Your future OLED TV could be created with an inkjet printer

Kateeva shoot for Zachary Ross Design Group

Even though California startup Kateeva demonstrated it could print OLED displays way back in 2010, the printer it used was a prototype meant strictly for show and tell. The age of printed OLED TVs might finally be upon us however, as the company recently unveiled the YIELDJet, a machine it's calling the "world's first inkjet printer engineered from the ground up for OLED mass production." The machine is quite an impressive affair, comprising a shifting slab capable of handling glass or plastic sheets big enough for six 55-inch displays along with custom print heads designed to emit teeny tiny OLED pixels.

Why is this a big deal? Due to the oxygen and moisture-hating nature of OLED ingredients, current OLED televisions are built with tricky vacuum evaporation and shadow masking techniques that are too inefficient and wasteful to be inexpensive. The YIELDJet, on the other hand, prints the LEDs in a pure nitrogen chamber to avoid those problems, plus it promises better film coating uniformity as well. This, Kateeva said, will hopefully result in OLED TVs that won't cost an arm and a leg yet still look stunning when hung on your living room wall. Combined with Sony and Panasonic's separate efforts to mass-produce the stellar-looking sets, we certainly hope that day comes sooner rather than later.

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Via: MIT Technology Review

Source: Kateeva

LG’s OLED display production plant is taking shape, will fire up second half 2014

LG's OLED display mass production plant is taking shape, will fire up second half 2014

To us, installing some factory equipment doesn't seem like much cause for celebration. To LG, however, it's the first piece of tangible progress made towards getting its new OLED manufacturing line up and running. At a shindig held to welcome the equipment to LG's plant, the company said it expects to begin mass production of panels for 50-inch plus HDTVs in the second half of next year -- a little later than the original plan of first half 2014. Hopefully there won't be any more delays, as we'd quite like to see the production line flowing and the mammoth prices of those gorgeous curved sets come down a little.

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Via: OLED-Info

Source: The Korea Times

Samsung’s 55-inch curved OLED TV set to land in the US this week for $15k

Samsung's 55inch KN55S9 curved OLED TV landing soon in the US

Well, it looks like LG won't be the only option available this month for those in the market for a 55-inch curved OLED TV. According to CNET, Samsung's similar TV set, already on sale in Korea, is headed to "select dealers" in the US as early as this week. At least one of those, NY-based Value Electronics, says that its shipment is already on the way, and that it will run the same $14,999 that LG's TV demands at Best Buy. To be clear, that is $15k per TV. One TV. Fifteen thousand dollars. Slightly curved.

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Source: CNET

LG’s 55-inch OLED TV enters the third dimension, we slide on our glasses (hands-on video)

LG's 55inch OLED 3D TV

We first saw LG's 55-inch OLED TV at last year's CES, where it drew a fair share of oohs and ahhs at the company's press event. In May, the tentative pricing info for the European market was released, but this set's future in the US remained TBD. Fast forward to IFA 2012, and we're in front of this giant again -- but this time, it's sporting 3D. True, at 55 inches, it's no goliath compared to the 84-inch TVs we've seen this week from Sony, Toshiba and even LG, but the company claims this 55-inch model is the largest OLED HDTV available, and its carbon fiber backing and ultra-thin 4mm profile are certainly the markings of a high-end setup.

During LG's booth tour today, we had a chance to sneak a peek at the now 3D-capable set, which otherwise looks quite similar to the version we saw at CES, albeit with a bit more polish. In order to achieve a 4-millimeter profile, the set packs all of its connectivity in the base module. There's also an Invisible Connection module on order, which hooks up to the TV through a proprietary optical connector and transparent cable, should you wish to mount the display on your wall. Naturally, 3D content wasn't as sharp as its 2D counterpart, but the OLED looked great regardless. With its ultra-thin design, it's surely meant for consumers who care about aesthetics perhaps even more than image quality, but if you can stomach the €9,000 price tag, this is one fine get. Take a closer look in our gallery just below.

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LG's 55-inch OLED TV enters the third dimension, we slide on our glasses (hands-on video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 10:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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