Post-plasma Sony pumps out new LCDs
Just weeks after telling us it’s finished with plasma, Sony’s pulled up the curtain on these new high def-friendly LCD tellies. Known gnomically as t
Just weeks after telling us it’s finished with plasma, Sony’s pulled up the curtain on these new high def-friendly LCD tellies.
Known gnomically as the S Series, the four-strong range goes from 26 inches up to 46 and comes cruising into town with Sharp, Toshiba and Philips’s LCDs firmly in their crosshairs.
The big surprise is the design. By Sony standards, they’re more MFI generic flatpack than Habitat designer flourish, a niggle that’s particularly odd considering Sony previously brought us the head-turning glass floating frame look.
Fortunately, the specs redeem these flatties from obscurity. They’re all certified HD Ready, packing high def-friendly resolution and one HDMI socket each. They won’t, however, support the highest of high def standards – 1080p – which is a mite strange since Sony’s November Playstation 3 is one of the few gadgets that will have 1080p material. Telewest and Sky’s HDTV offerings both use the slightly lower res 1080i and 720p formats (which, it’s worth noting, are both crystal clear by modern standard def).
Picture quality should be good, too, if these newbies live up to the standards of current BRAVIA-equipped Sonys. Our sister mag, What Hi-Fi, has been lavishing praise on the superb-looking picture quality produced by the existing models.
The 26 (£1000), 32 (£1300) and 40 inch (£2000) versions will be rocking up in shops this next month. For the 46in behemoth, you’ll need to wait ‘til May and have £3K spare.
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