During this Tuesday’s regular PSN update, Sony also released a new application for the PS3 called Filmy under the Media tab. Designed to cater to those who enjoy HD videos, Filmy is specifically designed to play back AVCHD files on the PlayStation. Many of Sony’s Cybershot and Handycam camcorders record in this format, but other manufacturers have used this codec as well. The video-only application is priced at $5, and there is a 15-minute free demo available as well. Once you’ve launched the application, you will be greeted with a simple and clean menu that gives you the option to either view your video in a timeline or look at your video on a world map, great for those who own GPS enabled cameras and even more familiar for those who have used iPhoto. Other features include finding video based on favorites and face/smile detection. Now hit the jump as we provide a full video overview of the application.
Sony Corp.
Holy sweet mother. When Sony released this dock for Japan (Yes, boo, nothing for America yet) they went forward with one simple philosophy: conquer them all! The Sony CMT-L7D is a Walkman dock (We’re not sure if this means no iPod interface or if there were to be a US release, they would change that) that that can play CD/DVD on its 9-inch screen, as well as pick up AM/FM radio with its 50W＋50W speakers. From there on, you also have the capability to plug in SD (Again, no MMS support here? What?) and USB drives to play music off of them as well. If that was not enough, that 9-inch screen isn’t wasted for just movie playback. Instead, it moonlights as a touchscreen as well that holds all of the device controls and settings. The dock also has the capability of displaying your Walkman’s album artwork, as well as acting as a digital frame. Look for it in Japan with a $585 price tag.
The still unannounced PlayStation Phone of sorts, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, continues its streak of public leaks. The latest is the retail booths, designed to place in retailer outlets such Best Buy to help the product stand out from the now ever-so-crowded Android market. In this case, these booths emphasize the gaming capability of the Xperia Play, in hopes of drawing in the gamers on the go. As a quick recap, the Xperia Play will boast a 4-inch multitouch 854 x 480 LCD, 1GHz Processor, 512MB of RAM, 802.11 b/g/n, 8 Megapixel Camera with 720p Video Recording and Android 2.3 to name a few.
These booths come as a great step for Sony, helping to show off the company’s new phone as well as hopefully raise the company’s profile in the US. As we reported, Sony Ericsson has enjoyed some success in Europe, selling over 9 million Xperia X10 products. Still, we think the company has some way to go before it can really compete with the likes of HTC, LG and Motorola. This is more due in part to lack of brand awareness than quality of products.
[Via All About Phones]
Those who are regular to the site will know that I’m an avid Mac user and own just about everything Mac when it comes to my computing and portable device usage. Still, sometimes being a Mac user can be tough when companies don’t support the Mac platform. This used to be more true than it is now, but still, you run into the situation. The good part about being a Mac user is that more often than not, you don’t need company’s bloated and crappy software as your Mac will make the particular device work anyways.
Up until now, Sony has been among the last holdouts of companies who didn’t offer Mac support. Sure when it comes to digital cameras and camcorders, you don’t need any 3rd party software as Apple’s own iLife suite with iPhoto and iMovie or higher series like Aperture and Final Cut will get the job done. Still, it’s always nice to have that native support and sometimes, just sometimes, the companies come up with some great functionalities. That sometime is now and the company providing it is Sony, who has finally decided to release a native Mac OS X software for the Bloggie Touch (the MHS-TS10, MHS-TS20 and MHS-TS20K) and promises that their upcoming Bloggie Entry, Bloggie Duo and Bloggie 3D (aka MHS-FS1, MHS-FS2 and MHS-FS3) will have native OS X support out of the box. To further add to it, Sony has wisely made the software both OS X 10.5 (Leopard) and OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) compatible (though not 64bit). Though Apple’s own iLife series isn’t 64bit so you can’t blame Sony on that one. Hit the jump for some more information about the Mac Bloggie software, as well as how to install the latest Bloggie firmware, from your Mac via a video we created just for Mac users, though we hope PC users will find it useful as well.
Did you think that digital radios were going out of style thanks to the Walkman, CD Player, iPod and now your smartphone? Think again. They just needed a digital reboot, from the looks of the ICZ-R50. Sony has just released this new radio for Japan and packed it with features like AM/FM radio and recorder with 4GB of internal memory which is upgradable up to 32GB with SD/SDHC or Memory Stick Duo cards. This means recording your favorite BBC show will be easier than ever, unless of course you subscribe to their podcast or visit their website. Still! this unit can also play MP3/WMA off those memory cards and record audio as well, the perfect spy tool. Look for a February 21 release date in Japan with a $218 price tag. And no, you can’t get one for Christmas as this will more than likely stay a Japan-only device.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced a March 1st Blu-ray release date for Faster, the action movie staring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. You can pre-order the film from Amazon
Special features include:
- Alternate ending with director’s introduction
- Deleted scenes with director’s introductions
- Criminals and Cops: The Cast of Faster
- Weapons and Wheels: The Guns, Cars and Stunts of Faster
- Bank heist animatics
- PS3 Theme
- movieIQ+sync
Hit the jump for an HD movie trailer and plot synopsis.
