When SED development hit the brakes a few years ago, OLED technology quickly stepped in to fill the emptiness felt by our fickle hearts' desire for the blackest of blacks. Up until now, prototype OLED panels have been limited to a max size of about 40-inches. But these won't be available for consumers until 2010 or so. For now, we're "stuck with" Sony's little 11-inch XEL-1 if anyone actually wants to purchase an OLED TV for their living room kitchen. Samsung's vice president of flat panel development, HS Kim, says that Sammy "may demonstrate" a 50-inch OLED TV at CES in January but quickly tempers any enthusiasm with a crushing blow of reality,

"I'm sure that if we marketed such a set at ten times the price of current LCD TVs, which is what it would be now, no-one would buy it."

Kim then shifts into sales-mode by pointing out that Samsung's more power-efficient 240Hz LCDs and Plasmas with highly-reflective black panels and LED edge-lighting are quickly cutting into any advantage offered by OLEDs -- including thinness if you factor in the additional electronics you'd have to slap onto the back of those 3-mm thick OLED panels to create a TV. Of course, manufacturers can also dump all that tech into a display-side box much like Sony does with it's XEL-1, but hey, he's on a roll. When the interview with What Hi-Fi ended, Kim presumably kicked a puppy just to drive his points home.

[Via OLED-Display]

Hitachi's 1.5-inch thick 50-inch plasma wasn't exactly front and center like we had imagined, but it was there garnering stares nonetheless. Donning a glossy white finish and displaying nothing but floral arrangements, the set looked pretty good (though not great) in terms of visual quality. The design, however, was simply stunning. And just as promised, we did include the obligatory iPhone comparison, though you'll have to account for the Belkin skin when drawing your conclusions. Give it a peek in the gallery below.

Hitachi's "UltraThin" line of TVs might not be the skinniest on the block anymore, but a new top of the line 50-inch plasma (CES prototype pictured above) keeps the size crown in their camp. Expect the Thin is In tagline to be a centerpiece for Hitachi's booth at CEDIA, we'll try to get some specs and in person pics (including the ubiquitous iPhone comparo) when we stop by later.

While Microtek may not be the first name that comes to mind when you're thinking about plasma displays, the firm has four new PDP monitors ready to hit the market, all with decent specs and (fairly) reasonable pricing. Handling the low-end is the 42-inch MHP1-HDI, which sports a WXGA resolution, 1,300 cd/m2 brightness, 10,000:1 contrast ratio, built-in ATSC / NTSC hybrid tuner, HDMI, dual 10-watt stereo speakers, silver casing, and the company's own "Digital Color Transient Improvement (CTI) edge smoothing technology." The 50-inch version, dubbed P50TX1A, offers up just 1,000 cd/m2 brightness and an 8,000:1 contrast ratio, but otherwise remains identical to its slightly smaller sibling. For those who just insist on buying a set encased in black, the 42-inch Cineon CP42HA and 50-inch CP50HA just so happen to rock the exact same specifications as their silver-clad brethren, but will cost you a good bit more (sound familiar?) for the caliginous luxury. Microtek claims all four units are available now, and if you can manage to locate one, it'll run you $1,499 for the MHP1-HDI (and $100 more for the CP42HA), or $1,999 for the P50TX1A (add $200 for the CP50HA).

Read - Microtek's MHP1-HDI and P50TX1A displays
Read - Microtek's Cineon CP42HA and CP50HA displays

Pioneer's much anticipated 50-inch Elite PureVision PRO-FHD1 1080p plasma is now shipping to retailers, they announced yesterday. Complete with 2,073,600 .576 mm-sized pixels and a high quality scaler this is the first 50-inch 1080p plasma screen on the market. The MSRP of $10,000 (retail around $8,000) comes in at around twice the price of the merely 1080p-compatible PDP-5070HD 1366x768 HDTV. Also unlike its value-priced cousin, this doesn't come with any tuners, just the (beautiful) screen with 3000:1 contrast ratio, and 1000cd/m2 peak brightness as well as two HDMI rear inputs, one DVI and one component input. They're touting the effect of all that pixel density as creating a near-3D effect that you just can't get with other TVs, and even without one here to view, we're almost inclined to believe them.

Do you think all those extra pixels and true-1080p display for your Blu-ray (or HD DVD) and other high definition content are worth the extra cost?