GE Announces OLED Manufacturing Breakthrough 192
bughunter writes "Today GE announced the successful demonstration of the world's first roll-to-roll manufactured organic light-emitting diode (OLED) lighting devices (press release). This demonstration is a key step toward making OLEDs and other high-performance organic electronics products at dramatically lower costs than what is possible today. The green crowd is thrilled as well. Personally, as the parent of a 3-year-old technophile, I'm dreading the animated cereal boxes." Now can I get my Optimus Keyboard for less than $1,299?
What Was the Cost? (Score:2, Interesting)
I would be excited
Re:What Was the Cost? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What Was the Cost? (Score:5, Informative)
Remember, if their plan didn't show expectations of profit (i.e.: a sellable product), they wouldn't be researching it. They're a company, they're out to make money. Luckily, in this case, they're trying to do it by developing a responsible technology.
Reason to be excited (Score:5, Insightful)
In other words, it's one thing to demonstrate a prototype product, but an entirely other thing to demonstrate how you actually plan to mass produce that product, which this is!
Of course, it's yet another thing to actually produce your production equipment and drive adoption among manufacturers, but this announement is still one major step beyond most next-gen display announcements (SED, I'm looking at you...).
Re:What Was the Cost? (Score:2)
Re:What Was the Cost? (Score:5, Informative)
I would be excited ... if there were more details convincing me this is a 'breakthrough.' That word gets thrown around a lot these days.
If the announcement came out of some startup, it would be questionable, but it came from General Electric Research in Schenectady, NY. That's an organization over a century old, and a big chunk of the electrical industry was invented there. If they say they have a production process for making something in quantity, they probably do.
Re:What Was the Cost? (Score:5, Insightful)
The OP wasn't arguing that GE doesn't have the production process. He/she just wasn't convinced that the process was "a breakthrough." The photo I saw looked like the LEDs were about 1 inch square each, and the attached article suggested that they were about twice as efficient per lumen as incandescent lighting. The efficiency of incandescent lighting isn't exactly hard to beat.
Would you consider a new process for manufacturing buggy whips to be a "breakthrough?" I'm not saying it's NOT a breakthrough, (obviously this could lead to amazing display technology) but I agree with the point the OP was trying to make: it would be nice to have more details.
Re:What Was the Cost? (Score:2)
A big chunk of the electrical industry is AC.
Tesla
Bob.
Organic != 'Green' (Score:5, Informative)
What makes OLED's 'green' is that they don't require back lighting like LCD displays. Which means you can generate images for a fraction of the electrical draw.
-Rick
Re:Organic != 'Green' (Score:5, Funny)
Right up there when the Video store had Apollo 13 in the SciFi section.
Re:Organic != 'Green' (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Organic != 'Green' (Score:2)
Re:Organic != 'Green' (Score:2)
Re:Organic != 'Green' (Score:2)
Re:Organic != 'Green' (Score:4, Informative)
Hemlock tea exists and is OK for you so long it is made from the tree and NOT from the ground plant (that's the version that killed Socrates).
A quick google search turns up a company named TerraVita which sells its hemlock tea for $14 per 25 bags box. So the GP already has competitors.
Apollo 13 (Score:2)
Re:Apollo 13 (Score:2)
Re:Organic != 'Green' (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Organic != 'Green' (Score:2)
So yeah, you were right, and a lot of others just hopped on the "silly greenies" bandwagon.
Re:Organic != 'Green' (Score:2)
Re:Organic != 'Green' (Score:2)
But for incremental improvements, you are absolutely right. People who are actually thinking about it will use the cheapest way to make light - though I still choose to use some incandescents because CFLs make my daughter's brown toys all look puke-green... so sometimes aesthetics outweigh economy - but then, I also like Apple's stuff!
Re:Organic != 'Green' (Score:3, Insightful)
OLED = 'Green' (Score:4, Informative)
THAT is going to save more than a few barrels of oil. After all, even /. posters burn more power on lighting than on backlighting, monitor tans notwithstanding.
