» Sony Grand WEGA SXRD Rear Projection HDTVs Review

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Editor's HDTV Pick

HP 47 inch MediaSmart 1080p LCD HDTV "Out of the box" digital media platform. Enjoy videos, pictures and music from home network + digital media delivered over your broadband Internet connection + 3 x HDMI

At the Los Angeles Home Entertainment Show Sony unveiled details on its 2006 lineup of SXRD (Silicon X-tal Reflective Display) equipped rear projection televisions. The lineup includes the 60inch Grand WEGA SXRD Rear Projection HDTV KDS-R60XBR1 and the 50inch KDS-R50XBR1

Sony built its proprietary SXRD technology on the existing LCoS technology combining liquid crystal (LCD) and silicon chip fabrication technologies to drastically reduce the size of pixels in a micro display and reduce inter-pixel space. These improvements have produced a line of televisions with a native High Definition TV resolution of 1920 pixels horizontally x 1080 pixels vertically. Not having to upscale resolution means superior, almost “film-quality” images.

Read our article Microdisplay Chips for Rear Projection Televisions to learn more about the technologies powering the new generation of rear projection HDTV televisions.

The new technology chip powering Sony’s rear projection television sets is a miniscule 0.78 inches diagonally, has some 2 million pixels of 9um pitch spaced 0.35um apart and manages to produce full HDTV. Sony believe that this inter-pixel spacing is the world’s smallest. This is a 2.4- fold increase in pixel density, and a 10-fold improvement in inter-pixel spacing compared to high temperature Poly-Silicon liquid crystal devices.

A contrast ratio of 10,000:1 under normal operating conditions is a factor of three better than most LCD, DLP and plasma TVs. The response time of 5 ms is also impressive improving motion display.

Some noteworthy features of the Grand WEGA SXRD Rear Projection HDTV family are:

• WEGA Engine: The digital image processing engine unique to Sony;
• Advanced Iris: automatically opens and closes in response to the incoming signal level for brighter whites and better contrast in darker scenes;
• CineMotion: for smoother picture movement;
• Twin-View: view two stations/programs side by side;
• Memory Stick Viewer: a very convenient feature allowing you to quickly plug in your and view your digital images (JPEG) and home videos (MPEG1) from on your widescreen TV. The latest Memory Stick Pro has 2 GB storage capacity and a speedy 80 Mbps read/write speed;
• CableCARD Slot: The CableCARD, from your cable TV provider can be inserted into the TV’s rear panel allowing you to plug your coaxial cable directly into your TV - removing the requirement (and expense) for a separate set-top box. The CableCARD stores your account information with the cable TV provider as well as the descrambling algorithms;
• HDMI Interface: (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) for uncompressed, all-digital audio+video interface between the TV and any HDMI-equipped component;
• i.LINK Connector: (FireWire or IEEE 1394) for a serial bus interface with your personal computer.