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Sony has managed a big step forward in projection technology with its new SXRD display device. Measuring just 0.78″ diagonally, the LCD panel boasts a resolution of 1920×1080 and an amazing contrast ratio of 3000:1.
The contrast ratio is the biggest leap, most current high-end LCD projection panels can only manage 1000:1. Sony has managed to create what it calls “Vertically Aligned Liquid Crystal” materials that perform far better than conventional liquid crystal technology. The enhanced contrast should make for far richer colours on screen. The higher the contrast ratio, the better the output, it is a measure of the difference between the brightest and darkest areas of the screen.
Sony also claims that the SXRD should improve picture quality. Many projectors suffer from blockiness where the gap between pixels causes a mosaic effect on the projection screen. Each pixel on the new panel is just 9?m across. The SXRD has a gap between pixels of only 0.35?m. According to Sony, that’s the world’s smallest inter-pixel spacing, a 10 fold improvement over competiting technology.
All this would be useless without a good refresh rate and the SXRD scores here too. The pixels have a 5 millisecond response time. There is no indication yet of how much the new panels will cost, though we would expect a high premium to start with.
If projectors made using this panel live up to the specifications they should knock everything else off the top end of the market. Here’s hoping that Sony can manage to make them cheaply enough to put them in the low end.
Thanks to the Inquirer
