Sony XEL-1 OLED TV available in the U.S. this month

Hot off the presses so to speak. A preemptive OLED TV strike by Sony one day before CES2008:LAS VEGAS (AP) — Sony Corp. on Sunday said it is introducing to the U.S. market a high-quality organic LED television only as thick as three stacked credit cards.

The 11-inch XEL-1 television, to go on sale this month, is Sony’s first television for the U.S. to use organic light-emitting diode technology, which enables superior picture quality on super-thin displays. The company also is demonstrating a prototype 20-inch version at the Consumer Electronics Show this week in Las Vegas.

The XEL-1 has a contrast ratio — the difference between maximum and minimum brightness — of 1 million to one, because pixels can be turned off completely for a near-perfect black. That compares with 30,000 to one for a good conventional flat-panel TV, which can’t show a perfect black.

The high picture quality comes at a hefty price: about $2,500 for the XEL-1. It sold for $1,700 at its launch in Japan in December.