Sony Unveils New LCD TVs with 'World's 1st Features' [Video]

Aug 29, 2008 21:10
Masao Oonishi, Nikkei Microdevices

Sony Corp announced four series of full-HD LCD TVs with a total of eight models including one that measures only 9.9mm at its thinnest part and another with 4x driving speed, which the company claims were developed for the first time in the world.

They are slated for launch in Japan in October and November as the fall 2008 models.

The model that is 9.9mm thick at its thinnest portion has a separate tuner and speakers

The 40-inch LCD TV in the ZX1 series has the thinnest portion of 9.9mm and the thickest portion of 28mm. (The one in the back is facing front.)

The ZX1 series features the thinnest portion of only 9.9mm. The model unveiled this time is a 40-inch product. It uses an edge LED backlight. With white LEDs arranged on four sides of a light guide plate, the backlight is thinner than those using a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL). The TV has a contrast ratio of 3,000:1.

The main unit is composed of a monitor alone, and a tuner is built in the "Wireless Media Receiver." The monitor and the tuner transmit signals with each other via 5GHz wireless communications. A speaker unit is incorporated in a stand portion of a tabletop stand. When the TV is hung on a wall, dedicated speaker unit is attached below the monitor.

When hung on a wall: The distance between the wall and the front surface is less than 50mm. The Wireless Media Receiver (left) wirelessly communicates with the monitor.

The thickest portion of the monitor measures 28mm. The company developed a dedicated wall-mounting unit with a thickness of 19.5mm. With this unit, the distance between the wall and the front surface of the TV is less than 50mm.

The mounting unit can be tilted up or down. The monitor weighs 12.2kg, and the dedicated wall-mounted speaker unit is 1.8kg. Thus, the TV weighs less than 15kg in total when it is hung on a wall.

Insertion of three interpolation images enables 240Hz driving speed

The W1 series with 240MHz driving speed (40-inch model)

The W1 series employs the "Motionflow 240Hz" technology to enable a 240Hz driving speed. The "Motionflow 240Hz" is an advanced version of the "Motionflow," which creates double-speed images after correcting the blur in each of the original 60fps images.

While the existing version of the technique creates and inserts one interpolation image to enable a 120Hz driving speed, the new version generates three interpolation images. The W1 series comes in 46- and 40-inch models.

Local dimming by RGB LED backlight

The XR1 series with enhanced picture quality (46-inch model)

The XR1 series is a high picture quality model equipped with RGB LED backlights. The TV features a virtual contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1, which is enabled by local dimming. To enhance the moving picture performance, the XR1 series employs the "Motionflow Pro 120Hz," which is designed to deliver smooth images by combining the 120Hz driving speed technology and partial blinking of backlight. The series comes in 55- and 46-inch models.

New engine reduces flicker noise

The X1 series with reduced noise in small areas (40-inch model)

The X1 series is equipped with a new image processing engine called "Bravia Engine 2 Pro," which can reduce flicker noise. The series comes in 52-, 46- and 40-inch models.

The previous version, the "Bravia Engine 2," significantly reduced noise in darker areas, while the new engine incorporates the DRC-MFv3 chip for executing additional arithmetic processing to reduce flicker noise around areas that are moving subtly. Thus, the engine enhances the resolution without emphasizing the edges of the image.

Providing "high added value" and "larger display sizes"

The latest models all have a display that is at least 40 inches in size.

"We decided to offer 40-inch or larger models because the proportion of the 37-inch or larger models increased from 20% in October 2006 to 33% in July 2008," said Takao Yoshikawa, director of the FTV Business Division of the TV Business Group of Sony.

Meanwhile, Sony plans to continue providing 30-inch class models as the J and F series. The company also intends to continue expanding the market for low-price TVs to "try to work on both markets," according to Yoshikawa.

The expected market price of the KDL-40ZX1 in the ZX1 series is about ¥490,000 (approx US$4,507). The KDL-46W1 of the W1 series is about ¥400,000, and the KDL-40W1 in the same series is about ¥290,000. For the XR series, the KDL-55XR1 is about ¥750,000, while the KDL-46XR1 is about ¥600,000. The KDL-52X1, KDL-46X1 and KDL-40X1 in the X1 series are about ¥530,000, ¥430,000 and ¥320,000, respectively.

