Sony - Page 9

Reuters reports that LG said it plans to partner with Chinese and Japanese firms with an aim to make OLED TVs more mainstream.

Panasonic 65-inch OLED TV prototype

This isn't really news, as LG Display already supplies OLED TV panels to several companies in China (including Skyworth, Changhong, Haier, Konka and KTC) and is also collaborating with Panasonic and Grundig. LG Display has been in talks with Sony and Panasonic to supply OLED panels since at least January 2013.

Two new technologies seem to dominate the LCD TV market in CES 2015. First up are quantum dots TVs - which are LED backlit LCDs that include a QD film that enhances the TV's color gamut, efficiency, brightness and contrast. Sony has been producing QD TVs for almost two years, but this year we have new launches from Samsung, LG, Philips, TCL and others.

Samsung SUHD (credit: Sri Peruvemba, Marketer International)

These new wave of QD TVs are Cadmium-free, which was one of the major stumbling block towards real QD commercialization. The major advantage of QD TVs is the enhanced color gamut, which is even larger than the color gamut currently offered by OLED TVs (although LG promises their OLEDs will catch up soon). LG still considers OLEDs as their future TV technology, and Merck also says that quantum-dots are not a real game changer (unlike OLEDs).

Sony announced a new single-lens attachable OLED-based display module for eyewear applications - which can turn any glasses into Google-Glass like smart devices. Sony aims to mass produce this display module in 2015, and will offer it to a wide variety of customers - eyewear makers, electronics makers and enterprise device developers.

In this concept device, Sony adopted their new 0.23" 640x400 (nHD+) OLED microdisplay unveiled in June 2014. Sony says that the OLED display enabled the module to be compact and light. The OLED is coupled with a micro-optical unit optimized for the OLED display. The projected image's diagonal angle of view converts to 13 degrees, which is equivalent to the field of view for a 16-inch display 2 meters in the distance.

In April 2013 Sony showed a prototype 30" 4K OLED panels at NAB 2013, promising to release them in 2014. Now the company officially launched this professional OLED monitor product, while shipments will begin in February 2015. Price is not determined yet, but it'll sure be expensive...

Sony's BVM-X300 is Sony's flagship professional monitor. Besides the 30" 4K (4096x2016) OLED panel (produced by Sony), it features a high dynamic range, wide viewing angles, quick response and high contrast. The BMV-X300 can display 4K, 2K, UHD and HD formats and supports wide color gamut standards.

Last month Sony, Japan Display, Panasonic and the INCJ formed a new OLED company called JOLED to focus on medium sized OLEDs. JOLED will be launched in January 2015 and has the potential to become a large OLED player.

A few days later, OLEDNet reported that JOLED is likely to choose small-molecules OLEDs, Oxide-TFT backplanes, Sony's Super Top Emission technology and an WRGB pixel architecture. Today I found Sony's original press release (a month late, actually), and there's some interesting information in there.

Last month Japan Display, Sony and Panasonic announced the formation of a new OLED company. JOLED, funded by the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, will be established formally in January 2015, and will focus mainly on medium sized OLEDs for tablet applications.

JDI 5.2-inch FHD OLED prototype

One of the key questions surrounding JOLED is the technology choice. While Sony (and JDI, which is basing its OLED program on Sony's tech) is using small-molecule OLEDs and an evaporation process, Panasonic based its OLED development on Sumitomo's PLED materials and printing technologies.

In May 2014 it was reported that Japan Display may setup an OLED joint venture together with Sony and Panasonic. Today Kyodo news confirms this report, and says that the three companies will indeed form a new company (which will be called JOLED) that will develop small and medium OLED displays - mostly for tablet devices. The official announcement is expected soon.

JDI 5.2-inch FHD OLED prototype

JOLED will receive and investment from the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, a public-private investment fund. Similarly to JDI itself, the INCJ will hold 70% in the new company. JDI will hold 20% and Sony and Panasonic will each own 5%.

On March 2014, Sony unveiled the Morpheus VR HMD system, specifically designed for the PS4 console. The original prototype system shown by Sony used a 5" Full-HD (1920x1080) LCD panel (Oculus's VR system uses a Full-HD OLED).

It'll take a while for Sony to release this as a product (they say it won't happen before the end of 2014) - but there are now reports that Sony is changing the display to a 2560x1440 OLED display (1280x1440 for each eye). Like Oculus, Sony probably wants a low-persistant display as LCDs simply aren't up to par with OLEDs in that regard.

Since early in 2013, we've been hearing reports that Sony (and Panasonic) are talking to LG Display about buying OLED TV panels. Today, Sony's TV chief Immamura said that he "can't say Sony wouldn't use OLED technology" in their TVs. He would not say whether LG Display will indeed be Sony's OLED TV supplier, but there isn't any other option really as LGD is the only company offering OLED TV panels.

Sony 56-inch 4K OLED TV prototype

Immamura did say that Sony has no current plans to invest in any OLED (or LCD) factory. Sony's OLED TV joint venture with Panasonic was cancelled in December 2013. And since then it was reported that Sony is withdrawing from the OLED market, but this was later denied by Sony.

Sony announced a new 0.23" 640x400 (nHD+) OLED microdisplay aimed for wearable devices. The microdisplay features a pixel pitch of 7.8um and a 110% NTSC color gamut. Sony aims to ship this display in 2015.

Sony says that the new microdisplay, while being smaller (and with a lower resolution) compared to their current 0.5" product, it offers a higher performance. The contrast ratio has been improved from 10,000:1 to 100,000:1, the brightness enhanced from 200 to 800 cd/m² and the power consumption has been slashed from 400 to 140 mW. The viewing angle has also been improved.