Television

Sony 4K OLED Video Preview

by Sohrab Osati | Jan 10, 2013 | 0 comments

During the Sony CES 2013 press conference, the company’s new CEO Kaz Hirai unveiled the company’s latest groundbreaking television, the Sony 4K OLED TV. Measuring in at 56-inches, the gorgeous TV offers 4 times the resolution of HD in vivid colors and clarity. Though the introduction of the TV itself was plagued by technical difficulties, thanks to the blue screen of death, it still didn’t take away from the TV’s show floor presence once the unit was fully working. After the jump, a quick video preview of the Sony 4K OLED tv.

Sony 4K OLED Keynote Debacle Explained, Caused by Microsoft

by Sohrab Osati | Jan 9, 2013 | 0 comments

One of the unfortunate and low points from the CES 2013 Sony press conference came during the unveiling of Sony’s 4K OLED television. Presented by the 8-month-old CEO, Kaz Hirai, the 56-inch OLED TV was touted as a one-of-a-kind television. While competitors only showed a similar device in concept form, Sony had a finished and working model, something they wished to brag about. Soon after Kaz would finish his announcement of the OLED television and the crew began to roll the TV which was placed on a cart onto the stage, the crowd and CEO took note of the black screen with no content, which seemed to indicate issues with the unit. While the young CEO played it cool and continued to go on with his keynote, the crew began to work frantically on getting an image to appear on the OLED TV which moments ago had displayed a dazzling image. Kaz would eventually finish his keynote address without the OLED television ever working properly. The unwelcome situation has now turned into a embarrassing moment for Sony and many journalists and attendees have written off the event as a blunder for Sony. However, as it was much apparent to those with keen eyes, the troubles did not actually lie with the TV.

Sony Announces 84-inch 4K 3D Bravia KD-84X9005, We Have Pics and Specs

by Sohrab Osati | Aug 29, 2012 | 7 comments

Waking up to good news is always a nice thing, but waking up to epic news easily sets the mood for the rest of the day. In Sony’s case, they’ve announced the Bravia KD-84X9005, an 84-inch 4K resolution 3D LCD TV which we hope sets the mood for the company’s new fleet of Bravia televisions that will begin to trickle out from now till CES. Besides being ridiculously big in the best way possible, the X series also marks the first commercial 4K television from Sony with a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 and the first television bigger than 65-inches from Sony in nearly 10 years.

Sony is also touting a new “10 Unit Live Speaker,” designed to replicate surround sound with deep bass and high notes, though we imagine anyone owning this television will surely have a nice surround sound system as well. A host of apps will also accompany the 84X9005 like PlayMemories Studio which allows for the streaming of your photos to your television via Sony’s online cloud services which can be found on a host of devices like the Bloggie Live, PlayStation 3, and Tablet S. Other notable apps like Movie Unlimited, Music Unlimited, and Netflix will be there from day one as well.

Sony has yet to announce a launch date and price point though its expected to land in stores by year’s end. After the jump, Sony’s press release and pictures await you.

Sony Teams with Panasonic, Gets Back into OLED TV Production

by Sohrab Osati | Jun 26, 2012 | 4 comments

Despite Kaz Hirai having taken over the reign of Sony Corp. for less than 6 months, we’re already seeing big changes to the way the company conducts its business and the strategic steps its taking to secure its future. Under the new leadership and the ‘One Sony‘ vision, Kaz has outlined the three pillars for Sony: digital imaging, games, and mobile. Most notably absent was Sony’s television business which has resulted in losses for the than number one television manufacture for nearly 8 consecutive years. With Sony focusing on their three pillar strategy, Kaz Hirai would announce his own personal evolvement with the troubled television division which has since sold off a great many of its assets back to partners like Samsung and Sharp.

Now, it seems that Sony is ready to take the lead on the next generation of television which will shift away from current LCD flat panels to the more vibrant and detailed OLED screens. This time however, Sony isn’t going at it alone and is enlisting the help of another Japanese giant, Panasonic. Lets talk details after the jump.

Sony Ends Sharp LCD Joint Venture, Loses No Money in the Process

by Sohrab Osati | May 24, 2012 | 18 comments

It shouldn’t be news to anyone whose followed Sony the past few years that their television division has been troubled. With 8 consecutive years of losses, Sony in the last year has begun reassessing their stake in LCD production which lead the company to sell their stake in S-LCD production back to Samsung. Without the headaches of small LCD production, Sony was left with their joint venture with Sharp who they developed and created larger LCD screens, fitted for televisions. In late March, news broke that even that co-operation between the two companies was beginning to breakdown as Sharp was even in a worse financial condition than Sony. Now, we have confirmation that Sony had ended the join venture between the two companies. Details, after the jump.

