Sony Mum on Queries It Soon Will Bow 2,000-Nit Backlight Master Drive HDR TV

Sony declined comment Wednesday on our queries that the company soon will introduce an Ultra HD TV with the company’s Backlight Master Drive high-dynamic-range technology. Sony trumpeted Backlight Master Drive -- showcased at CES as a “prototype” HDR technology -- as enabling “ultra-high-peak brightness” of up to 4,000 nits, compared with conventional LCD backlights offering only a tenth of that peak luminance (see 1601060049). Backlight Master Drive also is capable of “markedly deeper blacks and fine shadow details, with precision backlight-boosting technology,” Sony said. We’re told by sources familiar with the product to be introduced that Sony will tout peak HDR luminance capability of up to 2,000 nits. Though that would be half the peak-luminance performance Sony touted at CES, it would be roughly double that of any other consumer HDR TVs that have been introduced. Sony also will promise additional performance enhancements with future generations of product, we're told. Sony has scheduled a July 20 media briefing at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California, where it promises “some special announcements” about its TV product offerings. Beyond that, “we don’t talk about products that are not yet introduced and we can’t confirm or deny speculations,” Sony spokeswoman Ana Reyes emailed us Wednesday.