Senior Pansonic executives who were in Australia yesterday for the launch of a new range of plasma TVs including a new 54″ 1″ thick wireless TV have said that Pansonic is currently researching HD OLED TV and that the Japanese Company will have an OLED TV within 18 months to 2 years.

At the CES Show in January, Panasonic executives said that one of the main reasons that they had not talked about an OLED TV offering was because the company was not happy with the lifespan of current OLED TV’s being sold by Sony and that they were confident that Panasonic engineers, including several who had joined the company from Pioneer, would be able to deliver new technology that expanded the life of an OLED screen from 30,000 hours to 50,000 hours.

They claim that they will achieve this by using a new metal membrane inside a prototype 20.8-inch panel to move light more efficiently.

Currently Panasonic are achieving over 60,000 hours life with their plasma offerings. 

The first of the Panasonic Toshiba OLED TV’s are tipped to be a 37″ 1″ thick panel which will be produced at Panasonic’s new IPS Alpha factory.

Toshiba has also confirmed that they are working on OLED technology in partnership with Panasonic.