SED was created by both Toshiba and Canon in partnership, and works by using individual electron emitters for every color in every pixel. That amounts to a whopping 6,220,800 electron emitters in the prototype displays. Toshiba touts a contrast ratio of 100,000:1, towering over the 3,000:1 common with today's LCD and plasma displays.
After its appearance at CES in 2006, Toshiba revealed that the displays would not launch by the end of the year as had been speculated, but was more in line for a Q4 2007 launch. The prototype displays failed to make a return at CEDIA 2006. However, Toshiba and Canon revealed plans for a $1.5 billion manufacturing plant in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, which led to speculation that production could begin in 2006.
Unfortunately, Toshiba revealed in late December that the SED displays would not be present at CES 2007. Toshiba denied both technical and business reasons as the cause of the decision. The cause is Applied Nanotech, a subsidiary of Nano-Proprietary, which is currently involved in litigation with Canon related to licensed nanotechnology intellectual property.
The company accuses Canon of breaching an agreement by sharing information related to electron emissions from carbon nanotubes with Toshiba. Legal issues have been underway since April last year and in November, Cannon's Motion for Summary Judgment was denied. Construction of the Hyogo Prefecture plant is now thought to be postponed until the lawsuit is resolved.
If true, then meeting the Q4 2007 estimate seems very unlikely. Toshiba has made the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing the main focus of the SED launch, making August 2008 a viable window for launch. This gives other companies and other display technologies time to reduce the costs of production, causing more problems for SED when it finally arrives.
Reports are circulating that settlement discussions are already underway.
Source:
IGN
Written by: James Delahunty @ 3 Jan 2007 4:03
