Sony XEL-1 11" OLED Digital TV

Sony announced late last year its thinnest television ever – an 11-inch OLED Digital TV. Sony’s industry first OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) TV, the XEL1, has a three millimeter (0.12″) thin panel and offers unparalleled picture quality with amazing contrast, outstanding brightness, exceptional color reproduction, and a rapid response time. The XEL1 delivers outstanding performance in key picture quality categories.

OLED technology can completely turn off pixels when reproducing black, resulting in more outstanding dark scene detail and a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1. OLED creates unmatched color expression and detail and enables rapid response times for smooth and natural reproduction of fast moving content such as sports. The XEL1 features the latest connectivity options including HDMI inputs, a digital tuner, and a Memory Stick slot for viewing high-resolution photos.

As mentioned above, OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode. The organic in OLED refers to organic material – carbon. Carbon is the basis of all organic matter. What’s so great about OLED is its blazing fast response times, wide viewing angles, exceptional color reproduction, outstanding contrast levels, and high brightness.

The nature of its technology lends itself to extremely thin and lightweight designs along with the ability to use it in a variety of different applications. OLED is the holy grail of TV display technologies. OLED works via a layer of organic material is sandwiched between two conductors (an anode and a cathode), which in turn are sandwiched between glass top plate (seal) and a glass bottom plate (substrate). When electric current is applied to the two conductors, a bright, electro-luminescent light is produced directly from the organic material.

OLED also has more control over color expression because it only expressed pure colors when an electric current stimulates the relevant pixels. The OLED primary color matrix is arranged in red, green, and blue pixels, which are mounted directly to a printed circuit board. Each individual OLED element is housed in a special micro-cavity structure designed to greatly reduce ambient light interference that also works to improve overall color contrast.
The thickness of the organic layer is adjusted to produce the strongest light for each of the colors (red, green, and blue), used to render the color picture. The three colors are further refined by a color filter, which purifies each color without the need for a polarizer, rendering outstanding color purity.

OLED TVs are incredibly slim because organic material directly emits light so OLED display panels do not require a thick backlight or complex construction like other flat panel technologies. The Sony XEL1 is an unbelievable 3mm thin. OLED technology delivers a more efficient means of utilizing light, which is generated by the organic material itself instead of an always on backlight. Also, when elements are in their off state, they consume no power whatsoever.

The XEL1 delivers some impressive stats in key picture quality categories. Sony’s unique Super Top Emission technology, which combined with a special micro-cavity and color filters, enhances color purity and achieves extraordinary high color contrast. When an organic pixel is turned on, individual organic elements are stimulated directly by electric current, and therefore response time is incredibly fast. When the pixel is turned off the result is complete darkness. This results in deep blacks and an unheard of contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1

Yes, that’s a one million to one contrast ratio. OLED colors and contrast look amazing even at wide 178-degree viewing angles due to the direct view nature of the panel. Because OLED elements individually emit light that is directly displayed on the screen, high brightness levels can be achieved.

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