AMOLED Technology Finally Poised For The Big Time?

[qubit]

The current display technology standard for most PCs and TVs is LCD nowadays. However, LCD technology has significant and well known drawbacks, such as limited viewing angles, poor colours, motion blur and input lag. These problems cause some people to swear by and hold on to the old and now obsolete CRT monitors, as it had none of these problems (it did however, have lots of others). There are various types of LCD technology in mainstream use today which attempt to address these shortcomings, but none fix them all. For example, TN displays are cheap to buy, relatively fast which reduces motion smear and input lag, but at the expense of viewing angle and colour accuracy, making them suitable for fast gaming and animation. Meanwhile, IPS displays have the opposite characteristics, making them suitable for professional photographic work, where accurate colours and vibrant pictures are essential.



However, AMOLED technology has the ability to fix all these problems in one go, leading to bright, crystal clear displays with wide viewing angles and excellent motion smoothness, which comes about because LEDs have extremely fast response times. But - there had to be a but - it is very expensive to produce, can be hard to view in direct sunlight and it's serviceable lifetime is relatively short, so it can't be commercialised easily for large displays such as TVs and monitors. Hence, to this date, AMOLED displays tend to be found in small gadgets, such as smartphones, where these issues are much less of a problem.

Now enter DuPont. They have wanted to bring AMOLED TVs to market for a good five years or so and they believe that they have cracked the problems. They have issued a press release stating that they are partnering with a "leading Asian manufacturer of Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED) display products." but are mentioning no names just yet. Samsung would appear to be a leading candidate here and hopefully there will be products to show at CES 2012, given the timing of this announcement. If successful, AMOLED technology should quickly replace current LCD technology, with all its many compromises, in TVs and monitors.

There is precious little hard information about DuPont's improved manufacturing process right now, but they have produced a YouTube video here to give some idea of what's involved.

For general background information on AMOLED technology, Wikipedia has an article on it here. DuPont's website is here: www.dupont.com

DuPont's press release follows this article.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

If they make mainstream OLED displays 6-8 bit we're still going to have shitty colors aren't we?

 

[qubit]

If they make mainstream OLED displays 6-8 bit we're still going to have shitty colors aren't we?

But why would they? This low bit depth is due to the limitations of TN displays, so they won't have to do this.

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

Idk why they would, I just remember reading 8 bit on the specs of an OLED display once and being pretty disappointed. Might have been a phone.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

The big "if" is whether or not it is cost-competitive with TN. It isn't going to sweep the market if it isn't. Instead, it would likely replace IPS as "professional grade" (to steal GMC's slogan).

 

[qubit]

The big "if" is whether or not it is cost-competitive with TN. It isn't going to sweep the market if it isn't. Instead, it would likely replace IPS as "professional grade" (to steal GMC's slogan).

Oh yeah, I'll bet the first products are going to have a very "premium" price and TN tech will continue. However, if it's not too expensive to produce, then eventually it will be incorporated into lower and lower end products, as manufacturers try to outdo each other, to the point that LCD technology will be as obsolete the CRT it replaced. It'll take time though, that's for sure.

 

[NC37]

As with all new TV/monitor tech, it'll be insanely expensive for the first year, then dirt cheap within 5 years. Hopefully it won't go the same way as LCD did when it got cheap. Meaning, it also got very cheaply made.

 

[D4S4]

did they solve the blue color "pigment" durability issues? i'd really fu*king LOVE an full HD OLED display but if it would become redder and dimmer over the years or simply fade like plasma tv's...

 

[n-ster]

Damn this is great news! Samsung as really popularized AMOLED recently, so I think that that will help the integration of i\t in the TV market. Hopefully the integration will be as smooth as the LED backlight LCD TVs

 

[FreedomEclipse]

hasnt AMOLED technology been available for years???

I swear my old samsung Jet (S8000) uses an AMOLED screen

 

[FordGT90Concept]

As with all new TV/monitor tech, it'll be insanely expensive for the first year, then dirt cheap within 5 years. Hopefully it won't go the same way as LCD did when it got cheap. Meaning, it also got very cheaply made.

IPS is over 10 years old and it still isn't cheap.

 

[deleted]

hasnt AMOLED technology been available for years???

I swear my old samsung Jet (S8000) uses an AMOLED screen

Small cell phone screens have been around for ages, sure, but this will be the first time there's ever been an AMOLED television available to consumers.

IPS is over 10 years old and it still isn't cheap.

eIPS is starting to get there. You can find the U2211h for $200 and the U2412h for $300. Maybe not quite into TN territory, but entirely reasonable.

 

[n-ster]

200$ for the 23" eIPS of LG is not an uncommon price

 

[raclimja]

can be hard to view in direct sunlight

that is not true, in fact i have a Samsung Galaxy S Epic 4G which uses Super AMOLED and i also have a Motorola Droid Milestone which uses a TFT display and a Laptop with glossy display

Super AMOLED is by far the best display i have ever seen in terms of view in direct sunlight considering it doesn't have AG coating

also, the way Super AMOLED is made is it lets more light through so that should save battery because it doesn't need to have high brightness to be viewable

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_vPxDDpMWg

and it's serviceable lifetime is relatively short, so it can't be commercialised easily for large displays such as TVs and monitors. Hence, to this date, AMOLED displays tend to be found in small gadgets, such as smartphones, where these issues are much less of a problem.

again, the problem has been fixed by Super AMOLED

http://www.oled-info.com/samsung-soon-double-their-amoleds-efficiency-lifetime-and-power-consumption


http://www.oled-info.com/super-amoled


http://www.oled-info.com/super-amoled-plus


in fact, samsung is constantling improving the AMOLED by introducing Super AMOLED PLUS and Super AMOLED HD

 

[Isenstaedt]

Does AMOLED requires interpolation like LCDs?

 

[[H]@RD5TUFF]

hope it happens soon.

 

[WarEagleAU]

AMOLED makes me think of Samsung, and yet, OLED reminds me of Sony. Either way, I can't wait. Love my SGII with SuperAMOLED +

 

[qubit]

that is not true, in fact i have a Samsung Galaxy S Epic 4G which uses Super AMOLED and i also have a Motorola Droid Milestone which uses a TFT display and a Laptop with glossy display

Super AMOLED is by far the best display i have ever seen in terms of view in direct sunlight considering it doesn't have AG coating

also, the way Super AMOLED is made is it lets more light through so that should save battery because it doesn't need to have high brightness to be viewable

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_vPxDDpMWg



again, the problem has been fixed by Super AMOLED

http://www.oled-info.com/samsung-soon-double-their-amoleds-efficiency-lifetime-and-power-consumption


http://www.oled-info.com/super-amoled


http://www.oled-info.com/super-amoled-plus


in fact, samsung is constantling improving the AMOLED by introducing Super AMOLED PLUS and Super AMOLED HD

Thanks for the info, lots to read here. I got that statement from the article, so perhaps they weren't quite correct, lol.

Does AMOLED requires interpolation like LCDs?

It shouldn't do, but don't quote me.