Thomas J. Norton

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Blu-ray Player Reviews
Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray Player
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jul 12, 2007

The price of machines that will play Blu-ray or HD DVD high-definition discs is coming down. The drop is faster on the HD DVD side of the battle lines, but at $499 Sony's new BDP-S300 is half the price of its (still available) first generation <A HREF="http://ultimateavmag.com/hddiscplayers/1206sonybdps1/">BDP-S1</A>.

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Blu-ray Player Reviews
Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray Player
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jul 12, 2007
The $499 BDP-S300 is an important product, giving Blu-ray some much needed traction in the affordable player category. Combine that with recent news from rental powerhouse Blockbuster that it is expanding Blu-ray titles in its stores (at the expense of HD DVD in most cases), and the BDP-S300 looks like a no-brainer.
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CEDIA 2015
Sony Bows 4K Projectors, Launches Atmos/DTS:X Receiver
Thomas J. Norton  |  Oct 16, 2015
According to Sony, an expected 100,000,000 4K displays are expected to be sold worldwide by 2017. Not all of these will come from Sony, but the company certainly covets its share. And while flat screen sets will make up the bulk of these sales, CEDIA is not a show at which a mass of new flat screen sets is introduced. That’s CES. The displays featured at CEDIA are invariably projectors.

And Sony showed three new 4K projectors at the show...

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LCD TV Reviews
Sony Bravia KDL-40V5100 LCD HDTV
Thomas J. Norton  |  Aug 11, 2009
This review is part of a five-way Face Off. Read the introduction and conclusions of the Face Off here.

Price: $1,500 At A Glance: Plasma-like blacks and shadow detail • Good color and resolution • At its best with 1080p sources

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LCD TV Reviews
Sony BRAVIA KDL-46XBR2 LCD Digital Color TV
Thomas J. Norton  |  Aug 13, 2006

Two years ago you would have paid over $10,000 for a large, widescreen flat panel LCD display. And "large" might well have meant 32" diagonal. The picture would have been bright and crisp, but a pale reflection of the overall image quality available from still-plentiful CRT direct view sets. Its resolution would have been 1280x720, tops, or one of those bizarre resolutions like 1365x768 that are still featured in many flat panels.

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LCD TV Reviews
Sony Bravia KDL-46XBR4 LCD Digital Color TV
Thomas J. Norton  |  Sep 30, 2007

Last year when I reviewed the 1080p <A HREF="http://ultimateavmag.com/flatpaneldisplays/806sonykdl46/">Sony Bravia KDL-46XBR2</A>, I concluded that it "really knocked me out." Now we have the new Bravia KDL-46XBR4. It's similar in many respects to the 46XBR2, but offers significant improvements. These include better black levels, a new, slick on-screen menu system, and 120Hz operation&mdash;a feature that's showing up in more and more high-end LCD sets. Depending on its implementation, a 120Hz refresh rate can reduce image smear with moving images&mdash;one of the lingering problems of LCD display technology.

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LCD TV Reviews
Sony Bravia KDL-46XBR4 LCD Digital Color TV
Thomas J. Norton  |  Oct 01, 2007
Last year when I reviewed the 1080p Sony Bravia KDL-46XBR2 at our sister publication, it "really knocked me out." Now we have the new $3,599 Bravia KDL-46XBR4. It's spec'd for better black levels, a new, slick on-screen menu system, and 120Hz operation, a feature that can reduce image smear with moving images, which is one of the lingering problems of LCD display technology.
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LCD TV Reviews
Sony BRAVIA KDL-46XBR8 LCD HDTV
Thomas J. Norton  |  Dec 29, 2008
Price: $5,000 At A Glance: State-of-the-art black level and shadow detail • Superior color and HD resolution • 480i video processing could be better • Poor off-axis viewing

XBR Goes LED

LCD flat panels now dominate the television marketplace. But despite their popularity, they have been notably inferior to the best plasma sets in the depth of their blacks and the quality of their shadow detail.

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LCD TV Reviews
Sony BRAVIA KDL-52NX800 LCD HDTV
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jun 01, 2010
Price: $2,800 At A Glance: Edge LED backlighting • Excellent color and resolution • Non-uniform black level

Light My LEDs

Not too long ago, LED backlighting was a feature in only a few premium flat-panel LCD sets. Now you can find it everywhere, including six series in Sony’s 2010 lineup of BRAVIA LCD HDTVs. The top three—the LX900, HX900, and HX800 series—are either 3D capable out of the box (the XBR-LX900) or 3D ready.

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LCD TV Reviews
Sony BRAVIA KDL-52XBR4 LCD HDTV
Thomas J. Norton  |  May 27, 2008
Everything but the secret sauce.

Sony has gone LCD in a big way. The company dropped its rear-projection sets last fall, and it’s been years since a plasma display sported a Sony badge. At its 2008 line show in February, the company announced 17 new sets. When they’re all in stores this fall, the Sony LCD model count will be 50-strong.

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