Posted on 05/06/2007 5:05:42 AM PDT by Las Vegas Dave
TOKYO — Field Emission Technologies Inc., carved out of Sony Corp. to commercialize field-emission display technology, will demonstrate a prototype FED panel here at Display 2007, scheduled to run April 18-20. Initial commercial offerings are targeted for 2009.
FE Technology took over FED development from Sony when it was spun off from the Japanese consumer giant in December. Sony holds a 36.5 percent stake in the company. Tokyo-based carve-out fund Tech Gate Investment is the majority equity holder.
Sony undertook FED development in 1998, working with Candescent Technologies Corp. When Candescent filed for bankruptcy in 2004, Canon Inc. purchased the U.S. company's FED-related patents. Sony retains the right to use the patented technologies but not to sublicense them.
"We will negotiate with Canon on necessary patents," said FE Technology president Shohei Hasegawa.
FE Technologies plans initially to aim its FED panels at professional monitor applications, targeting consumer markets only after it secures a toehold in the professional space. "Large-scale investment and harsh price competition in the display industry make it difficult for players to recoup their investment, so we'll launch our business small and grow it large," said Hasegawa, who had a leading role in Trinitron CRT and FED technology development while at Sony.
The company borrowed from CRT technology in developing fluorescent materials for its FED panel prototype. The unit to be shown this week is an SXGA 20-inch panel with 0.3-mm pixel pitch. It has a brightness of 400 nits, comparable to that of a conventional TV set, according to FE Technologies.
A 26-inch panel with 0.3-mm pitch would yield full HD resolution (1,920 x 1,080 dots). "For professional HD monitor applications, displays with at least a 24- to 26-inch size will be required. Our pilot line cannot make panels larger than 20 inches, so we are looking for business partners," Hasegawa said.
If facilities allow, FED panels can be made up to about 50 inches without technical difficulty, said Hidenori Kenmotsu, general manager of FE Technologies' technical planning division.
The pinged subjects will be those of HDTV technology, satellite/cable HD, OTA (over the air with various roof top and indoor antennas) HD reception. Broadcast specials and any and all subjects relating to HD.
Lasvegasdave
Pinging the list.
Photos of video displays can be found here;
Thank you for the ping.... BTTT
What’s the difference between this and Canon’s SED?
In recent years, Sony Corp. has experimented with several types of display technologies. So, it was no surprise that Sony announced this week that it would establish a joint venture with a technology fund to develop a new type of flat-panel FED (Field Emission Display).
Sony said it and Tokyo-based Technology Carve-out Investment Fund (TCI) would invest a total of 2.5 billion yen ($21.7 million) in the venture, which is scheduled to begin operations in the coming weeks with a staff of about 30 employees. Reportedly, Sony will take a 36.5 percent stake in the venture with TCI investing the remaining 63.5 percent. Sony started work on development of FED technology back in 1998 with a California-based company called Candescent Technologies Corp., but only began developing the technology on its own from 2002. Candescent filed for bankruptcy in 2004. Ironically, Canon bought Candescent’s patents in an auction.
Field emission display (FED) technology was invented in the 1970s as a possible alternative to the traditional cathode-ray tube TV, and is related to SED (Surface-conduction Electron-emitter Display), which is being developed by Toshiba Corp. and Canon Inc. However, neither been commercialized and lost favor in recent years to liquid-crystal displays and plasma displays in the flat-panel race. FED and SED technology can be used to develop flat displays that are bright, consume relatively little electricity, have wide viewing angles, and offer greatly reduced depths (over CRTs). Some industry insiders have dubbed FED and SED technologies as the best of flat-panels and CRTs combined.
This will all change as Toshiba Corp. and Canon Inc. ramp up SED production next year, which looks to compete with 1080p LCD and plasma technology in the fast-growing flat TV market. Toshiba hopes to have its first 55-inch SED HDTV with a screen resolution of 1080p on the market by Christmas 2007, which was recently shown at CEATEC Japan 2006.
LCD and plasma display TVs have already been on the market for several years now. Picture quality for both has improved greatly over the years, and production efficiency has risen sharply due to big investments by makers such as Sharp Corp., LG, and Samsung (with Sony) among others. So, it’s unclear if either FED or SED, for that matter can make a dent in this marketplace in light of falling prices.