Hey everybody! I’m excited to share this brand new video unboxing of the Sony Bloggie Touch (MHS-TS20) with you. While we’ve had the product now for a few days, I’ve been working on not only this video unboxing, but I’ve also been putting together a video review of the new Mac OS software that Sony has released. With that post tomorrow, you will also see a video tutorial of how to install the software for your Mac and general usage guide and overview of the program itself. Another thing that we will cover is a firmware update for the Bloggie Touch and our video addresses that for Mac users and how they can obtain and install the firmware update. Last, we’re also putting together a comparison video, the Bloggie Touch versus the popular Flip Ultra HD cameras. During it, I hope we will all laugh, cry and hopefully learn a thing or two. The key focus of the video will be 3 tests, exterior night, exterior day and closeup capabilities of the two MP4 cameras. Expect that video on Monday as I finish filming and editing over the next two days. Hit the jump for our video.
Sony has just announced their Q3 Holiday results with ¥137.5 billion (approximately US $1.68b) operating income and a total of $887 million in net profit. Compared to 2009, this is actually down by nearly 6% though this is mostly due to a 5% stronger yen and not an actual reflection of the companies performance. Sony’s Consumer, Professional and Devices division dropped 47 percent to ¥26.8b ($327.3m) as margins have shrunk, thanks to the global recession, factored with already fierce competition between rivals like Samsung and LG. On the other hand, Sony’s Networked Products and Services (which includes the PlayStation brand) saw a dramatic 134% jump to ¥45.7b ($559.78), helping offset the decline of the consumer products.
The good news for Sony is that in midsts of all the woes mentioned above, the electronic giant was able to raise unit sales in almost all divisions compared to 2009. Bravia sales were up 2.5 million, totaling 7.9 million. Video cameras was able to sell only .1 million more, an expected decline with most portable devices now having some form of video capturing method built in while Compact Digital Cameras saw a 1 million unit sales increase. The now profitable PlayStation division saw the PS3 lose .2 million units compared to the 2009 Q3 but is ahead of 2009 sales. The PlayStation 3 saw a total of 13 million unit sales in 2009 while the company now sits at a healthy 15 million units sold and still has another quarter to go. The same cannot be said for the PlayStation Portable which saw sales slip .6 million units, down to 3.6 million units. Now in its 11th year, the PlayStation 2 still managed to sell 2.1 million units, on par with the year prior.
Software sales on the other hand were a completely different story with sales raising both on the PS3 and the PSP. PlayStation 3 software sales were up an amazing 10 million units, with 57.6 million pieces of software sold. The PSP, though down in hardware sales also saw an increase in software consumption with a 1.5 million unit increase to sit at 16.5 million units of software sold. The PS2 on the other hand took a big hit, seeing a 5.9 million unit drop, down to 5.3 million.
[Via Sony]
For the past few months, Sony Electronics with help from Sony/BMG, the music label division of Sony have been rolling their Qriocity service across Europe. The service dubbed as Music Unlimited gives the user access to over 6 million song that they can stream to Qriocity enabled devices like Sony Blu-ray Players, Bravia Televisions, as well as their PlayStation 3 and PSP systems. The service first debuted in the UK and Ireland in December but has sense expanded to France, Germany, Italy and Spain with €3.99 a month giving you access to listen to it as a stream; while €9.99 upgrades to a premium plan that lets you select and sort your music with playlist functionality via Artist, Genre, Decade and more. On top of that. users can synchronize their own music to the Qriocity data base and have access to it from anywhere as well. Think of it like Pandora but with much more functionality. This service is expected to come to mobile devices, as well as North America in the future. Having had a chance to use the service at CES 2011, I will be writing about my own personal time with it shortly.
Hit the jump for a official press release.
Those of us who have been shooting with DSRLs like the Sony Alpha and smaller siblings like the NEX know that while they might be great for taking pictures, filming on them is not only a joy, but you also get some damn impressive quality. Still, the problem with these types of cameras, including those from the likes of Nikon, Canon and others, is that the LCD display tends to be too small to appropriately view the scene or play back what you just recorded.
Finally, there is a solution for those who take their video seriously: the CLM-V55, a 5-inch LCD video monitor that’s compatible with interchangeable lens cameras from Sony and other manufacturers that use ISO or auto-lock accessory shoes. The 5-inch LCD comes with an 800 x 480 resolution, allows for tilt, and swivels to various angles to accommodate different shooting styles and angles. Another great feature for the photographer in you is the ability to zoom in on scenes for a “pixel-perfect view” of the HD image in order to adjust parameters like colors and brightness. Though a price has not been announced yet, a date is, so mark March 2011 on your calendar and expect a price as we near it.
Hit the jump for an official press release and some additional shots.