Re:OLED = 'Green' (Score:2)
Re:Organic != 'Green' (Score:4, Interesting)
Except that it isn't a fraction of the electrical draw---not if they're only 2-3x the efficiency of an incandescent bulb, anyway. Traditional LEDs are close to ten times the efficiency of incandescents, so if you do an LED backlight behind an LCD panel, you'd have to lose 60-80% of the brightness passing through the LCD panel to get down to such a low efficiency. Okay, so the panel itself probably doubles the power use, so that probably puts the LCD panel with LED backlight at somewhere in the neighborhood of the same amount of power. This is, of course, just a ballpark guess, since there aren't production OLED panels available for real-world comparison, but I'm not expecting a huge power win from emissive displays. An advantage, yes, but certainly not enough to call it "a fraction of the electrical draw" unless the numbers I've heard so far are way, way off.
OLEDs have advantages, though. They can be used in places where backlighting is impractical---keyboards, for example. They don't wash out as much in bright light, so they are more practical for outdoor displays. They don't restrict the light to a narrow polarity range, so wearing polarized sunglasses doesn't make the screen go black, and you can read your watch by the emitted light, unlike the light from your LCD panel. They have a dramatically faster refresh rate than LCDs, so motion isn't smeared as much.
On the flip side, they also, IIRC, have a shorter life expectancy, though this has probably improved somewhat over the years---good for manufacturers, not so good for consumers. LCD panels have orders of magnitude better life expectancy (on the order of 300,000 hours), sun damage notwithstanding, though the backlights generally need to be replaced much more frequently. Replacing a backlight tube (or even an LED backlight) is a lot cheaper than replacing the whole panel, though.
Re:Organic != 'Green' (Score:3, Funny)
Er, when I studied maths, 1/2 and 1/3 were very much considered to be fractions. Maybe they have since been reclassified as fruit?
Re:Organic != 'Green' (Score:3, Informative)
As somebody else said, 1/2 the efficiency of an incandescent lightbulb isn't exactly amazing. A 12 watt compact fluorescent puts out what, about as much light as a 40 watt incandescent? So these OLEDs are probably only about half as efficient as a compact fluorescent. Then again, the LCD layer and light piping attenuates the light of the fluorescent backlighting in an LCD panel. Also an OLED won't use as much power for dark-displaying pixels whereas lit and "dark" backlit LCD pixels consume the same amount of energy. So it would probably average out to being about the same efficiency for OLED and backlight LCD for a laptop power budget - a good thing or these will have a much more restricted market.
I hope they can take this to production soon though. The 20" Sony Trinitron tube I use as a second monitor at home is showing signs of being on its last legs and probably only has a year or two left in it at most. It's lasted me over ten years and I got it used/refurbished, so I don't feel bad about replacing it because I've certainly gotten a lot of use out of it. However I would like to replace it with an OLED panel if possible to keep the environmental impact down. I have also been holding out for these to replace my TV set but, with the only recently-ended HD format wars, the lack of region-free BR format players, and a still-going-strong 27" picture tube, I'm in less of a rush for that.
Re:Organic != 'Green' (Score:2)
In addition to no mercury in the backlight (which is of course also true of LED-backlighted LCDs and a few other techniques).
Re:Organic != 'Green' (Score:2)
Organic, before the chemists took it over, meant "of (or coming out of) living things".
GE is up nearly 5% (Score:3, Informative)
Re:GE is up nearly 5% (Score:2)
Not that it matters right now - I can't touch my retirement for 32 1/2 years anyways.
Re:GE is up nearly 5% (Score:2)
True, but as far as stocks go, GE is (over time) a pretty solid stock. And as the GPP said, the dividends are nice.
Plus they were smart enough to get rid of their financing arm a few years back.
Re:GE is up nearly 5% (Score:3, Interesting)
Yeah. Back when I was just learning about investing (I'm still, mind you), I bought a small amount of a few large caps so I'd have some "skin in the game" to make me pay attention. GE was my best performer over time.
Currently I stick to index funds (or other passive funds with low costs) because I don't have the time to pay attention or research as much as would be necessary.
Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:3, Insightful)
Ok, then don't buy them.
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:2, Insightful)
It's not buying them that's the problem, its having to navigate through a grocery store where all the things you don't want your kid to eat are marketing themselves aggressively right from the shelves...The kid will want them, the marketers will make sure of that, and you'll either have to buy 'em or deal with the crazed screaming/whining/sulking that will ensue.
