We've tried Sony's 3D TV

Earlier this week, we had the chance to watch a demo of Sony's 3D television, the Bravia LX900.

We visited a Sony Style store where the team were showing off a Sony Bravia 52LX900--thanks for showing us round, guys. 

So: the LX900.  It's a 3D compatible television, for one thing.  Apart from that, it uses Edge LED backlighting and has the Motionflow 200 Hz Pro system.  We still don't know how much it's going to cost because it won't actually go on sale until the summer.  The demo that we saw wasn't a production model, axnd the software inside could well change before the LX900 reaches the shops.

The first thing we noticed is that the LX900 was connected to a PS3, which confirms that the console will receive a firmware update to make it compatible with 3D, and good progress has already been made.  So Sony could use a PS3 to show us a series of 3D clips including documentaries, extracts from films, football matches and even some game that will be adapted for 3D.



The glasses you need to wear use active technology, the technological standard that has been adopted by the Blu-ray consortium.  Each lens is blanked out alternately to create the impression that each eye is seeing a different video stream.  The look of the glasses hasn't been finalised, but we're already happy to see that Sony isn't using the thick, heavy red glasses that we've seen at other demos and in some  cinemas: they're thinner and a bit lighter.

The quality of the 3D video was similar to what we've seen during other demos, and the quality of the 3D effect varies depending on the content.  It's the way it was filmed in the first place that determines how much depth you'll be able to see.  We were particularly impressed by the football matches in 3D.  The upgrade to HD was already a huge leap forward for sports fans, and 3D is surely going to be a second.  Its promoters claimed that watching sport in HD feels like being in the stadium, but watching it in 3D HD is more like being on the touchline--or  even the pitch itself.


Other New Arrivals

Apart from the prototype version of the LX900, we also saw the new NX700, EX500 and EX402, which all already had price tags on show, suggesting that these models are set to become widely available before too long. Here's a couple of photos of what we saw:

The LX90's remote gets a new look

Sony has remianed faithful to the XrossMediaBar menus here on the NX700