Sony Introduces New 1080p SXRD Grand WEGA HDTVs

[Clint DeBoer]

<FONT face=Arial size=2><A href="http://www.audioholics.com/news/pressreleases/SonySXRD1080pGrandWEGA.php"><IMG style="WIDTH: 103px; HEIGHT: 100px" alt=[SonyKDSR60XBR2th] hspace=10 src="http://www.audioholics.com/news/thumbs/SonyKDSR60XBR2th_th.jpg" align=left border=0></A>Sony Electronics today introduced two new sets in the line based on the acclaimed Silicon X-tal (Crystal) Reflective Display (SXRD) technology delivering full 1920 x 1080 high-definition resolution.&nbsp;The 1080p KDS-R60XBR1 and KDS-R50XBR1 Grand WEGA models compliment the 70-inch QUALIA 006 micro-display and the QUALIA 004 front projector. At the heart of the models are three new 0.61-inch SXRD panels, making them the world's smallest – one each for red, green and blue color reproduction. Sony claims the panels produce a contrast ratio of 5000:1 and that refinements to the panel circuit layout enabled them to reduce the pixel pitch on an individual panel to just seven micrometers for&nbsp;increased pixel density, better yields, and quick response time.

[<A href="http://www.audioholics.com/news/pressreleases/SonySXRD1080pGrandWEGA.php">Get Details and Pricing</A>]</FONT>

[AFJumper03]

Damn this hobby! As soon as you think you are happy with what you got, something REALLY cool comes out! grrr :)

[KrisJ]

More than likely my next TV, I wish it would have more HDMI inputs, especially at that price

[e73bass]

Is this rear projection or flat panel---anyone know when the Sony Qualia Flat panel will be out and a price yet?

[AVRat]

Rear-projection. SXRD is Sony's version of LCoS, a hybrid of LCD and DLP.

Yeah, I was going to go with one of the new Mitsubishi's, but I'm really interested in the LCoS technology. :cool:

[KrisJ]

More than likely my next TV, I wish it would have more HDMI inputs, especially at that price

My mistake, when doing a compare it shows 2

[millerbrad]

Sounds nice. Unfortunately, I'm doubtful that it'll actually accept a signal from a 1080p source. I'm sure it just "displays everything in 1080p" like the Aquos LCDs.

According to the User's Manual, the maximum PC resolution accepted is 1280x1024. "If unsupported signals are used, you will see the message 'Unsupported Signal'". And the HDMI-IN specs only show support for 1080i, 720p, 480p, and 480i.

Oh well.. It shur looks purdy...

[wd90125]

Would love to read the reviews before buying. If anyone sees any of them give a heads up.

Thanks. :cool:

[zepaholic]

<FONT face=Arial size=2><A href="http://www.audioholics.com/news/pressreleases/SonySXRD1080pGrandWEGA.php"><IMG style="WIDTH: 103px; HEIGHT: 100px" alt=[SonyKDSR60XBR2th] hspace=10 src="http://www.audioholics.com/news/thumbs/SonyKDSR60XBR2th_th.jpg" align=left border=0></A>Sony Electronics today introduced two new sets in the line based on the acclaimed Silicon X-tal (Crystal) Reflective Display (SXRD) technology delivering full 1920 x 1080 high-definition resolution.&nbsp;The 1080p KDS-R60XBR1 and KDS-R50XBR1 Grand WEGA models compliment the 70-inch QUALIA 006 micro-display and the QUALIA 004 front projector. At the heart of the models are three new 0.61-inch SXRD panels, making them the world's smallest – one each for red, green and blue color reproduction. Sony claims the panels produce a contrast ratio of 5000:1 and that refinements to the panel circuit layout enabled them to reduce the pixel pitch on an individual panel to just seven micrometers for&nbsp;increased pixel density, better yields, and quick response time.

[<A href="http://www.audioholics.com/news/pressreleases/SonySXRD1080pGrandWEGA.php">Get Details and Pricing</A>]</FONT>
Will Audioholics be doing a reveiw of this TV. I would like to here what the Pros say. :cool:

[tdeluce]

Would love to read the reviews before buying. If anyone sees any of them give a heads up.

