Sony Debuts OLED TVs

October 1, 2007 By Nick Mokey

Sony's Japan-only XEL-1 will boast a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1, an 11-inch screen, and the price of a TV three times its size.

While many still marvel over how thin plasma-screen televisions are, Sony has leapfrogged the competition with the introduction of an ultra-thin OLED television – the world’s first. Sony’s XEL-1 will be just 3mm thick, with an 11-inch screen size.

Besides the thin factor, OLED screens should also possess superior brightness and dark levels, with a contrast ratio Sony claims is over 1,000,000:1. Color reproduction should also be better than on sets using other technologies, and without a high-voltage backlight to power, the TVs consume just 45 watts.

There are caveats, though. The lifetime of an OLED screen will still be half that of its LCD counterpart, and a price of Y200,000 ($1,736 USD) would put the 11-inch XEL-1 in the same league as much larger plasma and LCD sets.

Sony’s XEL-1 will go on sale in Japan only on December 1. Since its high price will make it off limits to most TV shoppers, Sony will produce only 2,000 units a month.

Showing 5 comments

steve at 1:42am 12th October 2007 Thats because every site steals each others news so they all put it was 11 inches when its really around 27.

look at that picture up at the top of this page thats way bigger than 11 inches.
Ian Bell and Dan Gaul at 9:35am 2nd October 2007 It says 11-inch on Gizmodo too: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/sony-xel_1/sonys-3mm-th...

and here: http://www.newlaunches.com/archives/sony_xel1_the_...

and here: http://techdigest.tv/2007/10/sony_xel1_world.html
Andreas Holmberg at 1:08am 2nd October 2007 The information here is not correct. The screen size is 27 inches - not 11. Of course 27 is still a bit small but a very good start.
Tim Stevens at 8:40am 1st October 2007 Who's going to buy this? It's only 11-inches. Way to small for today's standards even for early adopters IMHO.
TechFreak at 8:39am 1st October 2007 I am blown away by how fast Sony is getting these out into the marketplace. Sure 11-inches is not huge by any means, but this could mean 32" or larger in a year or two.