Sony and Samsung Force Retailers to Stop Offering TV Discounts

by Sohrab Osati | May 23, 2012 | 3 comments

We’ve reported extensively on the decline of Sony’s stock which has hit a new 25 year low. After the drop in stock prices and the company recording a record $5.7 billion annual loss, many analysts began to reconsider their position on the electronic giant which caused the company’s prospects change to ‘sell,’ down from a ‘hold’ position. While many attribute Sony’s decline the past few years with their inability to compete with Apple in the mobile market, Sony’s woes began nearly a decade ago as consumers and the industry began to transition from rear projection televisions to the newer and thinner LCD technology. Sony, then the largest TV manufacturer, downplayed the new trend and was slow to adapt LCD, allowing room for companies like Samsung to offer more models. As Samsung continues to eat into Sony’s TV share, the company was able to leverage its size for better component pricing and beating Sony in the one area consumers probably care the most about, price.

Despite superior products, Sony has reported 8 years of losses for their television business while this year will likely mark the 9th consecutive annual loss from selling TVs. To get into the growing television business, much like the PC business, many competing companies like LG, Vizio, Sharp, and Samsung soon entered into a price war with one and other, driving the price of LCD TVs down drastically. While the move resulted in better prices for consumer, now like the PC business, there was little to no profits left in each unit sold while other would sell at a loss, hoping to drive up their revenue and making profits else place.

Now, global TV shipments fell for the first time since 2004 resulting in Sony and Samsung, the number 3 and number 1 TV manufacturers, to take a new approach to pricing their televisions which would no longer allow retailers to offer discounts. More details, after the jump.

Sony to Buy OLED Screens from Samsung?

by Sohrab Osati | Apr 24, 2012 | 22 comments

Just what is happening to Sony’s TV business is truly up in the air with different reports emerging on what seems like a weekly basis. It’s no secret that Sony’s TV business has been sagging the company for many years and has been largely to blame for the company’s continued annual losses. In fact, Sony’s television division has been unprofitable for eight years now! For its part, Sony seems to be doing everything it can to shed the weight of the business and start from a leaner base, which saw the company reduce its television line to 8 models down from the 20 that it held in the previous years. Sony has also sold its S-LCD business to Samsung who was its equal share partner in small LCD production. Sony even followed in the footsteps of Toshiba and Hitachi, who all jointly sold off their medium to large LCD plants to Japan’s government which formed a new entity called Japan Display with Sony holding a 10 percent stake. While many saw this as Sony throwing in the towel and beginning to transition away from the TV business, Sony’s new CEO and President, Kaz Hirai, has said that under the ‘One Sony’ strategy, that he will personal oversee the division’s operations in an attempt to restore it to profitability.

With Samsung now taking all the credit for entering the OLED business with larger sized television displays, despite Sony being the first to the market with an OLED TV, rumors began to circulate that Sony was getting back into the OLED TV business as well by partnering with Taiwan-based LCD display company, AU Optronics. Now, a new report further indicates Sony’s desire to enter the OLED business but instead points to Samsung as the OLED panel provider.

Wait, what?

Sony to Begin Production of OLED TV’s?

by Sohrab Osati | Apr 18, 2012 | 20 comments

Despite Samsung taking all the recent credit for OLED televisions, Sony was the first true backer of the format and the first manufacture to release an OLED TV. However, coming in at just 11-inches with a $2,500 price tag was a barrier that understandably most did not want to cross. With two years having passed which is eternity in the tech world and Samsung and LG now backing bigger OLED TV’s (though no price point has been set and many analysts assume a $5k+ price) Sony seems to be eyeing a return to the format. Besides the introduction of their 11-inch OLED TV, Sony currently utilizes OLED in a lot of their product lines like the PlayStation Vita which sports a 5-inch OLED screen and many of their Alpha cameras which also house a much smaller OLED EVF. With Sony having sold their S-LCD business back to Samsung and having spun off their larger LCD business to Japan Display, how the electronic giant plan to get back in the larger OLED game?

