AfterTek

When it comes to having a television people are dying to pick up the new flat, LCD(liquid crystal display)screens. With the great picture quality and the no glare feature you can’t help, but gawk at them whenever you pass them by in your nearest Wal-Mart or Best Buy.
Of course now things are about to change and people are going to eventually want to upgrade those LCD TV screens for Toshiba Corp.’s new OLED(organic light-emitting diodes)screens.

The first of these Toshiba OLED television sets should hit the market in 2009, said Yuko Sugahara [CQ], a company spokeswoman. OLED screens offer higher contrast and faster response times than LCD screens. OLED screens can also be thinner since no backlight is required. The carbon-based materials used to make OLEDs illuminate themselves when an electrical current is applied.

However, OLEDs are difficult to manufacture and degrade over time. Manufacturers are therefore working on ways to improve production yields and increase the lifespan of the screens. Sony Corp. became the first company to introduce an OLED television on Monday, with the release of its XEL-1.

The television, which goes on sale in December, has an 11-inch screen and has an estimated of lifespan of around 30,000 hours. That’s enough time to watch eight hours of television per day for 10 years, Sony said. While Sony was first to market with an OLED television, a lot of work remains to be done before the screens are ready for widespread adoption. The XEL-1 will be available in limited quantities, with Sony expecting to produce just 2,000 sets per month.