This is actually one of the smaller 4K displays in Las Vegas right now

Jan 9, 2013 12:53 GMT  ·  By

Panasonic has finished introducing one of the smallest 4K TVs we've seen so far, and the reason for the size is not what most people would expect, although it isn't impossible to guess.

Long story short, OLED display technology hasn't reached the point where it can easily be made into screens larger than 50-60 inches.

Thus, the 4K2K OLED panel adorning Panasonic's booth at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2013) has a diagonal of “only” 56 inches.

Then again, 56 inches is a lot in any case. The consumer electronics industry only stopped giving this impression because of the many oversized TVs out there, like Toshiba's 84-inch UHDTV and the Westinghouse 110-inch monster, to name a couple.

Panasonic used the RGB all-printing method when creating this panel, which happens to be the largest OLED panel in the world at this time, or so the company claims.

The production method applies OLED material to the substrate by printing them into an electroluminescent layer.

It is actually a simple process, insofar as a screen creation technology can qualify as simple. There are more OLED panels in different sizes on the way because of that.

The method also implies a very low amount of waste, since the right amount of organic material can be applied to every area. Production lead-time is shortened because of this as well.

At any rate, the new display has a native resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels, a brightness of 500 cd/m2, a thickness of 8.9 mm at most (0.35 inches) and a weight of 12.4 kilograms (26.45 pounds).

Furthermore, the dynamic contrast ratio (DCR) is of 3,000,000:1, which means clarity, outline definition and sharp colors even in low light scenes, regardless of ambient light.

Finally, it bears noting that the RGB OLED panel can reproduce the whole NTSC color gamut.

NTSC stands for National Television System Committee, but NTSC Color gamut has come to represent the full range of color that can, in theory, be displayed on a screen.

Panasonic did not provide the price of the 56-inch OLED 4K TV, but the RGB all-printing method is considered a step in the direction of cheaper OLED, so the sum might not be completely unreasonable.

Photo Gallery (2 Images)

Panasonic 56-inch 4K OLED UHDTV
Panasonic 56-inch 4K OLED UHDTV
Open gallery