Gizmodo: Sony Bravia

Sony Japan Releases SDK For Bravia TV Apps

Elaine Chow — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 02:30:00 EDT

Sony became the latest to jump on the app trend bandwagon, but not with a product you'd automatically equate with downloading itty bitty widgets. The company has released an App development kit for its line of Bravia television sets. It expects people to create things like small multiplayer online games, weather and news data aggregators and anything else you can program onto 1.3MB of memory.

To inspire developers, Sony's holding a competition for the best application. For your troubles, you could win either a Bravia 40-inch LCD TV, a Vaio TypeC laptop, or a Blu-Ray player, a Cybershot DSC-T77 or one of their new Walkman music players. Just get your app in before January 8th, 2009. [Sony Insider]

Sony Brings Out Energy-Efficient 32-Inch LCD in Japan

AddyDugdale — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 06:00:00 EDT

The Bravia KDL-32JE1 is an energy-efficient TV from Bravia which consumes just 89W of power, compared to 160W on an equivalent Bravia. It also uses plastic parts recycled from other Sony departments, such as the plastic waste from collected TVs, polystyrene packaging and the waste from the optical film from LCD TVs. Available on July 25 in Japan, the KDL-32JE1 has 1366x768 resolution, HDMI interface, 2500:1 contrast ratio and 178-degree view angle, and comes in two colors, Champagne Gold and Silver. It will cost the equivalent of $1,390 in Yen. [Impress]

Japan Sony's Bravia F Series Are Thinner, Have 24p Cinema Mode

AddyDugdale — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 05:16:50 EST

Sony has upped its LCD count again, releasing its Bravia F Series. At just over an inch thick, the TVs, which come in 46-, 42- and 32-inch sizes and can be wall-mounted, have 24p Cinema mode and a contrast ratio of 3000:1. Oh, and a more simple remote unit, apparently. While these are Japan only models, the US line show is right around the corner. These could either be the same models released at CES, or new ones.

The sets, which are out in Japan on March 25, range from $3,700 (KDL-46F1) through $2,700 (KDL-40F1) to $1,850 (KDL-32F1). [Impress]

Sony's Japan-Only Bravia M-Series Get Multicolored, Bunny-Style

Kit Eaton — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 03:46:02 EST

Sony Japan has updated their low-end Bravias with two M-Series LCD TVs. The 20-inch KDL-20M1 and 16-inch KDL-16M1 share common technology, with 1366 x 768 pixel screens with a 178-degree viewing angle, and an updated Bravia 2 video engine. The fun starts with the colored frames these TVs have: Sony seems to have picked colors that match as many bunnies as possible from their awesome commercial.

The 20-inch 20M1 has a 1,200:1 contrast ratio, 2 x 5W speakers, consumes 67W of power and measures 20.9 x 6.7 x 15.6 inches. The smaller 16M1 has a better 1,800:1 contrast, 3W speakers, uses 56W of power and measures 16.9 x 6.7 x 13.4 inches. Both have BS110 digital tuners, terrestrial analog tuners, a pair of HDMI inputs, composite input, analog audio in/out, optical audio out and, curiously, an ethernet port.

The available color schemes are six basic shades with traditional silver/black bezels, and a suite of eight special editions, some of which have tinted bezels around the screen as well as colored frames. Available March in Japan, for $1000 for the 20-inch and around $830 for the 16-inch. [AV Watch]

Sony Bravia Ad Covers Pyramid in String

Jason Chen — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 14:30:48 EDT

This Sony Bravia ad that aired in Egypt may or may not "take inspiration" from an uncredited artist (we haven't checked), but it is quite neat. Not to spoil the ending for you (it gets covered in string!) but, well, a pyramid gets covered in string. If actual Sony Bravia refresh rates were this bad, we'd go pick up a book or something. Nah, who are we kidding. [Adsoftheworld]

Sony Bravia Ad Showcases Mick, Keef and a Tsunami of Bunnies

AddyDugdale — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 09:35:14 EDT

Our Jesus will be a happy bunny. The new Bravia ad from Sony has one of his favorite tracks ever: The Stones' She's A Rainbow. I'm happy because there's a giant rabbit made out of Play-Doh, and New Yorkers are happy because— well, it never pays to be typecast, does it? [Sony Bravia via Media Guardian]

Sony's Bravia AW15 Previewed on Video

Louis Ramirez — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 10:25:45 EDT

Those of you who were impressed by Sony's new Bravia projectors yesterday will wanna catch Shiny Shiny's video preview of the AW15 in action. The good news is that the projector is pretty quiet (20 decibels quiet to be exact) and can project pictures as large as 200 inches, which is more than enough for most homes. It's also not that big of a monster, according to the video at least. The AW15 will go for $1,300 this June, making it an affordable way to get your HD on. – Louis Ramirez

AW15: Sony's First Bravia Projector [Shiny Shiny]

Sony Bravia KDF-50E3000 Micro-Display TV Hands (and Eyes)-On

Charlie White — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 19:35:00 EST

We got a closer look at all of Sony's rear-projection TVs today, otherwise known as micro-displays, and these units had three LCDs inside a cabinet that the company says is 22% slimmer than previous Sony Grand Wega Projection TVs. Here's a good look at the side of the slimmed-down 50 inch KDF-50E3000, a 1080p TV whose cabinet looks just as good from the side as its picture does from the front. As long as you stand right in front of it at a viewing angle that's not too high or low, the thing looks positively excellent, with extremely black blacks, and extraordinary brightness and sharpness.

