{"video_id":"xnbxSCySgfQ","title":"Sony Spent 20 Years Making This TV","channel":"Linus Tech Tips","show":"Linus Tech Tips","published_at":"2026-04-13T14:53:29Z","duration_s":477,"segments":[{"start_s":2.0,"end_s":7.84,"text":"Now, Sony coyly avoided words like OLED","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":5.88,"end_s":11.56,"text":"killer and they wouldn't even confirm the peak brightness of their next-gen TV","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":9.6,"end_s":16.44,"text":"technology. But, I will say this, with the kind of giant throbbing","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":14.24,"end_s":21.08,"text":"confidence that only a performance leader displays, they sponsored me and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":18.88,"end_s":24.72,"text":"other media from around the world to fly all the way to their Tokyo headquarters","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":22.8,"end_s":29.52,"text":"to not only view their new hotness, but even to compare it directly to the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":27.44,"end_s":33.2,"text":"legendary BVM-HX3110 master monitor. I'm talking about a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":31.44,"end_s":37.56,"text":"$30,000 professional display. Now, I can't show","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":35.32,"end_s":41.2,"text":"you that footage yet, because they're not ready to unveil their new bezel and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":39.04,"end_s":45.64,"text":"stand design. But, what I am allowed to do is talk about the comparison and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":43.8,"end_s":50.2,"text":"guys, I'm talking to the folks out there who own a display, so to speak. This is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":47.92,"end_s":56.24,"text":"the real deal. This is by far the closest that I have ever seen a consumer","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":52.12,"end_s":58.44,"text":"TV to reference image quality. But, how?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":56.24,"end_s":63.44,"text":"Oh, I'm so glad you asked. Like several of their competitors, Sony has been","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":60.4,"end_s":66.32,"text":"working on RGB LED backlight technology.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":63.44,"end_s":71.2,"text":"That is, using colored backlight zones rather than white or blue in order to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":68.24,"end_s":75.4,"text":"harness the brightness of mini LED and dramatically boost color volume. And","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":73.12,"end_s":78.64,"text":"that is what we're seeing today. Except, wait a second. Linus, every","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":77.48,"end_s":85.52,"text":"other time you've talked about this technology before, it's carried downsides that you called unacceptable","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":83.28,"end_s":88.96,"text":"for flagship picture quality. You might have heard me describe it in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":86.48,"end_s":93.0,"text":"the past as the future. That's the nice way of saying there's work to be done.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":91.4,"end_s":99.64,"text":"But, that's the thing. Sony did the work. Starting back in 2004 with the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":95.72,"end_s":101.84,"text":"Qualia 5. So, the pedigree is there and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":99.64,"end_s":107.52,"text":"bringing it to today, they stripped down the front panels of both their own new","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":104.84,"end_s":112.08,"text":"TVs and ones from their competitors to prove that theirs is, as the branding","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":109.36,"end_s":117.28,"text":"would indicate, true RGB with three independent diodes and precise color and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":114.72,"end_s":120.88,"text":"brightness control. All of which looks like it's going to make it pretty","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":118.88,"end_s":123.84,"text":"hard to compete with. But, let's back up for a second and talk about the basics","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":122.56,"end_s":130.2,"text":"of this technology. Whether we're talking about mini LED or QLED or","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":126.52,"end_s":133.24,"text":"whatever kind of LED, most TVs are just","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":130.2,"end_s":135.36,"text":"LCD with extra steps that might help to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":133.24,"end_s":139.68,"text":"optimize black levels by selectively dimming the backlight in zones or boost","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":137.48,"end_s":142.68,"text":"colors by adding a quantum dot film or enhance image quality with an","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":140.959,"end_s":147.64,"text":"anti-reflective film. But, all of them are going to be bound","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":144.68,"end_s":154.12,"text":"by the same fundamental limitations. An LCD cannot block light perfectly. And","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":151.4,"end_s":158.16,"text":"the very idea of achieving color by taking white light and then blocking","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":156.84,"end_s":164.36,"text":"everything except the color that you want is inherently inefficient. So, your","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":161.44,"end_s":168.4,"text":"color with LCD, it can never be pure and pushing brightness past a certain point","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":166.2,"end_s":172.32,"text":"is always going to take way more power and wash out that color. That's where","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":170.16,"end_s":176.72,"text":"the idea of a colored backlight comes in. You want green, let's say. Well,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":174.72,"end_s":180.72,"text":"instead of blasting white and then blocking all the red and blue, you just","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":178.56,"end_s":185.8,"text":"open the pixel up wide and let the green shine through. In theory, it's a really","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":182.88,"end_s":189.92,"text":"great idea, but in practice you know how with traditional white dimming zones,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":188.0,"end_s":194.0,"text":"you can get white halos around bright objects?