OLED TV: Introduction and Industry News - Page 37

Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC) updated its display equipment spending forecasts, and the company now expects OLED spending to recover only in 2022. In June 2018, DSCC estimated that the OLED equipment market will start to recover in 2020.

DSCC says that the whole display market is currently saturated after unprecedented equipment spending in 2016-2018 (an average of $22 billion per year for both LCDs and OLEDs) - for both mobile display and TV display production. Display production is expected to grow at 10% per year from 2018-2020 (as a result of the equipment orders in 2016-2018), and combined with lower operation margins and losses in the display market are causing display makers to be cautious with new capacity plans.

Review web site Rtings.com has performed an extensive burn-in trial for LG's 2017 OLEDC7 OLED TV models, and reports that the TVs have shown signs of permanent image-retention, or burn-in after only 4,000 hours.

Rtings have used six OLED TVs, running them from January 2018 for 5 hours each day at a time followed by one hour when the TVs are turned off. This cycle was run 4 times a day. One TV was at maximum brightness, and the rest at only 200 nits. Some played CNN, some a gaming title (FIFA 2018) and some of the TVs played regular TV channels. The TV that played CNN had a clear logo and static bar burn-in images, and the same goes for the FIFA game (but only slightly). The regular TV programs did not suffer from any burn-in.

Sony started shipping its flagship 2018 TV, the OLED AF9 - at $3,499 for the 55" model and $4,599 for the 65" model (note: affiliate links to Amazon).

Sony's AF9 is a consumer reference-quality OLED TV, available in 55" and 65". The 4K WRGB TVs include Sony's latest technologies, including the X1 Ultimate Picture Processor, Pixel Contrast Booster, and an automated calibration mode. The TVs include a dedicated Netflix Calibrated Mode.

Last year China-based Skyworth announced its first Wallpaper OLED TV, which resembles LG's own Wallpaper TVs with a design that enables handing the 3.6 mm screen on the wall and connecting the input box via a cable.

Skyworth's European brand, Grundig, has now demonstrated its own Wallpaper OLED TV at the IFA 2018 event.

Turkey-based Vestel has been discussing OLED TVs since 2015, and the company demonstrated OLED TVs in 2016 and released its first OLED TVs (the 9900 series) in 2017.

In IFA 2018, Vestel introduced its new OLED TV model, called the SELETTE, which features the company's new smart TV platform. We do not have any more details regarding this TV, or when Vestel aims to actually bring it to market.

LG unveiled its first Micro-LED TV prototype at IFA 2018. The large 173" panel uses individual micro-LEDs to create an emissive display, that can rival OLEDs.

It is not clear yet whether LG actually intends to develop this technology commercially for the consumer TV market and compete with its OLED TV business. Samsung's Micro-LED project seems to be more advanced as it started accepting pre-orders in June 2018 and will soon ship its Micro-LED TVs for commercial applications - and is also looking to release its first consumer-premium Micro-LED TV in 2019.

LG's high-end 65" OLED G8 OLED TV is finally shipping - at least in Europe. The price is €4,999, and £4,999 in the UK. It will hopefully ship soon in the US as well.

The OLED G8 sports a unique on-glass design that extends the glass to the soundbar. The OLEDG8 is powered by LG's new a9 "intelligent processor" that promises better color and fast smart TV (webOS) operations. The TV supports Google's Assistant for natural language control, Dolby Atmos, HDR and 4K HFR.

In January 2018 LG Display unveiled its first 88-inch 8K (7680x4320) OLED panel, and today LG Electronics demonstrated its first TV that uses this panel, at the IFA 2018 trade show.

LG did not reveal the model number, price or release date of its to-be flagship OLED TV.

LG Electronics finally started shipping its flagship 2018 television - the 77" Wallpaper OLEDW8. The price of LG's leading OLED TV is around £14,500 in the UK and around 11,700 Euro in Germany.

The 65-inch model, the OLED65W8 is shipping in the UK for £7,999 - or just over $10,000 USD. Interestingly both TVs are not shipping in the US yet.

JOLED announced today that it signed an agreement with Screen Finetech Solutions and Panasonic Production Engineering to co-develop, manufacture and sale printing equipment for large-area OLED production (mostly OLED TVs).

The three companies aim to quickly commercialize a new business that will be based on JOLED's manufacturing technology. JOLED plans to license its inkjet printing technology to OLED makers. JOLED has been developing its technology in collaboration with Panasonic since its founding in 2015. JOLED's technology was originally developed in Panasonic at around 2006.