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OLED Television and Thoughts About Technology

Started by SGOS, June 27, 2013, 06:30:50 AM

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Plu

Quote from: "Colanth"
Quote from: "Plu"
QuoteWhen something goes bad you can't obtain a replacement part (because it's not a generic one, like a vacuum tube or a capacitor, it's a part obtainable only from the TV manufacturer, and they don't sell the parts),

That's because it's not economical to sell parts, though. Most people aren't capable of doing the replacement anyway and getting a repairman costs more than buying a new machine, so selling tv parts is basically just a good way to lose money.
That didn't stop them for a long time, though.  One of the earliest massively integrated circuits I fooled around with was one designed to replace most of the circuitry of a radio.  It was available as a replacement part, and we made all sorts of receivers from it.  (It was a lot cheaper than the parts needed to make the same circuits, too.)

BTW, most people weren't capable of replacing most parts on most things since the industrial revolution (how many people can replace an engine bearing in a car), but the parts are available.  Replacing a 30 cent IC in a TV would cost less than replacing the whole set, even including labor.  Not that much less, but that's because TV sets have become so cheap these days.  A very large screen TV costs less than a week's income, while the first (or one of the first - I was too young to be sure now) set, the RCA 630, cost 6 month's to a year's income.  (BTW, not every repairman charges more than a doctor.  I was earning pocket money repairing TV sets before I became a teenager.)

I should have probably said "not economical anymore". It used to be worthwhile. It isn't any longer. Screw open a modern tv if you feel like it. Most of the parts inside are print-boards that are custom made by the manufacturer and that can only be replaced whole if damaged, and would probably cost about as much as the tv itself to replace because of all the extra work that the factory has to do to make them available for sale.

Back in the day it was different and actually worthwile to fix up mechanical appliances, but that time has passed. Most of the part are too small to see with the naked eye now and can only be assembled, not repaired. You don't want to maintain all the stuff needed to replace these parts, because most of the time a fried tv still can't be repaired and you're just wasting manpower.

the_antithesis

I would imagine curved screens are completely doable with LCDs. The main advantage to an OLED is that it doesn't require a backlight. This means a thin screen that is perfectly viewable can be in various positions. Such as a smartphone where the screen rolls up  like a window shade inside the compact casing to make for a more compact device when you're not using it to browse the web or play Angry Birds. Maybe even allow it to scroll up to tablet sizes from a casing that's as thin as a pencil.

That's nifty, but I'm hesitant to invest in OLED due to the limited lifespan they're still having problems with. Blue particularly degrades over time, an amount of time that doesn't seem all that long. Kind of not happy about that.

RickeyRobbins

#17
Quote from: SGOShttp://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4ADRA_enUS428US428

LCD TVs came out and people bought them up like French fries.  Now if you demand any kind of quality, you buy an LED.  Next on line is led light "Organic Light Emitting Display", which is better yet and lends itself to further innovations, specifically curved screens.

Today we accept tech advancements at such speeds as normal, but to me the most astonishing part of the digital age is the speed at which it advances.  

My family was one of the last to buy a TV in our neighborhood.  For years when we would wear out a TV, we would eventually replace it with an almost identical TV based on the same technology that remained the state of the art during most of my lifetime.  A TV repair man would come to your house to keep your TV running for as long as possible.   There was no incentive to buy a new one, because it would be exactly like the old one.

Record players remained the state of the art for an even longer time:  "Oooh, I just got a new high fidelity system," but it was still just spinning records that mechanically vibrated a needle.

These days, before a gadget wears out, the technology is already several generations ahead of where it was when you bought the last contraption.  You can't keep up, unless you're willing to throw out stuff that still works, just to make room for the new stuff.
I have got one new technology led tv and I must say it is lot better than old ones.. Picture quality is very high and you will enjoy to watch tv without too much pressure on your eyes

stromboli

Some technology can set you free or trap you. I have a $28 Canon printer that I just bought to replace a $28 Canon printer I bought 2 years ago. The reason? The paper feed quit working. After my tech savvy Navy AT son told me it wasn't worth the effort or cost to fix, I bought a new one; $28 is peanuts now. The ink, on the other hand.....

I'm purchasing a new phone soon, one with a built in MP3 player (for the wife), GPS built in, web capability, camera, calendar, QWERTY keyboard (for my deaf ass to text with, because my old phone is a pain) voice messaging, speaker phone capability, that will cost less than $100 and will fit in my pocket. THAT is progress. I currently own 2 Tracfones that together cost less than $100 to purchase and use. And you can buy it all at Walmart, just bicycle distance from my trailer. That is freedom. The printer is slavery.

