Canon Abandons SED TV Hopes 120
angry tapir writes "Canon has decided to liquidate a subsidiary developing a flat-panel display technology called SED, effectively bringing to an end once high hopes that the screens would replace LCD panels and plasma displays in living room TVs. Development of SED (surface-condition electron-emitter display) screens began in 1986 at Canon and was joined in 1999 by Toshiba. SEDs combine elements of both CRT (cathode ray tube) and LCD (liquid crystal display) technologies. As with CRTs, electrons hit a phosphor-coated screen to emit light. But instead of being shot from an electron gun, electrons are drawn out of an emitter through a slit that is only a few nanometers wide. The result is a picture that is as bright as a CRT and does not suffer a time lag sometimes seen on LCD panels with rapidly moving images."
how thick are the TV's? (Score:3, Interesting)
CCFL LCD's are a few inches thick. someone i know just bought a 47" LED LCD TV and it's 1" thick at most. they junked a 150 pound CRT flat screen monster that broke. no one wants a big TV anymore
High end monitors (Score:3, Interesting)
Couldn't release it as high end consumer product? (Score:3, Interesting)
I mean, if they did all that work to turn it into a TV at all they could have released it to compete against Plasma TVs. If I could get CRT quality in LCD weight and size I'd be all over that. $5000 for a 36" TV that does that? Yes please.
Re:how thick are the TV's? (Score:3, Interesting)
The LED LCD TVs along with Corning's new Gorilla glass (so there is no border/bezel around the edge of the TV, the picture can fill the entire screen size) are going to be awesome. Sturdy, extremely-scratch resistant, and light weight.
Why not LED? (Score:2, Interesting)
Have you seen an LED screen recently?
I bought a laptop with an LED screen and I have to be very clear - it's obviously a sharper, better, higher contrast screen. The white is very white and very bright, and the blacks are deep and dark. Sitting next to the LCD screen (I run dual head) the difference is glaring.
LCD is sharper (to me) than CRT, and LED is brighter/more contrast than LCD. Best of both worlds?
pity (Score:1, Interesting)
Having seen a SED TV working up close, it's a pity they have not got this out as even LCD, OLED, plamsa etc all did not have the accurate color representation of CRT - In fact reference monitors were the initial target
But seeing one up close, the colors and resolution was just amazing - most people don't realise how "compressed" the color space is on most content and displays
But hey just like Token Ring, FDDI, ATM etc being technically better than ethernet, cost and being good enough often wins out
Re:Crap (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Crap (Score:3, Interesting)
I've had my LCD for a year, and I still get pissed off by the damn thing glowing grey when the screen saver kicks in.
I just bought a 22" LED-backlit panel and the blacks are very black. The glow of the black screen is not completely imperceptible in a darkened room, but it is hard to detect. As with all technologies, things improve over time.
Re:how thick are the TV's? (Score:1, Interesting)
I'm not sure 2160p will offer too many benefits over 1080p. It'll be a while before source media is anything greater than 1080p since the bandwidth/disc capacity to broadcast/distribute that isn't there yet. TVs can upscale, but 1080p BluRay already looks crystal clear at a reasonable viewing distance, so you don't get the same level of benefit that upscaled DVD gets.
The things that I see becoming differentiators are:
- AMOLED (3D is supposedly actually watchable on these screens)
- wireless connections (LG already offers TVs with a separate box to hook everything into which you can put anywhere in the room)
- size/thinness/weight (lighter TVs could mean adhesive wall mounts)
- viewing angle, brightness (while still maintaining black levels)
- eventually OLET TVs.