After so many years in the doldrums, there can be little doubt that Sony really is back as a major player in the electronics business. The latest standout product from the Tokyo giant is a Bravia TV that happens to be both the thinnest and lightest LCD set on the market.
The Bravia KDL-40ZX1 goes on sale in Japan on 10 November for ¥490,000 (£2,435), measuring just 9.9mm deep and 12.2kg in weight.
Separate box
At 40 inches on the diagonal it's considerably bigger than Sony's other thin supermodel, the 3mm XEL-1, which measures just 11 inches, although it is a vastly different OLED TV, of course.
Astute observers will have guessed that the newcomer uses wireless technology (a 5GHz link) to pipe video from a separate receiver to the screen and so won't be surprised to learn that the TV part has only one HDMI port and no other connectors at all.
White light
Sony says the thinness was achieved by dispensing with traditional backlighting and building white LEDs into the edges of the frame
As for that wireless box of tricks, it contains all manner of connections, including three HDMI ports, a LAN socket and a USB port.
Naturally, the ZX1 can handle HD TV up to 1080p, although the wireless link can beam only 1080i across the void, and uses Sony's soon-to-be-ubiquitous XMB interface that first saw the light of day on the PlayStation Portable.
