmed a sale.

They’re reputed to have the strong colors and wide viewing angle of CRT TV sets.

20 users responded in " Canon to produce ultra-thin SED TV sets in 2008 "

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# 1 SN said, on October 3rd, 2006 at 12:36 pm

From what I’ve read, it’s still susceptible to burn-in. So it’s a no-go as far as I’m concerned.

# 2 t. rex said, on October 3rd, 2006 at 12:39 pm

had a chance to see the prototype at ces 06. easily the best display at the show.

# 3 Improbus said, on October 3rd, 2006 at 1:14 pm

I am in no big hurry to get on the HD bandwagon. I can wait for 2008.

# 4 Smartalix said, on October 3rd, 2006 at 1:28 pm

The demo I saw at CES was in a dark room, it’s very easy to make a display look good if you can control the ambient.

This tech shows promise, but they’d better get it ouit soon or the customer won’t even notice its arrival in the crowd of competition.

# 5 GregA said, on October 3rd, 2006 at 1:47 pm

Wow, HDTV, talk about your DOA technologies. How many years has the industry been pimping it? And standard definition televisions still outsell HDTV’s 20 to 1? They can’t even claim lack of media anymore for the near total failure of this dog technology.

Let it go TV industry, we don’t want your Digital Restrictions Management crappola.

# 6 dkoonce said, on October 3rd, 2006 at 2:23 pm

I’d agree with the comments about HD being DOA. I blew a good bit on an HD TV almost two years ago. I still only get a few (worthless) channels from the cable company. I watch about 1 show a month in HD.

Too many people trying to make money charging for HD channels for the cable company (a very large cable company) to carry for free. There should be a law that any over the air broadcast channel can be carried for free on cable. (I live too far out of town to get over the air signals)

As to the SED TV issue. If burn in is a problem, its DOA. My LCD TV’s look good in bright and dark rooms and seem to use less power already.

# 7 god said, on October 3rd, 2006 at 3:28 pm

Uh, GregA — show us a source on SD TV’s outselling HD-capable. TV retailers say this year will finish out with 62% of sets sold being digital. As for the never-adopters, keep those black-and-white 12″ monitors, too. You’ll always have two other guys to talk to.

I’m on 2nd-gen HD w/mpg4, now. Yes, there isn’t enough bandwidth to carry enough product — via satellite, yet. 2007 sees the next 2 D* birds go up — to get them past the whining of “local” channels who have to be taken care of, first.

And you can get yourself an analog-to-digital adaptor in Feb 2009 with a federal subsidy for cheapskates — when they shut off analog.

# 8 edwinrogers said, on October 3rd, 2006 at 3:56 pm

And about time. They look better than projection, plasma and LCD, are cheaper to manufacture, consume less energy to make and to operate and last longer.

# 9 Smartalix said, on October 3rd, 2006 at 4:24 pm

Have you seen an RGB-LED-driven DLP rear projector TV? It has a color gamut greater than NTSC, and is starting to hit the shelves now.

# 10 SN said, on October 3rd, 2006 at 5:32 pm

“Uh, GregA — show us a source on SD TV’s outselling HD-capable. TV retailers say this year will finish out with 62% of sets sold being digital.”

You just proven GregA correct. The problem is the definition of “digital” TV. HD is 1080i, or 1080p, if you really want to get technical. Any resolution less than 1080i is not HD by any standard. Digital does not equal HD.

Now ask yourself this, exactly how many 1080i or 1080p TV sets are being sold compared to analog sets? Now you get the point. Analog wins by a long shot.

# 11 GregA said, on October 3rd, 2006 at 6:03 pm

I just read a bunch of stuff. I couldn’t find any hard numbers. However what I did find is that consumers want flat panel tv’s. They dont care what the picture looks like. Because of this, a number of daily HD broadcasts downgrade their HD signal, because it makes the talent look better. TV viewers dont really care if they can count the nose hairs on their favorite celebrities.

Having said that, I am not a Luddite. At work today I installed two 19″ LCD wide screen computer monitors. Drool. Two of those would work way better than this 3 x 17″ LCD panel set up I have now.