Source here

Panasonic to Release Youtube-compatible PDP TVs w/ 1TB HDD

Aug 27, 2008 20:59
Naoki Asakawa, Nikkei Electronics

The "PZR900 series" PDP TVs to be released in September 2008

The series supports playback of YouTube videos

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd will successively release the "PZR900 series" PDP TVs featuring YouTube video playback capability from Sept 10, 2008, in Japan.

The company has already released other YouTube-compatible TVs in the North American market (See related article).

YouTube playback capability will only become available from Sept 30. Users can start viewing YouTube after downloading a dedicated software application via Matsushita's Website.

Each model houses a 1-Tbyte HDD for recording terrestrial/BS/CS digital broadcasts. However, they cannot record analog broadcasts. Supporting Dubbing 10, the PZR900 series allows users to copy recorded programs (or move recorded copy-once programs) to HDDs in Matsushita's recorders connected to its i.LINK port, and further move and record the copied programs on DVD and Blu-ray Disc media.

The PZR900 series products' contrast ratio is 30,000:1, the same as that of the "PZ800 series" released in April 2008. They also cover 120% of the color range area defined by the HDTV broadcast standard (ITU-R BT.809).

Source here

Sony's Blu-ray Recorders Sharpen Videos for Old TV Sets

9 05, 2008 20:36
Naoki Asakawa, Nikkei Electronics

Sony Corp will launch six Blu-ray Disc recorders featuring its "CREAS" image processor LSI, which enhances color gradation, in series from Sept 27, 2008.

"CREAS is effective for any existing TV equipped with an HDMI interface, no matter whether it is a Sony product or not," said Shoji Nemoto, senior vice president and director of Audio and Video Business Group of Sony.

CREAS consists mainly of two circuit blocks. The "HD Reality Enhancer" in the first block stresses the outline (sharpness) and enhances color gradation (smoothing) of 8-bit video signals that are input. It analyzes color information of hundreds of surrounding pixels and determines the intensity of sharpness and smoothing processing by each pixel.

"When the edges of the surrounding pixels are strong, for example, it mildly processes sharpness," a Sony spokesperson said. Internal computing is performed on 14-bit or higher quality video, and 14-bit video signals (YUV4:4:4) are output to the circuit in the second block.

The "Super Bit Mapping for Video" circuit in the second block works to convert the 14-bit video signals to 12- to 8-bit signals in accordance with the feature of the panel, on which the video is output. During the process, the circuit slightly increases amplitude of color signals so neutral colors can be rendered to reproduce 14-bit equivalent video even if it is output on a display that can only render 8- or 10-bit video.

The technique is similar to dithering as a signal processing, but Super Bit Mapping "increases amplitude at high space frequencies in an effort not to cause the processing to appear as noises, in consideration of characteristics of human vision," the spokesperson said.

All the six Blu-ray Disc recorders feature a capability to record MPEG-2 TS format digital broadcasts after transcoding them into the MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 format. Minimum data rate that they can directly record HDTV video at is 4Mbps (when recording in LR mode). HDTV video can be recorded for 24 hours on a 50-Gbyte disc, according to Sony.

The recorders employed NEC Electronics Corp's "EMMA" series SoC as their main chip. Each model mounts three image processing LSI chips, EMMA, a transcode LSI and CREAS. As for Blu-ray Disc playback, the six new models all support BD-Live.

Extract hot keywords from EPG data

(Continue to the next page)

Extract hot keywords from EPG data

For recording, the new models incorporated the "x-Midokoro (highlight) Magazine," a function to extract keywords to draw interest and lead trends from EPG data and display them in a form like a TV magazine.

"If x-Omakase/MaruRoku (the automatic recording function) is a function that extracts individual interests, x-Midokoro Magazine is a function that highlights the public interest," Sony said. "We hope users will take advantage of both functions in accordance with their needs."

As the function only uses EPG data for extracting keywords, there is no need to obtain information via the Internet.

The "BDZ-X95" and "BDZ-X100," high-end X-series models, feature the "DRC-MFv3" IP conversion LSI chip, two HDMI ports and two digital tuners. Both models support the "Odekake/Okaeri Transfer" function to transfer recorded video to other devices including the PSP and Walkman.

