Some outstanding marks of Sony in the TV industry: the "ancestor" of all LED LCD TVs and what else?

I have read some comments on social networks that Sony does not have much new technology in the TV market, or that the True RGB technology they just introduced is actually based on the TCL platform (or some say it is provided by TCL)... With my limited knowledge, I feel it is necessary to clarify these misconceptions. It's unfair to Sony that many people underestimate their footprint in the TV industry. This will be an article reviewing some of their outstanding marks in the TV industry over the past 20 years, including prototypes that have not yet been commercialized if it is revolutionary enough. However, the biggest focus on the TV model is still the title and RGB LED technology. In addition, there will be an explanation to dispel the type of comments floating around on social networks as mentioned at the beginning of the article. If you feel that the article tends to indulge too much in promoting or favoring Sony, just stop and close the tab to avoid discomfort. So what are some notable products that Sony has made its mark on in the TV industry? What does "ancestor" of LCD LED TV mean?

QUALIA 005: the "ancestor" of all LCD LED TVs today

QUALIA 005 launched in 2004 is a high-end TV worth 10,000 USD, part of the company's famous QUALIA collection. More than 20 years ago, this TV was considered a legend for possessing a technological vision beyond its time. It is no coincidence that the corporation mentioned it when introducing True RGB technology. Only Sony dares to claim that it has more than 20 years of exploring LED backlighting on TVs, leading to the launch of True RGB now.

They have every right to be proud! Because QUALIA 005 is the "ancestor" of all LED LCD TVs today. Launched in 2004, the product possesses remarkable points.

The Triluminos backlight system uses high-performance Luxeon LED chips manufactured by Lumileds. The layout includes a cluster of 4 LED chips with 3 colors red, green and blue. This is a technology recently introduced by many TV companies under many different names, but technically, it is all RGB LED that appeared on QUALIA 005 more than 20 years ago. RGB LED is an expensive technology despite its excellent lighting efficiency. Some other products equipped with this backlight technology have high costs, up to several thousand USD 10-20 years ago. Typically the HP DreamColor LP2480zx or NEC SpectraView Reference 21 screen. Even the Dolby Pulsar equipped with RGB LED backlighting costs up to 40,000 USD. Because of the high cost, the company gradually stopped using RGB LED and gradually switched to White LED. White LED with cheaper cost quickly dominated the market. That technology uses Blue LED backlight combined with color solutions such as phosphor or quantum dots, to achieve white light. BRAVIA 9 model is using White LED. And Triluminos later gradually became more of a marketing tool. On the new generation of RGB LED TVs, the company promotes "True RGB" marketing.

BRAVIA 9 II uses True RGB to distinguish itself from some brands that also promote RGB LED, but in fact, the LED cluster only includes two types of green and blue diodes. They are coated with phosphor to create the desired color. Sony's philosophy is more demanding. True RGB TV uses 3 diodes red, green and blue, controlled separately from each other. That is the true RGB LED with the word "true" according to them. Not only does it ensure 3 different types of diodes, a "True RGB" RGB LED backlit LCD TV also has an exclusive algorithm and LED driver that can control the backlight system accurately down to each individual LED chip, not just the LED cluster. The new RGB LED system provides 66-bit backlight control (22-bit per RGB channel). When combined with the 30-bit (10-bit per RGB channel) control capabilities of the LCD panel, this creates a 96-bit system. The semiconductor division has created the world's smallest LED driver IC, controlling more dimming zones without sacrificing precision. That custom-designed 22-bit driver IC and proprietary control algorithm are True RGB's trade secrets, setting it apart from the competition. Both the 22-bit driver IC and the precise control algorithm for each LED chip are developed internally by Sony. In fact, on Delicate, there was an article from 2024 that mentioned a 22-bit controller chip. https://tinhte.vn/thread/3755989

QUALIA 005 is not the world's first LCD TV, nor is it Sony's first. But with the earliest application of LED backlighting, which was also RGB LED, all LCD LED TVs today can jokingly call this their "ancestor". Now there are no LCD TVs that use fluorescent backlight (CFL) anymore. 1 revolutionary change for the TV industry. But Sony is not only the first company to introduce LED LCD TVs to the public, they are also a pioneer in LED TVs. Even so, he pioneered twice. The following section will begin to list some of their notable TV models. Although the number is not much, these few marks are enough to answer the assertion that Sony does not introduce many new technologies in the TV market.