A Sony spokesman Chisato Kitsukawa noted that “Any further investments would be made after assessing the venture’s results in 18 months. The likely commercial target of FED technology would be large professional-use displays such as those used at broadcasters,” he said. However, if Toshiba launches successfully launches SED, it can be easily speculated that Sony would quickly ramp-up FED production. Sony, who does not participate in the plasma arena, looks to have similar competing television technology
I’ll be cracking open the piggy bank late this summer for a 50” to 56” set. I’m hoping the 1080p plasmas are priced similar to the 1080p LCDs by that time.
Though I’m still considering a DLP. I have 24” of clearance behind the set.
Do all these high def tv displays have a chart that outlines the hours of your life that are robbed from you sitting in front of “high Def” tv shows?
Truthfully, if you pay multiple thousands for a theater room set up don’t you feel obligated to then use it? If you figure the hourly rate you are worth and the cost of deepening relationships with your family is it really financially worth it?
My 50” plasma has come down 25% in price from what I paid last Oct.
LOL! That’s why I don’t already have one!
The main TV is a 13 year old, heavy 32” Toshiba CRT that I paid around $370 for at the time and thought that was too much for a TV!
And to be quite frank, I don’t watch much TV. I’m not even much of a sports watcher. (Well, I am a coach and my daughter plays on my team but neither of us watch it much on TV) I would be nonchalant if the cable TV went out for a day or so (though I would miss the occasional FoxNews viewing and my daughter would be upset without the kids networks) but no big deal. But if the high speed internet access went down, well, that would be grounds for angry calls within 15 minutes! :-)
Since my wife and another child are disabled, we don’t get out more than twice a year. I was watching the movie “Master and Commander” on DVD with her last night on one of those lucky nights when neither of us fell asleep in front of the TV after the kids were in bed. I have the wide screen version. And though it was enjoyable, I was thinking what it would be like to have an actual wide-screen TV with one of those DVD players that upscales the image for High Def.
Also, my daughter and I like to play video games together. It would be cool to have a TV that could handle the HD output from the XBOX 360 when playing with a split screen. Usually my wife consigns us to the old 19” basement TV for such game play (can you imagine!) but even if we don’t play upstairs that much, at least we’ll have a 32” screen downstairs!
And someday, when I don’t have the weight of the world pressing on my shoulders, I would like to see what it’s like to sit back, watch a HD football game from start to finish with the only disturbance being the replacement of my empty beer with a new one!
bump
Yeah, plasma is what I want given the combination of contrast, luminance and viewing angle. It beats out LCD.
I don’t know if I should hold out for a 1080p plasma though. There are a few available but they’re very expensive (ie $10,000). The XBOX 360 output is only 720p which would match the typical plasma resolution just fine.
However, when considering spending $3,000 or much more for a TV, you want some longevity!
There are some 1080p DLP projection TVs that are under $2,000 now. I’m almost starting to consider that as a “temporary” solution until one of these new technologies can replace plasma, LCD and DLP.
Thanks, Dave! ......................... FRegards
we got rid of our TV 16 years ago and several unexpected things happened after I got over the initial panic that the world was going to leave me behind.
1. After about 3 weeks I realized that a strange new sensation came over me.... contentment and happiness. I didn’t walk around all day thinking I wish I had the latest car, latest clothes, the ultimate Blah blah blah. What happened is I was no longer watching commercials that would feed my belief that in order to be “truly happy” I had to have those things. I noticed it first when my birthday came around, I didn’t have a list of 50 things I wanted.
2. I also found I had far more hours in the day that I used to develop deeper and more relationships with people. Joined our local search and rescue team, doubled the size of our house..... And I realized that I no longer needed to be “entertained” because I have an exciting enough life that I dont have to watch others doing exciting things, because I am living them myself.
3.When I did go to movies, I found that movies (yes theater movies) were really slow and not as entertaining as they once were. This I found strange but I realized that TV shows were such a low form of entertainment that Movies seemed more glamorous and funny.... not the case.
There are many more things I could tell you... but all that to say, I wouldnt have a TV now if they paid me. If you think about it they really should pay you for the time you sit looking at their commercials. People lose track of what their time is worth. People spend 9 hours a day working at jobs most do not like for a pay check. But then go home and watch laugh track laced shows for another 5 or 6 hours for no money at all.
That is insane.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.