The cat may have been out of the bag for months, but Sony has finally made it official. At a press event at the Home Entertainment Show in Los Angeles today, the company unveiled official details on its 2006 lineup of SXRD-equipped rear-projection televisions, successors to our 2006 Editors' Choice Award winner, the KDS-RXBR1 series.
This year's SXRDs will come in two flavors: the entry-level KDS-A2000 line and the step-up KDS-RXBR2 line, which Sony is calling SXRD XBR (forgive me, but that's an Rx for confusion if I ever saw one). The main difference between the two TVs is in their speaker arrangements: the entry-level models will have speakers on the bottom, while the step-up XBRs will sport side-mounted speakers, similar to last year's models. In the 70-inch version only, you can also remove the side speakers if you want a slimmer look (unlike I indicated previously, the 60-inch model's side speakers are fixed). Although Sony showed a slim SXRD at CES in January, the new models' depths aren't any shallower than usual; the 55-incher, for example, measures 19 inches deep, hardly wall-hangable.
The XBR sets also feature an extra front-mounted HDMI port for a total of three (unlike last year, all HDMI inputs on the 2006 SXRDs can handle 1080p); a CableCard slot with a TV Guide EPG; and a supposedly superior version of Sony's video processing, known as DRC-MFV2.5. The non-XBR sets have an extra component-video input on the front panel, for a total of three. We expect the two lines to offer nearly identical performance, which, if last year's models are any indication, should be pretty darn good.
July 7th, 2006 update: I'd originally complained about the relatively high prices of the A2000 series, but Sony has since lowered the expected street prices on those models by about $700, and instituted earlier shipping dates (see below). At its new price of $2,800 the 50-inch SXRD, for example, compares favorably with Samsung's entry-level 50-inch 1080p DLP, the HL-S5087W. Pricing on the step-up XBR2 series has not changed as far as we know. Of course we'll reserve final judgment on all of these TVs until we've had a chance to test them in person. There's no substitute for a real review, but in the meantime, we can give you a real chart.
| KDS-50A2000 | KDS-55A2000 | KDS-60A2000 | KDS-R60XBR2 | KDS-R70XBR2 | |
| Screen size | 50 inches | 55 inches | 60 inches | 60 inches | 70 inches |
| Street price | $2,800 | $3,300 | $3,700 | $5,300 | $7,800 |
| Available | August | August | August | Early fall | Early fall |
| Native resolution | 1,920x1,080 (1080p) | 1,920x1,080 (1080p) | 1,920x1,080 (1080p) | 1,920x1,080 (1080p) | 1,920x1,080 (1080p) |
| Display technology | SXRD (LCoS) | SXRD (LCoS) | SXRD (LCoS) | SXRD (LCoS) | SXRD (LCoS) |
| HDMI inputs | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| 1080p via HDMI? | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Component-video inputs | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| CableCard w/TVG EPG | N | N | N | Y | Y |
| DRC 2.5 | N | N | N | Y | Y |
| Detachable speakers | N | N | N | N | Y |
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