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":191.04,"end_s":198.72,"text":"Well, with RGB dimming zones, you can get colored halos that personally I have","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":196.48,"end_s":201.36,"text":"found to be way more distracting than white halos.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":200.239,"end_s":205.88,"text":"So, I don't see any though. How's Sony","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":203.28,"end_s":210.2,"text":"avoiding that? Well, one way to do it is by increasing the number of dimming","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":207.68,"end_s":214.4,"text":"zones. So, how many do they have? Well, Sony carefully avoided getting","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":212.8,"end_s":218.04,"text":"into the specifics, but also pointed out that since the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":215.84,"end_s":221.92,"text":"displays are torn down, it's pretty easy to count them. And compared to their","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":219.8,"end_s":228.08,"text":"competitors, they're using slightly more dense arrangements of their RGB LED","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":224.16,"end_s":230.48,"text":"clusters, about 1 cm in between, and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":228.08,"end_s":235.32,"text":"this one is probably more important, unlike a competitor whose TV I nearly","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":232.84,"end_s":240.56,"text":"installed in my home, Sony's control zones are square. So, that's four LED","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":238.48,"end_s":246.52,"text":"clusters per, rather than being rectangular. This is huge, because it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":243.56,"end_s":250.56,"text":"means they should be able to avoid, say, accidentally throwing up a huge green","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":248.84,"end_s":255.08,"text":"backlight zone for, say, a military uniform, and then having it destroy the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":252.64,"end_s":259.0,"text":"nearby skin tones. But, as it turns out, that's only part of the story. The other","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":257.16,"end_s":263.96,"text":"big part is in here, the processing. As you might","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":261.64,"end_s":267.04,"text":"know, different colors of LEDs have different characteristics in terms of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":265.52,"end_s":273.44,"text":"their power consumption and their light output. This is one of the coolest demos they","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":270.28,"end_s":275.24,"text":"showed us. They had a 4,000 nit sunrise","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":273.44,"end_s":279.68,"text":"just peeking over the horizon. Strong hint, by the way, about the peak brightness of the upcoming flagship TV","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":277.919,"end_s":283.36,"text":"in the spring. And gave us a look at the thermal monitoring that's happening","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":281.2,"end_s":289.72,"text":"behind the scenes that's dynamically tracking hotspots and then tuning, in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":286.36,"end_s":291.6,"text":"real time, both the backlight intensity","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":289.72,"end_s":295.96,"text":"and the color, which, with a color backlight, right, is going to change","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":293.2,"end_s":300.04,"text":"depending on the intensity, as well as panel compensation in order to maintain","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":298.36,"end_s":303.04,"text":"accurate color if they have to turn down one of the higher energy channels, for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":301.36,"end_s":305.84,"text":"instance. I just about crapped my pants when I realized exactly what I was being","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":304.68,"end_s":310.12,"text":"shown. So, basically, this compensation means","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":308.28,"end_s":313.76,"text":"that that downside that I've talked about before is it's gone.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":312.48,"end_s":319.32,"text":"It's still a local dimming zone technology, guys. So, I did find some","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":316.84,"end_s":322.88,"text":"off-axis bloom or some halos around bright objects compared to a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":320.44,"end_s":326.88,"text":"self-emissive display. But, guys, in the sweet spot, which you can see a lot of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":325.04,"end_s":331.36,"text":"it yourselves through the camera, it is damn near perfect, even in a freeze","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":329.36,"end_s":334.68,"text":"frame, right next to the BVM series mastering monitor. I was really","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":333.12,"end_s":338.6,"text":"struggling to find image quality differences in many scenes. I'm talking","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":337.12,"end_s":343.8,"text":"bright scenes that take advantage of that 4,000 nit peak that we're not","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":340.6,"end_s":345.32,"text":"confirming, and even dim scenes. And,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":343.8,"end_s":350.44,"text":"from