Skip to main content

Panasonic develops a 56-inch 4K OLED panel: Are your eyeballs ready?

Image used with permission by copyright holder

A couple of months ago, we speculated said that a fusion of 4K technology and OLED technology would be “the television equivalent of crossing the streams.” As beautiful as both technologies look, we can only imagine an intersection between them as Nirvana for the eyes, a state of sight left wanting nothing.

Today, Panasonic brought us one step closer to that transcendent state of viewing, with its announcement that it had developed a 4K OLED panel that also happens to be the largest ever made. The 56-incher in question outpaces the 55-inch models from Samsung and LG by a mere inch, but matches a similar 56-inch 4K OLED prototype Sony showed off on Monday.

Panasonic developed the panel using an RGB printing process that allows for the separate application of the red, green and blue OLED materials. This method is said to be simpler than traditional methods, and will likely allow for a wide variety of OLED screen sizes. In the past, OLED has translated easily to small-screen devices, like mobile phones and tablets, but manufacturers had faltered when trying to augment larger panels.

Buddha only knows what a television featuring this panel would cost, but similarly sized OLEDs have been priced at $12,000, while larger 4K sets have retailed for a whopping $25,000. Still, it’s probably only a matter of time before this tech makes its way down to a palatable price point and hence, into your living room. We can’t wait.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Adam Poltrack
Adam is an A/V News Writer for Digital Trends, and is responsible for bringing you the latest advances in A/V…
Best Buy just knocked $300 off this 85-inch Sony 4K TV
Sony - 65 Class X80J Series LED 4K UHD Smart Google TV

Best Buy is regularly one of the best places for TV deals and that’s certainly the case with the Sony 85-inch X80K 4K TV which is currently on sale. It usually costs $1,600 but it’s currently down to $1,300 so you save $300 off the regular price. If you’ve always wanted a large TV but you’ve been waiting for a lower price, this is a good opportunity to enjoy such an experience, all from a highly reputable brand. Want to know more? Let’s take a deeper look at what the Sony 85-inch X80K 4K TV has to offer.

Why you should buy the Sony 85-inch X80K 4K TV
Sony is a hugely aspirational TV brand which is hardly surprising given it consistently ranks highly in looks at the best TV brands. Generally, if you buy from Sony, you’ll be happy. With the Sony 85-inch X80K 4K TV, you get plenty of great features. That includes its 4K HDR Processor X1 which offers a picture which is smooth and clear, even when upscaling non-4K content. There’s also Triluminos Pro support which provides billions of accurate colors which are natural and beautiful.

Read more
Best Buy TV deals: Save on QLED TVs, OLED TVs, and 8K TVs
The Vizio V-Series 4K TV in the living room.

Landing some savings on a new TV is a pretty easy feat, as retailers are almost always willing to dish out some good TV deals. This is especially true of Best Buy, which is regularly discounting models by many of the best TV brands. Best Buy currently has a lot of TV deals to shop, and they include picture technologies that include QLED TVs and OLED TVs, as well as resolutions that range from 4K to 8K. We’ve rounded up all of the Best Buy TV deals worth shopping right now, so if you’re looking for a new centerpiece for your living room, basement, or home theater, read onward for more details.
Insignia F30 50-inch 4K Fire TV -- $230, was $300

A 50-inch 4K TV is a good size to suit most rooms, and the Insignia F30 has almost everything you could hope for in a TV this size. It presents all of your favorite content in breathtaking 4K resolution, and HDR technology provides a wide range of color details and sharper contrast, making movies more immersive and things like sports more impactful. Versatile connectivity ports make it easy to connect home theater peripherals. This TV also offers smart features like Alexa voice control, DTS Studio Sound, and Apple AirPlay. And because the Insignia F30 is a Fire TV, it will give you instant access to over 500,000 streaming movies and TV episodes, and access to thousands of channels and apps.

Read more
Samsung’s new 98-inch DU9000 4K TV is just $4,000. Can it beat TCL and Hisense?
Samsung 98-inch DU9000 4K TV.

Samsung's new 98-inch DU9000 Crystal UHD 4K TV is here and it's priced at $4,000, making it the company's most affordable 98-inch TV so far. Until now, if you wanted a Samsung TV in a massive, 98-inch screen size, you'd be looking at a starting price of $8,000 for the 98-inch QLED Q80C 4K TV. You can order the 98-inch DU9000 starting April 15, at samsung.com.

As 4K TVs get bigger, so does the size of the individual pixels, which can decrease perceived sharpness. Samsung says that the DU9000 is equipped with its Supersize Picture Enhancer, a technology that tries to compensate for this tendency.

Read more