Sony opened up the CEDIA home theater show with both new and newly US-bound gear. The HMZ-T1 wearable 3D viewer is now coming to the US and should be available in November for $799. The headset has a unique dual-panel OLED that outputs 720p to each eye more naturally than active shutter glasses.
Sony has introduced a new 3D HD projector to the Japanese market. Branded the VPL-HW30ES, the projector provides 1,300 lumens brightness and comes with a dynamic contrast ratio of 70,000:1. The 240Hz projector uses Sony's proprietary three primary color SXRD (liquid crystal on silicon) shutter lenses and a 200-watt mercury bulb to project a full 3D image without necessarily hurting the final picture.
Sony's presence at the CEDIA home theater expo started today with two new SXRD projectors, including its first 3D projector for the home. Much like a Mitsubishi equivalent, the VW90ES can output a 1080p image in frame sequential 3D with a 240Hz refresh rate fast enough to be smooth in both 3D and 2D. Although more complex, it can still put out an image at 1,000 lumens of brightness and a 150,000:1 contrast ratio.
At the CEDIA show in Atlanta on Thursday, Mitsubishi's presentation division launched its latest home theater projector, the Diamond 3D 1080p. Based on Sony's SXRD liquid crystal on silicon technique and with Mitsubishi's own software, it's capable of producing images larger than 100 inches at a very high 120,000:1 contrast. The six-piece, 17-cluster optics are made of extra-low dispersion glass.
Sony was careful to include front projectors in its CEDIA introductions today and introduced two new models that step up the image quality of 1080p in custom home theaters. Topping these, the VPL-VW85 has a high 120,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio and a 120Hz refresh rate to bolster performance in fast-moving scenes; it's mostly intended for dark rooms with 800 lumens of brightness. It's also partly intended for pro installations and has relatively flexible lens shifting, an RS-232 serial port for home automation and a comparatively high 1.6X zoom factor for when the projector can't sit in an ideal position close to the screen.
Sony recently announced it will soon release two new 4K projectors that make use of the electronic giant’s SXRD technology, each capable of delivering images at 4096x2160 resolution, or about four times more than 1920x1080 HD resolution. The two liquid crystal on silicon projectors, the SRX-T110 and SRX-T105, offer 2500:1 contrast ratios and a pair of Xenon lamps, though the SRX-T110’s are rated at 2kW, while the SRX-T105 has a pair of 1kW lamps. The former is capable of producing 11,000 lumens of brightness, while the SRX-T105 delivers 5,500 lumens.
Sony today announced new US additions to its BRAVIA line, including two new 1080p projectors, a 240kHz frame rate 52-inch LCD TV, and a 40 inch LCD set measuring only 9.9mm (0.4 inches) thick. The VPL-VW70 and VPL-HW10 projectors are based on SXRD and both support 1080p HD, including a native 24 frames per second rate for film. Sony claims the BRAVIA Engine 2 is new and reduces unwanted noise while enhancing the colors.
Sony's home theater introductions at Europe's IFA show have been rounded off through the launch of a BRAVIA projector and a matching BRAVIA Theatre Blu-ray home theater. The HW10 front projector is part of Sony's latest SXRD-based lineup and is designed for relatively high-end home theater setups with native 1080p, 24 frames per second output and a contrast ratio as good as modern HDTVs at 30,000:1. It further supports x.v.Color (Deep Color) video and is matched by a more recent BRAVIA image processing engine that allegedly maintains detail without the screen door or moire effects that often result from a sharper digital picture.
Sony this morning has offered up the VW40, the lowest-cost projector yet to draw on the company's SXRD (liquid crystal on silicon) technology. The home theater unit bridges the gap between less expensive 3LCD projectors and more expensive SXRD models by supplying most of the features of the latter while withholding a few features. The VW40 can generate a full 1080p image with a 15,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio; in exchange, it sheds pixel alignment and constant vertical height features that save movie viewers from having to adjust the image for different sources or movie titles.
Sony this morning confirmed that it will quit the rear-projection TV field, ending its longstanding involvement with the technology. The Japanese firm will discontinue its SXRD line and other large sets in favor of direct view flat panels, such as today's LCDs and the company's still-young OLED technology, began with the launch of the XEL-1 this month. The move is necessary as sales of larger, heavier rear projectors are declining sharply while LCDs boom. Sony only expects to sell 400,000 rear-projection sets this fiscal year compared to 1.1 million in the period before; this was at least partly responsible for a roughly $526.3 million loss in Sony's TV business, the company says.
Sony is bowing out of the rear-projection TV business, the company has confirmed. The Japanese electronics firm has effectively halted production and will allow stock of both its 3LCD and SXRD sets to run dry over the course of the next few months. The decision is the result of several months of research which showed a clearly waning interest in such units, which are typically less expensive than direct-view LCD or plasma TVs at the same size but are often bulkier and have narrower viewable angles. LCDs are considerably more popular and better justify the company's focus, a Sony spokesman observes.
