Thomas J. Norton

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Sony KP-57XBR10W rear-projection television
Thomas J. Norton  |  Mar 29, 2001

The slow march toward that new digital broadcast standard has brought us a small but rapidly swelling flow of new DTV widescreen televisions—far better sets than anything the average consumer has ever seen before. These TVs are still very much high-end products, but despite their cost, sales are increasing at a steady rate.

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CEDIA 2017
Sony Projects True 4K and Teams With Kaleidescape
Thomas J. Norton  |  Sep 06, 2017
s CEDIA drew close to its September 7, 2017 opening, Sony announced three new full 4K/UHD projectors with a native resolution of 4096 x 2160. This is the resolution of Sony’s 4K SXRD imaging chips. Pro 4K projectors have a 4K resolution of 4096 x 2160, whereas consumer 4K uses 3840 x 2160. There are several ways of handling the difference between these two resolutions when displaying consumer 4K sources. The ideal approach, which involves no added processing to generate potential artifacts, is to simply leave a blank sliver of about 125 pixels at each side of the screen.

All three of the new projectors can accommodate high dynamic range in either the HDR10 or HLG formats...

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Projector Reviews
Sony QUALIA 004 SXRD video projector
Thomas J. Norton  |  May 30, 2004

When Sony announced the development of a new home video projector last spring, the buzz began. Would it be the fabled Grating Light Valve technology, which the company is known to be working on? Would it be LCD, DLP, or LCoS? Would it be something completely new?

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A/V Veteran
Sony Quiets the Noise
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 06, 2017
Sony brought along part of an airplane interior to the show. Well, not really, but they used this mock up to demonstrate the effectiveness of their MDR-1000X noise canceling headphones...
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CES 2011
Sony Sneaks
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 06, 2011
Sony is also showing a number of prototypes of products that are not available now, but may be in the future. Three different flat panel demos using autostereoscopic technology (no 3D glasses needed) were shown: a 24.5" 2K OLED, a 46" 2K LCD, and a 56" 4K LCD. The results were better than I expected, though there were some distracting artifacts. As expected, you must watch in specific viewing spots. In a cosy twosome one partner will get good 3D, the other not so much. In places outside the designated viewing zones the 3D effect diminishes and those artifacts increase, though the image does not completely fall apart. Promising, but still a work in progress.

Sony also showed a set of goggles designed for private 3D viewing (as seen in the not-so-clear photo), and a autostereoscopic portable 3D Blu-ray player.

Available now for pre-sales ordering is a VAIO F Series 3D laptop (about $1700). Oddly, this does require active shutter glasses. It also does 2D-to-3D conversion—for fun with spreadsheets. Seriously, however, there are genuine business and engineering applications for real 3D, including CAD and medical imaging.

CES 2011
Sony SS-AR1
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 11, 2011
As with the Thiels, we mentioned these Sony speakers earlier in this report. But also like the Thiels, they deserve another mention. No other speakert impressed me as much as this one did at the show. I'm enough of a show veteran to realize just how much the room, associated components, and program material can effect the sound of a system, but under the conditions in the Sony room, in a 2-channel setup (four of the speakers were also being used in a surround system in a different room) they impressed me about as much as any speaker ever has at a trade show. The sound was punchy, dynamic, and full-bodied without being overblown. And they made both modern and classical music sound real—few speakers can do as well on both.

The SS-AR1's (I sense an homage in that name) have been on the market in Japan since 2006, but have recently been upgraded in the voicing and crossover department.

But will we ever see them for sale here in the states? Possibly, but this show appeared to be a trial run to judge dealer interest. That's been a problem with Sony speakers in the past, and there have been some very good ones. High-end dealers are reluctant to take on Sony speakers, and Sony dealers are reluctant to take on speakers this expensive—currently about $27,000/pair in Japan.

Associated equipment included Pass Laboratories monoblock solid state amps and an EMM Labs (Meitner) Reference SACD/CED player.

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Audio Video News
Sony Steps Into 2006
Thomas J. Norton  |  Mar 21, 2006

Sony's 2006 line show for dealers and press offered few surprises. Yes, there was the new BDP-S1 Blu-ray player, planned for release in July at $1000. But it must rankle Sony every time they announce that the first Blu-ray player to market, day-and-date with the first Blu-ray titles in late May, will be from Samsung (if you haven't already heard, the delay of the PlayStation3 gaming console/BD player until November has created that awkward situation.)

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AV Receiver Reviews
Sony STR-DA9000ES AV receiver
Thomas J. Norton  |  Dec 15, 2004

The STR-DA9000ES is Sony's entry in what has become a new trend in home theater: receivers that seriously challenge separate components. That challenge is extended not only in features and performance, but in size as well. Many of these new behemoths equal the sheer bulk of more than a few preamplifier-processor and amplifier combinations.

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CES 2018
Sony Unveils New OLED TVs, Demos 8K Processing
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 09, 2018
Kazuo Hirai, Sony’s head honcho for the US market, gave Sony’s entire press event standing in front of a huge screen with constantly changing images (though all of them stills). There was no information provided as to what sort of display the screen was, but I plan to inquire later in the show as it was perhaps the most impressive display shown during the entire press day. But it’s apparently not a technology currently used in a consumer product...
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Projector Reviews
Sony VPL-AW15 BRAVIA LCD Video Projector
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jun 30, 2007
Out with the Cineza. In with the BRAVIA.

Until recently, Sony's popular LCD video projectors carried the Cineza brand name. Apart from the fact that I always wanted to say, "bless you" whenever someone said Cineza, it was perfectly fine name. But Sony has now extended the "BRAVIA" moniker, once used to designate only its flat panel displays, across its line of displays.

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