Sony 2007 Sneak Preview
Sony will introduce its 2007 line to press and dealers around noon eastern time on Feb. 27th . Here is a sneak peak of its HDTVs . There may be changes when Sony formally announces. The HD Guru will update the information after its “official†press announcement.
Grand Wega is Now BRAVIA
Just added:
Sony will be announcing 120 hz flat LCD panel today. The 120hz rate will greatly reduce the motion blur that occurs with all 60hz LCD panels. Here is the preliminary information.
BRAVIAâ„¢ KDL-32XBR4
Available this spring. Price to be determined
31.5-inch 1366 x 768 progressive flat-panel LCD
BRAVIAâ„¢ Internet Video Link-ready
Xross Media Bar (XMB)â„¢
10-bit LCD Panel
Motionflowâ„¢ with 120 Hz high frame rate capability
BRAVIA Engineâ„¢ & Live Color Creation
BRAVIAâ„¢ Theatre Sync
Sony has changed the name of its Grand Wega 3 LCD rear projectors to BRAVIA. It has also increased the resolution of the 46 and 50 inch sizes from 720p to 1080p . The E3000 series will have a new advanced iris for better black levels, the scaler has also been renamed to BRAVIA engine version DRC-MFv1.0. Sony has reduced depth to 12.6†for the 50†model. The 46†model is under 11.9†depth.
According to sources outside Sony the E3000 model have 3 HDMI inputs and ATSC/QAM tuner . Sony says they will be introduced in July.
There is a new 37†model with 720p resolution called the KDF-37H1000 3000. The 37†will retail for “about” $1300 and will ship in May. The HD Guru expects the street price to be between $1000 and $1100.
BRAVIA LCD Flat Panels
The V series features 1920 x 1080 resolution (1080p). It is represented by the 40 inch KDL-40V3000 and the 46†KDL-46V3000 and will be available in late spring. Prices have not been announced at press time.
Sony is also introducing a new S3000 series with 1366 x 768 resolution. The series will be available in the 46†(KDL-46S3000) 40†(KDL-40S3000), 32†(KDL-32S300) and 26†(KDL-26S3000). Pricing is to be announced.
Sony,today,October 1,2007 officially announced that the the world’s first OLED television would go on sale December 1,2007 in Japan for about $1740.00 US dollars.
It has an 11 inch display and will accept a 1080P input but the screen’s resolution is not large enough to display full 1080. It is 3mm thick and has built in domestic and satellite tuners.
The future is here.Sony intends to develop this technology and states that OLED will eventually replace LCD.
In 1984,Seiko-Sha,Epson brought to market the world’s first LCD color television,a 2 inch model,the price $499.00. Now 23 years later,we have 70 inch LCD television.
I fully expect Sony to make good on their promise,and we will have large OLED panels in the not to distant future. OLED has many advantages.
Sony has a website up in Japan,with a video,photos and full specs with related links.
The link: http://www.sony.jp/products/Consumer/oel/index.html
I’m in the market for a 46″ flat panel LCD. It seems the Sharp Aquos and Samsungs are decent, but the Sony’s have a slight edge in picture quality. (I only care about HD tv & movies not gaming).
My question is: is the slightly higher contrast ratios of the W3000 worth the extra money (~$300) over the V3000 model?
I have a 2001 rear projection Toshiba and had simliar problems. I found when I keep the non HD channels in the basic 4:3 format and not stretch the picture, it looks pretty good. When I stretch everyone has a misty look. Hope this helps
Hi, guru i just purchased a 46″ SONY BRAVIA LCD tv and I have HD satillite.But the picture does not look that good to me.Is there something that I can do that may give me a better picture.I was talking to a friend and he said that they have a disk that will calibrate the color and settings I was wondering is this true and if so were do I find this disk.Or do I just have to ajust the settings on my tv.I would greatly appreciate the help.thanks
Hard to say where the problem lies, you are not very specific about the source channels. Are they standard defintion or HD. Assuming the standard def ones are giving you a problem, there are two sets of factors to consider
a) the LCD image is not as good as a CRT you are used to. Specifically angle of view, contrast ratio, black level, motion sharpness, and the fact that CRTs scan at the native signal rate and flat panels don’t affect the standard def image quality.
b) somewhere in the chain the standard definiton signal needs to be upconverted to the native rate of the display, which in your case is 1080p
What can you do to improve the image?
There are a number of things. Let me begin with the satellite receiver (this also applies to cable set top boxes)
1)You need to experiment to see which does a better job of upconverting 480i to 1080p. Is it the set top box (STB) (unlikely)or the display. Try it both ways be entering the settings menu of the set top receiver and compare 1080i output to 480i (a number of boxes will only let you go to 480p if this is the case use it) One mode is often referred to as Native mode that will allow the STB to throughput the native sources resolution to the display ans let it do all the scaling workd (you don’t want the STB to downconvert your HD content to 480 so check the manual to make sure the mode you choose outputs HD at 1080 or native i)
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2)) If the Sony is set to Vivid mode, change it to Movie or Cinema and adjust the user controls accordingly for the best image.
c) A calibration disc such as AVIA or Video Essentials will help you set the user controls.
Bottom line, your image will be only as good as your source material display and its scaler chip. This is why the HD Guru makes a big deal about scalers.
One more note, use the best level connection which in your case is HDMI from the set top to the Sony LCD.
The HD Guru       ÂÂ
Hi, guru. In reading your articles I believe you mentioned that several great new plasma tv’s will be available around Sept 07. You did recently mention the new Panasonic tv’s and they sound like an improvement over 2006. I am looking for the best 55-60″ 1080p plasma to be used at altitude of 7000′. Could you please point me in the right direction. Thanks.
Guru,are you still going to publish the results of the testing of large sets like the 70″ Sony and JVC. Do you test projectors like the new lower priced Sony Pearl and Mitsubishi DLP?
Thanks