PRESTOPUNDIT

SEDs, newly developed by Canon and Toshiba, work much like CRTs. But instead of one electron gun, an SED has a flat array of hundreds of thousands of minuscule low-voltage electron guns that use a quantum tunnelling effect to jump across a gap to excite a phosphor. The 36-inch prototype SED on show at CEATEC produced very impressive pictures, crisp and equal in brightness to a CRT. The makers claim it has a faster video response time and better colour reproduction than either an LCD or plasma display of comparable size. It should also consume a lot less power as there is no backlight and no gas to ionise. SED TVs of over 40 inches are promised for 2005 and, on the evidence available at CEATEC, they may well be worth waiting for.