With Sony expected to launch a large OLED TV by the end of the year, followed shortly afterwards by Samsung's own 40in version early in the new year, 2010 is set to signal takeoff for this exciting new technology.

Looking like the first serious rival to Plasma and LCD technology, Sony have demonstrated an HD ready 21in OLED TV at the Flat Panel Display expo in Japan. The same screen is likely to be widely available to consumers by the end of this year.

OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) technology is based on organic materials which emit light naturally after an electrical charge is passed through them. OLED pixels generate their own light which brings a whole host of technological advantages. Every OLED prototype we have seen produces brighter, sharper images while using less power than any plasma or LCD TV.

Unlike Sony's existing 11in XEL-1 (960 x 540 resolution), their 21in OLED comes with an HD ready (1366 x 768) spec. Both screens share a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, although the 21in panel has an integrated tuner rather than the separate media box of the XEL-1. Despite the integrated tuner, the prototype panel comes in at an impressive 1cm deep.

The Korean electronics giant, Samsung, plan to offer a commercially available large OLED screen by 2010. The first OLED screens from Samsung are likely to be 14.1in and 31in or 40in models also demonstrated recently. Panasonic have recently announced that they will be producing a commercially available 40in OLED by 2011.

Sony's existing 11in Bravia XEL OLED TV is already on sale for £3,489 with their 21in offering likely to be a much more reasonable £5000 when it goes on sale at the end of the year.