Sony to launch world’s fastest TVs

Before flat panel televisions took off, manufacturers tried many ways to improve their CRT sets such as making the screen flat, adding extra AV inputs, providing support for both PAL & NTSC and so on.  One popular feature was the introduction of 100Hz (for PAL) and 120Hz (for NTSC) TVs.  When a CRT draws up a frame on the screen, the previous frame shown fades away as this happens, which causes a noticeable flicker in real-time.  100Hz and 120Hz CRT TVs double the refresh rate by displaying each frame twice, which significantly reduces this flicker. 

While flat-panel monitors don’t actually flicker like CRTs due to the displayed picture remaining at a fairly constant brightness between frames, the actual frame rate remains the same, which is still a sequence of still images.  This means that while still a still image may appear sharp and flicker-free, action appears to distort and flicker, especially when something moves rapidly across the display.

Sony has unveiled its latest technology, Motionflow 200Hz (240Hz for NTSC), which it claims to make a vast improvement in the picture, especially with fast-action shots.  What its technology does is predicts what is about to happen between frames in all directions (such as a spinning football) and constructs three additional frames between every source frame.  For 24Hz content, such as from a Blu-ray player, 7 additional frames are produced.  When these are displayed in sequence, it significantly increases the clarity, detail and colour in action, which makes the picture look much more life like. 

Sony claims that its Motionflow 200MHz/240MHz technology is a world first, which is 4 times the standard frame rate and double its previous Motionflow 100MHz/120MHz technology.  The company confirmed that its new Bravia Z series, which features this latest Motionflow technology will hit the shops by the end of November.  These will have recommended retail prices of $3,399 for the 40", $4,099 for the 46" and $5,099 for the 52" models.  The 52" model is expected to be released in December.

A few demonstrations of Sony’s Motionflow 200MHz technology can be seen here and here.