2012 Sony Bravia HDTV Price List and Specs

by Sohrab Osati | Feb 21, 2012 | 31 comments

After the reveal of a simplified line of Bravia HDTVs at CES 2012, Sony will be kicking off their 2012 TV lineup of televisions in March. The new line, which is designed to give you a good (BX series), better (EX and HX750), and best (HX850 and XBR), is meant to help reduce confusion on the differences between Sony’s traditional 20+ line of televisions and bring focus to the differences between the lines. Keep in mind that the following prices are for new models being introduced and don’t reflect Sony’s entire line of Bravia HDTVs, like the XBR which was introduced in 2011.

KDL-32BX330 $399.99
KDL-40BX450 $599.99
KDL-46BX450 $799.99
KDL-40EX640 $999.99
KDL-46EX640 $1,299.99
KDL-55EX640 $1,999.99
KDL-46HX750 $1,799.99
KDL-55HX750 $2,299.99
KDL-46HX850 $TBA
KDL-55HX850 $TBA

After the jump is a breakdown of the 2012 Sony Bravia HDTV list which includes specs and TV sizes.

CES 2012: Sony Announces Super-Light Active 3D Titanium Glasses (video)

by Sohrab Osati | Jan 15, 2012 | 9 comments

At CES 2012, despite having a new line of 3D televisions, Sony also announced a new pair of super-light active 3D titanium glasses. Designed exclusively for the Bravia line (not compatible with other 3D TVs), these new titanium 3D glasses are sturdy, flexible and extremely lightweight. How lightweight? How about 1.2 ounces while still packing 30 hours of 3D viewing time? While these glasses are set to arrive in Q2 of 2012, our video overview will give you a good idea of their design with some further details.

Discussion and additional picture, after the jump.

Sony Adds Twitter, Facebook, YouTube HD and more to 2011 Bravia TVs

by Sohrab Osati | Dec 1, 2011 | 36 comments

Sure, 2011 might be coming to an end, but that doesn’t mean that Sony’s forgotten about all the Bravia TVs the electronic giant has sold. Via a new firmware update, all 2011 Bravia TVs are gaining a host of new features, free of charge. Sticking with all things video, YouTube HD is making its way to the television set, giving you access to all HD content thats found on YouTube which beats stretching a 480i video to a 1080p resolution.

For those who like to be a little more social with their photos, Facebook is now being integrated via a dedicated app. This new app is designed to give you access to your Facebook account to view your shared photos and videos. Of course, features like sending messages and status updates are there as well. Twitter fans will also rejoice in what seems like such a logical, yet, till now, non-existent interface design. As you would expect, you can update your Twitter and view your feed but how about sharing the content that you’re viewing? This is something that many tend to tweet about. Sony has now made that easier with Track ID, which allows you to, with a touch of a button on your remote, find the title and artist and quickly post it to Twitter. Furthermore, your news feed will be scrolling along the bottom of the screen, giving you a live feed while not taking away from the content on screen.

Speaking of remotes, Sony VAIO and Xperia smartphone owners will be getting a new Bravia app which will allow you to control your TV with your smartphone and use the keyboard to type, making hunting for the remote a less frequent event. Not a bad way to end the 2011 Bravia season if you ask us. Now tell us what you think, after the jump, where you will also find the full press release.

Guide To Your Next 2010 Sony Bravia

by Sohrab Osati | Jun 4, 2010 | 11 comments

One of the hardest things to do is purchasing a TV, simply because there are so many options. I myself am in that internal debate currently: which Sony Bravia to purchase next? I currently have a 60″ Sony SXRD and there are a ton of options from Sony now but of course the one I want, the LX900 (their 3D TV), won’t be out until late June to mid July. The other issue that I personally have is that once you own a 60″ TV, its hard to go down to something smaller but again, that is a personal debate. The following will hopefully not get too techie detailed while giving you a good overview of each of the series. After that, hit the jump for a chart that breaks down the entire Sony Bravia series, feature by feature. Also, please note that I’m not listing any prices because they are constantly shifting and I believe you are savvy enough to find the best price for yourself.

Series: LX900

Sizes: 60/52/46/40
Motion Flow: 240hz (pro)
3D: Yes. Ready out of the box with two pairs of glasses
Overview: This is really the TV of TVs from Sony. You can stream video to it via built in Wi-Fi, it has web widgets, will adjust the sound and light based on your distance to the TV and is of course 3D ready out of the box so all you will need is to hook up a PS3 or jump on a 3D channel (yes, they are actually coming, including the World Cup 2010). This unit will be have Backlight LED and the Bravia Engine 3. If you’re looking for the top of the line experience and want more than just a good picture quality, this is the TV for you.