Are any of you guys waiting to buy one of the OLED tv's? I will probably be buying a display of some sort within the next year or so.... I just got done watching the CES Home Theater Geeks feed that was hosted by Scott Wilkinson and Leo Laporte. In it they went to a couple booths with OLED tv's and they were pretty amazed at the picture quality....


Do any of you guys have any intention to buy one, and what are your though's on the topic... I would say my budget would be around 5k$ or less.

I will be needing a TV for my new HT but I can't afford the price of the OLED and I also will be looking for something at least 60inches. I believe the OLED's will max out at 55 for now?

I try to avoid being on the bleeding edge. I've got a 60" but would love an 80". Once you get to that price point it makes sense to look at a projector/screen combo.

In my imaginary HT world I push a button, a curtain parts revealing a 120" screen. Push the button again the screen closes, a few seconds later it opens revealing the 60" tv. Women faint and children cheer.

How about special glasses that makes a smaller screen look bigger?

Ford, i already have a projector with a 135" screen.... i though about mentioning that but didn't... I've had the projector years and really like it. However, the one drawback to the projector is the bulb life. With my projector if i was not going to watch "projector" for a period greater than 30min i would not turn it on... I may also buy a motorized screen like you mention, i have though about that as well...

As nice as a large picture is, it is nicer to not worry about the bulb, i realize that you can always buy replacement bulbs ect... depending on where i buy a house, and how much room the house has, i may have a projector room... When i used my projector, i had about 4 sets of black sheets that i would use as "window treatments" they worked really well, but are more appropriate for someone in their 20's.... The other draw back is the room pretty much has to be movie theater dark, so for "regular living" it is not as family friendly. If you are going to sit down and watch a movie, then it is a non-issue. But if you want to watch some tv, then go in the kitchen make some food.. ect ect.. with other random lights on, it becomes less appealing over a brighter display.

I still have my projector, and will probably use it again, but for now it is safe in it's box, as i use a 60" DLP for the time being. This is how i discovered the virtues of having a "TV" that you can watch with other lights on in the house

I think that is correct, the first run will be 55" Sharp mentioned in the footage, a price between 5k-10k$.... so i would be at the bottom of their price range. I refuse to spend 10k$ on a TV.... to me that is too much money......

Hi all,

I expect large-screen OLED prices to follow the same pattern as large-screen plasma TVs did; in other words, to come down to affordable mass-market price levels over a 10-year period.

I remember going to a Super Bowl game party at a fellow editor's home in Rockland county, 30 miles from Manhattan, about a decade ago. For the party, a former colleague had set up and calibrated a large-screen HD Pioneer plasma, about 72 inches diagonal, which at the time sold for $12,000. The host for the Super Bowl party had over-the-air terrestrial HD reception, with a big tower antenna.

Now look at plasma prices. I saw the first Sony OLED demo about 3 years ago at CES. It was a 12-inch diagonal display and sold for $2500. So we have about 7 years to go before OLED displays are affordable.

Ford Prefect might recall that in the old days of small-screen black & white CRT sets, a company sold a huge magnifying glass that stood on a stand in front of your average 17- or 19-inch TV. It worked, but it was strictly viewing for one person.

Cheers,
Alan

Alan, i think the price crunch will happen in less than 7 years.. With the rate of change in TV technology today, if it takes them 7 years to bring the price down there will something even better. I think the product cycles are getting shorter and shorter. For someone to come to market with a 1080p OLED for 5k$, when 8k resolution Tv's are just around the corner, they will need to bring the price of the 1080p OLED down pretty fast, when a comparably priced product is 8X the resolution... I tend to agree with Leo Laporte, that the TV industry today is similar to the computer processor industry of the 90's... constantly doubling, and bringing the price down almost immediately (relatively speaking)... So, for this reason, i think the years of the 7-10 year product cycle are gone....

However, i could be completely wrong, and it may in fact take 7 years....

quote Alan:"Ford Prefect might recall that in the old days of small-screen black & white CRT sets, a company sold a huge magnifying glass that stood on a stand in front of your average 17- or 19-inch TV. It worked, but it was strictly viewing for one person."

i also remember the time, in the 60's when lots of people wished they could get a color tv; in the meantime, they would buy a plastic sheet that was rainbow colored; they fixed it over the screen and BINGO!
they had a color tv.
if i remember well, the magnifiers glasses were Fresnel lenses.

Those plastic sheets were blue on the top and green on the bottom, if I remember correctly. Only looked simi-wonderful in outdoor shots.

Yes Alan, I remember the magnifying glass and the "convert your B&W TV to colour sheets".

Seems like a million years ago.

...and the reason for that would be....?

Bob, you can be so cruel at times

I remember our first color tv. It was delivered to the house and the "technician" had this wand device that he passed in front of the tube to degauss the tube. High tech stuff.

if a degausser is high tech, then a pocket lighter is also high tech.

I remember using those degaussers when I worked at Best Buy, heh.