Sony decided to bring its rear screen TVs as well as front projectors into the Bravia fold, since they seem to be getting a lot of mileage out of that sub-brand. So now they're calling these Bravias, and with their high 1920x1080p resolution, there is no "screen door effect" to be seen even though they use those three LCDs.

Sony admitted in a press conference that its micro-display TVs were losing popularity to its hot-selling and ever cheaper LCD models, but we're still big fans of the rear screen projector, the cheapest way to get a big, sharp and bright screen in HDTV land. – Charlie White

Press Release [Sony]

Sony Adds Three Skinny Rear-Screen Projection TVs to Bravia Line

Charlie White — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 08:05:13 EST

Sony rolled out some improbably thin rear projectors that aim to solve that problem of excessive depth of rear screen projector TVs. The Bravia line of 3-LCD microdisplay rear-screen projector TVs are 22% slimmer than the previous Sony Grand Wega projection TVs.

The linup includes three screen sizes, the 50-inch KDF-50E3000 and the 46-inch KDF-46E3000 (pictured above), both of which are 1080p sets and will ship in July for an undisclosed price, and then the cheaper 37-inch KDF-37H1000 that has a 720p resolution. Just how thin are they? To give you an idea, the 50-inch set is a mere 12.6 inches deep and its 46-inch brother is 11.9 inches thick. That 720p 37-incher will be shipping in May for $1300.

Projection TVs give you a considerable bang for your buck, but we're nonplussed because Sony's not telling us the prices of the the largest-screened members if this new line. That's the biggest part of the story for the rear-screens, so we'll wait for that price before we start gushing over these big honking TV sets. – Charlie White

Press Release [Sony]

Slate on Tech Adwatch: New Bravia Ad Graded "WTF"

Matt Buchanan — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 21:30:54 EST

Sony's last major Bravia ad was great: it was engaging and memorable, even if it really said nothing at all about Bravia TVs. Its new spot, while actually sporting a Bravia set (in front of a Sony Style store no less), still offers nil about the product itself. But, as Slate's ad critic extraordinaire, Seth Stevenson, lays out, the new ad is memorable only because it's annoying.

It's designed to ensnare DVR owners and lead them to a nonsensical, weak slogan followed by more ad content that archaically and lamely plays off of gender stereotypes.

"Television for Men and Women" tries to be part of that strain of self-conscious-therefore-ironically hilarious stereotype humor, but on top of not being very funny, it's hard to swallow when it's employed to sell TVs. If anything, a C- seems generous. That said, my girlfriend's dad's new 52-inch Bravia is quite gorgeous. Like no other? Maybe. Spectacular? Definitely. – Matt Buchanan

Sony's convoluted Bravia ad [Slate]

Sony Adds Two Fancy 1080p 52-inchers to Top of Bravia LCD Line

Charlie White — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 09:27:17 EDT

Sony showed the biggest Bravia LCD TVs yet at CEDIA today, a couple of 52-inch 1920x1080 (1080p) panels with HDMI inputs. The KDL-52XBR2 has a piano black finish while the KDL-52XBR3 looks more like aircraft silver. We've seen a few of the earlier 1080p Bravia LCDs, and it's hard to imagine how they would improve them, but Sony keeps on trying, adding its Advanced Contrast Enhancer which it claims can deliver a contrast ratio of 7000:1. That might fix the biggest problem with LCDs: their black levels aren't quite black enough.

Sony also goosed the color in these models, adding what it calls a "wide color gamut cold cathode fluorescent lamp," a backlighting system teamed up with a chroma signal processor that Sony says gives you a wider and more-realistic range of colors. These two arty-looking monitors won't be cheap, though, $6,800 for the shiny piano black model; the silver one is $300 less. Both will be available in November.

But wait! There's more, after the jump.

At the same time Sony was showing off those higher-end models, the company also added a couple of 1366x768 LCDs to the Bravia line, the 40-inch KDL-40S2400 and 32-inch KDL-32S2400 (pictured at right). These don't look too shabby, either, and are cheap at $2600 and $1700. Overall, these are some truly attractive TVs, showing us there might be good reason why Sony suddenly jumped from fourth to first place in worldwide LCD sales in the fourth quarter of last year. – Charlie White

Press Release [Sony Electronics]