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[Aquamarine]

The Nikkei reports Sony (SNE +0.5%) is halting OLED TV development. Universal Display (OLED -5.2%) spiked sharply lower on the report, but has recovered some of its losses.

Sony, which showed off the world's first 4K OLED TV in January, has already called off an OLED TV joint venture with Panasonic. Today's report follows one from a week ago stating Samsung is scrapping plans for an OLED TV plant, as sky-high price tags relegate the technology to niche status for now in spite of its image quality and form factor strengths.

Universal is giving back a portion of the big gains it saw on Friday due to a Q1 beat and guidance hike that drew plenty of sell-side praise.

Credit: Seeking Alpha




TOKYO -- Sony has decided to put commercial development of OLED televisions on ice for now and instead focus on 4K ultrahigh-definition LCD TVs.

OLED TVs remain a promising next-generation TV technology with their clear pictures and fast response times. That is why Sony continued development work alone this year after it dissolved its collaborative tie-up with Panasonic at the end of 2013. But South Korean rivals LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics have moved ahead of the Japanese company in this field.

Sony does not see real demand for OLED TVs taking off anytime soon, whereas its 4K LCD TVs are generating revenue now and could help its TV business return to the black for the first time in 11 years in the year to March 2015. 4K TVs are priced around 100,000 yen ($970) higher than regular flat-panel TVs.

Sony currently enjoys an industry-leading share of the global market for 4K TVs. It accounted for more than 20% of the value of all shipments in 2013 and sees an opportunity to leverage its brand appeal to expand in this market. It will release eight 4K models this summer, which is more than double the number of last year, and aims to quadruple sales this fiscal year. The 4K models will constitute around 40-50% of Sony's total lineup of large flat-panel TVs, compared with the 10-20% ratio of last business year.

Sony will reassign the people now working to develop OLED TVs at the Atsugi Technology Center and elsewhere to other tasks, including development of 4K-related products.

At the same time, the company will take steps to cut costs in order to turn its TV business around. That includes plans to slash labor expenses for consumer electronics products by more than 20%."

(Nikkei)


http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Sony-benches-OLED-TVs-for-4K-sets

 

[terrisus]

At the same time, the company will take steps to cut costs in order to turn its TV business around. That includes plans to slash labor expenses for consumer electronics products by more than 20%

And that's even after outsourcing their screen production a couple of years back.

 

[badcrumble]

Well, at least their balance sheets will have decent black levels.

 

[Dead]

didnt Samsung just announce something similar?

mainstream OLED seems to be a pipe dream at this point

 

[somuchwater]

Well, at least their balance sheets will have decent black levels.

 

[Aquamarine]

didnt Samsung just announce something similar?

mainstream OLED seems to be a pipe dream at this point

Yep:

"Sony, which showed off the world's first 4K OLED TV in January, has already called off an OLED TV JV with Panasonic. Today's report follows one from a week ago stating Samsung is scrapping plans for an OLED TV plant, as sky-high price tags relegate the technology to niche status for now in spite of its image quality and form factor strengths."

 

[McSpidey]

My next Sony TV purchase plan development on hold, focus on other manufacturers OLED TVs instead.

Is anyone still going to make them?

 

[polyh3dron]

Well, at least their balance sheets will have decent black levels.

holy shit, lol

/thread

 

[Tablo]

Well, at least their balance sheets will have decent black levels.

Holy shit, I'm done XD

 

[djplaeskool]

Well, at least their balance sheets will have decent black levels.

Bravo, sir.

 

[mjontrix]

Well, at least their balance sheets will have decent black levels.

BAHAHAHAHA!

/dead.

Spoiler

their recent high end have good blacks though, it's the viewing angles that suck.

 

[CurlySaysX]

Are they still working on cled?
They were supposed to release one this year.

 

[JordanN]

When is Sony going to unlock the PS4's 4k ability? I keep saying they should market it with their TV's.

Even XBO supports it.

 

[Ridley327]

Well, at least their balance sheets will have decent black levels.

Dat first second post.

 

[TheAbsolution]

Well, at least their balance sheets will have decent black levels.

I said DAMN.
Jeez.

 

[inner-G]

Goddam that second post, lol

 

[Somnid]

Well, at least their balance sheets will have decent black levels.

9/10. Should say "Well, maybe their balance sheets will have decent black levels"

 

[nhlducks35]

Well, at least their balance sheets will have decent black levels.

Outstanding

 

[CrankyJay]

didnt Samsung just announce something similar?

mainstream OLED seems to be a pipe dream at this point

Yields aren't as good as previously thought. If it makes you feel any better LGs design seems to be better suited for mass production and they should have a new OLED plant up sometime in the second half of this year.

Samsung is going to concentrate on phones and tablets and laptops in OLED while rethinking what they want to do with TVs.

 

[Dead Prince]

and they'll keep bleeding.

 

[reKon]

Well, at least their balance sheets will have decent black levels.

fuck lol

 

[Amentallica]

And that's even after outsourcing their screen production a couple of years back.

Completely off topic, but I read on your profile that you're going for a PhD. In what, may I ask?

 

[vivftp]

Are they still working on cled?
They were supposed to release one this year.

Where did you hear they were releasing one this year? The last we heard on CLED last year was that it was extremely expensive, and more suitable for large scale displays morso than consumer level home displays. It appeared they expected the tech to be more suitable for professional displays if/when it ever launched.

