Sony Intros 55-Inch Crystal LED Display Using 6 Million LEDs
Sony has developed a new Full HD display using six million LEDs and measuring 55-inches.
On Tuesday Sony said that it has developed the industry's first 55-inch Full HD self-emitting display using LEDs as the light source. Called the Crystal LED Display, it uses Sony’s "unique methods" to mount ultrafine LEDs in each of the Red-Green-Blue (RGB) colors, equivalent to the number of pixels -- meaning the company uses approximately six-million LEDs to create a Full HD display.
"The RGB LED light source is mounted directly on the front of the display, dramatically improving the light use efficiency," Sony said. "This results in images with strikingly higher contrast (in both light and dark environments), wider color gamut, superb video image response time, and wider viewing angles when compared to existing LCD and plasma displays, with low power consumption. Furthermore, due to the display’s structure, the “Crystal LED Display” is also ideal for large screens."
Sony is currently showing a prototype display at CES 2012 in Las Vegas. It has a brightness of approximately 400 cd/m², a viewing angle of approximately 180 degrees, and a contrast of "more than measurable limit values." The color gamut is also "more than 100-percent compared to NTSC (xy)." When compared to existing LCD displays from Sony, the prototype boasts approximately 3.5 times higher contrast in light environment, approximately 1.4 times wider color gamut, and approximately 10 times faster video image response time.
Sony said it will "work conscientiously" to bring the Crystal LED Display to market while also continuing development and commercialization of organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays.

It sounds incredibly expensive to manufacture, but it must look amazing.
It sounds incredibly expensive to manufacture, but it must look amazing.
I'm interested in this, as well as knowing how much power draw is behind 6 million LEDs on a mostly white screen.
same here
with that said, i understand the benefits of having the pixels themselves light up and negating backlighting altogether. it would actually improve contrast ratios, energy efficiency, and (i imagine) eliminate the "ghosting" effect current LED TVs suffer from while still maintaining the ability to deliver truly deep blacks.
i'd like to know pricing and availability on these TVs, i'll be in the market for a new HDTV in a year or two.
Normally I would agree with you, as I am NOT a fan of dynamic contrast screens. Turning off sections of back lighting to boost contrast numbers does not increase the quality of the picture, and it creates halo effects when areas of light are surrounded by dark picture. It looks worse than when the dynamic lighting is disabled, in my opinion.
However, in this case, I think the dynamic back lighting has real potential and the inflated numbers may finally be accurate. This screen would no longer be manipulating the back lighting for sections of the picture, but for each individual color of each individual pixel. This potentially puts the LCD picture on par, if not ahead, with what modern plasma screens are capable of, with much lower power use and waste heat.
I'm looking forward to this making its way into the mainstream. It's a technology approach that I always dreamed would happen but never dared to hope for.
i'm all for this type of technology. this is definitely a step forward.
every number on a tv besides its size is a lie.
Thought plasmas had NO limit on viewing angle, neither of mine seem to, that's for sure.
Also, I just love how everyone thinks LED isn't LCD. At Walmart the other day listening to a "sales person" telling an older couple how LED is soooo much better than LCD, then the old guy said "Why does the box say LED LCD?" Dude was like "uh, that box is probably used for two different tv's" I was about to go smack him upside the head.
I'll stick with my LG's.
Contrast on AMOLEDs (the only variation of OLED in production I guess) was said to have LOWER contrast than conventional LCD.
Does this mean when you turn on the T.V. you could watch it through the walls of your house or that your house will be a beacon to space ships?
In reality only the highest end LED TV's use local dimming, most of them are edge lit displays that stay on at all times. And like shoreless pointed out, the local dimming displays suffer from some pretty wonkey problems, so they are best avoided. OLED and true LED are the way to go as you get super high contrast like a plasma screen, but without the power bill or burn in issues.