Sony’s new 4K TVs are unbendingly plain but pretty much what a reasonable near-future human would really want in a giant TV: a big beautiful screen that doesn’t need extra curves or egregious size to give you eyegasms. It’s the type of TV that will end up trickling down into our living rooms because there aren’t any gimmicks that’ll be forgotten about the next time someone wants to throw needless features on the wall and see what sticks.
The new 85-inch and 65-inch XBR X950B 4K Ultra HDTVs look like futuristic easels and are clearer than real life but let’s be honest, almost any TV used in these situations look better than the one in your home. As reference standards for the entire Sony lineup though, the XBR X950B has direct LED arrays to up the screen quality to beautifully boost colours and uses HDMI 2.0 and 4k 60p with the HEVC codec to future proof itself. The TV has 3D (with glasses), Wi-Fi, screen mirroring with NFC OneTouch and comes equipped with MHL 3.0. You know, the usual goods.
Other TVs in Sony’s 4K line include the XBR X900B (79-inch, 65-inch, 55-inch) and XBR X850B (70-inch, 65-inch, 55-inch, 49-inch). They’re only slightly less impressive than the reference TV because of edge LED arrays on the X900B and nothing as fancy on the X850B. Still, the sets are future proof and have everything you’d expect to see in 4K. The X900B does have a new wedge design (gimmick!) that’s supposed to improve the sound quality and look pretty damn cool. All the 4K sets are slated to come out this spring.
Sony also introduced some new LED 1080p TVs and even though those sets will probably be more likely to land in front of your eyes, it’s the future we’re drooling after. And the future doesn’t need too many tricks to look good.