Sony, Panasonic tying up in advanced TV displays

I think the cusp for TV technology has already been achieved years ago for 90% of the entire population, who are only mesmerized by technological gobbledygooks but do not actually know what they are . The one that needs to catch up is the content.

Oled is probably the most advanced display technology to date but its achievement is only matched by the sheer ignorance of the consumers. Let’s see:

To bring out the best of what the TV can do, for example let’s say a 50″ Full HD TV (that is, it has a resolution of 1920 x 1080, or 2.1 Megapixel), one needs to have a source that has a resolution of at least that number. Local TV channels do not broadcast in HD yet but direct satellite to home Cable providers, such as Cignal, can broadcast up to that resolution, e.g. Discovery HD World at 1080i. However, experts say that no broadcast resolution can compare to the clarity of Blu-ray contents, especially when it comes to Audio (DTS-HD Master Audio or Doby True HD).

TV technology is an entire can of worm in itself and one might be caught in a blur if one started to dig. But for arguments sake, I will mention what I can remember: Refresh Rate, Response Time, Frequency, Contrast Ratio, Brightness, Backlit, Edge Lit, Gamma, LCD, Plasma, LED, OLED, Warm & Cool Temperature, among others.

The development of OLED technology is probably in response to higher brightness and higher contrast ratio. Resolution has also been found to benefit greatly from OLED technology, especially if the screen is reduced in size. But for modern TVs, the benefits of higher resolution is difficult to justify especially if the consumer does not have the trained eye to discern which picture has a better resolution. Even those with trained eyes are also finding it difficult to appreciate the benefits of added resolution if they were seated somewhere distant from the screen. The main reason behind this is that as you sit far beyond the screen, the pixels seem to disappear and will tend to give a more uniform picture. One must have to sit very very close to the screen before he can make out the outlines of the individual pixel. For a Full HD TV, we should be looking at a distance of about 2 feet from the screen in order to discern a pixel. But who is crazy enough to sit close to the screen just to see the threshold of when the pixel will disappear.

The pinnacle of display technology has already been reached. Also, the audio technology has already been reached. Anything that is developed now to “surpass” the previous technology is a marketing ploy to lure unsuspecting consumers into thinking that this technology is better than another because it is new and it sounds breathtaking.

OLED Technology is better off developed for mobile devices as they consume less power and give higher resolution. Developing them for TV has its benefits, but considering the cost, is nothing more than being superficial.

Bring down the price of the current LED TVs and they might see their profits go up.

Broadcast channels also need a lot more of catching up to do to bring out the best of what HDTVs can do.

Sony’s 50″ LED TVs cost around PhP 300,000