Fresh off it’s victory in the high-def DVD format war, Sony Corp. has its sights set on the HD displays that we’ll be enjoying all of our Blu-ray goodness. On to the display format war!
Well, OK, so this one seems to be more of a battle that several parties can share in the spoils, as LCD and plasma have coexisted relatively peacefully. In this case, Sony already has a proven winner in its Bravia line of products, but it announced today that it will pump $203.5 million (from Reuters, via Engadget) into making medium-to-large panels incorporating OLED (organic light-emitting diode) technology.
Last fall, Sony released its 11-inch OLED XEL-1 set that has a ridiculously thin 3-millimeter depth, ridiculous 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and ridiculous price tag of $2,500. Does that mean people will pay five figures for OLED sets in the 32-to-52-inch range, where LCD and plasma prices are tumbling every day?
Who knows? But as a young TV technology, perhaps seven years from now big-screen OLEDs will become as commonplace as plasmas have grown over the past seven years. And yes, as good as Blu-ray discs look on LCD and plasma, I imagine they can be even more incredible on the razor-sharp OLEDs.
Besides, what does Sony have to lose now? It avenged Betamax, it’s dropped production of rear-projection TV, so why not focus on OLED?
What do all your responses have to do with OLED?!? Stop being whiney babies, HD-DVD is dead. Move on with your lives....
I can’t wait for some decent sized OLED screens. I’ve seen the small one at the Sony store, unbelievably bright and beautiful. I haven’t seen any other TVs look even remotely close to as good…
Once they put out a decent priced 60 inch model, I’ll be ready to replace my plasma screen in the bedroom.
All,
So many of you have this weird issue with product support and what company rules. Who cares, all I ever care about is the overall value of a sound and reliable product. Not who made it or how much money they spent to advertise it. This is a fast paced technological world and all any of you should be concerned with is, do any of these companies have our (the consumer) best interest in mind. In the end probably not, but they should be concerned with maintaining superior product quality and customer support. As for the blue-ray HD war, I could care less. The only concern is that we have a monopoly now meaning Sony and it constitutes can take their time lowering prices and improving their products.
Market numbers are no indicator of a products quality. Think ‘Bose’. Overpriced in all respects. Cute form factor. (Show me a freq. response curve for a Bose speaker. They don’t exist for a reason!)
Marketing wins. Not product quality. Blu-Ray is an incomplete format. HD-DVD was not. HD-DVD was better for the consumer. Sony’s marketing won. Toshiba didn’t try hard enough!
Poor poor bitter Tim dont cry, what is your stake in it. Everyone for the begining already knew HD DVD was doomed, the writing was on the wall. You act as if M$/toshiba wasnt paying off studio support also. So many na sayers wanted to see sony/bluray/ps3 fail it was rediculous, some of the post and comments people were making dooming sony around the web. Im happy Sony gets to throw it right back in right your face and prove that the ps3/blu ray was the correct horse to bet on. Now bitter fan boys like yourself expose your true colors. Sore losers I guess. Anyhow, You cannot blame sony for having a better product. Blu ray disk is a better format the markets numbers dont lie majority wins. Why is everyone so suprised how quickly it ended in KO fashion. Im kinda glad you wont be purchasing sony products, your loss our community is better of with out fan boys like your self.
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funny.... picture is running mapthis! (homebrew running on a hackedpsp).. this is… 
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I’m psyched about OLEDs. I disagree with the Sony Bravia’s being a winner. Get rid of the antiglare, like the Samsung TrueBlack lines, and maybe you’ve got a winner. Until then, the screen is just too fuzzy unless you buy the 10k XBR Bravias.
As for the format war: Clearly, the PS3 is the fastest, most future-proof, and best valued BD player on the market. All the other BD players are easy targets for HD-DVD fanboys, I’ll give them that.
BD firmware 2.0 will do everything that HD could could do with the added features of better durability and larger capacity. End of story.