Home Theater

Sony’s VP of New Business Development, Rick Marty, during the Home Media Expo pledged that Sony Pictures would include BD-Live (Blu-ray live) as a standard feature on all future Blu-ray releases. This all comes after some fantastic integration into Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and Men in Black.

Marty went on to say :

 

“We have seen a great response so far. Twenty percent of people who bought the titles are activating BD Live, and of that 20%, 75% went and downloaded something from the discs. There is an appetite for this.”

 

Marty finished off with;

 

“We are in the early days of BD Live, and this is just a taste of what the technology can do.”

 

Although Blu-ray might not be for all, it really allows those who are movie buffs to get more out of their movies with interactive content and downloadable content.

[Via Video Business]

Sony is introducing four new BRAVIA models that make up the new S4000 series. Coming in a 26, 32, 37 and 42 inches that are part of a new design concept dubbed “draw the LINE”, focusing on a deep piano black finish with clean lines while being curved around the edges with a swivel base. The 42-inch model comes in a 1080p FULL HD panel, 24p True Cinema mode and the new BRAVIA ENGINE 2 signal processing technology with the 3 smaller units come with the BRAVIA ENGINE and “HD Ready”. All four units are share a 3 HDMI Input, intergraded DVB-C / DVB-T TV tuner and a contrast ratio of 22,000:1. Rumors put these guys in Europe first, followed by a State side release. I’ve been looking for a new bedroom TV and with 3 HDMI inputs, it seems to be the perfect fit, mostly with that Swivel stand, making it easy to turn for different viewing options if your limited by your bedroom size/design/placement of equipment.

Sony has already been named the greenest of the technology companies and it looks like as they plan on continuing that legacy with their new 32-inch BRAVIA KDL-32JE1. The industry standard that Japan has set is 164% efficiency rating a year but the new Bravia achieves a 232% efficiency rating with means just 86kWh/year. The unit also comes with a WXGA (1,366 x 768 ) LCD, 2,500:1 contrast, 178-degree viewing angle, and range of in/outs including 2x HDMI and 2x component. If your in Japan July 30^th, expect to pickup this puppy for ¥150,000 or about $1,387.

The new Sony Bravia Internet Video Link offers the capabalities of the older generation like YouTube to your Bravia and Cross Media Bar (XMB) support. But what makes these new guys stand out is the ability for it to broadcast HDMI via wireless. This means that you can plug the unit into your DVD player and have it send its signal to your new XBR wireless.

[Via Gizmodo]

Got some exciting news for those who are looking to purchase an XBR like myself. We have the leaked road map for the XBR series for 2008. This should help those who are looking to wait for the XBR 6, 7 and 8 or want to snatch up a good deal on the current XBR models as they will go on the inevitable sale when the new series hits the horizon. As Engadget reported, the new features include “Triluminos” RGB LED backlight, Advanced Contrast Enhancer PRO and BRAVIA Engine 2 PRO 1080p video processor. The XBR7 panels measure as large as 70-inches, and will launch in October, but sport features more in line with the XBR6. Everything is naturally 1080p and 120Hz.

(Yes, that is the TV, in the glass!)

So you thought you had bragging rights about your new XBR? Howard Stringer today at D6 with his Sony’ OLED is laughing at you as we speak. The new OLED are as this as a pack of playing cards and boast a mind blowing 940 x 540 resolution at 11-inches. Sony is promising to have a 27-inch very soon (and by that, they mean as soon as it makes sense to make them because these guys are currently damn expensive). Stay tuned for an actual run down of what OLED is and what makes it so mind bending thing.