As promised, here is the second part of our Q&A Session with Sony. Thanks once again to Tim and Nicola for taking part, it was instructive!

• There was a lot of excitement surrounding OLED technology a few years
  ago although it all seems to have gone a bit quiet at the moment. What
  was so great about it, and why are we not hearing more?

Tim: When used in TVs, OLED technology is completely different to any existing technology, as it requires no backlight. The LEDs used in the panel emit their own light, which means the screens can be incredibly thin (the XEL-1 is 3mm). OLED screens also have an instantaneous response time and over 1 million to one dynamic contrast ratio, all of which means that they can produce an incredibly smooth and colour rich picture. We are continuing to research and develop OLED technology and are exploring its uses as a technology in all types of products.

• Following on from that, you have the XEL-1 which is an 11 inch OLED
  TV. Can I expect to see a 42" model any time soon? (edit – I kind of expected this answer but you have to ask!)

Tim: As is our policy for all products in all divisions, we never comment about products that have not yet been announced.

• Your recent marketing makes a big point of the dedicated “off” switch on your latest sets and the associated power savings that come with it. This never used to be a “feature” of TVs, it just used to be part of the set. Why did it disappear – was there some technological reason for keeping the set on standby or did manufacturers just decide that there was no point in an off button because people always used the remote?

 Tim: There are two main reasons why dedicated ‘off’ switches have become less common; the first is that keeping a TV on standby meant that it could be turned on easily and would start up much more quickly than from a truly ‘off’ state. The second is that if you are using the internal TV tuner to record directly to DVD, then you need to leave the TV on standby to ensure that programmes record.

Nicola: The Energy Saving Switch (mechanical “off” switch) is not a completely new idea; it actually was on some CRT TVs in the past. As power consumption is becoming more and more important, not only for economical but also for ecological reasons, we decided to bring it back and make it one among many clever energy saving features on our BRAVIA TVs.

• Looking at the WE5 (super-green) and the X4500 (super-high-end) it seems that the consumer still has to make a conscious choice between "green" and "features". The X4500 for instance doesn’t feature an "off" switch or presence sensor. Is power saving seen as less important on the more feature-rich models?

Tim: The BRAVIA WE5 and BRAVIA X4500 are completely different types of TV in terms of backlights, and they are also from separate ranges that were launched independently of each other (X4500 is 2008, WE5 is 2009). It is not always the case that you have to choose between performance and eco-aware features: the recently launched BRAVIA Z5500 has the energy saving switch as standard.

Nicola: As Tim mentioned, we introduced this feature on the WE5, which is a model introducing various new energy saving features. We then launched the Z5500 and are planning to equip future models with this feature.

• Staying with the green theme, what is Sony doing to reduce the environmental impact of their products, from manufacturing through to eventual disposal?

Tim: All of our press releases contain a lot of information about what Sony is already doing to reduce the environmental impact of our products. Just some of the things we do include: reducing CO² emissions in manufacturing, packaging and transport of our products; using smaller TV cartons to reduce the amount of packaging; and including an easy-to-use electronic on-screen operation manual that reduces the need for printed paper instructions.

• I’ve seen some impressive 3D display technology demonstrations. Does Sony have a view on the viability of 3D televisions in the next, say, 5 years? Do you have anything in the works

Tim: We showed a 3DTV model at CES in Las Vegas this year, and we are currently investigating the technology options available to further the development of this exciting new format (as mentioned above!).

Nicola: I would also add specifically that we will be looking into further improvements of picture quality, whilst also focusing on the general usability of TVs through enhanced connectivity and interaction with other devices. All of our products are developed with network capability in mind, making it as easy possible to connect to your favourite devices.