XBR8: Triluminos RGB Dynamic LED backlight

Thanks to that, it achieves very impressive image quality. So much so that CNET contributor Kevin Miller exclaimed: "The blacks on the new XBR8 line appear to be the best of any LCD I've seen to date, outperforming the competition."

XBR8 RGB LED backlight (Nikkei)

ZX1 (not a Walkman or Xperia!): The world's thinnest TV thanks to the world's first Edge LED layout

This TV model with an extremely confusing name was released to the market in 2008, the same year as the XBR8. However, unlike the full-array backlight system, ZX1 places LEDs at the edge of the TV to reduce thickness as much as possible. As a result, the ZX1 reaches a thickness of only 9.9 mm.

KDL-40ZX1 ultra-thin 9.9mm (AVWatch)

XEL-1: The world's first Organic LED TV

This is the world's first organic light-emitting diode (OLED: Organic LED) TV. The TV is only 11 inches in size, but offers a breakthrough design when reaching an incredible thickness of 3mm. Eliminates both the backlight and the liquid crystal to self-illuminate each pixel, a huge difference compared to LCD TVs. Because the pixels have the ability to turn on and off, the XEL-1 creates deep blacks. Launched in 2007, it shocked the technology world at that time. Always in the top of Sony's unique and proud products. The panel was developed by Sony itself, possessing many leading technological know-how at that time. These are RGB OLED, Super Top Emission,... With a foundation of organic light-emitting diode technology research for many years, the AMOLED panel on the XEL-1 is a great step forward since the 13-inch prototype in 2001. However, the biggest barrier is still the price of up to 2,500 USD.

First OLED TV (BGR) However, the XEL-1 is just what Sony can show ordinary users, the tip of the iceberg. Organic light-emitting diode technology, accumulated over many years of development, has found its true place to shine in post-production facilities in Hollywood. The technology platform that created the XEL-1 panel was later utilized to create the TRIMASTER EL reference screen line. Among them, the most famous is the BVM-X300 model belonging to the company's trio of 'studio legend' products. XEL-1 marks the first time the Japanese corporation launched the world's first LED TV. After that, they focused on exploiting the potential of this RGB Organic LED technology on B2B professional product lines. So when was the second LED TV pioneer?

Crystal LED TV prototype: The world's first "real" LED TV, Inorganic LED type

XEL-1 is the world's first LED TV, Active Matrix Organic LED panel (in short, AMOLED). But, in 2012, Sony continued to bring to the CES exhibition a TV model that used such new technology that, at that time, it was not officially named like it is now.

Crystal LED TV (The Verge) The Crystal LED TV prototype is the second time Sony has introduced a type of LED TV that possesses revolutionary technology and ideas, ahead of its time. If XEL-1 is an Organic LED LED TV, then Crystal LED TV is an Inorganic LED. Pixels still have the ability to turn on and off light, no backlight, no liquid crystal and no color filter. However, the pixels are now the LEDs that used to be the backlight in LCD TVs. There are more than 6 million diodes installed on the display panel, corresponding to Full HD resolution. Correct. You didn't read it wrong. Their idea is to take advantage of the RGB LED structure to display images, not just as backlight. In fact, LED chips from Lu have been known to be used as direct display screens. Those are giant LED screens in shopping malls or stadiums, direct-view LEDs that take the LED chips themselves as pixels. The second application is as a backlight for LCD, the backlight module illuminates the liquid crystal panel. But no one has made a TV whose screen is LED direct-view. Sony was the first company to introduce that technology. This is also the second time they pioneered LED TV. Inorganic luminescent diode TVs were really new at that time, when the technology world was excited about organic luminescent TVs. It turns out that even those attending the exhibition may not fully understand the revolutionary nature of the prototype on display. According to IHS Markit (now Omdia), it took the company 3 months to complete just a single prototype for exhibition. The journey has been 9 years since the first prototype was a 2.3 inch QVGA screen in 2003, displayed internally at the company.

