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The term set-top box will become something of a misnomer in the near future,
as most displays will become too thin to allow a box to placed on top of them.
As the price of plasma and LCD displays has plummeted and their image quality
has improved, they are now showing up in homes everywhere.Although they are the darlings of the media and the generic for flat panel display in the minds of many, plasmas are about to be in a serious fight with other technologies for the flat panel crown.
LCD displays, seen on the desktop for years as computer monitors, and commonplace in smaller flat panel TVs, are finally increasing in size to the point they are becoming a rival to plasmas in the 42" - 50" size range. Picture quality is similar to plasmas; however LCDs are immune to the burn-in that can affect plasma displays. This burn-in occurs when plasma units are used to display static images such as video game screens and stock or sports tickers.
Plasmas generally have an edge in the ability to produce deeper blacks and more saturated colors than LCDs. Plasmas are also better at producing full motion video than LCDs because of the response time of the LCD panels, although this difference is disappearing.
LCD TVs are a bit more expensive than plasmas at 42" and larger sizes, but they should last a while longer. Plasma displays should last 20,000 - 25,000 hours and LCDs should give 30,000+ hours of useful life. However, the latest generation of plasma displays from NEC, LG, and others is claimed to have a 60,000 hour life. If that is an industry trend, the traditional lifespan advantage held by LCDs may soon disappear. This comes at a time when Sony and other major consumer electronics manufacturers are either abandoning plasma or reducing their plasma stock inventory. Others, such as Panasonic, Fujitsu and Pioneer are firmly commited to Plasma technology.
Samsung 46" was the first consumer LCD video display to have a 1080 line native resolution. This allows it to display 1080p native when that format arrives for HDTV. The Samsung has been joined by Sony, Toshiba and others, to endow the mid 40" size category with some pretty solid LCD TV products. The largest consumer LCD TVs or monitors are the Sharp 65" and Sony showed a prototype 82" LCD from their Bravia line at the 2006 CES in Las Vegas.
Other technologies are on the horizon as well. One that has shown great promise is OLED, for Organic Light Emitting Diode. Developed by Kodak and Pioneer, this technology has been used for a few years in car stereo and cell phone displays. It's just about ready for prime time. Philips has shown a 13" unit, Samsung a 17", and Seiko-Epson has shown a 40" prototype.
OLED's advantages are many. It actually emits it's own light, so it requires no backlight and has better contrast than a traditional LCD. OLED displays have a wide viewing angle like a plasma display. Power usage is very low, less than 1/2 that of a traditional LCD display. At around 2mm deep, OLEDs are much thinner than either a plasma or LCD.
They have a refresh rate about 1,000 times faster than a traditional LCD, so they will be far superior for video applications. They have fewer parts than LCD or plasma and can be manufactured using a novel ink jet printing process. This promises to keep prices low as the technology is implemented. It is expected to see sub 20" displays in stores by 2006 with larger units following one to two years later.
Other promising display technologies on the horizon include SED (Surface-conduction Electron-emitter Display) and carbon Nanotube. SED was developed by Canon, who began research into the technology in 1986. SED is basically the same principle as CRT, however there are important differences. The most important from a consumer perpective is thickness. An SED display is only an inch or two thick, depending upon screen size.
The visual advantages of SEDs are as for CRT displays, great color, deep black levels and quick motion response. These advantages, combined with the slim form factor, low cost and small power requirement should make for a real winner.
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