Hydra009

#19
Quote from: "mykcob4"Technical advancement far out-paces social advancement.
This part is true.

QuoteThe thing is all this technology has shifted the behavior of people to the extent that they can't actually function as real human beings anymore. People are ADD to the max. They insist on instant gratification. They won't even attempt anything hard. If something becomes difficult, they just drop it. They get focused on their phone and only their phone. They demand entertainment 24/7 and if for one moment they don't get it they scream and whine like spoiled brats. It's pop-culturalism on steroids. They have lost their values. They have lost their idealism. I don't blame technology, because man has always taken the lazy way, the easy way, and have relied on others that had the discipline to actually create the technology that people crave. This is why American students lag far behind the world in education. Highschool football is more important than math and science. The culture is so ingrained in the new technecal toys that they don't know how to do anything but bury themselves in those toys. It's not that they are stupid, just unwilling to get an education. Proof of this is how fast they adapt to the new tecnologies sold to them.
So yes technogy is advancing at breakneck speed but we have paid for it by losing humanity!
This part is a little..not.  Sure, new technology has spoiled us somewhat, but yanno, I think saying that we've lost our values and humanity in the process is a bit of an exaggeration.

It wasn't too long ago that people said the exact same thing about TVs (the idiot box) and telephones (for lazy, impolite people and destroys the intimacy of face-to-face visits) and the internet (a geeky obsession to the exclusion of real-world interaction).  It seems that new technology is always destroying our way of life.  Yet, it isn't.  It is simply changing how we do things, and mostly for the better.

And while obviously, smart phone users do tend to have problems balancing the device and the rest of their life, it's not actually all that bad.  This is an explosion of mobile computing into the lives of average people.  For some people, it's their first and only computer.  And to have access to all that information and communication on the go is big.  And I don't think we've seen all of what these devices are capable of just yet.

Plu

QuoteAnd I don't think we've seen all of what these devices are capable of just yet.

I don't think we've even seen the beginning. The amount of computation power in a modern pc or smartphone is phenomenal and most of it's completely wasted by layer upon layer of abstractions that are neccesary to not make the brains of developers melt down. But their power keeps growing, and we keep getting better at putting to use more and more of it.

What we're seeing now is still only the beginning.

Hydra009

Quote from: "Plu"
QuoteAnd I don't think we've seen all of what these devices are capable of just yet.

I don't think we've even seen the beginning. The amount of computation power in a modern pc or smartphone is phenomenal and most of it's completely wasted by layer upon layer of abstractions that are neccesary to not make the brains of developers melt down. But their power keeps growing, and we keep getting better at putting to use more and more of it.

What we're seeing now is still only the beginning.
All I want is a real-life tricorder, dammit.   :P

And I agree with your OP.  OLED is going to be huge soon.  And flexible OLEDs too, once the kinks get worked out.  It'd be really nice for mobile devices to finally have large screens without sacrificing portability.  Also, to have computer displays where they'd otherwise be impractical or impossible.

[youtube:1imgrgpu]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFxkTEpgRSM[/youtube:1imgrgpu]

Plu

QuoteAll I want is a real-life tricorder, dammit.  :P

Right now I'd be as happy with someone going crazy and building a max-performance assembly based bit of awesome computer software running without an operating system, just to show what happens when you squeeze every last drop of power out of an ordinary computer.

stromboli

Technology is only as good as to how it is applied. Technology that creates newer and cheaper energy sources, provides more clean water and makes us safer is awesome. Technology that allows us to murder people by remote control from thousands of miles away, not so much. Technology has made us all visible to the world. Ironic that now the effort required to be off the grid, to disappear, is far greater than to be more visible. We become visible by merely posting on the internet; hell, by logging on to a website.

Plu

There's really no need to log on in order to be visible, you can quite easily be tracked just by viewing a webpage in anonymous mode if someone decides to put in the effort.

Colanth

Quote from: "Plu"Right now I'd be as happy with someone going crazy and building a max-performance assembly based bit of awesome computer software running without an operating system, just to show what happens when you squeeze every last drop of power out of an ordinary computer.
That depends on your definition of "operating system".  If you mean the code that runs when you're not doing anything, it's conceptually not possible.  Even if the "operating system" is a tight loop waiting for a hardware interrupt, it's still an operating system.

If you mean something like Windows or Linux, we did that back in the 70s with embedded controllers.  Just the needed functions, written in assembly, with no unneeded overhead.  You can cram a lot of functionality into 64kb that way.
Afflicting the comfortable for 70 years.
Science builds skyscrapers, faith flies planes into them.