talking to Sony, all of that is very much by design with","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":348.28,"end_s":353.92,"text":"these consumer TVs using the same dimming algorithm as that professional","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":352.2,"end_s":359.2,"text":"display. Another benefit of Sony's approach is that by simply allowing the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":356.64,"end_s":363.32,"text":"colored backlight through, there's much less color shift when you're viewing it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":360.76,"end_s":367.8,"text":"off-axis. Now, I'd have to see it next to an OLED before I could call this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":365.12,"end_s":372.92,"text":"industry leading, but to say that it crushed the other flagship RGB backlit","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":370.44,"end_s":376.84,"text":"LCDs that Sony had for competition, that would be an understatement. When Sony's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":375.08,"end_s":381.8,"text":"engineers tore apart their competitors' products, they actually discovered that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":379.0,"end_s":385.919,"text":"there were situations where some RGB backlit models","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":383.36,"end_s":391.72,"text":"had RGB LEDs on them, but they were falling back to a white-only mode that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":389.36,"end_s":396.12,"text":"sure, improved color halos like the ones that I complained about, but um","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":393.88,"end_s":398.72,"text":"gave up the benefits of RGB backlighting.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":397.4,"end_s":402.96,"text":"I wish I could show you that cuz it was a jaw-dropping demo.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":400.68,"end_s":406.28,"text":"Like, it would be test pattern and it would have an RGBI backlight, and then","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":404.84,"end_s":410.24,"text":"they would change it up a little bit or they'd put real content on it and the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":408.52,"end_s":414.8,"text":"whole backlight turns white and starts behaving like a traditional backlight.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":412.12,"end_s":419.0,"text":"This seems to be down to processing since the physical hardware of the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":416.2,"end_s":423.08,"text":"colored LEDs is obviously there, but that's just my best guess from hearing","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":421.52,"end_s":428.84,"text":"other brands talk about the challenges that they face. And it's worth noting that I and Sony","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":426.919,"end_s":432.2,"text":"don't know for sure how this is going to compare to upcoming models from those","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":430.76,"end_s":436.48,"text":"other brands. They seem confident that one more year","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":435.28,"end_s":440.96,"text":"in the oven won't be enough for others to close the gap, but uh only time will","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":438.72,"end_s":446.0,"text":"tell. In fairness to them though, no other company seems likely to roll the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":442.76,"end_s":447.96,"text":"same 3 by 22-bit processing,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":446.0,"end_s":452.24,"text":"uh and no one else is lens to living room as Sony puts it with completely","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":449.8,"end_s":456.56,"text":"unfettered access to experts all the way from studio filmmakers to colorists to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":454.96,"end_s":459.36,"text":"their own imaging and professional display engineers. Fair enough, Sony,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":458.12,"end_s":466.32,"text":"since it seems to have resulted in a package that It very very hard to compete with.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":465.08,"end_s":471.12,"text":"If you guys enjoyed this video, why don't you check out the last time we compared a mastering monitor to a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":469.32,"end_s":475.68,"text":"consumer display? It might give you some appreciation for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":473.52,"end_s":478.04,"text":"this being close being a pretty big deal.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0}],"full_text":"Now, Sony coyly avoided words like OLED killer and they wouldn't even confirm the peak brightness of their next-gen TV technology. But, I will say this, with the kind of giant throbbing confidence that only a performance leader displays, they sponsored me and other media from around the world to fly all the way to their Tokyo headquarters to not only view their new hotness, but even to compare it directly to the legendary BVM-HX3110 master monitor. I'm talking about a $30,000 professional display. Now, I can't show you that footage yet, because they're not ready to unveil their new bezel and stand design. But, what I am allowed to do is talk about the comparison and guys, I'm talking to the folks out there who own a display, so to speak. This is the real deal. This is by far the closest that I have ever seen a consumer TV to reference image quality. But, how? Oh, I'm so glad you asked. Like several of their competitors, Sony has been working on RGB LED backlight technology. That is, using colored backlight zones rather than white or blue in order to harness the brightness of mini LED and dramatically boost color volume. And that is what we're seeing today. Except, wait a second. Linus, every other time you've talked about this technology before, it's carried downsides that you called unacceptable for flagship picture quality. You might have heard me describe it in the past as the future. That's the nice way of saying there's work to be done. But, that's