Not like LG had any choice but to get savvy with OLED, but either way, it's good to hear that it's making the investment willingly. According to CEO Kwon Young-soo, LG is planning to use some of its "abundant cash" (must be nice, right?) to "increase capital spending for the active-matrix organic light-emitting diodes (AMOLED) business." He refused to dole out a proper figure at the time, noting that the company was "still watching the market to seek a proper time to implement decisive action." As for logistics, it's highly likely that a little tag-team work with Samsung SDI will take place, while it's also probable that we'll see its 3.5G AMOLED line relocated to its facilities in "Paju, Gyeonggi Province, following the relocation of the two-generation production line in Gumi." So, LG -- now that we know you're all gung ho, might we see that 32-inch OLED TV before 2011?

Ruh roh. Research firm DisplaySearch has just unleashed a new report that takes an in-depth look at the ultrathin XEL-1, and it ended up finding a video lifetime barely half of what Sony promises. Apparently the company ran a couple of Sony's OLED TVs for 1,000 hours, after which it found that blue luminance degraded by 12-percent, the red by 7-percent and the green by 8-percent. Extrapolating the data it gathered, it estimated that the unit would lose half of its brightness in 17,000 hours -- Sony says you can expect 30,000. Of course, Sony is still standing by its numbers, and even we can see that DisplaySearch's methods aren't perfectly scientific, but if you were honestly expecting to watch this thing for the next decade (and not a year less), you may want to hit the read link and snoop around.

[Via Yahoo, thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Oh yeah, we're mildly excited that LG Display should be able to start cranking out product from its 8G LCD plant earlier than expected, but the real kicker here is the outfit's outlook on OLED. Merely two days after hearing that Samsung was hoping to dish out affordable medium-to-large OLED displays in 2009 / 2010, we're now getting word that LG Display is looking to offer up a 32-incher the year after. And we're talking "volume production," no less. Makes holding off on that XEL-1 that much easier, doesn't it? Nah, we didn't really think so.

[Via OLED-Info]

It's not like we haven't been let down at CES before, so we're doing our best to contain our excitement on this one. Reportedly, Samsung is gearing up to showcase a 31-inch OLED TV at CES next month, which would trump Sony's 11-incher and even Toshiba's now-delayed 30-incher by some margin. A company spokesperson even stated that it was "considering exhibiting a 40-inch OLED TV," but decided against it presumably due to the exorbitantly high price tag that would've been shown along with it. In case a single 31-inch version isn't enough to meet your sky high expectations, the outfit is also hoping to have a 14-inch iteration set up for viewing, but as always, we'll believe it when we see it.

[Via Telecoms Korea]

Surely you remember Sony's OLED TVs with an astounding 1,000,000:1 contrast? Good, then you'll also recall that Sony promised the 3-fracking-mm thin, 11-incher this year; a schedule Samsung publicly doubted. While we wish it was 27- or even 30-inches, it's still a very important step in the wide-spread, commercialization of the technology. So check it Sammy, Sony's on the road touting a December, Japan delivery to anyone who will listen. So the question is: are you?

Read -- Sony confirmation at Gitex
Read -- Sony confirmation in Japan (footnote, near end)