Sony OLED TV to lose brightness in half the claimed time say researchers

Sony's XEL-1 OLED TV is undeniably awesome, despite being only 11-inches, but owners may have less time to coo and weep over its beauty than they originally thought.  According to a report from DisplaySearch, which goes into even more surgical detail than at the Embedded Systems Conference, Sony's lifespan estimate of around 30,000 hours for the 3mm-thick TV is wildly inaccurate.  Instead, the researchers are suggesting a total lifespan of around 17,000 hours before the screen loses 50-percent of its brightness.

DisplaySearch found that, after running a number of XEL-1 sets for 1,000 hours, there was a 12-percent degradation in blue luminance, a 7-percent in red an 8-percent in green.  They then extrapolated the figures to reach their 17k hours estimate.  They also found that brightness is severely reduced in high ambient conditions.

Perhaps more critical, they explain how the OLED display is inferior in multiple areas compared to current AMOLED designs.  While they spin that out to say that customers are set to be even more impressed by future panels, it's nonetheless a slight on Sony's flagship OLED screen.  Sony are denying their brightness figures are inaccurate.

[via CE Daily News]