14 DAY TRIAL // Sony did a great job with their Trinitron CRTs, but those are history now. Sony even announced that they were ceasing production lines for all of their display facilities entirely, including the underdeveloped LCD sector. We were supposed to think that Sony was out of the display business entirely. However, a recent surprising announcement aims at settling this issue once and for all.
According to the latest announcement, Sony is willing to return into the competitive LCD display market with an all-new Luma series of widescreen displays. In order to get the edge over the fierce competition, represented by Dell, Samsung and NEC, just to name a few important players, Sony has decided to target the high-end graphic designers and video editors.
The new Luma series includes two 20" models - the LMD-2050W and the LMD-2030W - as well as a 24" model - the LMD-2450W. LMD-2030W is specifically designed for people doing a lot of video production, and this model includes connectors such as HDMI, composite, RGB, component, and standard DVI. Next in line are the LMD-2050W and 2450W models, which both offer the same input connectors, but further extend the feature list with options such as side-by-side video, built-in closed captioning and Sony's proprietary Chroma-Tru color processing for accurate colors. These two models are intended for graphic designers and both support 1080P input for high definition video content.
The new high-end Luma series is scheduled to ship some time in May, but Sony did not disclose any information concerning the actual prices. This may be explained by the fact that the new line-up is not dedicated to the general consumer or even the home video/photo enthusiast. Accordingly, the Luma displays are expected to come at very high prices.