Sony launches new high-end projector

[Gregg Lengling]

Launching in Japan in the next week or two is a new high-end projector from Sony boasting an all-new technology. The QUALIA 004 projector is based around a Silicon X-Tal Reflective Display (SXRD) panel that's constructed with approximately 2 million fixed pixels on a 0.78 inch silicon substrate panel. And since it uses three of these SXRD panels the Q004-R1 achieves 6.22 million total pixels, making it the industry's first fully HD format (1920x1080) compatible fixed pixel projector. Sony also claims the panel boasts excellent low-noise reproduction of black areas, giving a potential contrast ratio of 3000:1.

To deliver the exceptionally high pixel count, SXRD minimizes both the size of each individual pixel and the space between pixels via a combination of radically designed Silicon Driving Circuit technology, new Silicon Wafer Process Technology, and new Liquid Crystal Device technology. All of this together has enabled 2,000,000 pixels with a pitch of 9um to be arranged just 0.35um apart. This is the world's smallest inter-pixel spacing, delivering full HDTV (1920Hx1080V, 16:9 widescreen format) within an image area measuring a mere 0.78 inches diagonally across. Sony claims that in comparison to high temperature Poly-Silicon liquid crystal devices, this represents a 2.4- fold increase in pixel density, and a 10-fold improvement in inter-pixel spacing. The result? A much smoother, more cinematic image.

Contributing further to the projector's high contrast is the use in the QUALIA 004 of Sony's unique "Vertically Aligned Liquid Crystal" materials, whereby the liquid crystal molecules are aligned vertically to the cell substrates. The materials have been developed to provide good driving voltages and high quality optical properties, even in such thin cells, ensuring high contrast images that would otherwise be unachievable with conventional TN devices. What's more, these innovations have also helped SXRD deliver a very rapid 5 milli-second response time to keep the image clean and smear free.

Another key point about the QUALIA 004 is that it employs a Xenon lamp – the same sort of lamp used in commercial cinema projectors and renowned for being able to deliver more brilliant reds, fresher skin tones and brilliant whites. Sony has also pulled out all the stops on the image processing side, employing full 10-bit digital signal processing and a newly-developed 12-bit panel driver.

Finally Sony claims to have made the QUALIA projector extremely reliable, having overcome the long-standing challenge of incorporating an inorganic alignment layer to a liquid crystal cell, enabling the alignment technology of vertically aligned liquid crystals which has been problematic until now. This inorganic material has successfully replaced the organic polyimide film previously used to align the liquid crystal, apparently greatly improving alignment layer durability.

The QUALIA 004 is part of a new range of ultra-high-end products from Sony under the QUALIA banner, with other fancy stuff including a 32in TV, digital camera, and SACD system. The QUALIA 004 is retailing for around 2.4 million Yen in Japan (around £13,000), but at the moment no final decision has been made about whether to bring the projector – or any of the QUALIA products come to that – to Europe. We really, really hope it DOES get over to the UK, though, since during a demo in Japan (admittedly using high definition sources) we were simply astonished by how well it performed. Perhaps it's time to start badgering your local Sony dealer?