Sure, you can fight that fight, but you have to fight it often enough already for crap that actually matters more than a box of cereal. Lot of people will give in just to avoid the inevitable scene.
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:5, Funny)
That's why my wife won't let me in the cereal isle, and I'm an adult.
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:3, Interesting)
duke out
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:2)
Whenever possible though, I prefer to walk with them to the local corner store or ice cream shop when I want to get them a treat (although that may not be possible in your neighborhood). If possible, I try to do it after the kids have been working or playing hard at something. If I've been working hard as well (perhaps working on my house), sometimes I get myself a treat. The kids seem to enjoy it a lot more when I get myself one too, perhaps because it shows them that they don't have to stop enjoying things like that when they grow up.
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:5, Interesting)
consistency is key.
My kids don't whine and scream when we ahve said no to something consistently. They few things where we broke consistently still haunt us... sigh. Live and learn.
Even then they learn, it's just a longer process.
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:2)
This is the same guy that, having noticed my bicycle left on the front porch (in a nice suburb), loaded it into a truck and took it to his warehouse. I mean, people don't lock their car doors in a store parking lot where I grew up. Then he let me think it'd been stolen for about a week, and made sure I knew it was due to my own carelessness.
Never had a bike stolen though... lesson learned, I guess.
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:2, Insightful)
I see, you prefer to pay them off instead of parenting them. And we wonder where all the consumerism comes from...
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:2)
How did this get rated insightful?
The parent of that never said that he paid his kids off, just complained about the marketing.
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:2)
Just thought you should know.
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:2)
The kid will want them, the marketers will make sure of that, and you'll either have to buy 'em or deal with the crazed screaming/whining/sulking that will ensue.
That's the part where you take the kid home and dinner sucks because it's whatever you have in the house.
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:5, Informative)
>
> you can fight that fight, but you have to fight it often enough already for crap that actually matters more than a box of cereal. Lot of people will give in just to avoid the inevitable scene.
No, you just have to fight it a couple of times, be consistent, and don't give in occasionally. My three kids, all under 6 years old, never whine and scream for stuff because they know it is not a strategy that will ever work. We say no to junk. If they whine and scream we say no to everything. We never make exceptions. People cannot believe how "well behaved" our kids are. We cannot believe how badly behaved most other kids are.
Remember, partial reinforcement is more powerful than continuous reinforcement, so giving in once in a while will guarantee maximum screaming and whining.
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:3, Insightful)
Reward the behavior you like, and punish the behavior you don't like. Never deviate from this, ever. Behavior that is rewarded will be repeated, and behavior that is punished will (eventually!) cease. I mean, I know exactly where you are coming from. I know how much tantrums at the store suck. You may have to sit through a few of them before it works. If it's bad enough, just exit the store and deposit the kid with someone else, while you shop solo. Trade sleep for time to shop if you have to, but never reward bad behavior. YOU are in charge.
Also, I suspect a lot of the gimme gimme tantrums are tv-related. It sucks to think you paid someone (TV purchase, cable subscription) to induce tantrums in your kid. Maybe turn that crap off too.
Mmm, slashdot parenting. This crowd is getting old.
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:2)
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:5, Funny)
Let me put it in terms that you would understand.
Imagine that you've stayed up for 4 months straight coding some program--but every time it starts to work, it changes and you have to change your code all over again. Then imagine that every time you tried to sleep, your compile failed and you have to sit up all night making sure that it compiles okay. All the while you are running all over the basement to make sure that none of your other compilers are failing either, and lifting them up and down to change out their power supplies.
Got that? Okay. Good. Now imagine that you just want to go to Microcenter to pick up some more Bawls but your laptop is SCREAMING at the top of it's 2" speakers that it wants Serial-ATA. You know that it doesn't use Serial-ATA, but it is just making all kinds of noise, and shaking. Then other people start to look at you and your laptop making such a cacophony, and your bloodshot eyes just roam over them like they are zombies and you are three seconds away from killing everybody within a 50' radius of you.
Oh, and this happens every single time you go to the store. Like clockwork.
You will cave in. You don't know you will, but trust me--and every other parent out there--you will cave, and buy it whatever it wants to just shut it up.
So Yeah. There is no 'Just don't buy it' crap with kids. Someday, if you ever get out of your parents basement, you will know that.
