There are many companies out there working diligently to improve on the flat panel capabilities that we currently enjoy today. Many are still not privy to the flat panel display of television due to their high cost. Cost is probably the area in which the most emphasis is currently being placed. There have been some recent breakthroughs in that area in which some flat panel televisions are being offered at significant savings over the bigger names, but the old adage “you get what you pay for” still rings of truth. These advances have certainly made the flat panel and high definition available to more consumers, but they do not include everything that would be found in other, more expensive flat screen sets. In order to help fight the cost crunch, two new technologies are getting ready to arrive or have arrived in smaller screens. Those technologies are SED or Surface-conduction Emission Display and OLED or Organic Light Emitting Diode.

The SED flat panel display will boast a brightness and picture contrast that will rival that of Cathode Ray Tube television; something that has not been accomplished yet in any of the television advances. They use the same ideas that CRT’s use, but they have improved the technology so that no longer is an electrode gun needed which will result in these displays having the ability to be very thin. The power output will be much lower in the SED model televisions which will result in the consumer saving money on their electric bills. These televisions, like most new technology, will start out expensive, but their price will inevitably fall given a little time on the market.

The OLED technology works entirely different than any technology with television to date. A layer of organic material is placed between two electric connectors, one on each side. When one of those connectors applies an electrical charge to the organic material, it glows. In this way, there is no backlight needed and it requires less power to run. This means that with this type of technology these screens will have the capability to be very thin which is very desirable to the consumer currently. OLED screen displays have excellent capabilities of adjusting to color changes in the picture which means that the clarity and crispness of this screen will be unrivaled. To date, this technology has been released to the general public, but on a much smaller scale. It is currently being used in small screen displays such as cell phones and PDA’s.

Technology will always be working to better its products. This is exactly what is happening with the displays that are currently being offered on the television screen. The goal is to create a display that will make the viewer feel that they have left their living room couch and have entered the game or story that is being viewed. This goal is not far from becoming reality as more and more advances are made. The two current advances, when brought to the big screen, will bring the viewer closer to that goal than anything as of yet.

Share This