IMHO the proof will be in the 'seeing' first hand. If you see it and say to yourself "this is so good" or "so much better than what I've seen before...I've gotta have it" that's what will be the deciding factor along with the price of course. 'Till then it's all just speculation.

Late 2007, and coming out with a 55" er?? By that time, 55" will be the size of computer desktops ;)

Unless something changes they won't be able to keep up with the curve.

Have you seen the giant plasma tv in the NBC studio show "Football Night in America". Bob Costas was talking about it on one of the shows. It's a Panasonic and more than 100".

I will not be buying any new technologies at huge prices.

I don't mean to be confrontational, but I don't think HD-DVD at $500 can be considered as "huge price", especially when one can afford a Plasma TV.

A lawsuit filed against Canon by a U.S. company could scupper the Japanese company's plans to jointly produce a new type of television with Toshiba, according to Japanese press reports.

The televisions are based on SED (surface-conduction electron-emitter display) technology, which is a flat-panel display said to offer richer colors, faster response, and generally better picture quality than both LCD and PDP technologies. Canon and Toshiba have been promising SED-based televisions for some time, but the launch of the products has been delayed because of problems perfecting the technology. Current plans call for a limited launch in 2007 and wider availability in 2008.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,128357/article.html

By the time they will be on market with a 20000 $ 50 " screen, the same size 1080 LCD will cost 2000 $. Not a very bright future I suppose.

When the first plasma screens appeared, years ago, they were priced above $20k. The best CRTs at that time cost less than $2k. Nevertheless, plasma/LCD TVs became mainstream pretty quickly.

jfdube,

From a form factor perspective, Plasma and LCD were a gigantic leap over CRT RPTV and Direct View sets hence there quick adoption.

A few years ago buying a plasma was cool so you had the early adopters that brought the price down. An SED panel hanging in your living room will just be considered a Plasma so the coolness factor is not there.

I don't see how SED will get past the early adopter stage unless they can come out with a 50" set for no more than a 50% premium over plasma or LCD. At todays prices that is maybe $4,000 to $5,000 CDN for a 50 inch set.

My personal experience tells me people will pay. Not millions of them, but certainly tens of thousands or more.

When I opened my retail store in 1999, I sold only HDTVs that were at least twice the price of an SD set, yet there wasn't a single source of HD signals available that you could feed into it. That didn't stop people from buying though. I also remember when Toshiba was to release their LCoS set. It was 3x the price (at least) of a CRT-based set of the same size, yet I had a list of people ready to plunk down the cash.

Point is, ya gotta start somewhere and no matter where you start, you will find some customers at least to get the ball rolling. If the technology is all it's cracked up to be, more will buy and the price will come down to keep the cycle rolling.

also remember when Toshiba was to release their LCoS set. It was 3x the price (at least) of a CRT-based set of the same size, yet I had a list of people ready to plunk down the cash.

But Toshiba got out of LCoS!

I agree you'll always find someone willing to pay a premium but I certainly don't see SED in the BB and FS flyers unless the can dramatically shave production costs!

But putting it into those flyers will bring people into the stores and sometimes, that's all that matters.

As for Toshiba and LCoS, there were serious issues with the LCoS chip (which was from Hitachi, I believe) and whatever sets they sold in the US were recalled. Toshiba Canada was set to offer the set here (through very limited distribution - 5 stores only in the GTA), but changed their minds at the 11th hour.

http://www.digitimes.com/displays/a20070112PR203.html

Not good news for an already in trouble technology.

Good thing I wasn't holding my breath for this. :)

I was wondering if we were going to hear anything about this technology from CES. Guess not. Just this this bit of (bad) news. Wonder what this lawsuit they mention is all about.

The effect of this should (hopefully) be negligible. As long as SED is fully and completely part of Canon, there will be no lawsuit and there's nothing stopping Toshiba from helping to develop the technology - likely in exchange for future "concessions".

More here:SED TV production, however, is still up in the air, as Canon said that prior plans to erect a $1.49 billion manufacturing facility in Japan is now "under review," and an analyst even mentioned that the company might end up "reconsidering growth drivers to replace SED."

Nevertheless, Canon (http://www.engadget.com/tag/canon/) is still clinging to the idea of popping out SEDs for now, although it was mentioned that it would be "on a smaller scale," which isn't apt to give these elusive sets any kind of price advantage whenever it lands. Interestingly, Toshiba still stated that if things went smoothly, it would buy some of the manufactured SED displays directly from Canon (http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/03/55-inch-sed-hdtvs-on-the-way-in-08/) and throw its own logo on it, theoretically bypassing the lawsuit and simultaneously snubbing Nano-Proprietary. But hey, we've got no qualms with a little joint venture competition, and considering how every other HDTV price (http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/12/sony-whines-over-hdtv-price-drops-says-its-looking-out-for-th/) is falling (http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/05/lcd-and-plasma-prices-just-keep-on-droppin/) through the floor, we'll bet they need it.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/12/canon-set-to-buy-out-toshibas-display-stake-sed-production-in/

Here also:NANO-PROPRIETARY, INC. COMMENTS ON CANON’S PRESS RELEASE REGARDING SED, INC. OWNERSHIP

Austin, Texas, January 12, 2007

Nano-Proprietary, Inc. (OTC BB: NNPP), today announced that it is pleased Canon, Inc. and Toshiba Corporation have decided to continue to move forward with their SED TV. “Restructuring of Canon’s ownership position does not resolve the pending litigation which goes to trial in a few weeks,” said Tom Bijou, Chief Executive Officer of Nano-Proprietary, Inc. “We have terminated Canon’s license as a result of breach of contract. Moreover, our complaint against Canon includes other counts, including fraud unrelated to the ownership of SED. We are, however, willing to enter into a new license agreement with Canon on reasonable terms.”http://www.nano-proprietary.com/InvestorRelations/NewsandPressReleases.asp

We are, however, willing to enter into a new license agreement with Canon on reasonable terms.”
"[/LEFT]

It is obvious now that they are just trying to find away to rewrite the original deal to get more money out of SED.

And they may just kill of the technology instead. Nice work.

Canon/Toshiba SED Venture Collapses Amid Litigation
www.cepro.com (http://www.cepro.com)
Jan. 13, 2007

SED (Surface-conduction Electron-emitter Display) displays were supposed to be the brightest, most energy efficient TVs to hit the market, so Canon and Toshiba created a joint venture in 2004 to capitalize on the emerging technology.

The resulting SED Inc. is now being sued by Nano-Proprietary, a company that licensed SED technology to Canon in 1999. The company says that a $5.6 million deal it signed with Canon doesn't extend to Toshiba. Rather than fight the lawsuit and prolong SED even further, Canon has decided to buy out Toshiba's stake in SED Inc.
http://www.cepro.com/news/editorial/17409.html

The gist of all this is that it looks like Canon must decide whether to go it alone with SED.

Here is some new info on Canon's direction:Canon Eyeing Launch of Integrated SED TV Production in 2010

By Kyodo News International, Tokyo

Jan. 29--TOKYO -- Canon Inc. will begin integrated production of flat-screen television sets adopting surface-conduction electron-emitter display, or SED, technology in 2010 at the earliest, company officials said Monday.

The planned operation will range from production of SED panels to TV assembly, they said.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/818885/canon_eyeing_launch_of_integrated_sed_tv_production_in_2010/index.html?source=r_technology