Since then, this optional package—the Executive-Class Seating Package—has been a hard thing to improve until the 2013 LS debuted this year with a notable addition: a Blu-ray Disc Rear-Seat Entertainment System.
So, just to make things 100 percent clear: not only can LS rear-seat passengers now recline, enjoy a massage, and put their feet up—they can watch movies at the same time.
“Lexus went with Blu-ray because it’s the best,” explains Kevin Pratt of the Lexus College. “When the 2013 LS cabin engineers thought of adding disc-based entertainment to the 2013 Executive-Class Seating Package, they naturally asked themselves what would deliver the best experience. It’s Blu-ray, of course, so they put a lot of effort into making that happen.”
Those with home Blu-ray disc systems already know why they’re better than DVD-based systems. As its name implies, Blu-ray utilizes blue lasers to read the disc, as opposed to the red lasers on conventional DVD players. Blue lasers are narrower than red, with the result that more data can be added to the disc—and this translates to superior image quality and sound.
Okay, you may ask, but how does Blu-ray perform in the automotive environment, where, say, sunlight on the screen can detract from many automobiles’ non-Blu-ray-based rear-seat entertainment quality?
“The LS Blu-ray picture is extremely bright and crisp,” assures Pratt, who personally tested it out a couple weeks ago with several objective passengers (a few premium-minded neighbors interested in their next luxury car). “It shows up really well when traveling on the road. We tried out five or six different TV shows and movies, and they all played very well. Everybody gave the system a thumbs up for quality.”
The screen itself descends from the roof, and you can listen to sound via personal headphones or wireless headphones that can be ordered with the Executive-Class Seating Package.
But for an amazing on-the-road rear-seat experience, says Pratt, you’ll want to recline the seat and then enjoy a favorite Blu-ray movie through the vehicle’s optional 19-speaker, 400-watt Mark Levinson® Premium Surround Sound Audio System.
“It was unbelievable this way,” reports Pratt. “For our Lexus College assessment, Mark Levinson put together a couple of demo films. One of them included an army-march scene, and the sounds—you could just feel them go from one end of the car to the other, and hear the sounds of individual footsteps crunching on the dirt. It’s truly a remarkable system.”
Naturally, we asked Pratt whether Lexus was working on adding a popcorn popper to the Executive-Class Seating Package, which seems like the only thing left to enhance the experience. No confirmations or denials on his part, though—just a laugh and then the sound, we swear, of mental wheels turning.
Courtesy of Lexus Magazine
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