Sony's XBR6 / XBR7 / XBR8 models are still waiting in the wings for their U.S. debut, but along with HDTVs that push the extremes in thin and fast, the company announced these more conventional models it's deemed "the highest quality BRAVIA HDTVs in history." The XR1 (read: XBR8) series will feature a 1,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio (3,000:1 static) courtesy of those new TRILUMINOS three-color LEDs, 10-bit BRAVIA Engine 2 processing and Motionflow 120Hz technology. If you can live without 240Hz or WHDI, the 1080p 55-inch edition runs ¥750,000 ($6,489 U.S.) with a 46-inch for ¥600,000 ($5,479 U.S.). The next level down is the X1 (read: XBR6 / XBR7) series, based on old school CCFL backlights limited to a 3,000:1 contrast rating, ranging in size from 40- to 52- inches and in price from ¥530,000 ($4,866 U.S.) to ¥320,000 ($2,922 U.S.) when they go on sale October 10. Digital Media Extender support, DLNA connectivity and all the other high end feature's make their expected appearance across the lineup. With fears of watered down technology effectively quelled, Sony wouldn't make us wait until October to find out when we can buy an HDTV in the U.S. or Europe from this lineup -- somehow we doubt it.

We've got some more skinny on the 82-inch Bravia prototype Sony previewed at last night's press event. Featuring full 1920 x 1080 HD resolution, the flat panel prototype is the first display to be compliant with Sony's Extended Video YCC (xvYCC) technology. The point of the xvYCC international video standard is to enable a wider color reproduction capability by expanding the current color data range by about 1.8 times. The displayed range of color on xvYCC-compliant TVs approaches the range of color the human eye itself can recognize. The prototype display also features TRILUMINOS backlight technology which further enhances xvYCC wide color reproduction by using an LED backlight with three independent colors (red, green and blue).