We recently had the chance to ask Sony some questions about their TV range. Fielding the questions were Tim Page, Senior technology marketing manager and Nicola Plump, Product manager for the Bravia range.

The answers were quite long so we’ll be presenting them in two posts, starting with this one.

• With the global recession hitting everybody how are you seeing TV sales affected? If you’re seeing a drop, is it in the more expensive high end models or is it more across the board?

Nicola: Obviously, it’s a difficult situation for all manufacturers to be in. However, one of Sony’s strengths is that we have a broad line up of TV models that can cater for all of our customer’s needs.

• HDTV has been a big driver for TV upgrades in the past few years. Looking beyond that, what do you see as the “Next Big Thing” we’ll all be wanting?

Tim: 3DTV is definitely set to be the next development which will alter the way people watch TV. The technology is more advanced than ever and there will be a number of platforms available for people to view content on, so the TVs themselves will need to be up to speed.

• You use LED backlights in some of your range. What’s the advantage of these versus the normal backlight? Will we see them coming to more of the range or will they be reserved for the high-end sets?

Tim: LCD TVs that use an LED backlighting system have a number of benefits, the two main ones being that LEDs ensure a lower power consumption, whilst enabling us to make our TVs much slimmer than models which use a CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent lamp) backlight.

Nicola: LED as backlight technology can offer various advantages. We used LEDs integrated in the frame of the ZX1 (Edge LED technology) to make this model the slimmest available 40” LCD TV at the time of launch (<1cm). LEDs are also used in the form of locally dimmable clusters of Red Green and Blue LEDs in our X45 series to get ultra high contrast and better colour reproduction, and as Tim mentions, LED backlights can also have a positive impact on power consumption.

• In CRT days I understood the concept of “refresh rate” and how it applied to flicker. LCD technology is different though (there is no “refresh” in the traditional sense), so why are manufacturers chasing ever increasing numbers for refresh rate (600Hz in the case of a recent advert). What does the term mean now?

Tim:No, refresh rate (i.e. 50/100/200Hz) has the same meaning for LCD TVs as it did for CRT models. 600Hz is in fact a grey area, and is simply a marketing tool used by some manufacturers to promote high frame rate on some plasma models when in fact it is not comparable – the real results are only equivalent to 50 or 60Hz LCD TVs.

Nicola: It’s also worth noting that Sony’s Motionflow 200Hz technology enhances moving images on your BRAVIA LCD TV by inserting extra frames between pictures. A BRAVIA TV with Motionflow 200Hz shows an extra four frames per second compared to a standard 50Hz television, meaning less blur and sharper, smoother sports and action scenes. Motionflow 200Hz doesn’t just repeat images between footage like some other TV technologies. It accurately creates new frames by comparing the preceding picture with the action to come, as well as using Image Blur Reduction to clean each frame for even more clarity and detail.

• Related question – if higher number = better picture, when are Sony going to come out with a 600Hz set?!

Tim: As outlined above, a higher number does not mean a better picture. Sony has no plans to produce a 600Hz set.

Nicola: 600Hz on Plasmas works quite differently from 200Hz technology on LCDs. 600Hz on Plasma TVs flashes the same image multiple times to combat the false colour that sometimes occurs when either the image being displayed or the observer’s eyes are in motion. 200Hz on LCD TVs displays 200 unique frames every second, meaning a smoother picture. If you directly compare 600Hz with 200Hz, 600Hz can look darker and more juddery.