Brought up during the 2010 CES and come to fruition during CES 2011, Sony continues to stick to its promise of making sure that the majority of its fleet is connected to the web. From their 2011 lineup alone, Sony will be offering 22 of their 27 TVs with internet connectivity, allowing them to access services such as Sony Music Unlimited Streaming Service and Video on Demand: Qriocity, as well as Netflix, Pandora, HuluPlus, Amazon Video on Demand, YouTube, Slacker Internet Radio, Crackle, Blip.tv. If you still want more, Sony engineers will agree with you as they plan to add the Opera browser to those 22 Bravia sets and select Blu-ray players. Though details are still slim, the Opera browser will be based off the latest SDK backbone which includes standards like HTML5 but no native Flash support which probably means better performance, a thought process that Apple shares and agrees with.
[Via Opera]
Not unlike the previous weekend, The Rite and The Mechanic were the only new release of the week, giving audiences a chance to catchup with previous films while audiences also gave more attention to the recent string of Oscar nominated films. Still because of a lack of big new movie in theaters, attendance was again down 12% compared to last year when Avatar was out for the 7th week and still ruling as the number one movie in the US and worldwide.
The Rite was able to draw in $15 million for the first spot with a $37 million production budget, marking Anthony Hopkins biggest none Hannibal Lecture role. The movie opened on 3,200 screens at 2,985 locations and was the first none 3D number one movie in America in a while.
Jason Stathams “The Mechanic” was the second new release of the weekend and landed in the number 4th slot, fixing in a modest $11.5 million from audiences on 2,900 screens at 2,703 locations. This marked a better then average opening for the action star who is most known for his Transporter and Crank series though my favorite role of his continues to be in The Italian Job. Like that movie, the Mechanic was a remake of a 1972 film.
Last weeks number one movie, No Strings Attached had some staying power and was able to string in audiences for a second place spot, pulling in $13.7 million. Down 31%, compared to the week prior, he Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher R rated romantic comedy has grossed $39.7. Sony Pictures The Green Hornet, now on it’s 3rd weekend was still able to resinate with audiences and have them turn over $11.5 million, despite being down 35% to the week prior. The Superhero comedy has been able to bag in $78.8 million so far to become the number 2 superhero comedy, thought it will never take the number one spot from Pixars Incredibles which sits on top with $261 million.
Other titles like The King’s Speech, Black Swan, True Grit and The Fighter were able to get the expected Oscar bump and help in their box office takes. Expanding from 2,557 locations, up 877 from last weekend, The King’s Speech earned $11.1 million, up 41% from the prior week and sits at a current total of $72.2 million. With only a $15 million budget, this will put a sure smile on the Weinstein companies face. The Swan, now out for 59 days drew in another $5.1 million for a $90.7 million total while The Fighter grabbed $4.1 for a $78.4 million while being out for 52 days. With 40 days in and another $7.6 towards it’s credit from the weekend, True Grit sits at an astonishing $148.4 million.
Last but not least and my current favorite film still out; Tron Legacy on it’s 11th weekend out was able to digitize another $2.5 million towards its take, putting the film at $166.7 million US take and $362.7 million total world wide.
Box Office Results:
- The Rite – $15 million ($15 million total worldwide)
- No Strings Attached – $13.6 ($39.7 million total worldwide)
- The Green Hornet – $11.5 million ($139.8 million total worldwide)
- The Mechanic – $11.5 million ($11.5 million total worldwide)
- The King’s Speech– $11.1million ($121.9 million total worldwide)
For those of you who’ve been waiting for any spec of detail you can get about the upcoming handheld device from Sony, the NGP aka PSP2, we’ve finally got our video uploaded to YouTube after some technical difficulties and you are in for a treat. We not only go over some of the announcement, but we have all HD Pictures of the NGP and the current spec list. We also have some great game footage and some videos showing the devices different functionalities used in different game scenarios. Expect more videos from us as we cover the device in more depth and detail.
So you thought you were getting fancy with your 8 megapixel camera on your Droid or 12 megapixel on your camera? Well Sony wishes to up you with a 16.1 Megapixel camera sensor for cellphones that is said to be released January of next year. The unit is is said to have a “1/2.8-inch back-illuminated Exmor R model IMX081PQ sensor” that is the industry’s smallest at “1.12μm unit cell size and is capable of shooting 1080p at 30fps or 720p at 60fps”. Sony is also producing a 1/3.2-inch 8.13 megapixel IMX105PQ sensor with IU105F2 lens module for release in April 2011.
[Via Sony]
So here is a late friday leak for you. If you’ve been considering getting a compact camera but have always been turned off by their low optical zoom factor which usually sits around 5x with some higher end models giving you 10x, Sony’s upcoming Cybershot DSC-HX9V will have the cure for your blues. This tiny pocket sized camera is capable of offering 16 megapixel with 16X optical zoom which is quite different then digital zoom which takes away from your picture quality. This high level zoom, mixed with a Sony G Lens and Exmor R CMOS means that your pocket camera can not only deliver beautiful photos, but handle them in low light situations as well, making it great for vacations when you don’t care to take a DSRL with you. The camera is rumored to record in 1080p at 10fps but we have yet to verify that. Now hit the jump for additional details!
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