Indeed, screw OLED - I wants me a CLED display! At least with a CLED display if I ever run into a dead pixel I just have to have them replace that single segment of the screen rather than the whole thing.

The conspiracy theory part of my brain still thinks they could have had CLED ready to go, but the 4K push knocked those plans back because it would make no sense to market 4K TVs/content, and push an extremely expensive, high end 1080p CLED TV at the same time. Maybe once they get 4K CLED down to reasonable levels we'll finally see it return?



On a side note, some early previews I've seen say Sony are no longer using quantum dots for their triluminos tech this year. Anyone know wtf they're using? Is it the Live Colour LED tech they've put into their phones/tablets, or something else?


Now back on topic... DAMNIT KAZ, GIVE US CLED NOW!

 

[The_Inquisitor]

Too bad but kind of expected. Still, I don't even see a real 4k demand when there's not even much content out. But I guess you have to have displays capable of 4k to generate 4k content...

 

[Sectorseven]

What's the status of that ioled tech? It was supposed to be oled but transparent.

 

[sestrugen]

Well, at least their balance sheets will have decent black levels.

 

[TheRealTalker]

Well, at least their balance sheets will have decent black levels.

 

[donkey show]

Well, at least their balance sheets will have decent black levels.

 

[Dead]

Yields aren't as good as previously thought. If it makes you feel any better LGs design seems to be better suited for mass production and they should have a new OLED plant up sometime in the second half of this year.

Samsung is going to concentrate on phones and tablets and laptops in OLED while rethinking what they want to do with TVs.

LG definitely doesn't make me feel better lol

I wouldve thought yields would have improved by now. oh well.

 

[Rentahamster]

Well, at least their balance sheets will have decent black levels.

Oh man, that's gold.

 

[Enron]

Well, at least their balance sheets will have decent black levels.

I don't even feel like reading the rest of the thread now!

 

[jbueno]

Still secretly hoping they´ll be back in CRT business some day.

 

[Lima]

LG definitely doesn't make me feel better lol

I wouldve thought yields would have improved by now. oh well.

Their Oled Tv's are excellent though. Not like the other LCD shit they put out.

 

[Oni Jazar]

LCD = Lowest Common Denominator.

 

[terrisus]

Still secretly hoping they´ll be back in CRT business some day.

The glorious return of:

 

[Keldor]

LCD = Lowest Common Denominator.

Yup. Profits > Picture quality.

What a shame. Here's hoping my Kuro holds out until something better finally comes along.

 

[CrankyJay]

LG definitely doesn't make me feel better lol

I wouldve thought yields would have improved by now. oh well.

Inkjet printing of OLED will only improve things, but we probably won't see these TVs at mainstream prices until 2017-2018. You can get an LG 55" for $3999 on eBay now.

 

[kmax]

Well, at least their balance sheets will have decent black levels.

 

[faridmon]

Well, at least their balance sheets will have decent black levels.

Ok, this got me good!

 

[RoboPlato]

Plasma is dead and now it seems OLED won't even get a chance for a long, long time. Dammit. Every time I use my Vita I'm in awe of the quality of the screen, I would pay a lot to be able to have a large version of that at 1080p.

 

[FLAguy954]

Well, at least their balance sheets will have decent black levels.

Lmao! Should of been the first post.

 

[terrisus]

Completely off topic, but I read on your profile that you're going for a PhD. In what, may I ask?

Well, I was going for a PhD in Education, with a focus of K-12 Studies in Education

Had finished the coursework for it, but didn't pass the comprehensive exams, and then had a stroke. That was last year, and I've kind of given up on it as not going to happen. I probably should update my profile, kind of forgot I had that there.

 

[Roo]

So.. what are the benefits an OLED TV offers over the LC/LED/Plasma?
They must be really special if they cost so much to the point manufacturing was put on hold.

 

[Amentallica]

Well, I was going for a PhD in Education, with a focus of K-12 Studies in Education

Had finished the coursework for it, but didn't pass the comprehensive exams, and then had a stroke. That was last year, and I've kind of given up on it as not going to happen. I probably should update my profile, kind of forgot I had that there.

Oh, man, I'm so sorry. Is it the stroke that's preventing you from going back, or do you just not want to do it anymore?

 

[UglyPony]

Yay for more edge lit led panels with insane clouding, banding and dynamic contrast horseshit.

 

[Lambda Pie]

i assume they think it's easier to sell "higher res" than "deeper blacks" to the TV buying crowd.

 

[Hermii]

If they are not going to focus on making 1080p tvs better. then why dont their gaming console support 4k?

Why would anyone want to upgrade to 4k before 4k content is mainstream? I could see myself upgrading to oled sometime in the future but not 4k.

 

[NekoFever]

Ugh. I'm going to be stuck with no choice but a fucking LCD when my plasma finally dies, aren't I?

 

[velociraptor]

LCD fucking sucks.

My 7 year old Panasonic plasma looks better than virtually every LED/LCD screen on the market today.

I can't wait until we finally get technology that gives perfect screen uniformity without any clouding/dirty screen effect/backlight bleed whilst giving such perfect/deep colours and blacks. Motion handling and input lags on plasma screens are also superb.

I'm not too clued up on OLED but does OLED suffer from the same niggling issues as LCD/LED TVs? Clouding/backlight bleed royally pisses me off.

 

[Shin Johnpv]

Damn, every time a replacement for LCDs comes around something kills it. I'm still mourning the loss of SED tvs (think flat panel but with the picture quality, and blacks of a CRT). Don't you fuckers kill OLED on me now too!