Our primary purpose on the stand was to find out more about the Backlight Master Drive technology. What we were told – and have some reservations about – is that it is a way of shifting power from dim areas of the backlight and boosting bright areas (of course, you cannot ‘move power’ like this – there is clearly more going on here. However, Sony was reluctant to give any more away as the technology is still patent-pending).
Although we couldn’t get much information, the Backlight Master Drive demonstration was quite stunning. Neon lights, in an aerial view of the Las Vegas Strip, looked extremely realistic, while dark areas were an inky black, without hiding too much detail. A display nearby featured a cut-away, showing what the backlight was doing in each scene.
There were will be four new TVs this year. The flagships are the X93D (55″, 65″) and X94D (75″), both of which are UltraHD sets. Much like the X900C/X910C from 2015, these TVs are identical – the X94D simply features a slightly different design and larger size. The X94D has a slim direct-LED backlight, but the system in the X93D was described as a ‘grid-array’. No more details were available.
Both TVs will have the Backlight Master Drive technology. They run Android TV and support Google Cast, and will be launched in the spring.
More traditional TVs come in the form of the S85D (Europe-only) and X85D. These are still UltraHD models, with the premium features of the above sets, but lack the full backlighting features.
Analyst Comment
The group selling Sony’s A/R glasses (SmartEyeGlass) was in the South Hall and looking to sign up developers for professional and commercial applications. At the moment, the company is “going with the flow” that A/R is for professional applications and waiting for a later date to promote the product into consumer applications. (BR)