Thanks. :cool:

I saw the 60in. at Sony Corp. in San Diego a couple
weeks ago - AWESOME PQ ( attended a presentation
on the SXRD technology ). The blacks were black and the
set was bright as hell. I have to watch my Samsung 6168
in complete darkness to match the level of brightness
the Sony SXRD had with full ambient lighting.

The only source they had was a Blu-Ray player playing
5 to 10 minutes of material and it looked great. Kind of
reminded me of a 60 in. tube :-)

There will be a 70 in. version out late next summer and
I will be seriously considering it...

[insbordnat]

I've seen the Qualia 006 70'', and needless to say, it was the best looking TV I've ever seen for a rear projection. Then again, they used a Blu-Ray disc (Spiderman 2) to demo it...but still nice nonetheless.

I saw the SXRD Grand WEGA at Best Buy and it looked good...obviously the Qualia was a wee bit nicer, but at that price tag...grrr.

I'm thinking of the 50". I hear the prices are going to drop after the new year.

[Hanse18]

I'm pretty sure Home Theater Magazine did a review of the 60 incher, and gave it around a 95 / 100 (or 9.5 if you like your scores outta 10 ;) )

I too have seen the qualia and the 60 in model, and they rank 1 and 2 as far as im concerned in pq for big rptv's. I have seen the qualia running off a panasonic s77 or s97 (I'm going to assume it was the 97, but there's only a $50 price difference anyways) and it looked fantastic... much better than when it was running off a Sony upconverting player (sorry can't remember the model). And the 60" SXRD was right next to the mitsu, samsung, and toshi and it by far looked the best. I thought samsung was a distant 2nd, but the mitsu seemed to have calibration issues, since the colors were slightly off. No contest anyhow. I want one.

[insbordnat]

And the 60" SXRD was right next to the mitsu, samsung, and toshi and it by far looked the best. I thought samsung was a distant 2nd, but the mitsu seemed to have calibration issues, since the colors were slightly off. No contest anyhow. I want one.

Agreed. I'll have to tough it out until the price drops a bit. The pq is just too good.:cool:

[Liberanos5]

What is the expected life of the 200W H.O. Lamp? The short life span as I understand it (about a year of average viewing :( ) is being used by Best Buy to sell the $400 four year service contract. Price of the lamp?? Is it a DIY fix??
Thanks,
Paul

[CaliHwyPatrol]

We have the 50 and 60" at our store and they are sweeeeet. Of course I get the 60" in my department, because I'm cool like that. :cool:

~Chuck

[cam4mav]

yesterday my dad got home from teh AV store, and he was looking for a 50" Plasma for downstairs and a projector for the upstairs. He came back and all he could talk about was that sony, so i did some reasearch and found a review if you guys are interested.
http://www.ultimateavmag.com/directviewandptvtelevisions/705sony/index.html
i dont know much of anything about HD TV's besides the diff between 720p, 1080i, and 1080p so i couldt understand much of the specifics that guy talked about.
Im gonna go look at it later today with my mom and ill come back and tell you how it looked
(first time watching HDTV's so ill be clueless as to how good it is, but oh well :)
and anyone know if it will be able to accept the PS3's 1080p signal, i saw one guy say it might display in 1080p, but it probably cant accept a 1080p signal, any ifo on that will be great!
thanks

[mazersteven]

Rear-projection. SXRD is Sony's version of LCoS, a hybrid of LCD and DLP.

Yeah, I was going to go with one of the new Mitsubishi's, but I'm really interested in the LCoS technology. :cool:

Sony LCoS still has holes between the pixels. The New Mitsubishi 1080p DLP doesn't.

[MAX661]

Sony LCoS still has holes between the pixels. The New Mitsubishi 1080p DLP doesn't.

Sony LCOS screens have no holes between the pixels, it's actually the opposite. LCOS technology "bleeds" color into it's surrounding pixels and has a fill rate of 99% or something like that. Plus the Mits sets are wobulated and do not resolve a full 1080i picture. The DMD chips used in all of the 1080p models are only 960x1080. Many people call this technology a "bandaid" until TI comes up with a full 1920x1080 chip.

These sets are considered to be a "rush job" in order to keep up with the LCOS sets. Only the Sony, JVC and soon to be LG rear projection sets actually have a screen resolution of 1920x1080.

These are things to take into account when you are going out to purchase a television...

