Podcast #1239: HDTV Display Technologies That Are No Longer With Us

On today's show we look at HDTV Display Technologies that are no longer with us. Some had a short run and some never made it to the market. We also read your emails and take a look at the week's news.

News:

• LG pulls the plug on 8K OLED and 8K LCD TVs
• Apple's home hub could finally arrive this spring with a rather unique design
• Roku is Testing a New Home Screen With A New Look
• Google Home update brings more automation controls

HDTV Display Technologies That Are No Longer With Us

Over the 21 years we have been doing the show we have seen numerous HDTV display technologies come and go. Some never made it to market and some had a good run but were eventually beat out by something better. These technologies competed during the transition from bulky CRTs to flat panels, but most lost out as LCD, later becoming LED-backlit LCD, then OLED, became dominant for reasons like cost, scalability, picture quality improvements, and manufacturing ease.

Technologies That Were Proposed/Demonstrated but Never Commercially Released to Consumers

SED (Surface-Conduction Electron-Emitter Display)
Developed primarily by a Canon and Toshiba joint venture starting in the late 1990s/early 2000s. It was essentially a flat-panel evolution of CRT technology using electron emitters for each pixel, promising CRT-like motion handling, deep blacks, high contrast, fast response times, and low power in a slim form factor. Prototypes were shown around 2005–2007 with impressive demos.

Why it didn't make it: Repeated delays due to manufacturing challenges (high production costs, difficulty scaling/vacuum sealing), patent disputes, and aggressive price drops in LCD/plasma panels. Then by 2009–2010, LCD had become too dominant and cheap; Canon officially froze consumer SED development in 2010, shifting any remaining efforts to niche professional uses.

FED (Field-Emission Display)
Similar to SED and sometimes grouped together or seen as a precursor/variant. FED used field-emission electron sources (like microtips) for CRT-style performance in a flat panel. Demonstrated in prototypes in the 2000s by companies like Sony and Motorola.

Why it didn't make it: Development took too long; manufacturing complexity and yield issues made it unviable. It was overtaken by faster-scaling plasma and then LCD/OLED technologies before reaching mass production.

Technologies That Reached the Market but Were Discontinued

DLP (Digital Light Processing) Rear-Projection TVs
Used Texas Instruments' DMD (digital micromirror device) chips to reflect light, often with a color wheel for sequential color (or pricier 3-chip versions). Popular in the mid-2000s for large-screen (50–70+ inch) HDTVs from brands like Samsung, Mitsubishi, RCA, and Toshiba, offering good brightness, no burn-in, and sharp images at competitive prices.

Why discontinued: Bulky depth (even if thinner than CRT rear-projection), lamp replacements needed, rainbow artifacts (on single-chip models), poor off-angle viewing, and vulnerability to ambient light. As flat-panel LCD and plasma prices fell dramatically in the late 2000s, consumers preferred slim, wall-mountable designs. Rear-projection DLP TVs largely vanished by around 2010.

LCOS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) / Variants like D-ILA (JVC) and SXRD (Sony)
A reflective microdisplay tech using liquid crystals on a silicon backplane, often in rear-projection or some front-projection setups. Offered excellent contrast, deep blacks, and smooth motion (better than early LCDs). Available in HDTVs from JVC, Sony, and others in the mid-2000s.

Why largely discontinued for direct-view TVs: High cost, manufacturing complexity, and lower brightness compared to emerging flat panels. Rear-projection versions suffered the same bulkiness issues as DLP. While LCOS survives today in high-end projectors mostly in JVC and Sony home theater models, it never scaled to mainstream direct-view flat-panel HDTVs and was eclipsed by LCD advancements.

Plasma Display Panel (PDP / Plasma TVs)
Used ionized gas (plasma) cells to create light, excelling in black levels, contrast, color accuracy, wide viewing angles, and no motion blur. Very popular for HDTV in the 2000s from Panasonic, Pioneer, Samsung, and LG.

Why discontinued: High power consumption, heat generation, heavier panels, burn-in risk (though mitigated later), and difficulty scaling to 4K efficiently/cost-effectively. As LCD/LED prices dropped with better brightness, efficiency, and no burn-in, plasma couldn't compete economically. Production fully ended around 2014–2015.

Other Notable Mentions

• LCD Rear-Projection TVs — Used transmissive LCD panels; suffered from similar bulk and light issues as DLP; discontinued early-mid 2000s.
• Direct-view CRT HDTVs — The original standard; fully discontinued by the late 2000s/early 2010s due to size, weight, and inefficiency.

Key Reasons Technologies Fail in HDTV Market

Regardless of how good a display technology is, the following will keep it from the mass market:

1. Cost & Manufacturing Yield: Technologies requiring ultra-precise processes (SED, FED, LCoS) couldn't hit competitive prices.
2. Competing Technologies Improve Fast: LCD and later LED/OLED got cheaper and better quicker than rivals could scale.
3. Form Factor Shift: Direct-view panels beat rear-projection (DLP, LCoS, laser) because consumers prefer thin TVs.
4. Performance Tradeoffs: Issues like power use, burn-in, brightness, viewing angles, or reliability hurt consumer uptake.

In summary, the winners were technologies that scaled cheaply to larger sizes, became thinner/lighter, improved efficiency, and avoided major drawbacks like high costs or reliability issues. LCD/LED dominated the 2010s due to mass production advantages, while OLED took premium segments later for superior contrast/per-pixel lighting. Many promising "next-gen" ideas from the 2000s (like SED/FED) simply arrived too late or proved too hard to manufacture affordably.