As the plasma and LCD classes have developed, some manufacturers have been  in the process of developing next-generation displays that would hopefully take performance the next level. One of those new display technologies was the Field Emission Display (FED). Unfortunately, Sony has pulled the plug. FED was a joint project of Sony and TCI, the Chinese owner of the RCA brand.

It was akin to the equally doomed SED in its use of carbon nanotubes to emit electrons into phosphor dots, but had a different tube structure. FED was supposed to have debuted in 2009, and the developers had even planned to buy a Pioneer plasma plant to produce it, but the whole project was a victim to the rocky economy. Videophiles may never get to see FED at all.