The X95 houses a 500-Gbyte HDD, whereas the X100 houses a 1-Tbyte HDD. Street pricing is expected to be around ¥200,000 (approx US$1,881) for the X95 and ¥280,000 for the X100.

The "BDZ-L55" and "BDZ-L95," L-series models focusing on the link with camcorders and other peripheral devices, are provided with a "one touch dubbing button," which allows users to easily copy videos from peripheral devices. Only the L95 is equipped with a "multi memory card slot," which supports major memory cards, as well as two digital tuners.

The L55 houses a 320-Gbyte HDD and the L95 mounts a 500-Gbyte HDD. Street pricing for the L55 and L95 is expected to be about ¥130,000 and 170,000, respectively.

The low-end "BDZ-T55" and "BDZ-T75" house a 320-Gbyte HDD. Only the T75 is equipped with two digital tuners. Street pricing for the T75 and T55 is anticipated to be about ¥140,000 and 110,000, respectively.

Along with these six recorders, Sony will release the"BDP-S350" and "BDP-S5000ES" Blu-ray Disc players as well. Both models support BD-Live. The BDP-S5000ES features the "CREAS" image processor chip as the new Blu-ray Disc recorders do. The players will be launched Dec 6, 2008. Street pricing for the S350 is expected to be around ¥45,000, while the suggested retail price of the S5000ES is ¥294,000.

Naoki Asakawa, Nikkei Electronics

Source here

Once in crisis, Sony adjusts to digital age

BERLIN: When Howard Stringer took the helm at Sony three years ago, the Japanese company was in crisis. The consumer electronics business that had produced the transistor radio, the Trinitron TV and the Walkman, was losing money. Sony had been overtaken by Samsung of Korea, which had correctly anticipated the huge consumer demand for flat-panel TVs.

By January 2006, Sony had so few new products to brag about that Stringer had to call the actor Tom Hanks on stage during his keynote speech to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to help him buy time as he promoted the Sony Reader, a hand-held digital book reader.

"I clutched that Reader for an hour and sold it and sold it and sold it," Stringer said at the Internationale Funkausstellung in Berlin, the largest consumer electronics convention in Europe. "It was all I had."

Almost three years later, Sony's digital distress appears to be a thing of the past. At the IFA, which ends Wednesday, Sony showed off an array of products defined by superlatives: the EX1, the first high-definition wireless home entertainment system; the ZX1, the thinnest LCD TV in the world; and the Z4500 line of LCD TVs that process screens four times as fast as a conventional LCD TVs.

"We have spent a lot of time over the last three years adjusting our business for the digital age," Stringer said. "We are now making more money than we have ever made before. Our core businesses are working for us."

Samsung remains a formidable competitor, and will stay atop the TV business by expanding its line of larger, expensive LCDs - going head to head with Sony in its strongest segment, Jongwoo Park, the president of Samsung's digital media business, which includes TVs, said during an interview at the IFA.

"I am well aware Sony is aggressively trying to build market share," Park said. "But we are going to stay on top because we can use the power of our market share."

Sony also faces other challenges. In mobile phones, Sony Ericsson, the 50-50 joint venture, remained a distant No.5 in cellphones with an 8.2 percent market share in the second quarter, according to Strategy Analytics. In gaming, Sony lost the equivalent of $1.14 billion during its last financial year, but the business has since become profitable, Stringer said, as sales of PlayStation3 games offset losses on the hardware.

Under Stringer, Sony has invested heavily in software development, as consumer electronics and computing merge. In the year through March, Sony added 17,500 employees, many of them software engineers in Eastern Europe, India, California and Asia, Fujio Nishida, president of Sony Europe, said. Since 2005, Sony has cut 10,000 employees as it closed 11 old-generation TV factories.

"Howard was evangelizing internally within Sony for a stronger emphasis on software, how software adds value to devices," a former Sony U.S. executive, who did not want his name used because he was uncomfortable commenting on a former employer, said. "In every meeting I was in, he was trying to change some of the hardware culture."

