Sony’s 4K TVs Will Be Surprisingly Affordable, In That They Cost Less Than A Car


The $US25,000 pricetag attached to Sony’s 84-inch UltraHD set — the one that’s been haunting your dreams since CES — may put that super-sized set out of your financial reach but that doesn’t mean everything 4K is prohibitively expensive. In fact, Sony’s new 55- and 65-inch sets are downright inexpensive (by comparison) and will be available for pre-order by the end of the month.

Sony’s 55-inch XBR-55X900A will retail for $US5,000 while the 65-inch XBR-65X900A will run you $US7,000. That’s actually nearly on par with the cost of current high-end sets like Sharp’s upcoming 8-series or Samsung’s 75-inch UN75ES9000. Both Sony sets will be available for online and in-store pre-order beginning April 21.

Now, before you start freaking out about the lack of native 4k content available, don’t worry. For another $US700, you can pick up the FMP-X1 4K Media Player later this summer. It comes with 10 4K resolution feature-length and short films to keep you entertained until Netflix starts streaming Ultra-HD content.

And, come fall, that same media player will be able to connect to Sony’s upcoming 4K streaming service. The movie selections include some solid titles like The Bridge Over River Kwai, The Other Guys and Taxi Driver, they also contain some forgettable titles like Bad Teacher and Salt, as well as some serious dreck like The Karate Kid and Total Recall reboots plus *shudder* That’s My Boy. What’s more, Sony is also re-releasing a bunch of classic titles on Blu-ray that have been remastered in 4K in conjunction with the new TVs that will be able to play both 1080P video of standard Blu-ray as well as seamlessly upscale to the UltraHD format.