 $2000 for an 11″ TV set! |
Sony Corp has pulled the plug in Japan on sales of a next-generation flat TV due to sluggish demand, a setback for a product the company had trumpeted as a sign of its revival as an innovator.
Sony said it had stopped production of ultra-thin TVs using organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology for Japan, just a little over 2 years since it launched its first set. It plans to keep selling the TVs in overseas markets, a spokesman said…
Apparently, Sony thinks everyone else in the world is too dumb to notice the price vs. utility.
Sony has aimed to become a leader in the technology and positioned the product as crucial in its drive to regain its reputation as an innovator after losing out to Apple Inc in portable music and Nintendo in video games.
“I want this world’s first OLED TV to be the symbol of the revival of Sony’s technological prowess. I want this to be the flag under which we charge forwards to turn the fortunes around,” then president Ryoji Chubachi told a briefing in October 2007…
Sony did not disclose how many OLED TV sets it has sold. DisplaySearch said it estimates worldwide shipments of about 2,000 Sony OLED TVs in 2009.
5, LaxDude, Sony’s consumer electronics division started going “downhill” when Sony became a Music and Movie studio. When that happened, Sony’s priorities changed.
6, Sargasso, in terms of picture quality local dimming comes close to plasma, but plasma still has the better picture quality. With all else being equal you will tend to pay a $1k premium for a local-dimming LED LCD HDTV over that of a comparable Plasma HDTV. OLED when it does come out is supposed to be the “Plasma Killer” that local-dimming LED hoped to be.
12, InterglacialMan, OLED for the most part is still very much an experimental tech which has only had limited widespread use. It’s lifetime is also in question.
16, Buzz, You can buy a Vizio Blu-ray player for $99 at Costco.
17, And every production OLED made so far has been small and SD resolution. When they make them bigger and in HD, it is expected they will be the “Plasma Killer”.
19, SmartAlix, Plasma has a superior picture to a comparable LCD and is substantially cheaper. You don’t have to wait for OLED.
20, Wretched Gnu, Sony hopes you’re willing to pay top dollar for cutting edge tech.
21,
True, but plasma is a massive power hog. A decent screen can pull over 600 watts. Not to mention significant phosphor burn-in issues. Don’t watch the news too much with one, or you’ll have a dark bar permanently emblazoned on the screen. Other than that, Plasma is a great tech. (At SID one year I saw a Corning guy who made a plasma display with hand-drawn (he had a tower in his backyard) tubes.)
#22 Don’t remind me that! I have the Directv logo burned on the screen. How annoying to have to go thru several sessions of screen refresher to bring it down a bit.
Yet, I love my Mitsubishi 3 LCD projector. What a gorgeous image.
I’m a big fan of DLP, myself. I have a 6-color 56-inch Mitsubishi with user-replaceable lamp. Even when I get an LED-driven LCD eventually I’ll probably never get rid of it.