Futaba thinks Field Emission Displays are still the future

Sony may have given up hope on the future of Field Emission Displays (FEDs) -- CRTs that rely on flat electron emitters, ditching the cumbersome tube and the bulk that goes along with it -- but Futaba is still moving forward, demoing a series of displays for Engineering TV in a video embedded for your viewing pleasure below. The company isn't exactly well-known in consumer display circles (head down to your local hobby shop for a schooling on its most famous products), but despite that seems to be no slouch, able to make these things as slim as 4.2mm while delivering the image quality and contrast ratios of a CRT, all at a lower energy consumption. Could this be the future of the car dashboard? Right now we'd just be happy with some more responsive servos for our RC10; we'd be even more of a force to be reckoned with at the local 1:10 scale dirt track.

[Ngamer Posted Mar 26th 2009 8:56AM]

Wow, this is really neat. VFDs tend to wear out, and lack the resolution and color of a CRT. FED is a great answer for dashboards.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 26th 2009 10:33AM]

Agreed, I'm glad someone is moving forward with this.

[barCODE Posted Mar 29th 2009 12:00AM]

FED for my laptop please! (as well as my car)

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 26th 2009 8:59AM]

"Could this be the future of the car dashboard? "

Only if they get rid of burn-in.

[rony Posted Mar 26th 2009 9:05AM]

just curious as to the difference between S.E.D. and F.E.D....... sounds the same technology to me

[acslater017 Posted Mar 26th 2009 9:25AM]

i think this guy only blinked like once or twice the whole time

[pryingeyes Posted Mar 30th 2009 3:10PM]

That's how you know he's telling the truth.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 26th 2009 9:21AM]

Futuba makes some great servos, I hope the money they pour into this doesn't effect their 'real' business. becuase they're the only people I want to buy servos from

[Andir Posted Mar 26th 2009 9:44AM]

I have a nice Futaba gyro and tail servo from them :p

[mikeypizano Posted Mar 26th 2009 11:10AM]

I need a gyro for my Blade 400, looking at there new 510. Servos I like Hitec and my next radio may be a Spektrum for my cars but I love Futaba. They also own OS engines...

[Andir Posted Mar 26th 2009 11:49AM]

Agree on the Spektrum Radio and Hitec servos. I picked a Futaba tail servo for it's response time though. The Hitec metal gears are great for... ahem... crashes.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 26th 2009 9:51AM]

My Futaba 4PK is awesome. :-) The 9551 servo is dialed too.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 26th 2009 9:53PM]

I like the 9551 too.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 26th 2009 10:03AM]

wow, this IS neat, hope to see this in the next merc s-class or next gen jaguar XJ, 2016 Audi A8/BMW 7 Series

[Scared Posted Mar 26th 2009 10:04AM]

I miss my RC-10!

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 26th 2009 10:43AM]

How would this compare to OLED?

From what I understand, within teh next 5 years, OLEDs will be printable, bendable, available in pretty much every shape, high resolution, energy efficient, and CHEAP!

A great time to be alive, indeed :-)

[barCODE Posted Mar 26th 2009 4:48PM]

OLED has a very short service life.

[darkmax Posted Mar 26th 2009 11:07AM]

I think this will look great on an EV.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 26th 2009 12:00PM]

Hah, the RC10! I have one of those in my closet...been thinking of upgrading and getting back to the track.

[radiac Posted Mar 26th 2009 12:44PM]

Soon my speedometer will show commercials about synthetic motor oil to me as I start my car. Yay.

[appletonrc Posted Mar 26th 2009 1:02PM]

Love the RC10 reference. I had the Kyosho Javelin. About the same period. Before that was the Marui Big Bear.. good old days.

[TimStevens Posted Mar 26th 2009 1:04PM]

Hah, I started on a Big Bear too. Moved up to an RC10T when I'd finished destroying that.

[Raptor Posted Mar 26th 2009 12:57PM]

thats pretty cool

[Valicore Posted Mar 26th 2009 1:50PM]

I like these. On another note, who would want a cold casserole?

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 26th 2009 6:42PM]

Futaba is a multi-faceted company. They are indeed best known to the public for their RC car products, but they gave an entirely separate division that already makes custom LCD displays. For example, almost all the displays in Clarion radios are made by Futaba.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 26th 2009 7:38PM]

Fatuba?

[SuperNES Posted Mar 27th 2009 3:56AM]

I actually use a futaba servo in my RC10. Traxxas SC though. I wonder if they'll get into pushing obscure technologies too?