Sony’s ZD9 TVs with 4k resolution have individually dimmable LEDs in backlight

Sony will soon release seven new Bravia televisions, including two new top models in the ZD9 series. The biggest difference from the XD series is a new image processing processor called 4K HDR Processor X1 Extreme.

In addition, Sony is releasing five other models, four of which are in the XD series, the XD83, XD80, XD75 and XD70, and the SD80. These five televisions have a 4K X-Reality PRO processor. All TVs are also compatible with HDR playback. The TVs use Android TV as the operating system.

The new ZD9 series uses the Backlight Master Drive technology shown at CES 2016, Sony’s term for a fine-grained fald backlight, with a high maximum brightness that allows the TV to dim the panel’s backlight LEDs individually instead of in groups via local dimming.

Through the Backlight Master Drive technique in combination with a new algorithm, the contrast of the image should be higher. Sony keeps to itself how many LEDs the backlight has, but that differs per image size. Backlight Master Drive is Sony’s answer to OLED. Because with OLED the pixels themselves give light and can be on or off per pixel, OLEDs have an almost infinite contrast.

The ZD9 series will be available in the Benelux from the end of August. For the XD series and the SD80, Sony only indicates that they will be available ‘soon’. For the 65″ version of the ZD9, Sony asks five thousand euros, the 75″ version has a target price of eight thousand euros.

ZD9 XD70 XD75 XD80 XD83 SD80