[westcott]

This set will upconvert to 1080p but will NOT accept a 1080p signal (BluRay HD DVD, etc).

Playstation 3 will not support 1080p initially either but at least it will have digitial hdmi outputs.

That is more than can be said for all those 360 boxes Microsoft is selling.

All I can say is buyer beware.

[MAX661]

This set will upconvert to 1080p but will NOT accept a 1080p signal (BluRay HD DVD, etc).

Playstation 3 will not support 1080p initially either but at least it will have digitial hdmi outputs.

That is more than can be said for all those 360 boxes Microsoft is selling.

All I can say is buyer beware.


The only real main concerns for a 1080p input are for the PS3 and HTPC users. As for Blu-Ray & HD-DVD they have not said they will put out movies that are 1080p, but even if they do the difference will be minimal. A movie is shot at 1080p/24fps and the Sony excepts a 1080i/60fps with the 3:2 cinemotion in the Sony which is said to be excellent can resolve all the information needed and at any decent seating area of let's say 10 feet back the difference will barely be noticeable.

But with PS3 it will be outputting at 1080p/60fps so you will see an improvement by having a 1080p input, same goes for HTPC users...

[howie85]

For those who are interested This came up recently.

Sony has announced plans to drop the high-end Qualia line of products. These products were hand-built "statement pieces" intended to demonstrate Sony's technical excellence. However, they were very low volume, very expensive and did not produce a positive revenue. Given that Sony has been losing money from its electronics business for the past couple of years, the decision was made by the new management team to drop the Qualia product line. Perhaps it is more than just a coincidence that the demise of the Qualia product line is occurring just as Sony is introducing their LCoS display technology, previously only offered under Qualia line, into the mainstream Sony product line of the top-of-the-line models of Sony RPTVs. The Sony RPTVs cost only about 40% the price of the nearest Qualia RPTV.

[westcott]

The only real main concerns for a 1080p input are for the PS3 and HTPC users. As for Blu-Ray & HD-DVD they have not said they will put out movies that are 1080p, but even if they do the difference will be minimal. A movie is shot at 1080p/24fps and the Sony excepts a 1080i/60fps with the 3:2 cinemotion in the Sony which is said to be excellent can resolve all the information needed and at any decent seating area of let's say 10 feet back the difference will barely be noticeable.

But with PS3 it will be outputting at 1080p/60fps so you will see an improvement by having a 1080p input, same goes for HTPC users...

Well, if the difference between 1080i and 1080p are so minimal, why put out a display that fains to support it?

Secondly, how can something shot at 24fps (movie industry standard) proclaim itself to be a progressive (60fps) signal?

I realize I am opening up a huge can of worms here but the point is that there are a lot of uneducated buyers out there that think they are getting one thing and buying something completely different.


"We well know that the ATSC broadcast standard can accommodate 1080/24p and 1080/30p, but not 1080/60p. There does not currently seem to be any movement toward producing equipment that can record or transmit 1080/30p. We well know that much television post production is done in the 1080/24p scanning format, with source material being obtained by the transfer of 24 fps film to video or direct 1080/24p video capture.

Although 1080/24p is included in the ATSC standard, 24p video is not typically, if ever, used. Such material is converted either to 720p/60 or 1080i/30 with the addition of 3:2 pulldown before being broadcast, so we are back to upconversion in the receiver before it can be displayed as 1080/60p in the home.

There is a 1920 x 1080 studio/field video camera capable of 4:4:4 RGB output at 1080/60p, but no mention is made of any device that might be used to record or edit the images. The data sheets indicate that it is also capable of HD-SDI outputs at 1080/24p and 1080/30p, as well as 720/60p and 1080/30i.

It is, at this juncture, impossible to successfully compress 1080/60p to fit into a 6 MHz U.S. television channel using the MPEG-2 compression tools available to us. It is, in fact, quite difficult to successfully compress some 1080/30i material to fit into a 6 MHz television channel using these tools."

Quote from Technology Corner

[MAX661]

Well, if the difference between 1080i and 1080p are so minimal, why put out a display that fains to support it?

Secondly, how can something shot at 24fps (movie industry standard) proclaim itself to be a progressive (60fps) signal?

I realize I am opening up a huge can of worms here but the point is that there are a lot of uneducated buyers out there that think they are getting one thing and buying something completely different.