Most importantly, Stringer has reduced the insular mentality that had balkanized Sony's electronics, movie, gaming, music and mobile businesses, said a former senior Sony Europe executive, who also did not want to publicly comment on his former employee. "I used to have to force people to sit down and talk with each other," said the former manager.

Stringer, one industry expert said, is seeking to deliver on the reform goals set by his mentor and predecessor, Nobuyuki Idei, who in the 1990s initiated the push into software and promoted Stringer to head Sony's U.S. operations.

"Sony over the past few years has been investing significantly in software and raising the user experience, working to tie together its broad family of products," said Ross Rubin, an analyst at NPD, a research company based in Port Washington, New York. "Sony's brand trust still remains far ahead of Samsung as a purchase motivator, but Samsung has certainly been very aggressive about building its brands."

Stringer's cross-marketing initiatives will be seen in the upcoming James Bond film, "Quantum of Solace," scheduled for release Nov. 3. Sony Pictures shot the film in high-definition, with scenes showcasing new Sony electronics. Joint marketing campaigns are being timed at Sony sales outlets and electronics product launches.

In February, Sony also won the battle to define the high-definition TV standard when a consortium backed by Toshiba abandoned the HD-DVD format, leaving the Sony Blu-Ray disc as sole survivor. The string of victories has brightened the mood at Sony, Nishida said.

"By the end of 2010, our goal is to be the market leader in TVs," Nishida said.

Some of Stringer's changes have been more radical. Sony now makes LCD TV panels in a 50-50 joint venture with Samsung in Tangjeong, South Korea. A second LCD factory near Osaka, a joint venture with Sharp in which Sony will own 34 percent, is to open by the end of 2009.

The turnaround is also evident in the company's financial results after three years of cost cutting, layoffs and restructuring under Stringer, an affable, Welsh-born former president of CBS in the United States with dual U.S. and British citizenship.

In the year that ended March 31, Sony's profit tripled to ¥369.4 billion, or $3.4 billion, as sales rose 6.9 percent to ¥8.87 trillion. In consumer electronics, which make up about two-thirds of Sony's sales, operating income more than doubled to ¥356 billion.

In tandem with a financial recovery, Sony is bidding to recapture the title of TV innovator, beating Samsung to market with the first ultra-thin TV screen made from organic light-emitting diodes. OLEDs are made of carbon-based evanescent film that eliminate the need for back lighting and shrink the entire panel to just five millimeters thick, the width of three credit cards.

Samsung, the industrial giant that is also the world's largest computer chip maker, remains a formidable obstacle to Sony's comeback bid.

In the second quarter, Samsung was the global TV leader by revenue for the 10th quarter in a row, with a 22.8 percent market share.

Sony was No.2 with 12.5 percent, according to DisplaySearch, a research firm in Austin, Texas.

Source here

Intel(R) and Yahoo!(R) to Bring the Internet to Television

Intel Corporation and Yahoo! Inc. today previewed plans for the Widget Channel, a television (TV) application framework optimized for TV and related consumer electronics (CE) devices that use the Intel Architecture. The Widget Channel will allow consumers to enjoy rich Internet applications designed for the TV while watching their favorite TV programs. The Widget Channel will be powered by the Yahoo! Widget Engine, a fifth-generation applications platform that will enable TV watchers to interact with and enjoy a rich set of “TV Widgets,” or small Internet applications designed to complement and enhance the traditional TV watching experience and bring content, information and community features available on the Internet within easy reach of the remote control. The Widget Channel will also allow developers to use JAVASCRIPT^®, XML¹, HTML¹ and Adobe Flash® technology to write TV applications for the platform, extending the power and compatibility of PC application developer programs to TV and related CE devices. In addition to supporting the Yahoo! Widget Engine, Yahoo! will also provide consumers Yahoo!-branded TV Widgets that are customized based on its category-leading Internet services.

TV Widgets will enable consumers to engage in a variety of experiences, such as watching videos, tracking their favorite stocks or sports teams, interacting with friends, or staying current on news and information. Viewers will be able to use TV Widgets to deepen their enjoyment of the programming they are watching, discover new content and services, or share their favorites with friends and family. TV Widgets can be personalized because they will be based upon popular Internet services such as Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Sports, Blockbuster^® and eBay^® that viewers have customized for use in their daily lives.

