Sony has just dished out pricing information for its new 55-inch and 65-inch 4K TVs, first shown off at CES in Las Vegas a couple of months back. The 55-inch XBR-55X900A will hit the market for $4,999 while the larger 65-inch XBR-65X900A model will set you back $6,999. Though still costing a fair whack of money, the prices certainly offer substantial savings over Sony’s ginormous 84-inch 4K TV, which currently comes with a hefty $25,000 price tag.
From today, Sony stores in six locations will be offering interested consumers in–store demonstrations of the two new 4K TVs:
– Century City, CA
– Costa Mesa, CA
– Palo Alto, CA
– Houston, TX
– Las Vegas, NV
– New York, NY
Both TVs will be available for order from April 21.
“These new models will be arriving in homes just before the summer and are sure to bring the enhanced viewing experience of 4K TV to a whole new audience,” Sony’s Mike Lucas said in a release announcing the news.
4K (Ultra HD) televisions feature a resolution (3480 x 2160) four times greater than that of a Full HD TV, allowing viewers to enjoy crisp, vibrant pictures at a close distance. At CES in Las Vegas in January, Sony rep Phil Jones told DT that Sony’s new TVs also sport high-quality speakers that utilize a soft-dome tweeter, a small woofer and a passive radiator to enhance midrange response.
“These are not TV speakers,” Jones said. “It’s like having a nice set of hi-fi speakers built into your television set.”
Content
One issue with 4K format is that content is still rather scarce, though Sony is acting on that with the summer launch of the $699 FMP-X1 4K Media Player, which comes with 10 feature films and video shorts in true 4K resolution. And in the fall, “users of the same 4K Media Player will be given access to a fee-based video distribution service offering a library of 4K titles from Sony Pictures Entertainment and other notable production houses,” the Japanese electronics company said in its release.
A lot of tech’s big hitters have been entering the 4K TV market in the last year, with Apple also thought to be in the process of building such a set for launch possibly this year or next.
