Sony’s new TV based on six million LEDs

Sony’s shown off a new type of LED television which uses six million tiny light-emitting diodes to create an image.

Its prototype Crystal LED Display, shown off yesterday at CES,is the  first 55-inch Full HD self-emitting display to use LEDs as the light source.

It’s the same technology used for the vast screens used at ptofessional sports events – unlike existing ‘LED’ displays which use the LEDs as a backlight for liquid crystal display (LCD) TVs.

Ultrafine LEDs are mounted in each of the Red-Green-Blue (RGB) colors, one for each pixel. The company says that mounting the RGB LED light source directly on the front of the display dramatically improves the light use efficiency.

This improves contrast, color range and video image response time, and offers a wider viewing angle than existing LCD and plasma displays, along with low power consumption.

Sony claims around three and a half times higher contrast in a light environment, 1.4 times wider color gamut and approximately 10 times faster video image response time than for its own current models.

The company says it expects to see similar TVs in people’s homes as well as in commercial environments. The technology will likely compete with organic light-emitting diode (OLED) televisions, which also do without being backlit, and which Sony is also woring on itself.

Sony doesn’t say when it expects to get its LED product to market, but we’re probably looking at several years. And it’s not likely to come cheap.