Sony’s 2016 lineup of TVs can be preordered beginning today, and they’ll be arriving at retailers like Amazon and Best Buy beginning next month. We took a look at the sets back in January at CES; this year, Sony is putting emphasis on an improved HDR picture and the ultra-thin bezels in its top models. The buzzwords haven’t changed much, with the company talking up its proprietary technologies like X-tended Dynamic Range PRO and Triluminos Display, which has been “further enhanced for color accuracy” this year. Sony concedes that LG’s OLED panels can produce deeper blacks, but recently set up demonstrations to try and show that those blacks come at the cost of color detail and blown out highlights, the latter of which Sony’s TVs showed no signs of suffering from.
Sony has come up with a fresh idea for 2016; it’s a new way of backlighting certain models so that the company can reach truly unreal dimensions. Slim Backlight Drive “uses a unique grid array local dimming and boosting backlighting structure to distribute the backlight source more precisely to each specific zone of the screen.” That’s found on the X930D series, with the flagship 75-inch X940D using full-array backlighting. Just like last year, Google’s Android TV is the underlying foundation for these TVs, so you can count on full support for Google Cast and a wide selection of apps from the Play Store.
Pricing for the various models follows below. Sony’s not playing for the bottom end of the market; that’s clearly Vizio’s territory. Instead, the company says its sets produce the best image quality in the industry. Pretty soon, you’ll be able to sample those claims for yourself at your local Best Buy when they’re next to Samsung, LG, Vizio, and all the rest.
XBR-55X850D, 55″ class (54.6″ diagonal), $2,499.99 MSRP
XBR-65X850D, 65″ class (64.5″ diagonal), $3,499.99 MSRP
XBR-75X850D, 75″ class (74.5″ diagonal), $4,999.99 MSRP
XBR-85X850D, 85″ class (84.6″ diagonal), $9,999.99 MSRP
XBR-55X930D, 55″ class (54.6″ diagonal), $3,299.99 MSRP
XBR-65X930D, 65″ class (64.5″ diagonal), $4,999.99 MSRP
XBR-75X940D, 75″ class (74.5″ diagonal), $7,999.99 MSRP