Sony Bravia XBR-60LX900

Display Size & Technology

The panel of the XBR-60LX900 is a 60-inch, Full HD model, meaning it can display every pixel of a 1080p signal (1920 by 1080 pixels). It uses LED edge backlighting, where a series of LED lights around the edge of the panel provide the backlight. While this keeps the display thin, it also means it cannot perform local dimming (where the backlight dims in dark areas of the image). Other manufacturers' flagship models are capable of local dimming, so it's a curious omission. In our experience, even the best local dimming results in brighter details being forcibly dimmed. This leads to a loss of detail, at no actual improvement to contrast, so the feature's absence isn't necessarily a bad thing.

The panel of the XBR-60LX900 is 1080p.

The 3D effect is produced by displaying alternate images every 120^th of a second, and a small transmitter in the display body signals the included active shutter glasses to turn on and off in time with the alternate images, effectively showing each eye a different image and fooling the brain into thinking it is seeing a 3D image. Each eye sees 60 frames a second, though, so there is no loss in resolution or movement from standard 2D content. Two pairs of the required 3D glasses are included: additional pairs will be available, but Sony declined to say how much they would cost.

The 3D glasses that will come with the XBR-60LX900.

We found that viewing 3D content with these glasses was a mixed bag: games and animated movies worked well, but real-world content was less effective: a video of a concert that Sony was demoing had a jumpy, jerky look, especially when the performer moved across the screen at high speed. The glasses themselves are also no particularly comfortable; they It is worth adding that this is a prototype system: this display is not going to go on sale until the summer, so Sony still has time to iorn out the bugs.

Formats & Resolution

The display supports all of the available 2D resolutions, right up to 1080p and the new 3D Blu-ray standard. Although no broadcasters are currently transmitting 3D content, this display should be compatiable with 3D broadcasts when they start later this year. DirecTV has already announced that they will start broadcasting three channels of 3D content later this year.

Brightness, Blacks and Contrast Ratio

We were not able to do our usual sets of measurements with this XBR-60LX900, but we were impressed with the depths of blacks and brightness of the whites on the model that was on display at the CES show. High-end Sony displays usually provide deep blacks, bright whites and a wide contrast ratio between the two; it looks like this model won't break that trend. We'll have to wait to get a review unit into our lab before we can be sure, though.

Color

We also saw excellent color from the display unit at the CES show; colors in the sample footage looked clear and bright, with subtle shades being accurately reporoduced. Again, we will have to wait until we can get a model into our labs before we can say much more than that, though.

Motion & Refresh Rate

The XBR-60LX900 offers a 240Hz refresh rate, with Sony's own Motionflow Pro processing. Again, sample footage at the show looked extremely good displaying both 2D and 3D content.

Viewing Angle

We were not able to test the viewing angle of this display on the demo unit on show at CES, but in our informal testing of walking around the display, we saw a good viewing angle. We did find the 3D effect worked best from straight ahead: the effect seemed to break down when viewing from an angle wider then 30 degrees.