CEDIA 2016

We’ve written before about Sony’s flagship Z9D-Series LCD Ultra HDTVs Z9D-Series LCD Ultra HDTVs , which the company previewed for the press back in July. I had a chance to check out the series at Sony’s CEDIA booth, where the 100-inch model shown above was having no trouble roping in curious onlookers.

Tom Norton’s coverage of Sony’s Z9D event went into detail about the tech behind the Z9D Series, so I’ll just recap the highlights here. The Series, which consists of 65-, 75-, and 100-inch screen sizes, incorporates Sony’s Backlight Master Drive, a technology that delivers enhanced contrast by employing thousands of independently controlled LEDs as opposed to the “zones” used for typical full array LED backlights. In a nearby demo that pitted a 65-inch Z9D Series set against a same-size competitor, the Sony had extremely bright, well-defined highlights, with no evidence of blooming when a bright object was set against a black background. Compared with the dull and flat image on the other set, the Sony’s picture was positively OLED-like.

The Z9D Series also features the company’s new 4K HDR Processor X1 Extreme, which handles noise reduction processing independent of scaling and detail enhancement to make everything, including high-def and standard dynamic range content, look 4K/HDR-like.

The 100-inch model will be available come November for a cool $60,000, so start clearing out some wall space. The 65- and 75-inch models, meanwhile, can be had now for $5,999 and $8,999, respectively.