“TV will fundamentally change how we talk about, imagine and experience the Internet,” said Eric Kim, Intel senior vice president and general manager of the company’s Digital Home Group. “No longer just a passive experience unless the viewer wants it that way, Intel and Yahoo! are proposing a way where the TV and Internet are as interactive, and seamless, as possible. Our close work has produced an exciting application framework upon which the industry can collaborate, innovate and differentiate. This effort is one of what we believe will be many exciting new ways to bring the Internet to the TV, and it really shows the potential of what consumers can look forward to.”

“On the PC and mobile devices, Yahoo! is a leading starting point for millions of consumers around the world,” said Marco Boerries, executive vice president, Connected Life, Yahoo! Inc. “Yahoo! aims to extend this leadership to the emerging world of Internet-connected TV, which we call the Cinematic Internet™. By partnering with leaders like Intel, we plan to combine the Internet benefits of open user choice, community, and personalization with the performance and scale embodied in the Intel Architecture to transform traditional TV into something bigger, better and more exciting than ever before. By using the popular Yahoo! Widget Engine to power the Widget Channel, we intend to provide an opportunity for all developers and publishers to create new experiences that can reach millions of TV viewers globally. Yahoo! plans to enable the Cinematic Internet^™ ecosystem, which will benefit consumers, device makers, advertisers and publishers.”

Widget Channel Framework and TV Widget Developers

Underlying the Widget Channel will be a powerful set of platform technologies, including the Yahoo! Widget Engine and core libraries that expose the powerful functions enabled by the Intel Architecture. The Widget Channel framework will use established Internet technologies to dramatically lower the barrier of entry for developing applications optimized for TV. To help create new TV Widgets for the Widget Channel, Intel and Yahoo! plan to make a development kit available to developers, including TV and other CE device makers, advertisers and publishers. The Widget Channel will also include a Widget Gallery, to which developers can publish their TV Widgets across multiple TV and related CE devices and through which consumers can view and select the TV Widgets they would like to use.

Intel and Yahoo! are working with a range of industry-leading companies that are planning on developing and deploying TV Widgets, including Blockbuster¹, CBS Interactive¹, CinemaNow¹, Cinequest¹, Comcast¹, Disney-ABC Television Group¹, eBay¹, GE¹, Group M¹, Joost¹, MTV¹, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.¹, Schematic¹, Showtime¹, Toshiba¹ and Twitter¹. These and other companies and individuals will be able to innovate, differentiate and deploy TV Widgets across multiple TV and related CE devices using the Widget Channel framework. Additional information on the Widget Channel framework and the Yahoo! Widget Engine can be found at www.intel.com/go/celink and http://connectedtv.yahoo.com/newsroom.

Intel Architecture

Intel Architecture (IA) is at the heart of millions of PC-, MID- and server-based Internet clients, which has helped enable the proliferation of Internet-based content and services while providing users with an uncompromised Internet experience. Accelerating the delivery of the Internet to the TV, Intel today extended performance, headroom and connectivity of IA into a new family of “purpose built” system-on-chip (SoC) media processors for Internet-connected CE devices, including optical media players, U.S. cable set-top-boxes, digital TVs and other connected audio visual products.

Intel’s first CE IA-based SoC, the Intel® Media Processor CE 3100 (formerly “Canmore”), is a highly integrated chip which includes a high-performance IA core and other functional I/O blocks to enable high definition video decode and viewing, home-theater-quality audio, 3-D graphics, and the fusion of the Internet and TV experiences. The Widget Channel software framework is designed to work with a new generation of Internet-connected CE devices based on Intel’s purpose built SoC. The hardware and software compatibility of IA also provides support for broadcast and Internet content.

Intel also plans to release the Intel Media Processor CE 3100-based hardware development system called the “Innovation Platform” which will provide the initial development and validation environment for developers of TV Widgets on the Widget Channel.

An Open Framework

Finally, Intel and Yahoo! are working with industry members to promote the development of open and consistent standards necessary to grow the TV Widget ecosystem. As part of their efforts, the companies are sharing an early version of a development kit for the Widget Channel with selected TV Widget developers now.