You have my sympathy (Score:3)
And, in the face of assurances similar to yours, I managed to avoid buying the crap when we went shopping. Despite ADHD. Twins.
Not that this says anything good about me as a parent -- I suspect it's more "when you got luck, shit'll do for brains."
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:2)
Exactly. That's why I went with the 'Don't Ever Have Kids' thing. Lots of extra money, big shortage of headaches.
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh, and this happens every single time you go to the store. Like clockwork.
Simple solution - don't take your kids out if he's being a shit.
You will cave in. You don't know you will, but trust me--and every other parent out there--you will cave, and buy it whatever it wants to just shut it up.
No, I will punish the behavior.
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:3, Informative)
So, you leave your kids at home just like your computer. Have you got any idea what a 2 year old can do to your home while you're away? Add the legal aspect of child endangerment, and leaving your kids at home while shopping is usually NOT an option. Unless you still haven't moved out of the basement and can pawn off the little sunshines on your mom upstairs.
No, I will punish the behavior
Oh, and I don't suggest punishing your kid in a store nowadays, nine times out of ten some do-gooder will call CPS on you. And punishing later doesn't work until they are past the age of screaming fits anyway.
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:2)
So, you leave your kids at home just like your computer.
Yeah, if you're single, get a friend to sit while you buy groceries.
Oh, and I don't suggest punishing your kid in a store nowadays, nine times out of ten some do-gooder will call CPS on you. And punishing later doesn't work until they are past the age of screaming fits anyway.
Carry them out of the store in an undignified manner - even at 2, they should get embarrasment. Alternately, watch them throw the tantrum, and when they get winded/tired, ask them to do it again.
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:2)
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:2)
Young animals are designed to learn through punishment of negative behaviour. Often physical.
Children simply don't have the psychological makeup to understand and process 'modern' idiot parenting techniques such as time-outs. Hence they grow up to be horrors as they age.
Smack your kids. Or at least threaten to do it. They will thank you.
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:2)
My folks "just didn't buy it" (Score:2)
I'm glad they did. At such time as I may reproduce I intend to teach my offspring the same way.
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:5, Insightful)
The reason that bystanders stare in horror at seriously misbehaving children and parents is that such behavior is NOT normal and is therefore unexpected/shocking. People also stare when adults are abusive or disruptive or antisocial. Any behavior outside normal conventions will prompt staring.
My advise is that young children like to have rules and behavioral boundaries. Clear rules make them feel socially confident and reduce anxiety. Children test the boundaries when they feel insecure, and the best response is to reinforce the previously established boundaries. That makes them feel like the world is stable and sensible. When a parent moves the boundaries or the child can't find the boundaries, nobody will be happy - least of all the child. Interestingly, the exact same guidance applies to puppies.
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:2)
With me, they managed to reason with me.
With my sister, they told her no often enough that she stopped trying. Eventually.
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:2)
I know this from experience.
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:2)
So you have a pile of Serial-ATA HD's you can't use with your laptop? I'm confused?!?
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:2)
sudo amixer -c1 set Master mute
Silly laptops.
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:2)
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:2)
'Ya know what you call guys with those shoes in our Neighborhood?
Target!' --Comic Unknown.
"On the other hand, if gang members start wearing luminous gang signs, they'll be a self-curing problem."
Our ugly future (Score:4, Insightful)
In another twenty years there will likely not be a surface anywhere that isn't animated. The animated billboards and signs are already here.
As if having blinking shiney flashey crap on the internet isn't bad enough now we're subjected to it in meatspace.
Re:Our ugly future (Score:3, Funny)
Except that meatspace has it's own rules. Same way that most of those anonymous internet jerks would never act the same way face to face*. Annoying flashing stuff on a website? Limited stuff you can do about it. Annoying flashing sign in meatspace? 30 seconds with a hammer or wire cutters or even a battery depending on the electrical tolerance and you are good to go. Problem solved.
*Please note. Meatspace has its own brand of assholes. I acknowledge that The two groups are not mutually exclusive.
Re:Our ugly future (Score:2)
Never forget that cyberspace is just an electronic subdivision of meatspace.
Money rules all of the meat, and the meat runs your network as well as your freeways and zoning commissions.
