Toshiba SED rollout planned for late 2007

If you've been waiting (and waiting, and waiting) for Toshiba to roll out its SED TVs, we've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is, yes, they're coming. The bad: you guessed it. You have to wait a bit longer. In fact, quite a bit longer. Toshiba now says that the first SED sets will hit the market in the fourth quarter of 2007, after mass production starts in July of next year. Given that when Toshiba first started showing SED prototypes in 2004, the company hinted that the first models could be available as early as 2005 (a date that was later pushed back to early 2006), we won't blame you if you just give up on waiting for this and buy a plasma or LCD already. But remember: on this schedule, Toshiba's first SEDs will arrive just in time for you to catch the 2008 Beijing Olympics in glorious 50-inch-plus HD (yes, that really is the spin Toshiba's putting on this).

[Thanks, Tom F.]

[Ian @ Mar 9th 2006 10:53AM]

Wow -- it's like they know me. I waited and waited for a 50" SED, but just this week gave up and started shopping for a 32" LCD to get me through until this technology becomes a) available and b) afforable.

Toshiba/Canon have really done themselves no favours with this announcement.

[Benoit @ Mar 9th 2006 11:20AM]

Didn't they announce that mass production started back in August 2005...
And they would start selling in spring 2006.

Bummer.

[Raider @ Mar 9th 2006 11:27AM]

Maybe HD DVD will come out in time for SED TV's... Sarcasm

[martin Cinzar @ Mar 9th 2006 11:29AM]

There must be staggering technical difficulties to get these sets to market. Or the cost is too high to produce. Though I think they could probably find a niche market to buy the sets.
To bad SED we hardly knew ya.

[Cem @ Mar 9th 2006 11:30AM]

Too bad, I was really looking forward to these SED tv's. The best thing to do for me right now is to buy a simple LCD HDTV, which I can use for next-gen gaming, just like #1.

[doris abad @ Mar 9th 2006 12:08PM]

this article would have been great if you would have stated somewhere what SED means. there are lots of people who do not know this. like me.

[agent864 @ Mar 9th 2006 12:10PM]

screw lcd / plasma. I'm getting an HD-CRT.

[jasaero @ Mar 9th 2006 12:21PM]

What a bummer. Been looking really forward to this. Benoit, I think you are correct about last August, I had read that also. At CES this year they were claiming the first sets would be on sale this year. My guess is that you will be able to get them starting this year at some $10k+ limited production price and only in the 50" size. Next year they will go into mass production and have a full line of models ready for the Olympic games. They never really pointed out specifically until now when the big retail introduction would be, just when sets would start to go on sale. Think Plasma happened the same way if I remember correctly. You could get them for extreme amounts of money through odd supply channels for a few years before you started seeing them at Best Buy and such. Just my $0.02

[ausweis @ Mar 9th 2006 1:40PM]

SED : Surface-conduction Electron-emitter Display

(http://www.canon.com/technology/display)

While PDP and LCD price is keep falling & sizes getting bigger, this CRT based technology couldn't compete with PDP/LCD production cost. So they had to purchase NEC Machinery to lower the production cost.
Deal was 1212JPY per share.

[scolen2 @ Mar 9th 2006 1:43PM]

They should produce a limited supply of very expensive products under a new name like Sony did with their 70", projector and LED Flatscreen just to get the technology out there. They know people will buy it, so perhaps the problem isn't mass market production but rather some fundimental technical problem that they want to work out before the critics get to it. I'm still going LCD since I'm sure these new SED TVs will still burn in like a plasma.

[Tesath @ Mar 9th 2006 2:30PM]

Common, Toshiba !!

Keep slipping the date you will be hit by Sony's FED soon.
Just like the blu-ray and HDDVD, remember ? hah?

[boe @ Mar 9th 2006 6:40PM]

Yeah - I thought I heard at CES they were releasing some weird size like 57" by November of this year. I have to say this is the only technology that has got my attention other than OLED. I'm hoping that there was an error and they do plan on releasing some this year. I'd love to see a 80" SED by the end of next year.

[zq- buz @ Sep 22nd 2006 12:38PM]

ok now thats not fare! companies should at least make more 20" trinitron crts for those of us who dont like lcd screens! i was hoping for a sed pc monitor! i keep reading from the pros that dead pixels are impossible to fix on lcd.
why cant they just make seds right now :(

[loke @ Nov 9th 2006 9:52PM]

the solution is to boycott canon and toshiba products until the move their asses & put the seds tvs out