A few years ago, OLED seemed like the next big thing in HDTVs, but then it fell by the wayside. Until this year, OLED displays haven't gone beyond small devices and $2,500 11-inch lamp-sized HDTVs. That is changing, with LG and Samsung showing off 55-inch OLED HDTVs that wear their OLED technology proudly, and with Sony's new Crystal LED technology, which doesn't quite use an OLED panel but works in a similar way.

Sony's new Crystal LED screen uses a similar concept, but without the organic aspect. The 16 million inorganic LEDs are arranged on a panel, and each lights up on its own, like OLED. According to Sony, this new technology offers 3.5 times better contrast, 1.4 times wider color, and 10 times faster response time compared to its current LCD panels.

Both Samsung and LG showed off as-yet-unnamed 55-inch OLED HDTVs at their booths on the CES floor. OLED, or organic light emitting diode, technology is a new color screen technology that differs from liquid crystal displays by actually having the pixels themselves light up. lLCD HDTVs, even LED-backlit ones, form a picture on the liquid crystal layer and must then be lit by LEDs on the edge or back, or by CCFL lights on the back. OLEDs take the backlight out of the equation, meaning when a pixel is "black," it's literally off; there is no light coming from that pixel. This means both the screen will show better black levels and consume less power.

I looked at all three screens, and I was impressed. All three models were incredibly thin and very bright. While I couldn't get as close to them as I would have liked, I looked at an OLED panel similar to LG's close up at LG Display (a different company, that provides LG and other manufacturers their panels) and under my sharp and blinking eye I saw no pixel lit in the black areas. They winked out, like the stars in the Doctor Who episodes "Turn Left," "The Pandora Opens," and "Logopolis." I know, technically, the last one is a serial.

Whether these claims are true will be seen when we put the new Crystal LED display, and the new OLED displays, under our scopes in the PCMag Labs. That won't happen for a while, though. Sony's Crystal LED display was strictly a prototype with no release date, and Samsung and LG's 55-inch OLED HDTVs aren't expected to see pricing or availability until the second half of this year.