Sony BRAVIA KDL-52XBR9 LCD HDTV Fat with Features, Even at One-Inch Thin By Chris Chiarella

At a grand product unveiling of nifty netbooks and wicked webcams at their sprawling CES booth in the main hall of the Las Vegas Conventions Center, Sony impressed us home theater types most memorably with the lowdown on their new line up of high-end displays, dubbed the XBR9 series.

Powered by the Sony BRAVIA Engine 3, the 52-inch 1920x1080p BRAVIA KDL-52XBR9 LCD HDTV dazzles with Live Color Creation featuring WCG-CCFL, and Sony's unique Motionflow 240Hz motion compensation technology to reduce blur. It's also feature-packed, Ethernet network-capable with integrated BRAVIA Internet video, the latest BRAVIA Widgets (shortcuts for advanced web applications) enabled, DLNA support and USB connectivity for quick access to photos, music, and digital videos. BRAVIA Sync also provides seamless interoperability of connected devices over HDMI-CEC. Remarkably, Sony has managed to fit all this into a flat-screen form factor only one-inch thick.

source : Bigpicturebigsound.com

Sony KDL 40W4500 LCD TV

The Sony KDL-40W4500 LCD TV is a market leading HD ready tv that is so feature rich and bursting with functionality that you’ll be most impressed, and it comes from the long line of great Sony HDTV sets that offer backwards compatibility and future proofing that you’ll love. The KDL-40W4500 isn’t cheap, list price is £1,199.99, but if you’ve got deep enough pockets the KDL-40W4500 is a great TV. Best prices are listed below.

Sony KDL-40W4500 Technical Specs

The KDL-40W4500 may not have the most attractive name, but hidden within those numbers are clues to its impressive specifications. It has a 40 inch display, capable of showing content in the full HD resolution of 1080p, something which is not offered by most smaller screens, and a feature that is essential if you want to get the most out of your HD content.

It also features the BRAVIA 2 engine which is an industry leading set of technologies that ensure the best picture is squeezed from whatever input you choose to view through the KDL-40W4500. The BRAVIA 2 engine is able to offer such clarity and depth of colour across the board because it utilises digital signal processing to enhance many of the inputs and unify the quality of its output image.

The KDL-40W4500 also spoils you for choice in terms of inputs. It features 3 HDMI ports for connecting your Blu-Ray player for HD movies or your HD games console, and also features an intelligent system which can recognise when an HDMI cable is being used to connect a PC with an HDMI output to optimise the screen’s performance in desktop conditions.

source : Gadgetheaven.co.uk

Sony's Bravia ZX1 : The Thinnest LCD Television Ever

Sony has announced the addition of a worthy jewel to the already crowded award winning Bravia range; the ZX1 has claimed the title of world's thinnest LCD TV thanks to a 9.9mm profile that's thinner than a burnt toast.

The Japanese CE giant keeps the ZX1's thickness down by using LED on the side to light the LCD panel rather than on the back which helped saved those few precious millimeters.

This 40-inch screen has a frame rate of 100Hz and uses Sony's latest image blur reduction technology to ensure pixel perfect quality. Apart from being full HD compatible (capable of displaying 1920x1080 pixels), the screen comes with four HDMI ports (only one on the telly) and connects wireless to its media box .

It is likely that the stand that comes with it is removable so that you can actually fix the television to your lounge wall, turning it into an ultra expensive £2929 digital photo frame.

It is unlikely though that Sony will hold the title for long as other competitors, like JVC, Philips and Samsung are expected to launch even thinner LCD televisions in the forthcoming months.

Samsung may even bring a 6.5mm one soon with a 3mm being the thinnest that's physically (and mechanically) possible. One can expect that these technologies percolate one day to hand held devices like the Blackberry Storm which is around 15mm thick.

source : itproportal.com

Sony offers Super Bowl Blu-ray HDTV bundle deal

In a short 9 days, the Steelers and Cardinals will square off Super Bowl XL III at the Tampa bay, an estimated over 90 100 million viewers will be watching in front of their television sets, if wasn’t for the game, would be the 3-millions-30-seconds spot Super Bowl ads. Traditionally, hot wings, pizzas and beers are not the only Super Bowl party staples, so are the flat screen TV sets. Last year, the national biggest Super event Super Bowl approximated over 2 millions HDTV sold, boosted over $2 billions sales. To be fair, the Super Bowl has been the Number one driver for HDTV sales, third straight year in a roll.

If you’re planning to get a brand new set, or for an upgrade, just walk right any local electronic store, you shouldn’t have troubles finding sale campaigning the Super Bowl. If you prefer online shopping, there’s still a week left for delivery, and Amazon is having a special Super Bowl deal, save up to $400 on a HDTV/Blu-ray player bundle.

source : Slashgear.com

Sony's Z-series of LCDs gets widgets, 240Hz

Sony has gone Yahoo "widget"-happy with its TV lineup for 2009, incorporating the Internet-enabled doodads into two of the series announced at CES.

Described as "Internet applications...that deliver real-time information" in the press release, widgets "expand and personalize the TV experience by adding on-screen applications that provide such real-time information as weather reports, stock ticker updates, financial news, Yahoo! Video, Flickr images, and additional content."

The three-model "Z-series," which consists of the 40-inch KDL-40Z5100, the 46-inch KDL-46Z5100, and the 52-inch KDL-46Z5100, will be available in the spring for yet-to-be-determined prices. It boasts nearly identical features to the company's higher-end XBR9 series, although styling and price will differ. According to Sony, the XBR models also feature a wider color gamut backlight, but we doubt the improvement will be obvious to most viewers.

read more : ces.cnet.com

Sony Expands IPTV Features, 240Hz Video

In an unusual move, Sony is using the International CES to unveil the majority of its 2009 TV line up, including a range of models with built-in IPTV functionality previously available only through the optional add-on Bravia Internet Video Link module.

The highlights of the 2009 Bravia assortment on display here are found in Sony's XBR9 and Z5100 series models. Most of these units incorporate 240Hz Motionflow fast motion processing technology. And built-in Ethernet ports allowing advanced networking capabilities and built in Bravia Internet video.

Sony is also unveiling a line of Eco Bravia LCD TVs in the VE5 series. The three models in the series were designed around energy efficiency, and include a new hot cathode fluorescent lamp (HCFL) technology to reduce power consumption by almost 50 percent compared to traditional cold cathode fluourescent lamp models.

The Eco sets also feature a zero-watt standby switch light sensor and a motion sensor that turns the TV off when no one is present in the room. Sony said the system constantly monitors room motion, and if no motion is detected for a set period of time, the backlight will automatically switch off, followed a short-time later by the set switching into full standby mode.

The VE5 Series will include three models in the 52-, 46- and 40-inch screen sizes. All will be available this summer at prices to be announced, and will feature FullHD 1080p resolution, and 120Hz Motionflow motion compensation technology.

read more : www.twice.com