Posted by Home Theater Audio Video On January - 30 - 2010ADD COMMENTS
Sony surprised us by announcing a 3D-capable Blu-ray home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB) system at CES 2010, but the company also introduced several standard Blu-ray HTIBs, too.
Key features of the Sony BDV-E570:
5.1 home theater system
Built-in Blu-ray player
1000 watts of total power
Wi-Fi capable using the included USB dongle
Access to the Bravia Internet Video platform, which includes Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand, YouTube, Pandora, Slacker, and NPR streaming capability
Onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio
Can control using iPhone/iPod Touch
iPod playback using USB
S-Air-ready (requires purchase of S-Air transmitter)
DLNA compatible
$550 list price; available in April
Key step-up features of the Sony BDV-E770W:
Wireless rear speakers (using S-Air)
$650 list price; available in April
Source: cnet.com
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Posted by Home Theater Audio Video On January - 25 - 2010ADD COMMENTS
Sony’s foray into the U.S. electronics market began more than 50 years ago when co-founder Akio Morita came to New York to sell a $30 miniature transistor radio. At the time, he attracted the interest of Bulova, a watchmaker with a vast retail network. Bulova offered to buy 100,000 units under one condition—Sony would have to original equipment manufacture (O.E.M.) the radios, and they would be branded and marketed under Bulova’s name. Amazingly, Morita went against his board of directors’ advice and turned down the deal. His 50-year goal was to make the Sony name as popular as Bulova’s. Through the strength of his vision, Sony is now one of the most recognized brands in the world.
Within Sony’s brand is the Elevated Standard (ES) line, the premium end of the company’s portfolio of products. Over the years, the ES line of equipment has included outstanding DVD players, AVRs, and early in 2009, two Blu-ray Disc players. Late in the third q
uarter, Sony filled a hole in the Blu-ray market by releasing its second multidisc changer, the $1,900 BDP-CX7000ES MegaChanger. (The first, Sony’s $3,500 HES-V1000 Home Entertainment server is no longer available.)
Sony is currently the only manufacturer of Blu-ray Disc changers on the market, so if you’re in need of one, your options are limited to the ES model or the lower-priced BDP-CX960 ($800). Compared with many current video server products, many of which start at $5,000 and go up dramatically from there, this MegaChanger is a bargain. And those other products can’t store Blu-ray Disc content on their hard drives—you have to put discs into the tray one at a time just like a standard player. Granted, these other systems bring different capabilities to the table, but none offer the convenience of storing and managing your Blu-ray collection.
Living with the BDP-CX7000ES the past month has given me a new perspective on the convenience of a disc changer. Although I can personally live without it, I enjoyed having a good portion of my library accessible from one player, and I can see people getting hooked on the experience.
If you don’t care about the storage and are willing to leave the comfort of your couch to change discs, better video processing is available in other players. But if you’re looking at this MegaChanger, that’s probably not you. The BDP-CX7000ES offers Blu-ray performance at 1080p/24 that’s on par with the best we’ve seen and very solid DVD upconversion, which makes it attractive if you’re looking for large-capacity storage and management and don’t want to spend media server money.
Source: hometheatermag.com
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Posted by Home Theater Audio Video On December - 24 - 2009ADD COMMENTS
OLED materials emit light when electrical current is applied, and do not require a backlight or a filter system like the one used in LCDs. Up until today OLEDs were used only for small displays such as the ones used in MP3 players or mobile phones.
So first of all, the XEL-1 is a small television inded. 11-inch in fact. It is just 3mm thin (now that is really thin!), and has 960×540 resolution. The contrast ratio is an amazing 1,000,000:1. The OLED TV also includes a terrestrial digital tuner, speakers, HDMI, USB and Ethernet jacks. It weights 2kg.
The picture quality on the XEL-1 is awesome. The reviews are raving – the colors are crisp, the refresh rate is fast, and the contrast is amazing. Indeed the blacks are really blacks – unlike the ‘gray’ we are used to see on LCDs. The picture on an OLED TV simply looks good!
The XEL-1 is very pricey. When it was first introduced in Japan it went for around 2,000$. The US version is priced at 2,500$. In the beginning of 2009 Sony started to distribute the TV in Europe as well, for around 5,000$. Sony do not expect their OLED TV to be sold in large numbers (in fact they are only making arond a thousand in a month). This is more of an available prototype and technology demonstration. In fact it is said that Sony started to sell this TV just to show that they are still innovative (after being late to the LCD/PDP game).
Sony are already working on newer versions of the TV. They plan to launch a larger version at 27″ (XEL-2?), and are also making it thinner, too. Their latest screens prototypes are less than a millimeter thick. OLEDs can also be made flexible, and Sony say they will work on such screens – foldable book readers might be a hit in a few years.
Other companies are also working on similar devices – Samsung has shown several OLED TV prototypes, including a HD 42″ set and LG can already make 15″ OLED screens. Panasonic, Toshiba and CMEL have active OLED TV research program. Sony sure made a big bet when they announced the XEL-1, and so far they are seen as OLED leaders.
