Posted by Igor on 11/06/07 17:10

On Sun, 4 Nov 2007 22:33:07 -0700, "Bob Myers"
<nospamplease@address.invalid> wrote:

<snip>

>
>SED is a technology of the "field-emission display" (FED) class,
>produced originally as a joint effort between Canon and
>Toshiba. Toshiba has since bowed out of the partnership, and
>while Canon has not made any official statements regarding the
>possible halt to SED development, the technology is widely believed
>to be suffering from manufacturability problems and was never
>expected to be applicable to monitor-sized displays in the first
>place. The last anyone heard, the first SED product was planned
>to be a 55" HDTV display, intended to introduce by 2008 (but
>that is in doubt now). The SED does produce a very "CRT-like"
>image, but there has always been the question of whether or not
>it could be sufficiently better than the PDP and LCD alternatives
>(especially as those continue to develop) to be worth the cost.
>

I'm not taking issue with the essentials of what you've stated, but
there are a few specifics I'm not so sure about.

First of all, regarding Toshiba bowing out of the partnership, the
following press release from Toshiba's website gives the impression
that Toshiba were all ready to go but that it was Canon who weren't up
to the task:

"Notice Concerning Launch of SED TVs

http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/2007_05/pr2501.htm

25 May, 2007

Tokyo -- Toshiba Corporation announced today that the company will
postpone the start of sales of SED TVs, which was originally planned
for the fourth quarter of 2007.

The decision is based on information provided by Canon Inc.,
indicating that Canon will not be able to provide SED panels to the
original schedule.

The specific timeframe for the launch of SED TVs cannot be indicated
at this moment."


And according to the following article --

http://www.behardware.com/articles/593-1/close-encounters-of-the-third-kind-sed.html

-- Canon and Toshiba were most definitely promising that the
technology would be used to make monitor-sized displays:

"Update 10/19/05:The first monitors of this type might be released by
Toshiba in 2007. Canon speaks of computer monitors end of 2006, early
2007. Their price? In principle the same than LCD and plasmas for the
same diagonal."

(You can find this paragraph at the end of the article.)

--
"Those of us whose brains did not die in college are
actually stunned by just how stupid academic ideas
are." -- Robert W. Whitaker, http://readbob.com/

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