Toshiba Matsushita Display readies E Ink competing LCD panel

Alexander Turcic · 01-16-2007, 07:55 AM

Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology (a joint venture formed between Toshiba and Matsushita) announced today that the company has developed and started mass production of a new monochrome LCD panel for use in electronic dictionaries and e-book readers. Specs:

Display size: 5.01-inch
Resolution: 640 x 480
Display mode: Monochrome reflective display / Internal reflective display (someone care to explain?)
Contrast ratio: 12:1 (no backlight)
Response time: 20 ms
Levels of gray: 16
Power consumption: 4mW (2-level grayscale), 20 mW (16-level grayscale)

Compared to the usual E Ink display, the new panel has a higher contrast ratio (12:1 vs. 8:1) and also relatively low power consumption (20 mW vs. 1mW (E Ink standby) and 750 mW (E Ink active update)). Screen refresh is a lot faster (20 ms vs. 0.5-1s).

Before you get too excited keep in mind this is only a 640x480 screen, so hardly as high-resolution as TMD likes us to believe. [Edit: Thanks to RWood for clarifying that 640x480 on 5" is indeed high-resolution]

tribble · 01-16-2007, 08:27 AM

nice, the fast response time makes animations possible.
Any links to a video known?

emkay · 01-16-2007, 09:55 AM

High contrast, fast refresh rate... Now we're making some progress.

TadW · 01-16-2007, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tribble

nice, the fast response time makes animations possible.
Any links to a video known?

No video, and no other information on their website really. Found this product leaflet, but no information regarding the new panel

Leaping Gnome · 01-16-2007, 12:25 PM

What's the advantage? Just seems like a really low end LCD with no backlight?

TadW · 01-16-2007, 12:32 PM

Higher contrast ratio = improved legibility

tribble · 01-16-2007, 12:46 PM

low power consumption and great readability is the major advantage of this technology. I want a bigger one in color

Alexander Turcic · 01-16-2007, 12:52 PM

It's a lot faster than E Ink.

emkay · 01-16-2007, 02:26 PM

Oh. It's not e-ink. Dang

Still, would be interested to see how comfortable it is to read. The OLPC screen technology should be worth looking at too.

blooflame · 01-16-2007, 10:20 PM

If you're after animation then you typically are going also for a more powerful (and power-hungry CPU) aren't you?

Maybe I'm a semi-Luddite but seems to me that the key ingredients for mobile reading are three things: clarity, clarity, and clarity. After that long battery life and light weight. If you don't do a clear, readable display then the advantages over paper books are lost. Consider in my (older guy) definition of clarity that screen size matters, too: I can focus on my Clie to read something, but it's a pain with progressive lenses - thankfully I didn't get into the PDA habit too badly. Book-sized readers have book-sized display areas, couple that with high-resolution display and you've got me.

RWood · 01-16-2007, 11:13 PM

Now maybe I'm missing something (it would not be the first time); but, I consider my desktop monitor to be rather good for what I do (a lot of word processing, spreadsheets, and surfing MobileRead) and the 1280 x 1024 resolution on a 17" screen is not half bad. Now that works out to an average of 9,337 per sq inch. The Toshiba with its 5.1" screen has 24,606 per sq inch. In my view that makes it high resolution.

segatang · 01-17-2007, 01:49 AM

I think this should be the panel used in the Chinese ebook company jcnip's M218A.
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...ighlight=M218A

The spec., i.e. resolution etc.. is so similar. Right?

Alexander Turcic · 01-17-2007, 05:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RWood

Now maybe I'm missing something (it would not be the first time); but, I consider my desktop monitor to be rather good for what I do (a lot of word processing, spreadsheets, and surfing MobileRead) and the 1280 x 1024 resolution on a 17" screen is not half bad. Now that works out to an average of 9,337 per sq inch. The Toshiba with its 5.1" screen has 24,606 per sq inch. In my view that makes it high resolution.

Points taken and lesson learned.

I updated the first post accordingly.

Anchoku · 01-17-2007, 10:50 AM

The faster response time, while not doing a whole lot to make an e-book a better device, does allow for embedded video and animation within text. An object or scene being described in text could be supported by an embedded visual application. Another technology the fast response time enables is digitizer input so the user can make annotations to the text.

One last benefit of the fast response time should be eradication of image persistance. I'd like to see more optical measurements, though, before rendering any comparison to an electrophoretic display.

TadW · 01-17-2007, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by segatang

I think this should be the panel used in the Chinese ebook company jcnip's M218A.
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...ighlight=M218A

The spec., i.e. resolution etc.. is so similar. Right?

Possibly, but then again, how would they have gotten their hands on the panel since it was definitely not for mass production at that time yet.