the thing. Sony did the work. Starting back in 2004 with the Qualia 5. So, the pedigree is there and bringing it to today, they stripped down the front panels of both their own new TVs and ones from their competitors to prove that theirs is, as the branding would indicate, true RGB with three independent diodes and precise color and brightness control. All of which looks like it's going to make it pretty hard to compete with. But, let's back up for a second and talk about the basics of this technology. Whether we're talking about mini LED or QLED or whatever kind of LED, most TVs are just LCD with extra steps that might help to optimize black levels by selectively dimming the backlight in zones or boost colors by adding a quantum dot film or enhance image quality with an anti-reflective film. But, all of them are going to be bound by the same fundamental limitations. An LCD cannot block light perfectly. And the very idea of achieving color by taking white light and then blocking everything except the color that you want is inherently inefficient. So, your color with LCD, it can never be pure and pushing brightness past a certain point is always going to take way more power and wash out that color. That's where the idea of a colored backlight comes in. You want green, let's say. Well, instead of blasting white and then blocking all the red and blue, you just open the pixel up wide and let the green shine through. In theory, it's a really great idea, but in practice you know how with traditional white dimming zones, you can get white halos around bright objects? Well, with RGB dimming zones, you can get colored halos that personally I have found to be way more distracting than white halos. So, I don't see any though. How's Sony avoiding that? Well, one way to do it is by increasing the number of dimming zones. So, how many do they have? Well, Sony carefully avoided getting into the specifics, but also pointed out that since the displays are torn down, it's pretty easy to count them. And compared to their competitors, they're using slightly more dense arrangements of their RGB LED clusters, about 1 cm in between, and this one is probably more important, unlike a competitor whose TV I nearly installed in my home, Sony's control zones are square. So, that's four LED clusters per, rather than being rectangular. This is huge, because it means they should be able to avoid, say, accidentally throwing up a huge green backlight zone for, say, a military uniform, and then having it destroy the nearby skin tones. But, as it turns out, that's only part of the story. The other big part is in here, the processing. As you might know, different colors of LEDs have different characteristics in terms of their power consumption and their light output. This is one of the coolest demos they showed us. They had a 4,000 nit sunrise just peeking over the horizon. Strong hint, by the way, about the peak brightness of the upcoming flagship TV in the spring. And gave us a look at the thermal monitoring that's happening behind the scenes that's dynamically tracking hotspots and then tuning, in real time, both the backlight intensity and the color, which, with a color backlight, right, is going to change depending on the intensity, as well as panel compensation in order to maintain accurate color if they have to turn down one of the higher energy channels, for instance. I just about crapped my pants when I realized exactly what I was being shown. So, basically, this compensation means that that downside that I've talked about before is it's gone. It's still a local dimming zone technology, guys. So, I did find some off-axis bloom or some halos around bright objects compared to a self-emissive display. But, guys, in the sweet spot, which you can see a lot of it yourselves through the camera, it is damn near perfect, even in a freeze frame, right next to the BVM series mastering monitor. I was really struggling to find image quality differences in many scenes. I'm talking bright scenes that take advantage of that 4,000 nit peak that we're not confirming, and even dim scenes. And, from talking to Sony, all of that is very much by design with these consumer TVs using the same dimming algorithm as that professional display. Another benefit of Sony's approach is that by simply allowing the colored backlight through, there's much less color shift when you're viewing it off-axis. Now, I'd have to see it next to an OLED before I could call this industry leading, but to say that it crushed the other flagship RGB backlit LCDs that Sony had for competition, that would be an understatement. When Sony's engineers tore apart their competitors' products, they actually discovered that there were situations where some RGB backlit models had RGB LEDs on them, but they were falling back to a white-only mode that sure, improved color halos like the ones that I complained about, but um gave up the benefits of RGB backlighting. I wish I could show you that cuz it was a jaw-dropping demo. Like, it would be test pattern and it would have an RGBI backlight, and then they would change it up a little bit or they'd put real content on it and the whole backlight turns white and starts behaving like a traditional backlight. This seems to be down to processing since the physical hardware of the colored LEDs is obviously there, but that's just my best guess from hearing other brands talk about the challenges that they face. And it's worth noting that I and Sony don't know for sure how this is going to compare to upcoming models from those other brands. They seem confident that one more year in the oven won't be enough for others to close the gap, but uh only time will tell. In fairness to them though, no other company seems likely to roll the same 3 by 22-bit processing, uh and no one else is lens to living room as Sony puts it with completely unfettered access to experts all the way from studio filmmakers to colorists to their own imaging and professional display engineers. Fair enough, Sony, since it seems to have resulted in a package that It very very hard to compete with. If you guys enjoyed this video, why don't you check out the last time we compared a mastering monitor to a consumer display? It might give you some appreciation for this being close being a pretty big deal."}