Darker darks, lighter lights, oh my
— -- Precious few of you will ever plunk down $2,500 for a television with such a small screen. But I wouldn't blame you for at least being tempted by Sony's XEL-1 OLED TV. It's one of those "statement" products we'd all brag about if we actually owned.
In describing top-notch TVs, technophiles often revert to geek-speak: rich color saturation, fast response times, the blackest blacks and highest contrast ratios. The Sony shines in these categories.
Contrast ratio in particular is often hyped and sometimes misused. It measures the range between the brightest white and the darkest black a TV can display: The larger the ratio the better. Sony's OLED boasts a whopping 1 million:1 contrast ratio. Though it's hard to make a direct comparison, a very nice LCD or plasma might have a contrast ratio of 10,000:1. Bottom line: To the naked eye, the OLED boasts a vibrant picture.
That said, the price seems even more mind-boggling when you figure the TV is not even high-definition: It has a "native resolution" of 960 by 540 pixels, about half the full high-definition standard of 1,920 by 1,080. Don't sweat it. The TV can still accept high-def video signals in widescreen mode and scales them to the resolution on hand, which is perfectly fine for an 11-inch display.
Here's a closer look:
•Design. So just how thin is the TV? When I first opened the box it arrived in, I thought the company had somehow forgotten to include the television.
The black-and-silver panel — the sexiest part — is permanently raised on a base that reminds me of a more handsome version of a laptop docking station. The top of the screen is about 10 inches above the surface the base sits on.
You can tilt the screen back and forward, but you can't swivel it side to side — hardly a big deal, given the screen's very generous viewing angle. Because of the thinness of the TV panel, the speakers and various connectors reside on the rear of the base. There are two HDMI inputs (for connecting a DVD player, audio system etc.) and an RF connector (for an antenna or cable hookup).
Also on hand is a USB slot that, for now, works only with a $300 Sony Bravia module accessory that provides free Internet video to the TV from the likes of AOL, CBS, FEARnet (full-length horror flicks), Sports Illustrated and other partners. Missing are the older S-Video or Composite Video ports that are common to other televisions — again no big deal. Given the OLED's size, I doubt you'd hook up too many components.
There's also a rear Memory Stick slot for inserting cards that would let you display digital pictures or play MP3s. (It works with the Memory Stick Pro and Duo type cards Sony favors.) On the side is a headphone jack.
On-screen menus for accessing parental controls and other settings employ the same navigation system used on PlayStation. I found myself pressing the illuminated buttons on the base to get to those menus and other functions (power, inputs, etc.) more than I wanted, until I hunted down a replacement for the remote control's wimpy lithium watch battery.
You can change picture modes (vivid, standard, custom) and sound options from the remote. I didn't love its feel.
•The technology. OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode and is pronounced "oh-led." The low-power, carbon-based technology converts electric energy into light. Unlike far more ubiquitous LCDs (liquid-crystal displays), OLED does not require a backlight. That helps keep them slim.
As Sony explains, a layer of organic material is sandwiched between two conductors, which are in turn sandwiched between glass. When an electric current is applied to the conductors, bright light is produced.
Thin is already in for TVs, of course. LCDs and plasmas don't have near the paunch of the rapidly disappearing tube-style sets most of us grew up on. And yet even in an era of flat-screen televisions, OLED has a chance to stand out.
By Edward C. Baig, USA TODAY