Sony Bows BRAVIA LCDs, SXRD 1,080p At CEDIA

By Steve Smith -- TWICE, 9/19/2005

INDIANAPOLIS — Sony took advantage of the CEDIA Expo venue, here, providing further details on its new BRAVIA brand XBR flat-panel LCD TVs, and introducing an SXRD 1,080p home theater front projector and more LocationFree portables.

The BRAVIA XBR flat-panel LCD HDTVs come in 40-inch, 32-inch and 26-inch screen sizes, models KDL-V40XBR1, KDL-V32XBR1 and KDL-V26XBR1, respectively. Randy Waynick, the new senior VP of Sony Electronics home products division, repeated the mantra that these products and others from the company “exceed expectations. For Sony, BRAVIA is the next step in the evolution of TV [and] our new flat-panels feature an attractive design and brilliant picture, which simply has to be seen to be appreciated.”

The latest XBR models feature Sony's advanced Wide Color Gamut-Cold Cathode Florescent Light (WCG-CCFL) back-lighting system, which the company said produces purer white light for a wider and more accurate range of colors. Additionally, the 32-inch and 40-inch models utilize S-PVA (Super Patterned Vertical Alignment) technology for a wider viewing angle and faster response times. Combined with the Wega engine system, the sets deliver high contrast, along with a sharper, more detailed picture, Sony said. These XBR LCD models feature a resolution of 1,366 by 768, an integrated ATSC tuner and a CableCARD.

Sony's graphic user interface provides what it calls “simple menu navigation” and access to A/V controls. Additionally, an input skip function allows quick access to sources connected to any of the various inputs including HDMI, component video, PC input, high-speed USB, composite and S-video.

The three new BRAVIA HDTVs will ship later this month for about $3,500 (40-inch), $2,700 (32-inch) and $2,000 (26-inch). Sony's KLV-S32A10 and the KLV-S26A10 LCD models, which were previously announced, will also fall under the BRAVIA brand.

The SXRD 1,080p home theater front-projection HDTV features Sony's Silicon X-tal Reflective Display (SXRD) technology, with a contrast ratio of up to 15,000:1.

The VPL-VW100 joins the two Grand Wega SXRD rear-projection microdisplay televisions, the KDS-R60XBR1 and KDS-R50XBR1, utilizing what Sony calls “the world's smallest 0.61 SXRD chip to deliver more than 2 million pixels and the full power of high definition.” The projector incorporates three SXRD chips to deliver more than 6 million native pixels.

Leaning on some of the same technology found in Sony's QUALIA 004 SXRD projector, the VPL-VW100 model features a 400-watt Pure Xenon lamp for color reproduction. The Advanced Iris produces accurate blacks and works with three 0.61 SXRD chips to deliver an overall contrast ratio of up to 15,000:1 when “auto” Iris mode is on, Sony said. The new VPL-VW100 will be available in November for about $10,000.

Sony also introduced the next generation of its LocationFree products: a simplified LF-X11 12-inch TV with expanded wireless range and the LF-PK1 Player Pak for PC users.

The LocationFree Base Station connects to a variety of A/V devices, such as a set-top TV tuner, DVD player and personal video recorder (PVR). The 12-inch LocationFree TV can wirelessly access the base station for viewing TV programming, DVDs or PVR content in the home and on the Internet.

Sony's new LocationFree Player Pak, LF-PK1, includes a base station and software, which allows PC users to enjoy the benefits of LocationFree TV.

The redesigned LF-X11 LocationFree TV adds improved wireless performance with a dual-band Multi-directional Audio & Visual Transmission (MAT) antenna, along with a new wireless software system with real-time Automatic Repeat request (ARQ) and rate-adoption technology. These enhancements provide stable and multi-directional wireless transmissions with an expanded wireless range of up to 100 feet in a typical home environment, Sony said.

Sony's NetAV function simplifies its operation and the company also integrates a DNS service so there is no longer any need to use external dynamic DNS providers. This makes the setup process less complicated, Sony said. The new NetAV function also incorporates the MPEG-4 ASP compression scheme for content transmission on the Internet.

The LF-PK1 LocationFree Player Pak is currently available for about $350, while the LocationFree TV LF-X11 will ship in late September for about $1,500.