Where there is cash, opportunity, and a lack of diligence, the cash will override the commonweal every time.
Re:Our ugly future (Score:2)
Re:Our ugly future (Score:2)
Re:Our ugly future (Score:2)
Re:Our ugly future (Score:2)
And I can avoid, say weather.com but if I get a traffic ticket I must go to the Sangamon County Courthouse. Ironically, there is one of those billboards at the Prarie Capital Convention Center across the street from the Sangamon County Courthouse, which also houses the Sangamon County Jail.
If you threaten someone with a large butcher knife [slashdot.org] in Sangamon County you'll get fifteen days [slashdot.org] in the Sangamon County Jail across from the blinking flashing billboard (which you can no longer see from the jail as they replaced the glass with translucent glass to stop women from flashing the prisoners).
That is, so long as you don't threaten a cop with your little steak knife [slashdot.org]. They'll shoot you dead if you do.
-mcgrew
Re:Our ugly future (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Our ugly future (Score:2)
Re:Our ugly future (Score:2)
Re:pffftt ... (Score:2)
Spraypaint!
Old joke from the '80s: How can you tell if there's been a blonde using your computer?
There's white-out all over the screen!
Integration with membrane keypads? (Score:2)
Yeah, I think most of the keypads suck (the metal dome type aren't as bad), but it still means a richer user interface and lower cost devices. And probably animated cereal boxes.
Is this for lighting or displays? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Is this for lighting or displays? (Score:5, Informative)
The reason Sony have only managed an 11" OLED display (and at $1500 they are still making a loss) is due to the difficulties of pattering it all (and getting good consistency). For GE and white light it is much much more straight forward. Whack on the layers, connect it up and go - they don't need to worry about any patterns. In the longer term solution processable OLEDs would substantially improve things. Solution processable means inkjet deposition (just like home printers), which means fine control of deposition and the ability to run with a roll to roll techniques. Solution processability is a few years away, however.
Re:Is this for lighting or displays? (Score:2)
Re:Is this for lighting or displays? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Is this for lighting or displays? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Is this for lighting or displays? (Score:2)
YOU FOOL! The last thing we needed was for HP to read this post and come up with a new business plan for the next twenty five years. :-(
Cheap, disposable television units with easily swappable screens, given fixed prices on them.. arrgh! I want a television that lasts more than 3 months goddammit!
Re:Is this for lighting or displays? (Score:2)
Re:Is this for lighting or displays? (Score:2)
If it's used for lighting, then 3.4 continuous years isn't that bad, flourescents are worse and they need to use a bit of mercury.
Most displays aren't on constantly, maybe 2000-2500 hours a year if used at work. That would be about twelve years. If the blue fading is a problem, I think that it might be adjustable. If you don't use full brightness, it probably lasts longer.
Re:Is this for lighting or displays? (Score:2)
Re:Is this for lighting or displays? (Score:2)
Still, I look forward to when I can stick some "paper" in my OLED printer, print out a 5x5 sheet, and stick it in my closet for some extra light.
Re:Is this for lighting or displays? (Score:2)
That's an interesting thing to have on your phone!
Slashdotted already? (Score:2)
Animated meatspace (Score:4, Interesting)
I can see the counter-adverts on the ordinary boxes now "GE Free". And on the animated boxes "Cereal may contain nuts and batteries"
What I have been wanting for some time is something to brighten the sheer boredom of riding in a corporate lift. (I accept that stores and the like will batter a captive audience with ads so they are tortured into compliance by the time they arrive. Shut eyes, turn up iPod.)
The idea is to have something other than, say, a big 13 drifting past to tell you you have passed floor 13. I'd like a small 13, but some nice elevation dependent pictures. Earth and grass for the ground floor. Apples or tweety-birds for the next floor and so on. Eagles well up. And of course, space junk for senior managerial levels. Top floor a galaxy, with a warning that they are only 4% ordinary matter.
But I am bothered about the basement images. I'd rather avoid drippy caves, and anything with religious overtones. Suggestions anyone?
green? (Score:2, Insightful)
I see people putting up a few solar panels here and there, maybe generating enough energy to take a fraction out of their air conditioning bill, and I wonder if they are stupid. Even if everyone in the united states did the same thing, or even the entire world did the same thing, the carbon output would still be rising because industry requires a phenomenal amount of energy that can't be supplied or even offset significantly by these sorts of technologies.
