[DigitalGriffin]

For those of you who don't know, e-ink is an LCD display on a thin foldable plastic screen. There is talk of using these for newspapers that you can download the latest daily content onto. I wonder how long before this tech replaces all forms of projection? No real setup issues, thin, lightweight, and portable.

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle...9&section=news

 

[Tryg]

The real question is will digital front projection be dead before we realize it's true potential


The day you can buy a roll out 10 foot wide screen, my projector is going in the garbage can.


I can hear the traditionalists now...but it's not home theater!

 

[AnthonyP]

Tryg, I agree (with the added note that it looks as good as FP)


but then again what tech is going to win out? I remember reading once (I think it was also from Philips) of a "painted" LCD.



I think e-ink (or something similar could revolutionize the laptop industry) could you imagine a laptop in the shape of a scroll? that makes the screen image fit the amount of "paper" that is rolled out? Man that would be sweat.

 

[Ohlson]

Seriously

monochrome and 5 inches

FP rules!

 

[AnthonyP]

no one said it will replace it tomorrow. But I believe that eventually some type of flat (plastic) display will replace FP (and all others). Like the article said they are making it as a small display to replace LCD displays in devices (and why it is 5") but the real questions are


1) can it be produced easily in bigger samples?

2) what is the minimum space needed on the sides for electronics?

(could you build a large display by tiling (for example) 144 tiles

3) can you build a coloured version


I would assume 1 is easier then plasmas and regular LCD screens

 

[rogo]

The E.Ink display is monochrome, has horrible refresh, can't even imagine doing full-motion video, and is only 5 inches diagonally after 5 years.


Something flexible or plastic might eventually make it. This is not going to be it. The nature of the technology makes it a poor contender for FMV.


Anthony, I believe some OLED variant could be built with a clever edge connector to allow nearly infinite, seamless tiling. I hope that product is real within 5-10 years. Instead of building huge cinder blocks, build the nearly perfect small "brick" and the walls will follow.


I am envisioning a 16 x 9 panel that is perhaps that many inches in size with a 960 x 540 pixel count or so... High fill factor (OLED should allow this), flexible substrate... Corner connectors, top right, bottom left on ribbon cables to join with the two adjacent pieces if needed... They all feed back to a single controller that identifies the panel count and then scales the image as needed based on the total pixels...


You could make a seriously booty-kicking display out of this...

 

[AnthonyP]

I don't know what the furure would hold, but I do agree with your vision and think it a possibility.


I think FP will eventually die out (then I again I am talking in the distant future and not tomorrow) and that it will be something flat on the wall. Obviously none of todays technologies are even near there, but who knows, maybe one day. Also I don't think it will be a current technology (i.e. not Plasma and not a glass LCD)

 

[rogo]

Anthony agreed completely. Next decade... Plastic substrate not glass... Almost certainly emmissive (like OLED), and not transmissive (like LCD)... And plasma is cool, but will never be wafer-thin and probably never truly tileable... The xED displays show some promise, especially if a nanotube variant could happen....


For the tiled wall, though, it really looks like it'd be OLED, assuming the problems get solved (diode life, color purity, etc.)


Mark