Tour & Design
The front of the XBR-60LX900 shows the clean, straightforward approach of Sony's new monolithic design. A series of touch controls are located on the bottom left corner.
**
Back**
The ports and panels of the demo unit that we looked at were covered, but there are a number of HDMI ports under there.
**
Sides**
The first thing you notice looking at the sides is the tilt of the panel: the screen is angled up by 6 degrees so it can be mounted lower. You can also see the ports on the left side, and some additional controls on the right.
**
Stand/Mount**
The XBR-LX900 sits on a large plastic stand that looks pretty robust: despite the tilt of the screen, it is unlikely to fall over or tip. The small hole below the Sony logo is the ambient sensor, which uses a digital camera to detect if someone is watching TV. If no one is, the display will turn off.
**
Aesthetics**
Sony's new monolitic design is certainly striking, with the new display offering an imposing, yet clean look. It would certainly form the centerpiece of a high-end home theater system.
Performance Features
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 3D effect is produced by displaying alternate images every 120th 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.
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.
Connectivity & Media
Audio & Video Ports
A wide selection of A/V ports are offered on this display: 4 HDMI, 1 component video and 1 analog video. Audio isn't left out, either, with 2 analog audio inputs and a single digital audio input. The display can also be connected to a high-end audio system through the optical digital audio outputs.
** Media & Other Connectivity**
The XBR-60LX900 offers a wide range of media features, including a USB port on the side of the display body which allows you to plug in a USB thumb drive or other device. Support for the DLNA standard is also offered, which means that it can play back audio or video files stored on DLNA servers in the home, such as many computers and other media server devices over the built-in wireless connection.
Internet Widgets are also supported, and the display will come with widgets for Netflix, Amazon Video and many other providers that offer either Internet content or streaming audio and video. An 802.11n wireless connection is also built into the display, so it can access the internet through any wireless home router without requiring another cable.
**
Placement**
The ports on the left side are located in a recessed bay along the length of the display body. These are set fairly far back, which means they would be a little difficult to reach by touch. To use them, you would need to lean around the side of the display.**
Audio**
A set of small downward pointing speakers are built into the display body, but we were unable to test these.
Controls, Menu & Remote
Remote
The remote of the XBR-60LX900 was not available for us to test.**
Controls**
There are two sets of controls: a set of touch screen controls on the front of the display body, and a set of conventional buttons on the right side of the camera in a recessed bay.
**
Menu**
We were not able to look at the on-screen menus of this display at the CES show.
Conclusion
Series Comparison
XBR-LX900 Series
The XBR-LX900 series is Sony's new flagship series, and it comes with a feature set to match. Four models are available, at 40, 46, 52 and 60 inches. At the time of writing, no information is available on pricing or availability of these new models.
Meet the tester
Richard Baguley is a veteran writer who has written about technology ranging from Alphabet to Zip file utilities. He has contributed to pretty much every major tech publication, including Amiga Format Magazine, PC World, Wired, CNET, Toms Guide, Forbes, and many others. He lives in the Boston metro area with his wife, dog, and an indeterminate number of cats.
Checking our work.
Our team is here for one purpose: to help you buy the best stuff and love what you own. Our writers, editors, and lab technicians obsess over the products we cover to make sure you're confident and satisfied. Have a different opinion about something we recommend? Email us and we'll compare notes.
Shoot us an email