Of course, they never commercialized it, the factory construction cost could cost 100 billion Yen. By 2016, Sony completed the production process and launched CLEDIS, the world's first official commercial product of Crystal LED technology, targeting B2B. The first shipments were delivered in 2017. Crystal LED has followed the path of TRIMASTER EL, becoming products serving the B2B niche market. Up to now, they are still persistently developing this product line, the latest generation is Crystal LED UNIFY (ZRL-135SG) just announced in early June 2026. Regarding the name, if you feel that Crystal LED is too difficult to remember, there is another more familiar name - micro-LED.

X9000A/W900A: The world's first TVs using QDEF quantum dot technology

In 2013, Sony reused "Triluminos" but this time there was no more RGB LED backlighting. The 4K X9000A and Full HD W900A series TVs are equipped with the world's first new technology - quantum dots. Specifically, the foundation for Triluminos this time is an optical element "Color IQ" produced by QD Vision. The Blue LED backlight will shine through a Color IQ optical element containing red and green quantum dots. From there, white is created to go to the color filter.

TV W900A (TechRadar) Technically, Sony is the earliest company to apply QDEF (quantum dot enhancement film) technology to LED LCD TVs. But of course that is not the only technology to achieve the goal of expanding the color gamut. In the 2024 BRAVIA TV product range, only two high-end models BRAVIA 7 and 9 use QDEF. In the mid-range segment, BRAVIA 3 and 5 use narrow-band phosphor (KSF phosphor).

Z9D: Backlight Master Drive exclusive algorithm

As mentioned above, True RGB is not a single technology but a combination of both algorithms and hardware. One of its most important components is Sony's trade secret - the algorithm. At the interview with a group of Japanese reporters in 2013 when launching the BRAVIA X9200A TV above, the company representative admitted that the LED matrix control algorithm plays a big role in determining image quality. Shows that they were early aware and invested in this. Always aware of the importance of backlight control algorithms, in 2016 the company introduced the BRAVIA Z9D model with Backlight Master Drive technology, controlling all LED lights completely discretely. This is the foundation for the birth of True RGB today, when Sony always affirms that it must be able to accurately control each LED to meet the set requirements.

Conclude

Possessing a long history of technological achievements and a history of more than 20 years of applying LED lights on TVs. Pioneering all three types of LCD LED TVs, Organic EL TVs and Inorganic EL TVs at the same time. The fact that Sony is underestimated by opinions floating around on social networks like in the opening is really not worth it. There are arbitrary judgments that are extremely wrong, not based on any basis, but have hastily concluded. In fact, their footprint in the TV industry is immense. Even if you're not a fanboy or an anti, you shouldn't look down on Sony technology like that. Consider them just a simple assembly company, buying here and there and then putting them together to create a product... The brain matter accumulated over many years suddenly becomes very cheap. At least on the high-end flagship line, it is difficult to 'override the stamp' when this is often where the manufacturer's best is gathered.

More than 20 years of accumulated know-how and experience in controlling LED backlights on TVs (FlatpanelsHD) Agreeing that the group has changed its business direction, the new CEO himself has just confirmed to the Japanese press that they are shifting the focus from the display device to the content that will be displayed on that device - including both creative production aspects and working hardware. However, for any TV manufacturer, if they want to rise to the level of mastery in image quality, this name should be at the top of the list to overcome. An example is the QD-OLED TV model BRAVIA 8 II, which helped Sony win the "King of TV" title for the 7th consecutive time in the TV Shootout competition organized by Value Electronics. At the same time, received the title "Best TV of 2025" from HDTVTest channel. Image quality is something that never goes out of style on high-end Sony TVs. A challenging wall waiting for other TV companies to break.