If you had high hopes of seeing Toshiba's "soon-to-be-released" SED TV showcased at CES in just a few weeks, well, you can probably already read the writing on the wall. Unsurprisingly, the set has seemingly hit another snag on its journey to retail reality, as Toshiba has announced that "technical issues" will keep the 55-inch surface conduction electron emitter display from being present at the show. While another delay hasn't exactly been confirmed, in all likelihood there's yet another one behind the scenes, and it could be due to the tension between Canon (Toshiba's partner) and Nano-Proprietary. Reportedly, the two firms are in "closed-door settlement talks" over licensed technology to be used on SED TVs, and the matters at hand could be forcing Toshiba's hand to hold back at CES. Nevertheless, it's a shame we won't be getting up close and personal with the mystical display in just a few weeks, but Toshiba feels that the issue(s) should be "resolved soon," and insinuated that we'd see a demo here in the States before too long.

SED could hold the greatest promise in the world of HDTV, but when? Here at Engadget we get excited about SED because it holds the promise to release us from the compromises we are forced to face today -- we feel like we have to have that big TV hanging on the wall, but miss the great contrast ratios we have enjoyed for years on our CRTs. This week SED inc, the joint effort between Canon and Toshiba, demoed the first SED with a 100,000:1 contrast ratio at the FPD International 2006 in Pacifico Yokohama convention center; previous models we saw at CES were only 50000:1. There is still no solid release date and all indications point to 2008.

Canon & Toshiba brought SED out at CEATEC 2006 to show that this CRT in a flat panel's body will finally be hitting shelves in limited quantities by late 2007, and entering mass production in 2008. Leading the charge will be these 1080p 55-inch models with 450 nits of brightness, 50,000:1 contrast ratio (yes, you read that right), stunning 1ms response time...and no price tag yet. Part of the delay for SED has been so Canon and Toshiba can improve cost effectiveness to accompany the incredible specs, but with Samsung, Sharp and Sony releasing "Full HD" LCDs in the 50-inch range for around 5 large this fall, the market in 2008 could be tough to crack.

[Via Reuters]