As a viewing generation, we’ve seen and embraced a lot of changes. We’ve seen the fat bulky, CRTs go flat and then slim, we’ve seen screen sizes inching up, then we saw Plasmas and liquid crystal displays (LCDs) making their way into our homes and now yet another technology, OLED (organic light-emitting diode) is around the corner.

There has been some talk about this technology and its benefits for some time. Samsung even rolled out a couple of these – one a 21-inch and the other is a 40-inch OLED TV. The idea was bigger screens, thinner forms. Now about a couple of years later, Sony is coming out with its first OLED TV – XEL-1.

So what makes TV manufacturers dub this technology as the future of television? Well, for starters, OLED panels are energy efficient; secondly they make for ultra-thin and super-light displays. Also an OLED display offers crisp pictures and has strength in showing fast-moving images, so this display heightens the experience of watching high-speed car chases, action flicks and sports events. The only drawback, so far, is the size. Although, Samsung did prove that 40-inch panels can be produced, it is technologically difficult at the moment to make larger panels, limiting the appeal of the otherwise promising next-generation television. Panasonic maker Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd is offering 103-inch plasma TVs, while the main battle ground for LCD TV makers are moving up to the 40-inch class market from the 30-inch class category.

Whereas Sony’s OLED TV, XEL-1 will be 27 inches. The new TV is set to go on sale in Japan in December this year, while overseas launches have yet to be decided. Large-screen fanatics might well hesitate to adopt this new technology, despite its superior form and picture quality.

The OLED TV has a life span of about 30,000 hours of viewing, which is about half of Sony's LCD TVs, but long enough to allow eight hours of daily use for 10 years. But Sony isn’t the isolated warrior battling the OLED cause, Toshiba has also announced that they will be releasing an OLED TV, although theirs will be out only in 2009 and it will be larger than Sony’s TV at 30 inches. Toshiba in fact claims that OLEDs will take over the mighty LCDs, mainly because their manufacturing costs are lower. So, while the OLED is one up on LCDs and Plasmas feature and form-wise, it still has a long way ahead as far as size is concerned.

In this bullet-paced technological world, one would say, OLED seems to be crawling. But then haven’t we heard it often enough – Slow and steady wins the race.