LG Display announced a 55-inch OLED TV panel measuring just 5-mm thick. The world's largest OLED panel will receive its first public demonstration at CES in Las Vegas starting January 9th. The new panel was created at "significantly reduced investment levels" using an Oxide TFT technology for the backplane which, according to LG, makes it a more cost effective solution than the Low Temperature Poly Silicon (LTPS) base panels found in existing OLED displays. LG also claims to improve upon the overall viewing experience through the use of White OLED (WOLED) yielding a "clearer Ultra Definition screen" that maintains its color integrity at diverse angles. It also lowers power consumption when the panel is used to display a white-space heavy web browser on a smarttv, for example. Dr. Sang Beom Han, CEO and Executive Vice President of LG Display, had this to say about today's announcement:

"Our objective has always been to actively define and lead emerging display technology markets. Although OLED technology is seen as the future of TV display, the technology has been limited to smaller display sizes and by high costs, until now. LG Display's 55-inch OLED TV panel has overcome these barriers."

The CES introduction of the LG Display OLED panel had been a topic of discussion for months, and is expected to be joined by a similarly sized offering from Samsung. LG Display's claim that the panel "is a significant step forward in the popularization of OLED TVs" gives us hope that the company is on track to ship a 55-inch OLED TV in the second half of 2012, as confirmed by its CEO back in July. And the claim that the company has overcome barriers that have kept large-panel OLED costs high raises the specter of an affordable (for deep-pocketed early adopters, anyway) OLED TV for the living room.