Sony Brings Internet Video & Widgets to New Bravia LCD TV's
Comment
Video on demand services signal a new age of home entertainment for Australians, enabling us to watch what we want, when we want. In February Sony Australia launched its 2010 Bravia range featuring the company's first internet-enabled TVs.
I'm a big fan of video on demand services. I regularly shop online at iTunes from the lounge chair and rent movies, TV series and watch the latest YouTube event. I also have a TiVo with it's Casper movie streaming service and TiVo widgets. Between the two, I have an huge selection of content to watch. I must have missed this in February, but Sony's press release details how Bravia TVs are now ready for the Video On Demand future.
As part of its launch, Sony announced 15 channels that will be made available to Australia through its service, including catch-up TV and made-for-the-internet content, including Yahoo 7, SBS, and YouTube to name a few. Additional channels will appear automatically on the TV as they are added over time.
"Internet-based content is driving the evolution of home entertainment - turning electronics products, such as TVs, into true multimedia hubs," said Paul Colley, Technology Communications Manager at Sony Australia. "With Bravia Internet Video, Australians will be able to catch up on their favourite shows and videos all from the comfort of the TV in their living room."
Sony Bravia Internet Video is available across 21 of the Bravia LCD TV range, from a 32 inch EX600 series, all the way through to the massive 60 inch LX900. Selected Bravia models also include handy on-screen Internet Widgets, where you can access real-time updates from applications such as Weather, News, Twitter, Facebook and Flickr. There is also the ability to provide pay-per-view movies & content in the future.
Although the news of Sony implementing this into their 2010 range of LCD TVs is good, I do find the press release little misleading. It sounds like Internet Video has already launched, but after a phone call, Sony confirmed it has not launched yet, and they don't have a firm release date, although it will be sometime this Autumn/Winter.
Video on Demand services have, ever so slowly, infiltrated the Australian entertainment industry. We've be hearing about it for a long while, and TV media networks have only been "posting" TV episodes to their web sites for the last year or so. But now, video on demand is finally taking a better shape in the market, with TVs like Sony's Bravia range, and other media devices adding video on demand functionality to their products.
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