For the record, I have a home made 120″ lcd projector theater that is capable of 720p, but I rarely use it, because Comcast wants the extra bucks for the HD content. OMG I already give Comcast so much money. On the other hand DVD’s almost look like film on it. It is a lumen lab kit that I built about 2 years ago.

Unfortunately Joe Six Pack average American guy or gal, is not smart enough to handle every thing they need to know to do HDTV, or even know what the benefits would be. For that reason alone, HDTV is DOA. The only reason there will be HDTV signal only, in febuary of 2009, is the law. In the mean time, it looks like the HDTV only networks are in more trouble than Air America.

Editor’s Note: This perfectly relates to what you’re talking about:

No, the statistic that floored me was that almost a quarter of the HDTV owners knew they were getting HDTV (even though they weren’t) on account of the announcement at the beginning of the program. It goes, “The following program is being brought to you in high-definition television.” And there you have it.

# 12 Smartalix said, on October 3rd, 2006 at 6:25 pm

Good point, GregA. The real drive is the flat, not the resolution.

# 13 RTaylor said, on October 4th, 2006 at 3:07 am

I went shopping with my wife for a HD plasma. The local warehouse club wouldn’t switch to a SD feed for comparison. Went to a big box electronic store and they did. My wife disliked the bars and stretch screen so much that ended it. The local cable doesn’t even offer an HD package, and the satellites services doesn’t carry her shows in HD. It’s not the money, but lack of programming and customer confusion that’s causing most of the dissatisfaction.

# 14 OmarTheAlien said, on October 4th, 2006 at 5:45 am

My thirty-two inch whatever it is (big, fat and bulky) has been rendering DirecTV’s content in acceptable fashion for, hell, I don’t know, eight or ten years, and I hope it just keeps going and going and going. When it croaks then I’ll have to figure out what all this crap means and get another one.

# 15 SED TV Guy said, on October 4th, 2006 at 6:48 am

Burn in shouldn’t be any more of a problem than with normal CRT’s according to the SED Project team.

# 16 Tom said, on October 4th, 2006 at 7:13 am

Better recheck your information source. For the first time HDTVs outsold SDTVs this year.

Tom

>>>>Wow, HDTV, talk about your DOA technologies. How many years has the industry been pimping it? And standard definition televisions still outsell HDTV’s 20 to 1? They can’t even claim lack of media anymore for the near total failure of this dog technology.

# 17 GregA said, on October 4th, 2006 at 8:01 am

Tom,

During my research I think I found the same number you did. That is TV’s with the new HDTV tuner in them. They downsample the HDTV signal to 480p. They are not actually HDTV. Those started outselling the analog tuner TV’s this year. The TV’s that can actually display a 720p or 1080p signal are still outsold 20 to 1 by the SD televisions with the new HDTV tuner in them. Because of the byzantine HDTV trademark rules, those TV’s are allowed to cary the HDTV trademark on them, but they are not technically HDTV. Again, the confusion around HDTV just furthers my point about HDTV being DOA.

# 18 Floyd said, on October 4th, 2006 at 4:25 pm

Important features for flat screen TVs:

1. Light weight if you’re hanging it on a wall.
2. No dark pixels for way beyond the warranty period.
3. Lasts at least as long as tube-style TVs.
4. Viewing angle as wide as tube-style TVs.
5. Reasonable power consumption.
6. HDTV compatible.
7. DVD (old and new) and PC/Mac compatible too.

The name and details of the screen technology doesn’t matter as much to consumers as the above features.

# 19 Kyle said, on November 20th, 2006 at 7:55 pm

I impatiently await the arrival of SED. Every time I go to the store to get an HDTV I come home empty handed. I watch a foot ball game on the best HDTV of the DLP, or LCOS and all the fast moving objects get a digital fuzzy look. The 1 MS response time of SED is suppose to cure this problem. The others with the 12, 8 or even 5ms (Sony SXRD) are not acceptable. I will keep my CRT till a good one comes out. One salesman at Ultimate told me if you buy a $500 Monster Cable Power supply cleaner it would fix this problem, I guess they figure customers are idiots. I never got burn-in on any TV I ever owned and that is not an Issue.

# 20 erik said, on November 21st, 2006 at 10:46 am

All about SEDTV and SED technology at http://www.sed-fernseher.eu

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