New Sony Back-Lit LED ... When?

It is (or at least was when this news was brought out last year about this time) supposed to be XBR8. I saw another announcement maybe 2mos ago saying the same thing. In Japan, the XR1 series of 46" and 55" LED backlit TVs is coming out in October. I saw a demo of the Sony LED backlit technology several months ago; it looked great vs the "older" Sony but I could not compare it against anything else (Kuro, Samsung, or otherwise).

The launch date in Japan appears to be the 10th of October for the two top end ones, which are the Bravia KDL - 46XR1 and the 55XR1. Advance street prices are about $4800 and $6000 right now when translated into dollar terms, but I would bet that within a month they are 15% lower. To give you an idea, the new Pioneer Kuro (the 50 inch is the 'KRP-500A' in Japan) comes out near end-Oct and it is being quoted at $5300 for the 50 inch. The older version (5010HD) from a year ago is about $3400 now.