Source here

Samsung teams up with Yahoo to bring TV internet service to your sofa

It may not seem like much, a matter of a few feet, negotiating a corridor and a couple of doorways, but it has become one of the technology industry's greatest challenges - dragging the internet away from the family PC and out of the home office and putting it on the television set in the lounge. After years of watching others fail to achieve it, Samsung Electronics believes that it is about to succeed.

This week the world's largest consumer electronics company will tell the IFA industry fair in Germany that it is partnering Yahoo! to provide content for a new integrated internet access service in its televisions. The InfoLive service will provide news, finance and weather information from Yahoo!, directed from the remote control. Samsung plans to provide the service on Series 7, 8 and 9 televisions in Canada, Australia, and Singapore and in selected countries in Europe by the end of this year.

As ever with such advances, timing is everything. Previous attempts have failed not because the technology was lacking but because the audience was not ready to give up the big screen to anything other than a television programme or a film. Interactivity came a poor second to sitting and watching.

But tastes are changing. Consumers are much more used to interactivity across all media, from radio phone-ins and X Factor-style votes to internet blogs and comments, and they are embracing the combination of net and television. One survey, for example, found that 43 per cent of viewers of the Super Bowl in February surfed the web on their laptops or mobile phones while watching the game on TV.

Samsung believes that it has surmounted the problem of navigation by not swamping the big screen but by adding bite-sized interactive choices. Users will be able to watch a programme while a tickertape of news items, share prices or weather forecasts runs in tandem with it. The content is accessible via an integrated Ethernet port or via Samsung's wireless LAN adapter, which connects to the viewer's broadband service.

Moreover, Samsung is seeking interactive success on several fronts. Separately, it is a partner for a venture between Yahoo! and Intel, the chip-maker, to develop what is being called the Widget Channel of interactive content. In due course, viewers may be able to check their eBay auction, view a friend's photos and instant message friends, all using the remote control from the comfort of their armchairs.

Jungwoo Park surveys these prospects from his office in the Samsung tower south of Seoul. The head of the digital media division at Samsung Electronics sees them as part of the battle to make Samsung's televisions the centre of entertainment in every living room. According to Dr Park, televisions will be the company's big driver of growth for the next five years.

“We want televisions to be centre of the home network,” he said. And the key to that is a change in Samsung's strategy. Until now, it has kept out of the game of providing content, concentrating on developing its market-leading range of high-definition sets. Now, according to Dr Park, the solutions are not just about hardware but about the software that televisions carry.

Samsung Electronics, with significant market shares in mobile phones, LED screens, white goods and other items, powered its way to a $105 billion worldwide turnover in 2007. Amid this year's global economic woes, Dr Park argues that he should provide premium products with added value to keep the customers spending.

He foresees a time - perhaps only five years away - when TV sets will been connected wirelessly to a range of devices that will “talk” to each other automatically, downloading pictures, streaming video, music and games. “No stress,” Dr Park said, with a smile.

Source here

Panasonic replaces Sony as Japan’s coolest electronics brand

Although much has been made of Sony’s recent resurgence under Sir Howard Stringer, the Tokyo monster may be surprised to learn that it has been toppled as the public’s favourite producer of quality electronics.

The finding comes from a survey of 600 people carried out in May by Japanese business newspaper, the Nikkei [subscription link].

Results showed that, “consumers who value qualities like refinement and excellent design tend to choose products made by Panasonic when they buy audiovisual devices like TVs and DVD recorders.”

The complex survey looked at products people already own and those they plan to buy next, with Panasonic rating highest in both cases for both TV sets and video recorders.

Sony, which has long been seen as the quality brand among Japanese electronics suppliers, came out amongst the rank and file that includes Sharp, Toshiba, JVC and Mitsubishi.

The Panasonic brand has traditionally been seen as solid but unoriginal, however a series of successful product launches, such as Viera TVs, since 2002 has culminated in a new sense of trust.

Nevertheless, the news isn’t all bad for Sony, as responses on video recorders and PCs showed there were more people interested in buying Sony gear in the near future than who currently use Sony products.

This suggests there may be some substance to the recent uptick in Sony’s perceived health.

Source here