These sorts of efforts are all about feeling good about the environment, while actually doing nothing to put a significant dent in the carbon output and reduce the damage that global warming will cause. Switching over to OLED monitors is kind of like spitting into a volcano to stop an eruption.
The truth is that most of the green technologies being put forward today are just fashion statements and a distraction from the real solutions, and it is technically impossible to solve our real problems with them. Most carbon output comes from power generation and transportation. In order to make a dent, we need to switch almost entirely over to power sources that have no carbon output, and we need to make a major push to mass transit.
Unfortunately, the issues get complicated in regards to power generation without carbon because the only existing technology that could replace all of our coal plants is nuclear power, and there isn't a lot of political will for nuclear power in the united states. Usually people put forward solar power, wind power, or biofuel as solutions, unfortunately, when you actually look at solar power and wind power, it is technically impossible to make a dent in our power output with these technologies because they only generate power a small percentage of the time, whereas power draw stays high 24/7. Biofuel production on the other hand actually generates more carbon than coal once you try to scale it up, and the government initiatives related to it are a huge fiasco.
People keep waiting around for an easy solution to our problems, and one that makes them feel good. Unfortunately, that's not how life works, all of the solutions have downsides and all of them require us to make sacrifices. Sadly, it's pretty obvious that we're going to wait until the situation is much more desperate than it already is before making significant efforts at change.
Re:green? (Score:2)
here i brasil i know places where people have only one or two 60 watts light bulbs and a small refrigerator in their homes (and not by choice. it's imposed by poverty). compare such households with the enourmous waste of power that's las vegas, and you see that those people is the US installing LED bulbs and solar pannel are making out for the people being connected to the grid.
it might not help solve anything, but helps delay any impact by sub-developed countries that increasing their power output.
Re:green? (Score:2)
Also, power draw does not stay high 24/7. It has considerable daytime requirements. The current power grid however, has peak efficiency at constant use. There are stations built to take advantage of this and store energy produced at night and resell during peak demand.
OLED displays needed (Score:4, Interesting)
OLEDs have a real chance of matching or even beating CRTs in a true "flat panel" form factor.
And I also like the idea of using OLED rolls as wallpaper so we can have 7,680 × 4,320 pixel video on the wall (which will, of course, need 22.2 surround sound (UHDTV [wikipedia.org]).
Re:OLED displays needed (Score:2)
If you want viewing angle, you're distorting the picture significantly in space, so losing a little luminance or color fidelity shouldn't be too big a deal.
And if you prioritize fidelity and dynamic range beyond what a TI DLP (the guts of many rear-projecting DLP HDTVs) can do, you'll be sitting on the sofa most of the time, so the usable viewing angle might as well be 45 degrees.
And CRTs hit their economics vs. performance limits a long time ago (the 200 lbs of glass is the most expensive part, if not the insurance for people who have to lift 200 lbs of glass into place). They will probably start to increase in price along with their rarity.
Re:OLED displays needed (Score:3, Interesting)
In the broadcast engineering world, we like to have two people looking at a monitor at the same time to be able to see the same color & luminance on a pixel. Plus in a broadcast control room, you aren't sitting on a sofa, you may be moving around the room but needing to occasionally look back and need to be able to see what is going over the air to millions of people.
Some of the LCD monitors I've seen have good horizontal and vertical viewing angles, but it turns out that any offset in a diagonal direction is unusable for critical viewing.
You are right about CRTs. Professional-quality HD CRTs are basically no longer made. You plopped down $50,000 for one five years ago, but now there are none except in the used market.
Here are the user requirements for reference monitors [www.ebu.ch] from the EBU.
I should add that plasmas in particular have really truncated color gamuts. They cannot represent all the Rec. 709 [wikipedia.org] colors at any reasonable brightness, thus they tend to
"stretch the greens" which the eye is more sensitive to in order to look bright. Many plasmas also have a "turn-on jump" from a totally black pixel to one that has any light output that tends to accentuate noise in dark areas.
Re:Why does it have to glow? (Score:2)
Look at this also another way: stores can save millions in lighting bills.
Re:Why does it have to glow? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Why does it have to glow? (Score:5, Informative)