Makers Claim It's the World's Best TV Set.But Will SED Ever Hit the Market?(TV Week HDTV Newsletterand
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Those who have waded into the high-definition television set marketplace are familiar with the frustrating array of caveats about all the competing TV technologies: LCDs have trouble displaying fast motion. Rear-projection TVs look washed out in bright rooms or from side angles. Plasmas are struggling to perfect their black levels.
It seems every type of HDTV has its own pros and cons, and that buying a $300 analog tube TV is still the sanest choice.
What if a TV existed that used the same time-tested cathode-ray technology of a traditional tube-based set, but was as flat as a plasma? A TV that rendered black levels, fast motion and high contrast as perfect as any traditional 27" Sony Trinitron, but had the liquid-image depth and thin profile of a Panasonic plasma?
The good news is that such a TV purportedly exists.
The bad news is that it's been years since the technology was discovered, and it probably will be years more before it's widely available.
The technology is SED (surface-conduction electron-emitter display). Canon first started experimenting with SED in the 1980s. In 1999 it teamed with Toshiba to develop the technology as a flat-panel display, and in 2004 the partnership formed SED Inc.
The sets were supposed to hit the marketplace and blow away all competitors in 2005, when a prototype was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show. There an LCD, a plasma and a SED were put side by side. Those in attendance were impressed by SED's deep blacks and ability to handle fast action without motion artifacts, and word spread online that this fabulous new technology was coming soon to a Best Buy.
But then the sets were delayed until spring 2006.
Then, in March, the companies announced another delay, to 2007.
Roam Consulting President and HDTV expert columnist Pete Putnam said the promise of the technology and its ongoing delays have given SED "cult-like status" among HD aficionados.
"The SED works just like a CRT and has no contrast, black level, contouring, or motion issues I am aware of," Mr. Putman said. "It makes beautiful images and is very efficient power-wise. But it should have been on the market five years ago."
Executives from Canon and Toshiba, which declined to comment, have recently said the delay is due to market pressures. The production process for SED needs to become faster and cheaper to launch a product competitive with the plunging prices of plasma and LCD flat panels, they said.
Mr. Putnam said such manufacturing and market issues could force SED out of the game unless it can launch a significant number of units that are priced competitively and gain shelf space in popular big box stores.
"The market may kill it, like it killed Betamax," he said. "The SED just may be the best HDTV you ever saw that never makes it to market."
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