Sony’s Dazzling New Display Adds to the RGB LED TV Hype

We then got to see the fully assembled RGB prototype next to Sony’s best traditional mini-LED TV, the Bravia 9 (9/10, WIRED Recommends), and its 2023 flagship OLED, the A95L (9/10, WIRED Recommends), and again the results were impressive.

While the prototype wasn’t able to create the same perfect black levels and focused contrast of the OLED model, it had strikingly effective blooming control and image focus. Its colors looked richer and more saturated than both TVs, and its brightness easily outdid even the Bravia 9, one of the most fiery TVs in its class. Sony says the display can produce 99 percent of the baseline DCI-P3 color spectrum, and 90 percent of the more advanced BT.2020 spectrum, both major feats. Just as intriguing is the display’s claimed level of color control at low brightness, designed to improve accuracy over current displays in dimly lit scenes.

Interestingly, this is not the first RGB LED display in Sony’s 60-plus-year TV catalog. Sony introduced a now archaic version of RGB LED tech in 2004, though that version can hardly be compared to today’s displays. The best mini-LED TVs comprise thousands of lights and hundreds of dimming zones for much better brightness, accuracy, and precision than in the early days.

Still, as striking as these latest RGB mini-LEDs are, they’re not nearly as tiny as the millions of pixels that make up 4K TVs, so they can’t come close to creating the precise color gradations required for the billion-plus colors modern TVs can display on their own. As the engineers demonstrated, the RGB prototype utilizes color filters, Sony’s proprietary XR Color Booster, and other technologies to produce the final product.

This necessitates a hand-off between the tri-colored backlights and the rest of the panel, all of which must be coordinated by a TV’s processors. According to Sony, this is at the heart of what sets its RGB TV’s performance apart from other brands. That’s part of what makes the Japanese brand’s entry into the RGB TV horse race so intriguing.

A Great View From Any Angle

Sony laid out multiple ways its RGB displays outdo today’s best LED TVs during my time in Japan. The ability to create subtractive colors between the backlights and the color filters helps lead to higher efficiency for improved brightness, potentially equating to Sony’s renowned professional monitors. The lack of white light behind the panel reduces light spillage and allows for more focused colors, for better blooming control, and the creation of colors at the light source allows for a higher bit-depth in color gradation and better saturation than traditional LED displays. This means richer and more accurate color reproduction.

Maybe the most compelling trait of RGB LED TVs is their improved off-axis performance for when you’re not viewing head-on. The prototype’s brightness and colors looked excellent for an LED TV when stepping to the side, something Sony says is due to both the new display’s cell structure as well as its advanced control over color gradation.