Recently, we were invited to Sony’s UK headquarters in Surrey to view the company’s newest products – including its new TVs, recently announced at CES (Sony Hopes to Challenge OLED). Although the products were, mostly, not new to us, this was a chance to get closer to them, ask some more technical questions and get European release dates.
We began in the Picture Quality Room, where Sony was showing off the newest version of its X-Reality Pro processor. This year, the processor is being used on an entry-level 1920 x 1080 set, the RD5 – in the past, it has been on UltraHD models only. The processor has been designed to enhance colours, shadow, detail and textures.
There were comparisons of SDR, SDR with picture enhancement and HDR content. The SDR with enhancements presented an image that had been optimised so that the dark areas were lighter, but this also washed out the bright areas of the image. In the HDR images, detail was much more clearly visible; for instance, we could see the shape of the Sun, rather than a simple glare around it.
Sony’s HDR technology provides a significant improvement over SDR – and, this year, the company has managed to improve it even further. The next demo was of HDR on the X85C – a 2015 flagship – versus HDR on this year’s XD85. Shadows are deeper, with better reflections and less image noise. The wider colour gamut on the 2016 set may also have had something to do with it, of course.
The XD85 is an impressive TV, but it is not Sony’s most premium set: that honour belongs to the XD93, with a feature called Slim Backlight Drive. This was described to me as “A step between direct- and edge-lit LED.” It is not the Backlight Master Drive technology that was previewed at CES (I checked), which was “Only a concept”.
Slim Backlight Drive uses two LED modules, one on either side of the TV, and two light guide plates. These guide plates enable greater control over the light from the backlight, and so Sony can show HDR content on the set, even though it is edge-lit. Black levels, for instance, were good and contrast was high. I did see one scene in the demo content that came out of the process poorly, however: a shot of the replica Eiffel Tower on the Paris Casino in Las Vegas. The (very) brightly-lit tower was on one side, but that illumination faded very rapidly so the other side of the image was totally black. Other attendees apparently agreed, as they brought the topic up with the Sony representative.
When it comes to design, Sony has decided to drop the controversial side-mounted (but very high quality) speakers this year. The proliferation of sound bars has largely made the need for very good integrated speakers in TVs obsolete.
There will be three Full HD sets this year: RD4 (replaces R4); WD6 (32″ – 49″, with basic smart functionality); and WD75 (largely identical to the WD6; mainly differentiated by design). Pricing will range from €460 to €940, but this has not been finalised, I was told.
The gold bar splitting the TV is part of Sony’s new designAndroid TV (5.0, with an update to 6.0 this year), YouView, and other premium smart functionality will only be built in to Sony’s UltraHD TVs, of which there are four ranges. These are the SD85 (curved; 55″ and 65″); XD85 (flat; 55″ – 85″); XD93; and XD94 (similar to the XD93, but in just one size (75″) and with a direct-LED backlight). Only the XD93 and XD94 will feature Sony’s X-tended Dynamic Range Pro technology, which boosts highlights in bright areas.
Although its XD93 and XD94 TVs meet the specifications for the new UltraHD Premium logo, I had heard that Sony has not had its TVs officially certified. I asked, and had the news confirmed: the company will not use the UHD Premium logo or branding on its sets. The reasoning, said marketing manager Matt Laird, is that it does not want to mix messaging: Sony still refers to its UltraHD TVs as ‘4k’. All of Sony’s UltraHD sets will feature the 4k HDR logo.
Sony confirmed that it has no UltraHD Blu-ray player, but hopes to launch one in this fiscal year (which ends in February 2017).
A short audio demo followed, as well as demonstrations of Sony’s still cameras. Sony claims to have a 25% share of this market, and to be the world’s largest manufacturer of camera sensors. There are fewer cameras being sold today but, thanks to the introduction of higher-value models, such as UltraHD units, the value of the market has levelled off.
