Sony XBR10 brings wireless 1080p to US
updated 05:50 pm EDT, Wed September 9, 2009
XBR10 adds new Wireless HD, more
Sony used its turn at CEDIA to launch a raft of new home theater equipment headlined by the BRAVIA XBR10. An Americanized version of the Japanese ZX5, they have a new 60GHz Wireless HD media box that lets the TV sit completely separately from most video inputs while still playing them at full quality. It can play a 1080p picture at a full 60 frames per second without dropping frames or otherwise showing differences between this and a wired signal.
The XBR10 also has most of Sony's better features, such as an LED-backlight panel (albeit edge-lit and not local) that produces a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and 240Hz refresh rates. An Ethernet connection provides free and paid videos from Amazon VOD, Netflix and YouTube as well as Internet radio and Slacker music streams. Sony as always supports DLNA media sharing on the local network and Yahoo widgets for basic Internet information as well as Twitter feeds.
The BRAVIA update ships in October with 46-inch and 52-inch versions that have corresponding prices of $4,500 and $5,000.
