70xbr3/x3500 review: Triluminous backlight

[JTK]

http://whathifi.com/television/archi...ia-lcd-tv.aspx

This "myth" of a TV finally gets a review.

The point of interest here is that these supposedly employ the same new, state of the art backlight that the forthcoming 46 and 55 inch XBR8 series will have.

Points of concern from this review include:


"despite a painstaking tour of the labyrinthine set-up menus, we were unable to rid the screen of an unwanted suggestion of orangey magenta in what ought to be clean whites."

"Black tones are inconsistent, no doubt a result of the screen's rather uneven backlighting, and there's a surprisingly confined 'sweet spot' for viewing – sitting off-axis by even a fairly modest amount results in a loss of depth and detail."

^^ LCD's have certainly evolved and come far enough that it's downright troubling to read things like that.

I'm not one to hang my hat on any one reviewer. I'm also wondering how much the large size of the panel itself plays into these shortcomings.

LED and these new backlights have a lot of hype and high expectations riding them. A review like this is like some really ice cold water being dunked all over the place.


I hope Sony can perfect these shortcomings on the smaller, forthcoming XBR8 series. It would behoove them to do so considering the premium price Sony will be charging on those XBR8's as they go against the likes of the Samsung 950 series and the top end plasmas from Pioneer and Panasonic.

There's a lot of prehype and high expectations on the new and forthcoming XBR8's that employ this new backlight and such.

What do you all make of this?