INDIANAPOLIS – Fresh from its IFA Expo showcase in Berlin last week, Sony is showing off its 84-inch 4K LCD TV at this week’s CEDIA Expo.
The XBR-84X900 features an LCD panel with a whopping 3,840 by 2,160 pixels (a.k.a. 4K) and features 3D capability based on passive non-powered glasses technology – a first for Sony, which has championed the cause of active-shutter 3D glasses in the past.
Sony said the set will hit Sony Style stores and select retail partner and custom installer showrooms in the United States this week at a price to be announced.
This marks the second year in a row that Sony has chosen to show a 4K display at the custom electronics trade show. Last year, Sony unveiled its 4K SXRDbased front projector – the VLP-VW1000ES – billed as the first consumer-level display device with native 4K resolution.
“This model redefines what consumers should expect from their television’s performance, said Brian Seigel, Sony Electronics TV group VP. “Our professional division continues to see the migration toward 4K content creation with major film and broadcast productions.”
The XBR-84X900 incorporates Sony’s X-Reality Pro up-scaling to present lower-resolution material on the denser-pixel screen. The system even works on still images supplied by an attached digital camera. The technology is said to eliminate many of the artifacts that degrade picture quality when blown up on larger-format screens.
Still images can also be presented on the set using Sony’s Play Memories Studio software via a PlayStation3 game console.
The set’s passive 3D glasses support marks the second 84-inch 4K display using passive glasses technology announced at IFA. LG, which is the other, is a major OEM supplier of LCD panels.
Sony’s set also incorporates a full-body audio system using a built-in 10-speaker system, said to be optimized for the large-sized screen, and using Sony’s virtual 5.1-channel sound processing technology.
The side speakers also connect to an existing home-theater system.
Meanwhile, Sony is starting to stockpile natively produced 4K material for eventual distribution to 4K displays like the XB4-84X900.
Sony said a number of movies are now in production using a new Sony native 4K professional camera, and Sony recording artist Taylor Swift recently shot the firstever 4K music video.