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Posted by Home Theater Audio Video On November - 28 - 2009ADD COMMENTS
Sony BDP-S560 Wireless Blu-ray Player would be the Bad News Bears: a competitor with strong basic abilities but not too much in the way of surface flash. Sony doesn’t attempt to grab your attention with media streaming, although its player can display photos from a DLNA PC. The BDP-S560’s key strengths can mostly be found under the hood.
True to BNB form, the Sony player’s exterior has a straightforward design. A glossy front panel flips down when you hit the Disc Tray Open/Close button; outside of this, the only other visible features are the Stop and Play buttons and a USB port. Around back you’ll find a standard set of A/V connections, including HDMI and component-video jacks. There’s also a second USB port for plugging in a flash drive — something you’ll need to do if you want to enable BD-Live features on discs. (Unlike the other two players here, the Sony doesn’t have built-in memory.)
Sony’s remote control doesn’t have a backlit keypad, but its buttons are clearly sectioned into groups: disc transport controls at the bottom, menu navigation in the middle, and other controls on top. One button that’s conspicuously absent is Disc Eject — you literally have to get up and push that on the player’s front panel, which defeats the whole purpose of having a remote control in the first place! The wealth of information that pops up when you press the remote’s Display button almost makes up for the omission, though: Along with video encoding format (AVC, VC-1), soundtrack format/sampling rate, and video data rate, it shows a graphic timeline displaying total disc time/currently elapsed time. Yet another smooth Sony touch is an onscreen fade-to-black effect that gets triggered when you press the Stop button.
Sony’s Internet Settings menu for connecting the player to a Wi-Fi network was fairly easy to follow, although entering passwords manually via its onscreen virtual keypad was a slow, tiresome process. Unfortunately, the first BDP-S560 I checked out abruptly died and its departure proved to be permanent. (A second unit that Sony sent worked fine, however.)
Sony BDP-S560 Wireless Blu-ray Player PERFORMANCE
With the Sony’s Quick Start mode selected, operation proved to be adequately zippy. Only 5 seconds elapsed between the moment I pressed the Power button and the moment the disc tray could eject. Most movies loaded up and displayed an image after 23 seconds. The player’s 2X fast-scan mode delivered choppy picture quality when searching discs; performance here lagged behind both the Samsung and LG.
Like the other two players here, the BDP-S560 sailed through all our high-def disc tests for both film and video-sourced material. The real surprise with this player, however, turned out to be its DVD upconversion. After plugging in the Sony and checking out a few DVDs, I couldn’t help but admire how clean, sharp, and solid its picture looked. And when I ran my standard round of HQV DVD tests, it passed every one, including the tough Assorted Cadences tests, which trip up virtually every player except for those that actually feature built-in HQV processing. In addition to its awesome standard-def upconversion, the BDP-S560’s noise reduction didn’t result in any picture softening.
BOTTOM LINE
Sony’s BDP-S560 lacks the media-streaming features found in the two other players, and you’ll need to plug in your own flash memory to enable BD-Live features on discs. Even so, when the moment of truth arrives and it steps up to the plate to play Blu-ray Discs and DVDs, this Sony’s video performance is nothing short of stunning. I don’t know about you, but that’s the main thing I expect from my Blu-ray Disc player.
Source: soundandvisionmag.com
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Posted by Home Theater Audio Video On November - 3 - 2009ADD COMMENTS
The Sony KDL-70XBR7 BRAVIA is one of a small number of options available to the consumer looking for a seventy inch picture but not wanting to use a projector. The largest of the XBR7 series, the 70” KDL-70XBR7 offers a large screen and 1080p resolution along with a range of picture enhancement technologies.
Sony’s 70” XBR7 offers a full 1080p/24 experience, as well as Motionflow 120Hz technology, which effectively doubles the frame rate of HD content to help smooth out fast movements. An on screen contrast ratio of 1,500:1 is achieved through the Advanced Contrast Enhancer circuit, which creates darker blacks without losing fine details.
10-bit technology is featured in both the KDL-70XBR7’s processor, but in the panel as well. The combination of the two allows a much greater ability to transition between colors and helps to eliminate sharp changes.
With the BRAVIA name comes Sony’s much touted BRAVIA Engine 2 Pro. The company’s most advanced video processing system, the BRAVIA Engine 2 Pro works to ensure clarity of picture, and includes Sony’s Digital Reality Creation technology.
A total of four HDMI inputs are available on the 70XBR7, as well as two component ins, three composite, and one each of S-Video and PC. The television features 5.1 channel audio outputs including one analog and one optical.
The 70” XBR7 BRAVIA features an Ethernet port which lets users access JPEG files from DLNA enabled PCs and other devices. An included USB port allows for viewing of JPEGs as well, along with playback of MP3 audio files.
Source : avrev.com
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Sony surprised us by announcing a 3D-capable Blu-ray home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB) system at CES 2010, but the company also introduced several standard Blu-ray HTIBs, too.
