The Sony XEL-1 TV is the first OLED TV to hit the U.K. market. Released in early 2009, the miniature, 11-inch (28-centimeter) display is sticking rigidly to its original list price of around 5,700 USD (3,500 GBP). Shockingly, perhaps, the same model (with a different tuner) lists at just 2,500 USD in the USA (less than half of the U.K. list price).

Still, you can at least save a bit by buying the TV online, where offers begin at around 4,250 USD (2,600 GBP). Still, buy online in the USA and you needn’t pay more than around 2,000 USD. Even then, this is one for the real enthusiasts — a four-figure sum for just 11 inches of screen!

Florian Friedrich, tested on January 4, 2010

Extremely high motion-clarity.
Excellent colors.
Top-notch 24p reproduction.
Sensational contrast when viewed in the dark.

Very (!) small picture.
Resolution is too low.
Way too expensive.

Rarely is a test quite this interesting — or ambivalent. On the one hand, the miniature Sony impresses with perfect black and extraordinary motion-clarity. On the other hand, the low resolution disappoints and stops the screen displaying that sought-after ‘perfect picture’. Nevertheless, OLED technology promises much for the future — if development keeps going steady, OLED will one day outstrip both plasma and LCD. We await future developments with bated breath.

Most important connections:

2x 1x

The basics: How does OLED technology work?

Before we delve into testing the TV, we’d like to introduce the new OLED technology briefly: How does it work? What makes it so special?

LCD panels work like a lattice, whose cells can be switched between opaque and transparent. An OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) screen, consists instead of tiny lamps that glow in the three primary colors, red, green, and blue. Sony uses the so-called “small molecule” approach, and, in order to make the materials produce light, screens require special circuitry that — like in LCDs — coordinates the switching of the cells. In some cases, the circuitry works like LCDs, as a Thin Film Transistor (TFT); mostly, however, it uses the more effective LTPS technology, although this is more complicated to control. The organic materials cannot be allowed to come into contact with moisture, meaning the screen requires a special casing, but otherwise the construction is less complicated than that of LCDs, since OLEDs require neither backlights nor color filters.

The main problem in manufacturing larger OLED screens is how to apply the light-producing materials. Currently, the process usually involves depositing a thin layer of the chemicals from a vapor (“vapor deposition”), but the required masks degrade quickly if used for larger formats. The manufacturers are currently developing technologies for laser-controlled deposition (Sony), as well as printing-based methods (Samsung). The longevity problem now seems to be solved: Sony quotes a lifetime for the XEL-1 of 30,000 operating hours; independent tests using other measurement techniques reached a figure of 17,000 hours.

There are a number of advantages to OLED technology — for example, phenomenally deep blacks and legendary contrast. These arise because the TVs use no power at all in black areas of the picture, and therefore emit no residual illumination. It’s impossible to predict, at this point, when large OLED TVs around the 40-inch mark will hit the market. Companies have presented 40-inch demonstration models at trade fairs, but these were hand-produced, one-off devices, since no facilities currently exist for mass production.

For an in-depth description of OLED technology, see our background article: OLED Technology Explained.

Multimedia

Hardly the richest connectivity: Besides two HDMI inputs, there’s only a USB port and an antenna socket.

It would have been madness to expect otherwise: Multimedia plays a minor role in new developments like this. The Sony offers a single USB connection that allows playback of digital photos. And that’s it.

Other Features, Design, and Operation

For comparison: The XEL-1 is barely bigger than a Blu-ray case.

The design and size of the Sony totally defy the conventional frame of reference: The XEL-1’s screen-diagonal measures just 11 inches (28 centimeters), while the unit is just one centimeter deep at its thickest point — and just three millimeters at the thinnest. This is possible because the electronics are hiding in the pedestal, which, to be fair, is also extremely slender.

The antenna socket protrudes unattractively from the rear of the unit, providing reception of analog TV, as well as terrestrial and cable digital signals (DVB-T and DVB-C). Buyers will have to live without analog video connections, but the XEL-1 has at least got two HDMI sockets and a USB port (see Multimedia).

Chic, flat, and extravagant: the remote control.

The disappointment continues with the meager resolution: The diminutive OLED TV displays just 960 x 540 pixels — that’s just a quarter of Full HD! If you’re willing to look past this not-exactly-tiny weakness, the Sony emerges as a small, but fully-fledged TV that impresses with varied picture controls and a PlayStation 3–esque menu.

Even the remote control breaks away from the design of its contemporaries, measuring just nine millimeters deep and complementing the TV superbly. At 26 watts, the OLED TV’s power consumption is, in absolute terms, tiny, but actually quite high in relation to the screen size.

The menu is strongly reminiscent of the PlayStation 3.

TV Picture Quality

‘Disillusioned’ is how we’d describe ourselves when we saw the analog TV picture: OK, the contrast and colors came across well, but the picture’s sharpness was average at best. On top of that, there’s obvious noise and stepped shading in dark areas of the picture. The TV pictures via DVB-T and DVB-C were significantly better, with the right amount of sharpness and none of the pesky graininess we saw in the analog pictures.

The outstanding motion-clarity was particularly impressive and surpassed that of even the best plasmas and 200-hertz LCDs. Even tennis balls flying at full-pelt over the net showed neither flicker nor blur. The speakers hidden in the pedestal do a great job, sounding expansive and clear, especially with speech. With music, however, the bass is too weak.

Picture Quality of Standard Signals (DVD)

With DVD playback, the picture didn’t look as fine as we’re used to seeing on normal, Full HD TVs. This became particularly obvious when displaying resolution test patterns, since the TV cannot display horizontal and vertical details in full. Purely subjectively, however, the sharpness is good, since the picture is just so small.

Color reproduction hardly left cause for complaint with DVD playback — only the rough differentiation of dark shades fell short of optimal. Skin tones looked highly natural, and black-and-white movies showed no coloration whatsoever.

When viewed from one side, the picture looked too cyan-tinted and lost a lot of brightness, but, unlike on LCDs, blacks remained totally black. In general, the Sony impressed with highly neutral colors, with only reds appearing slightly too intense.

HDTV Picture Quality

Blu-ray movies looked slightly better than DVDs on the OLED screen, but, in particularly crisp movies such as “Casino Royale”, we were disappointed with the flickering details. The reason for this is simple: There are just too few pixels available for accurate reproduction.

On the flip-side, the high contrast-ratio made a positive impression — this is particularly noticeable in dark movies. Namely, blacks appear as true black, and not a murky dark gray. You’ll only be able to enjoy this aspect of the picture quality in a completely dark environment, however, since the Sony strongly reflects ambient illumination, meaning even the softest of lighting will harm the picture’s contrast.

Picture Mode: Custom

Brightness: 50

Colour Temperature: Warm 2

Colour Space: Standard

Contrast: 80

Colour: 50

Sharpness: Minimum

Fine Motion: Standard

Adv. Contrast Enhancer: Off

Noise Reduction: Off

MPEG Noise Reduction: Off

These settings apply to realistic playback from HDTV/Blu-ray material through the HDMI interface in a darkened environment. Manufacturing and HDMI playback device deviations could necessitate slight adjustment.

If you want to share your opinion on this projector,
please reply to the thread accompanying this review on avsforum.com.