Sony to Focus On OLED & Crystal LED

tvpredictions.com ^ | 12/Apr/2012 | Phillip Swann

[Las Vegas Dave]

Washington, D.C. (April 12, 2012) -- Sony said today that it will reduce the number of products it sells by a whopping 40 percent -- and it will focus more on new high-end HDTV displays such as OLED and Crystal LED.

Sony's new CEO Kazuo Hirai made the disclosure today at a press briefing in Japan, reports Verge.com. The announcement is part of Sony's effort to turn around its troubled electronics division which has fallen behind such companies as Samsung and Vizio. The company also said it would lay off 10,000 employees worldwide.

Sony first introduced the Crystal LED at January's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The company says the set will use six million LEDs (light emitting diodes) as the light source on the front of the display. Consequently, Sony says, the set will be capable of offering a "much higher contrast, wider color range and super video image response times."

The return of the OLED set is a small surprise. Sony was one of the first CE companies to experiment with the ultra-thin OLED technology, even launching an 11-inch model at retail. However, the company dropped the OLED line when it reportedly had difficulty manufacturing larger-size screens with that technology.

But now Sony says the OLED is back on line, which makes sense considering that the set was a hit at CES. Both Samsung and LG showcased 55-inch OLED models at the show.

The renewed emphasis on high-end HDTVs such as OLED and Crystal LED is in keeping with Sony's historic policy of creating the perception that it manufactured premium TVs. However, in recent years, the company seemed to lose its focus, introducing a number of middle-brow sets and offering sharp discounts on the sets.

[Las Vegas Dave]

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LasVegasDave.

[I see my hands]

The good old days.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Sony fallen behind Vizio, the new US upstart? That’s pretty hard to believe. Is that true?

[Eye of Unk]

I held off buying a new widescreen last year because all that was available that had better performance specs were all 3D plasmas, and the entry level plasma by Panasonic had brightness issues after being “Green neutered” for being power hungry.

Not interested in tiny Tvs, not interested in 3D, the LED thing is too new. I want at least a 60” plasma, 1080P with a good refresh rate for high speed images.

[Gay State Conservative]

Sony makes darn good products but you pay for what you get.My TV,laptop,blu ray player and other items are all Sony.

[RayChuang88]

Based on what I've read about Organic LED, one of the big potential advantages is that the picture refresh rate can be measured in the thousands of Hertz, not the 600 Hertz of plasma or 120/240 Hz of better LCD panels. The result is virtually NO motion blurring, so even very fast action like action movies and sports look extremely clear.