The Display Industry News Source for 6.29.2012

World's Thinnest Screen Made From Soap Bubble

LG reportedly researching 60-inch+ transparent flexible 4K displays with government funding "The South Korean government is plunging $55 million dollars into LG to promote the development of 60-inch+ transparent flexible 4K displays, if reports are to be believed. DDaily says that LG beat out Samsung for the deal after applying last year, and it's set to be officially announced next month. The project should generate 3840 x 2160 flexible displays in various sizes, and they'll have a 10cm radius of curvature with over 40 percent transparency. LG will reportedly research the manufacturing and materials with various unnamed partners before putting the displays into production. We've seen LG make strides in flexible displays before, with its 0.7mm-thick e-paper screen going into production a couple of months back, but the company could have bigger ambitions — DDaily says it's aiming to capture 70 percent of the transparent flexible display market by the year 2020." via The Verge

NPD DisplaySearch Emerging Display Technologies Conference to Cover Interactivity and Touch Trends "The fourth annual Emerging Display Technologies Conference will be held August 13-14 in Santa Clara, Calif., NPD DisplaySearch announced today. With display and related technologies shaping the future of mobile devices and other products, it has become increasingly critical for the electronics supply chain to stay up-to-date on the latest trends in touch screens, OLED and low power displays, solid state lighting, and materials for all of these technologies. This year’s conference will feature in-depth market and technology assessments from NPD DisplaySearch analysts and insights from industry leaders on strategies for addressing existing market needs or creating new applications. “The Emerging Display Technologies Conference continues to serve as a forum that draws speakers from industry-leading companies to discuss key developments in materials and component technologies,” noted Jennifer Colegrove, PhD Vice President, Emerging Display Technologies for NPD DisplaySearch. “This year’s event will be no exception, with a focus on touch technologies as well as related topics in solid state lighting on the agenda.”" via DisplaySearch

4K TVs are coming, but they face an uphill battle in the home "TV makers are at a bit of an impasse: for the first time ever, demand for LCD TVs is down year-over-year. After years of increasing sales and declining prices, the market is finally beginning to become saturated, and the incremental improvements and new features that the television companies have added since LCD TVs became mainstream—things like OLED lighting and 3D TVs—have either been well out of consumers' price ranges or too niche to attract a wide audience. The TV industry is looking for that must-have feature that will get people with existing LCD TVs to upgrade their sets, and one of those features is the 4K resolution standard. While 4K TV sets are slowly making their way to the market, both the discussion panels and vendors at Consumer Electronics Week seem a bit unsure about the standard's prospects in the home." via Ars Technica

Commentary: China panel makers need to improve production technology "China's ability to further compete in the global high-end panel market is hindered by the technology most of its panel makers are using. As a result, China's major panel makers are tackling the low-end smartphone market, which will limit their profits and decrease their chances of taking on major Korea- and Japan-based makers in the future. China has seen a boom of 6G and 8.5G LCD production lines from major panel makers such as BOE; however, while this may prove to be helpful for China in the short run, local panel makers still face intense competition from OLED makers, which is gaining rapid popularity." via DigiTimes

TV New Technology "Trinitron, Black Matrix, 36% Transmission (black) glass... In 40 years (1964-2004) the TV had relatively few new technologies that were native to the set that stuck. Of course, there was the VCR and Home Theater, which were literally outside of the box that had tremendous impact. But there was also blue glass, picture in picture, and numerous other must have features that came and went. Since 2004 and the near simultaneous introduction of HDTV (encapsulating both digital broadcast, aspect ratio change and resolution increase)and flat panels there have been a number of continuing developments. A few of them are discussed here:" via Flat Panel Display Blog

Frost & Sullivan: Deluge of In-vehicle Information to Trigger a Revolution in the Design of Automotive Display and Instrument Clusters "The exponential growth of in-vehicle information is triggering a revolution in the design of display systems in the automotive infotainment market. The ubiquitous presence of Smartphones has led to a demand for the same functionalities to be present inside cars. Technologies such as touch screens and large displays have become a commodity in the automotive infotainment domain. As vehicles rely more and more on sophisticated forms of technology, the requirements for onboard information displays are becoming increasingly comprehensive and diverse. New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.automotive.frost.com), Strategic Analysis of European and North American Markets for Display and Instrument Clusters, finds that in Europe, the market size for central displays, touch screens and head up displays is estimated to reach 9.5 million, 2 million and 0.5 million, respectively, by 2017. In North America, the market size for central displays, touch screens and head up displays is anticipated to reach 6 million, 3 million and 0.4 million, respectively, by 2017." via Exec Digital

19-inch sunlight-readable rugged LCD monitors for vetronics, avionics, and railways introduced by TRU-Vu "TRU-Vu Monitors Inc. in Arlington Heights, Ill, is introducing the SRM-19 19-inch sunlight-readable liquid crystal display (LCD) for demanding industrial and commercial applications that operate in direct sunlight such as military and law-enforcement vehicles, ships, and aircraft. The SRM-19 rugged display offers 1,000 nits brightness. By comparison, laptop screens average 150-200 nits, and standard desktop monitors average 200-250 nits, company officials say. The rugged monitors are built with industrial-grade components and feature 1,280-by-1,024-pixel SXGA resolution. The monitors come with VGA, and BNC composite video inputs, 1,000:1 contrast ratio, and operate on 12-volt DC and 90-to-240-volt AC power supplies (story continues below)." via Avionics Intelligence