Sony's Z Series 4K HDR TVs take a swing at LG's high-end OLEDs

By Nick Pino

Turns out that Sony was saving its major home entertainment announcement, the Z Series, for middle of this year. The Z Series sports a new X1TM Extreme processor and Backlight Master Drive tech to give the series a shimmering 4K UHD gleam with a touch of High Dynamic Range (HDR).

Unlike other LCD panels, however, Sony’s series will have a new backlight algorithm that will allow it to turn on and off specific pixel clusters, similar to OLED but without the expensive manufacturing process. This, in theory, should give the 2016 models a richer black and better contrast than any LCD sets we’ve seen previously.

Sony’s Z Series come in three flavours, the 65-inch XBR65Z9D which goes for $6,999; the 75-inch XBR75Z9D for $9,999; and the 100-inch XBR100Z9D with a still undisclosed price.