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	Sony KDL-70XBR3.

If you've US$33,000 earmarked for a new television, then Sony's main CES announcement might pique your interest. If you don't, you'll have to wait until the company's February show to hear anything official about the company's 2007 products. Eschewing CES for significant product news is nothing new for the vendor, but the price point of its new flagship HDTV still represents a certain kind of bravado. At least Sony knows how to capture headlines from the mainstream press.

The US$33,000 KDL-70XBR3 (did we mention it costs US$33,000?) happens to be a 70-inch flat-panel LCD HDTV with a laundry list of cutting-edge specs, seemingly all couched in the terminology of Sony trademarks. Topping the list is "x.v. Color," which the company carefully explains is its brand name for xvYCC technology. It allows the KDL-70XBR3 to display a wider color gamut, which should actually improve picture quality, but requires xvYCC-enabled content to take full advantage of. As far as we know there isn't any xvYCC content currently available, but with Sony introducing four new xvYCC camcorders at CES, baby footage utilizing the latest Sony products might be lent to whole new realms of realism. Seriously, we've heard that the first xvYCC-enabled content will come courtesy of video games, presumably on the PlayStation 3.

Of course, the KDL-70XBR3 has 1080p (1,920 x 1,080) native resolution, and it adds a 120Hz refresh rate (a.k.a. Motionflow), 10-bit color, and an improved LED backlight (Triluminos according to the Sony trademark artists). The high refresh rate could help remove judder and blurring in fast-moving images, while the increased color depth could reduce false contouring if the source is also 10-bit. The three HDMI inputs are version 1.3-compatible.

At the other end of the cost continuum, Sony also announced a "Bravia Internet Video Link that will allow most of its new televisions to access free Internet video content, including high-definition videos, from providers including AOL, Yahoo, and Grouper, as well as Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony BMG Music", according to the press release. The magic comes courtesy of a small module (price, availability not announced) that connects to "most of its new televisions". Hey, at least it's not Sony Connect. No mention is made of the inevitable paid content deals, but we don't expect the company to offer free access to HD-resolution Sony Pictures films anytime soon. The only compatible televisions the company specified are the new S3000 series: The 46-inch KDL-46S3000, the 40-inch KDL-40S3000, and the 32-inch KDL-32S3000, available in the US this spring. we'll scare up details on those sets soon.

Credit: David Katzmaier, CNET.com

SXRD, OLED, LCD: Sony's alphabet soup of TV prototypes

	Sony king Bravia.

Sony's gargantuan booth at CES covers a lot of real estate, and it's always packed full of onlookers soaking up the sights and sounds. But the flashy booth is hiding a dirty little secret: Aside from a handful of headline products, very few of the devices on display are actually new. Instead, the company waits until late February to announce a detailed product roadmap for the forthcoming year (at which time CNET will have in-depth coverage).

In the meantime, there are a few gems on display in the form of prototypes. Designed to showcase a technology or proof of concept, these products often lack model numbers and specific details. They're hand-built (or simply plastic mock-ups), and they may or may not make it to your corner big box store in the next 18 to 24 months.

	Sony's OLED displays.

Case in point: Sony has three prototype TVs on display this year. The first was an 82-inch Bravia LCD flat-panel. Given the bank-breaking US$33,000 price tag on the just-announced 70-inch Bravia, we're guessing this one's absence from the TV aisle won't be missed--and with Sharp's 108-incher already taking the LCD size crown, why bother? Except for the bigger size, specs are otherwise identical to the 70-incher.

Next up was a 55-inch SXRD set. Sony's already got larger 60- and 70-inch models using its proprietary flavor of the LCoS rear-projection technology, but this one utilizes a laser light engine that allows for a wall-mountable 10-inch depth versus the 19-inch thickness a bulb-based light engine would entail. (If that sounds familiar, it's because Sony showed a slimmed-down 55-inch SXRD prototype last year as well--sans laser, however.) Sounds intriguing, but we think rear-pros at any thickness are going to be a hard sell as the world's love affair with ever more affordable flat panels continues to grow.

	OLEDs make LCDs look fat.

Finally--and most impressive--was the OLED samples on display. Small organic light-emitting displays are already in use in some phones and music players, but manufacturers are constantly working to upsize them in hopes that they'll eventually be a viable alternative to LCD and plasma TVs. Sony's showing a decently sized 27-incher with a thickness measured not in inches but in millimeters. It may not yet be ready for prime time, but it's certainly a tantalizing view of what the flat-panel future may hold.

Credit: John Falcone, CNET.com

« Sharp unveils four new lines of Aquos LCDs | Samsung DLPs: More diodes, less depth »

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