Boffins demo OLED-on-a-roll production process General Electric scientists have worked out how to manufacture OLED displays on a roll, a process that they hope will one day allow panels to be punched out cheaply and cut to size like cloth. So far, GE's researchers have simply demonstrated such an approach is possible. But they believe that, with further development, the …
I reckon that if the display part is easy and cheap enough to produce, it could become a replaceable part. Switch off telly, unclip bezel, take out old sheet, stick new one in, clip bezel back on. 5 minute job. Like changing a bulb in a projector.
If 'they' can make it cheap enough, it doesn't matter if the OLED degrades over a couple of years. It gives the TV manufacturers a steady revenue stream too. Lifetime cost might go up for the consumer, but the picture (if the OLED TV I've seen are typical), will be worth it.
I guess there could be a danger of an inkjet cart situation. Cheap TVs, expensive replacement OLED sheets.
Futurologists (spit) seem to be obsessed with the idea: have a gander at Minority Report and see if you can spot Tom Cruise amidst the shimmering walls of personally targetted advertising covering every available surface. The scary thing is, they're making it happen: already you can't move on the London Underground without being assaulted by some form of motion graphics.
Much as that would be fantastic, there's no way that's going to happen. What will happen is that the TVs will be (fairly) cheap, say 50-100 quid, they'll last a couple of years, and then you'll have to buy a whole new TV and send the old one to landfill. Even though a replacement screen would cost a few pence, you won't be able to buy them for less than the cost of a new TV, because the plug-in method will be some kind of proprietary connector for each manufacturer that costs shitloads to buy, can't be sourced from anywhere else, and breaks into a million bits if you try to remove the old one to reuse it. So even if you buy a roll of these OLED screens, you won't be able to replace your or anyone else's TV screen with them because the on-roll ones won't have that expensive magic connector. That's how these companies make their obscene profits - it's called "planned obsolescence".
It's like the $39.95 (AUD) inkjets you can get from OfficeWorks in my city - it SEEMS cheaper to throw out the printer and buy a whole new one when the cartridges run dry, than to shell out the $60 odd for a single new cartridge ($120 to replace both) - even though the cartridges must cost MUCH less to make than the damn printer! Except that the manufacturer sneakily gets around it by selling the printers with only half-full cartridges. Stay away from them; those cheap printers are money traps... and these OLED TVs will be just the same!
Evil Bill because he is the master of planned obsolescence!
"Four years ago, GE demo'd a 60 x 60cm OLED panel capable of producing as much light as a modern incandescent bulb."
Do many people still use Victorian incandescent bulbs ? I changed all mine over to fluorescents years ago. Given how old and indefensible these energy wasters are and the fact they should now be banned, I'm a bit surprised incandescents are called "modern" in this article.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
