Video Asylum

Posted by Larry I (A) on December 31, 2007 at 06:42:46

In Reply to: RE: Will plasma disappear as a display technology? posted by townsend on December 29, 2007 at 20:40:52

It's hard to say what is the inherent capabilities of a particular technology, so one cannot say how much plasma can be improved. Still, one can expect some new technology to eventually surpass plasmas. For example, Sony is banking on OLED (organic light emitting diode), which supposedly has an extremely high contrast ratio. But, who knows when that will be available in larger size screens at a cheap price. Toshiba appears to not be able to bring its SED technology to market (superior version of plasma).

The most likely near-term technological breakthrough is locally dimming backlighting of LCD sets. This technology involves the use of LEDs as the backlighting source and having a large number of individual light sources covering the whole screen. In dark portions of the screen, the LED will be emitting less light than areas that are brighter. This has the potential to decrease power consumption, vastly increase contrast ratio and vastly improve black levels.