01-16-2007, 07:55 AM	#1
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 12,730 Karma: 71589 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Sony Portable Reader	Toshiba Matsushita Display readies E Ink competing LCD panel Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology (a joint venture formed between Toshiba and Matsushita) announced today that the company has developed and started mass production of a new monochrome LCD panel for use in electronic dictionaries and e-book readers. Specs: Display size: 5.01-inch Resolution: 640 x 480 Display mode: Monochrome reflective display / Internal reflective display (someone care to explain?) Contrast ratio: 12:1 (no backlight) Response time: 20 ms Levels of gray: 16 Power consumption: 4mW (2-level grayscale), 20 mW (16-level grayscale) Compared to the usual E Ink display, the new panel has a higher contrast ratio (12:1 vs. 8:1) and also relatively low power consumption (20 mW vs. 1mW (E Ink standby) and 750 mW (E Ink active update)). Screen refresh is a lot faster (20 ms vs. 0.5-1s). Before you get too excited keep in mind this is only a 640x480 screen, so hardly as high-resolution as TMD likes us to believe. [Edit: Thanks to RWood for clarifying that 640x480 on 5" is indeed high-resolution]

01-16-2007, 08:27 AM	#2
tribble iLiad Maniac Posts: 1,380 Karma: 2369 Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Germany Device: iRex iLiad v2 / CyBook / DR1000S / BeBook / PRS505 / PRS500 (broken)	nice, the fast response time makes animations possible. Any links to a video known? __________________ justread.de - Die neue Art zu lesen offizieller iRex Reseller für Deutschland

01-16-2007, 12:46 PM	#7
tribble iLiad Maniac Posts: 1,380 Karma: 2369 Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Germany Device: iRex iLiad v2 / CyBook / DR1000S / BeBook / PRS505 / PRS500 (broken)	low power consumption and great readability is the major advantage of this technology. I want a bigger one in color __________________ justread.de - Die neue Art zu lesen offizieller iRex Reseller für Deutschland

01-16-2007, 10:20 PM	#10
blooflame Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2007 Device: Sony Clie/soon Reader?	Animation? If you're after animation then you typically are going also for a more powerful (and power-hungry CPU) aren't you? Maybe I'm a semi-Luddite but seems to me that the key ingredients for mobile reading are three things: clarity, clarity, and clarity. After that long battery life and light weight. If you don't do a clear, readable display then the advantages over paper books are lost. Consider in my (older guy) definition of clarity that screen size matters, too: I can focus on my Clie to read something, but it's a pain with progressive lenses - thankfully I didn't get into the PDA habit too badly. Book-sized readers have book-sized display areas, couple that with high-resolution display and you've got me.

01-17-2007, 01:49 AM	#12
segatang Connoisseur Posts: 98 Karma: 25 Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Taiwan Device: Kolin i-library	I think this should be the panel used in the Chinese ebook company jcnip's M218A. http://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...ighlight=M218A The spec., i.e. resolution etc.. is so similar. Right? __________________ My Blog (in tranditional Chinese) http://mypaper.pchome.com.tw/news/segatang/

01-16-2007, 09:55 AM	#3
emkay Connoisseur Posts: 92 Karma: 11 Join Date: Jul 2006	High contrast, fast refresh rate... Now we're making some progress.

01-16-2007, 12:25 PM	#5
Leaping Gnome Evangelist Posts: 490 Karma: 1641 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Louisville Device: Sony Reader PRS-500	What's the advantage? Just seems like a really low end LCD with no backlight?

01-16-2007, 12:32 PM	#6
TadW Uebermensch Posts: 2,476 Karma: 8172 Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Italy Device: Kindle	Higher contrast ratio = improved legibility

01-16-2007, 12:52 PM	#8
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 12,730 Karma: 71589 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Sony Portable Reader	It's a lot faster than E Ink.

01-16-2007, 02:26 PM	#9
emkay Connoisseur Posts: 92 Karma: 11 Join Date: Jul 2006	Oh. It's not e-ink. Dang Still, would be interested to see how comfortable it is to read. The OLPC screen technology should be worth looking at too.

01-16-2007, 11:13 PM	#11
RWood Technogeezer Posts: 7,233 Karma: 54680 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Virginia, USA Device: Sony PRS-500	Now maybe I'm missing something (it would not be the first time); but, I consider my desktop monitor to be rather good for what I do (a lot of word processing, spreadsheets, and surfing MobileRead) and the 1280 x 1024 resolution on a 17" screen is not half bad. Now that works out to an average of 9,337 per sq inch. The Toshiba with its 5.1" screen has 24,606 per sq inch. In my view that makes it high resolution.

01-17-2007, 10:50 AM	#14
Anchoku Connoisseur Posts: 54 Karma: 122 Join Date: Jan 2007	The faster response time, while not doing a whole lot to make an e-book a better device, does allow for embedded video and animation within text. An object or scene being described in text could be supported by an embedded visual application. Another technology the fast response time enables is digitizer input so the user can make annotations to the text. One last benefit of the fast response time should be eradication of image persistance. I'd like to see more optical measurements, though, before rendering any comparison to an electrophoretic display.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
eBookWise eb-1150 hands-on review	rmeister0	Fictionwise eBookwise	120	05-17-2009 11:19 AM
Dual display e-book device showcased by Toshiba	Alexander Turcic	News and Commentary	3	09-10-2006 12:05 AM
Rollable color OLED prototype display	Brian	News and Commentary	0	02-07-2006 08:38 PM
RIM invents drop-resistant LCD display	Colin Dunstan	Handhelds and Smartphones	1	12-07-2005 03:16 PM
Toshiba Unveils New Display Technologies	Colin Dunstan	News and Commentary	0	05-25-2004 03:04 PM