HDTVs

Sony Shows Off 55-Inch Crystal LED HDTV

Product mentioned in this article

Sony Bravia 46-Inch HX850 3D LED HDTV
$1,299.00(Lowest Price)
With good picture quality and a full boat of connected features, the edge-lit Sony Bravia HX850 LED HDTV offers excellent value for its price.

Sony recently announced a new display technology called Crystal LED that promises a picture with higher contrast, richer colors, better response time and a wider viewing angle than existing LCD and plasma high-definition televisions. The electronics maker is showing off the new technology at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with a prototype 55-inch HDTV. Sony has not announced pricing or availability.

Sony's Crystal LED HDTV uses six million pixels (two million for each of the RGB colors) to display a 1080p high-definition image. Unlike standard LCD televisions that use LEDs as backlighting, the Crystal LED display has six million tiny LED lights (equivalent to the number of pixels) affixed onto the front of the display.

Here are a couple of photos of the Crystal LED set taken by the 8-megapixel camera on an iPhone 4S (click the photos for larger).

A photo of Sony's Crystal LED TV taken with an iPhone 4S. We swear this is not photoshopped. Click for larger.

It's kind of like being at the beach. But not quite.

The company claims Crystal LED displays have 3.5 times higher picture contrast, 1.4 times richer colors, and a 10 times faster response time compared to Sony's current LCD models. Sony's prototype Crystal LED also has a 180-degree viewing angle and the panel consumes less than 70 watts of power, according to the company.

Sony claims its prototype is the first 55-inch Full HD self-emitting display that uses LEDs as the light source. LEDs are able to produce their own light, while LCDs require a backlight to produce a visible image.

Display technology is shaping up to be a primary new feature for the next-generation of HDTVs. Samsung is also showing a 55-inch display that uses so-called "Super OLED" technology at CES, while LG has debuted a 55-inch OLED. The difference between Super OLED and OLED, according to Samsung, is that Super OLED sets don't use a color filter resulting in pictures with deeper contrasts and finer detail.

For more blogs, stories, photos, and video from the nation's largest consumer electronics show, check out PCWorld's complete coverage of CES 2012.

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