Technology partnership Toshiba Matsushita Display on Friday unveiled a new spin on organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TVs that should ensure they last as least as long as LCD or plasma with the color accuracy and thinness of the newer technology. Using a new metal membrane, a 20.8-inch OLED set can output light more efficiently than earlier OLEDs. This allows the screen to run at half brightness without sacrificing the already bright picture of an OLED screen. Resulting screens can last twice as long as recent OLEDs, which themselves last for 10 years of constant use -- enough to more than match the typical lifetime of an LCD, the company says.

A timetable for the release of a production HDTV with the new technology in place has not been revealed, though the technique is not expected to trigger significant delays in producing OLED TVs, more of which are expected to appear towards the end of 2008 or in early 2009. Both Toshiba and Matsushita (now Panasonic) are expected to replace at least some LCD sets with OLED versions once screen sizes are large enough to match similar models. [via TechRadar]