Sony Teases Update To Its Crystal LED Display; Inc. Bravia TV Version

December 23, 2020 by Dave Haynes

Sony appears poised to announce a new, updated version of its much-celebrated Crystal LED video wall – the first mainstream commercial display manufacturer to ship a product based on microLED.

It was way ahead of its time a few years ago, when Sony first started showing Crystal LED at trade shows. But a handful of rival manufacturers have, since then, released their own video wall products based on microLED.

Nerds can debate whether what Samsung and LG have introduced are technically, purely microLED, but all three companies are selling a product based around super-teeny LED lights on a deep black substrate. The result is the ability to achieve very high contrast levels, and therefore, awesome, premium TV-like visuals on very large scales.

The black space between LEDs is arguably more important than the sized of the LED light chips, in terms of what’s going to result in a great looking display. While microscopic levels LEDs may be incredibly important for wearables and VR displays that need very high pixel densities, for big direct view LED video walls, once you get inside of about 1.5mm pixel pitch, the premium stuff all looks pretty good.

This video, below, is a teaser from Sony saying something new is coming Jan. 6th – a “premium, direct view display.”

I have no insight on what’s coming January 6th, but can make a few logical guesses:

• the brightness levels will be bumped up;
• Crystal LED modules have a coating that, in the current iteration, is glossy and reflective, and I suspect the coating will be less reflective (important in venues, like retail, that have overhead lighting;
• prices will probably be lower, just because manufacturing techniques are increasing the ability to accurately place millions of light pixels and minimize dead ones.

The teaser video suggested a high-end Bravia TV – likely timed for the virtual CES 2021 in January – and module versions that can build full video walls at whatever scale and shape the job dictates.