Brian Cooley: Is It Time For A Curved HDTV?
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) - After years of being "on the way", curved screen HDTVs are here. Samsung and LG have both announced the availability of 55" models in stores this week. Now sit down: They are each going for around $15,000. These are clearly halo products, but they may point the way to a real future, unlike 3D TV.
These TVs have curved screens thanks to OLED technology, which allows for the actual screen to be so thin it is flexible, a trick LED LCD and Plasma can't hope to do. That said, the curve is perhaps mostly a gimmick to capture the minds of consumers and stand out in the retail aisle.
The real importance of these TVs is the fact that their OLED technology shows true black, which other TV display technologies cannot do. When you have true black, all the other colors look astoundingly better. OLED TVs are also remarkably thin and use very little energy.
And unlike the new crop of 4K TVs, these new curved OLED products can display the entire universe of content already available for any other HDTV.
I don't know how many years it will take for these prices to come down to a reasonable level and I'm not entirely sure the curved thing will be more than a fad, but this is a splashy way to launch a new screen technology I am pretty sure will dominate the market in a few years.
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