Plasma vs OLED?

Hello everyone,

With the news from CES showing the first large screen OLED displays coming to market this year, I was wondering what that means for current high end plasma owners. Surely OLED is the future technology everyone is talking about, but is it absolutely superior to plasma or what plasma is capable of producing?

I ask because I, like many here, own a Pioneer Kuro display and have been happy with it since I bought it. I still only have an 8th generation model, but I have seen the 9th gen Kuros and am well aware of what Pioneer was able to achieve with plasma technology.

So, does OLED only have the potential to be better than the best plasma, or will almost any OLED be clearly superior to any plasma?

And what exactly makes it superior? Remember, I have talking only about picture quality, not screen depth, or energy consumption or any other aspect of the tech. Black levels have been touted as being superior, but Pioneer basically was able to achieve truly infinite black levels with plasma tech. They were forced to shut down before they were able to mass produce a display with infinite contrast, but the last ones they made are still amazing (KRP-500m).

http://www.popsci.com/files/typepad/popsci.typepad.com/popsci/2008/01/pioneer-invents.html

Contrast and black levels are surely one of the most important aspects of picture quality and even if OLED excels, they cannot surpass infinite black. And Pioneer Kuro tech is capable of achieving it.


And we know that the upcoming Panasonic plasmas, especially the ZT60 is a huge improvement over last years plasmas and might finally be the equal of the best Kuros.


So I am a little confused about what exactly makes OLED inherently superior to plasma with regards to picture quality? There might even be untapped potential in plasma technology that could be exploited. And until OLED screens become priced close to current high end plasmas, I would think it reasonable for manufacturers to continue to push plasma tech as far as they can.


So what I am asking is: If money was no object, would the OLED screens being released this year be the best displays ever made? Will they clearly outclass, say, the Pioneer KRP-500m?

Do you anticipate the technology taking many years to get the kinks worked out and get the picture quality up to par, or will even this years OLED screens be mature enough tech wise to dominate the competition?



In a perfect world, I would love to get an 80" 4K OLED display. Of course today, such a display would probably cost more than $30,000! While I regularly see very low hours KRP-500m's for sale for $1500.


So what is your opinion on plasma vs OLED? If the prices were not as high, or you didn't care about the price, would you upgrade your plasma to an OLED display this year?


Thanks so much. I look forward to reading the responses.

I was referring to the CES prototype Pioneer demoed at CES in 2008 which DID produce infinite black. Yes the last Kuros came up short of this prototype, but my point was that the tech that Pioneer was using to make the Kuros was capable of achieving the ultimate contrast ratio. Now, if Pioneer was not forced to exit the plasma business, how amazing would their displays be today?

My understanding was they simply didn't have the time to develop a mass production model with the "ultimate contrast" tech inside it. If they were still making plasmas, I would suspect they would have achieved it, perhaps even a couple of years ago.


As for OLED, are you saying that ALL OLED displays produce infinite black? Or simply that the tech has the potential to do that? As far as picture quality is concerned, infinite black levels would be such a breakthrough that that would certainly be a compelling reason to upgrade from old plasmas.

My main question is, will even first generation OLED displays outclass the Pioneer Kuros and new Panasonic plasmas in terms of black level and contrast ratio? Beyond that, exactly what other aspects of picture quality will be superior over the best plasmas?



Thanks for responding. Although I am happy with my Pioneer, I am looking for what will ultimately be my next upgrade and I am curious about OLED displays, especially those coming out this year and next.