Sony LCDs to carry their Trinitron reputation?

[JF_Aidan_Pryde]

As you probably heard, Sony is killing off it's under 21" CRT market. Too little margins, too much competition etc. Now they are refocusing on new LCDs. My question is can Sony achieve the same success in the LCD biz? Their trinitrons were a distinguishing factor but with LCD technlogy, achieving flat is natural and other features don't seem to be as ground breaking as flat trinitron was for its day.

I am quite a fan for Sony displays but I see mainly Samusung and others dominating this new LCD market. Is Sony going to slip despite their efforts?

 

[Nite_Hawk]

I could see it happen. Sony isn't really considered a leader in the LCD market already, and they currently arn't really offering anything substantioally better than the competition. On the other hand though, if sony is really serious about being the leader of the LCD field, they could probably do it. Things they could do to distinguish themselves right now:

Feed-forward technology
Very high contrast
High pixel density

These are the areas where consumer grade LCDs are currently lacking. Sony would really need to get moving though, because all three areas are going to be filled pretty soon. Already we are seeing 500/600 to 1 contrast ratios, and it's only going to get better. The Feed-forward tech is slated to hit at the end of this year. The only thing I really haven't heard much about is higher pixel density.

If sony could get a 1000 to 1 or 1500 to 1 constrast ratio screen with a very high pixel density, you'd probably see a *lot* of graphics artists being willing to pay a premium. I don't know if such a screen would be enough of an increase over traditional LCDs to put it in corperate offices across america like the trinitrons were though. I think Sony has a lot more competition in the LCD market than it did back in the CRT days.

Nite_Hawk

 

[pxc]

I played with the new Sony 20" LCD at Fry's 2 days ago for about 10 minutes. The contrast is a little better than the Dell 2000fp I have (manufactured by Benq, 350:1 contrast), style is pretty blah (thick border, controls on front near top right), image quality is good, user controls is good but it has a Sony pricetag (expensive). For the price, I would have expected something a little better, at least WS or 500:1 contrast and much better styling.

 

[RussSchultz]

I've been lusting after that Dell 1600x1200 LCD for work for quite a while.

Is it worth it?

 

[Nite_Hawk]

Russ:

Response time is pretty good on it. 25ms with decent grey to grey transitions. Contrast ratio is a bit low these days: 350-to-1. Personally I'm not a terribly big fan of the giant bezel around the screen, but if you can get past that, it's a pretty good display over all. From what I understand there should be some screens coming out soon that have better specs, so you may want to consider waiting a bit longer. Otherwise, it's a pretty good deal. You can get them for under $800 if you play your cards right.

Personally, I've got a samsung 191t, which I like quite a bit. It's a lower resolution display than the 2000fp, and even though it's rated for 25ms, it's grey-to-grey transitions are worse. Still, it's got a nicer contrast than the 2000fp, and I believe it's brighter as well. I'm personally very happy with the display.

Nite_Hawk