Springtime doesn’t just bring flowers, short shorts and silly Red Sox pranks. No ma’am, it also brings new information on HDTVs that will be released throughout the year. Someone at BGR got a hold of Sony’s HDTV roadmap for its LCD lineup and it looks like the XBR6, XBR7 and XBR8 will getting a little more than a new coat of paint, the XBR8 especially.
Let’s start with that, the XBR8. The big news here is that it uses LED backlighting, which Sony calls TRILUMINOS. No, it’s not the first TV with LED backlighting (Samsung had one last year in one of its DLPs), but it’s still pretty significant. You’ll also find the Bravia Engine 2 and some sort of contrast enhancer. I don’t know about you, but when I read tech specs, I find flashy-sounding names (SUPER DUP3R CONTRAST HELP++) pretty annoying.
The lower tier LCDs, the XBR6 and XBR7, don’t add LED backlighting, but instead see more tacked on upgrades. An extra HDMI port, Bravia Sync compatibility, etc. Oh, also! It looks like Sony has removed the standard yellow, white, red RCA inputs from the TVs. End of an era, or simply incomplete information? Time will tell, I suppose.
I know Samsung is going to be in town soon showing off their new TVs for the year, so it’ll be interesting to see how they compare to Sony’s. Well, compared to Sony’s official offering; it wouldn’t be smart to compare a couple of leaked spec sheets of questionable origins to live, “here’s the TV and this is what it does” demos.