I'll answer what I feel was directed at me and maybe someone else can jump in finish off anyhting else you may have concerns with.

1. Sony says this years model does not support 1080p input over HDMI because at the time of production HDMI 1.0 was available and does not except 1080p through it. Therefor it was the connection used more than the device itself. Also according to PCworld.com a Sony rep said they are considering putting out an upgrade kit for the TV to allow it to input 1080p sometime in the future.

2. I dont know where in my post I said this, All I said was 1080p/24fps can be correctly interlaced deinterlaced into 1080i/60fps since there is only 48 fields in the 24fps progressive picture. The difference will be minimal because the source material is encoded with a quality picture to begin with. There will be some conversion that goes on before you see the picture displayed on your screen but at a decent seating distance it will be hard to tell the difference. Some people even say telling a difference between 1080p and 720p is minimal when sitting at a normal viewing distance.

I dont think the 1080p res is what sets these TV's above the rest in PQ, I think has more to do with the higher contrast ratios which home theater mag claims to have tested up to 13,300:1. Add that to the beautiful color reproduction of the SXRD sets and you have a winner.

Once again I am not saying a 1080p input is not important, but I do believe people blow it out of proportion. I mean currently the only Rear Projection TV that can except a 1080p signal is the HP but yet it cannot fully resolve a 1080i picture without losing some of it's original information. So which is more important to you? Infact all of the 1080p DLP sets cannot resolve a full 1080i picture, So far only the Sony can and we will soon see if the JVC will be able to also.

I hope this helps and anyone else with more information please feel free to chime in.

[awesomebase]

Correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I thought these TVs could not accept a 1080p signal from either the HDMI or component inputs. In fact the only 1080p source it can display is from a computer. Is this true? If it is, that would be a shame because it looks like a great monitor!

[MAX661]

if you read this thread all of your questions are answered.

[albasbal]

I have a Sony HD Trinitron and love it. Though I do see room for improvement and I am glad to see it coming.

[Weasel]

I am looking to purchase this Television at one of the online stores but the more reviews i read the more confused I get. Preffered Photo, Abes of maine PCandplasma. Can someone give me an honest unbiased opinion. This is quite a large investmest.

The Weasel

[Rtstrider]

In reality how much is the difference between interlaced and progressive noticable? I can honestly say I've looked at 480i and 480p side by side and could hardly tell the difference....But then again I am blind in one eye....(sorry to thread hijack)

[wsiler]

Once again I am not saying a 1080p input is not important, but I do believe people blow it out of proportion. I mean currently the only Rear Projection TV that can except a 1080p signal is the HP but yet it cannot fully resolve a 1080i picture without losing some of it's original information. So which is more important to you? Infact all of the 1080p DLP sets cannot resolve a full 1080i picture, So far only the Sony can and we will soon see if the JVC will be able to also.


Come again? I have a Samsung 6168 1080p DLP that accepts 1080i over HDMI and converts to 1080p. Additionally, it will accept 1080p over the VGA port. How do you propose that this does not resolve 1080i? What is your technical proof of that?


As to the argument on the importance 1080p inputs, 1080p input by itself is not important. Source material in 1080p so no upconversion occurs is important. We have 1080i and 1080p displays out there but picture quality is affected because source material has to be scaled. Without some form of 1080p DVD based solution, there is too much upconverting happening. My Sammy takes a 1080p signal over the VGA port just fine. The output is great and even if the HDMI will not accept 1080p, it matters little to me. I am sure that PC based drives will be out for both competing HD DVD formats. One upgrade to the PVR and I have 1080p DVDs.

Cheers,
Wiley

[wsiler]

In reality how much is the difference between interlaced and progressive noticable? I can honestly say I've looked at 480i and 480p side by side and could hardly tell the difference....But then again I am blind in one eye....(sorry to thread hijack)


If you are in the market for 480 p/i display, you may as well go by price point.
At that resolution, you may or may not notice the difference. This has as much to do with the source material as it does the display. Sure it will look better than a 27" Sanyo but that is not nearly as good as you can get. 1080p displays are the way to go these days. Once 1080p source materials are more available the change in picture quality will be amazing.

Article on Progressive scan here...
http://hometheater.about.com/od/beforeyoubuy/a/progressivescan.htm


Cheers,
Wiley