By Patrick Avenell

OLED TVs should be in Harvey Norman stores around November — and they’ll be worth the wait. That’s the message from general manager Ben McIntosh, who has just returned home from IFA, where he witnessed the technology first hand.

“OLED TV really gives you that next level of technology for your lounge room,” he said. “It’s something that you will aspire to have in your TV viewing experience, it’s that good.

“The picture is the next level, the size of it is the next level, the weight of it is the next level, the appearance of it is the next level — it’s just the best of the best.”

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An acronym for Organic Light Emitting Diodes, OLED is a completely new technology for television screens. Unlike LED TVs, which is just an LCD panel with an LED backlight, the whole panel of an OLED TV is comprised of these diodes. Because OLED displays can work without any backlighting, they are capable of producing much better colour representations.

LG Electronics was the talk of Berlin last week when it showcased its OLED TV range at IFA. Although it has been coy on local release dates, the company did recently appoint a dedicated marketing manager for its OLED TV release.

Samsung also has a range of OLED TVs set for release in the uncertain future. When Current.com.au asked national sales and marketing manager Brad Wright for information on their release, he said, “At the moment there is no formalised understanding of when we’ll be launching OLED”.

Wright went on to say that Australia was considered a high priority subsidiary for Samsung, so we should receive one of the first releases.

McIntosh was a little bit more specific, though there is still no concrete information.

“No exact dates yet, but if you want and approximate, you’d be talking ‘November-ish’,” he said.

McIntosh continued to say that Harvey Norman is very confident that OLED TVs will find a market in Australia, despite the expected price points of around $8,000.

“People that have that kind of disposal income will want to have a prized possession up on their wall and in their lounge room,” he said. “OLED will definitely have a market.

“Do I think it will be the number one selling television? No, because obviously the price point does put it at the premium level, but it will bring some excitement back into consumer electronics.”