SONY last night announced it would sell another two ultra-high definition TV’s in Australia – 55 and 65-inch models to complement the giant 84-inch set released last year.
Instead of costing around the price of a car, some $25,000 plus as the 84-inch set does, the smaller 4K TVs (known also as ultrahigh definition or UHD TVs) would be priced within the current market range, Sony said.
Sony is yet to reveal exact pricing of the sets due to be released around July.
The 4K TVs use Sony’s new Smart TV interface which also is available on 1080p models announced last night.
The UHD TV range to be known as the Bravia X-Series includes an up-scaler for converting broadcast TV, DVD, Blu-ray and streamed content to the 4K format, and signature 65-watt front facing magnetic fluid speakers on each side.
Last night Sony cheekily displayed its TVs alongside those of rival companies to show off how processors embedded in its TVs known as the X-Reality PRO engine had been programmed to refine colours and textures such as skin tones.
Sony’s Smart TV interface is not as complex as those offered by rival manufacturers Samsung and LG, however Group Manager, Network Services & Technology at Sony Australia, Paul Colley, said company research showed that Australians preferred not to use a lot of apps on their smart TVs, such as social network apps or games such as Angry Birds.
The exception was apps that offered streaming content. In that category, Sony was the only manufacturer to offer steaming content from all of the ABC, SBS, Seven and Ten networks. It also offered the widest range of movies on demand, Mr Colley said.
These services included Sony’s own streaming movie service Video Unlimited, Quickflix, Yupp.TV – a portal for more than 60 Indian TV channels , Crackle, Mubi, and Garage Entertainment.
The music on demand services on offer were Music Unlimited, Pandora, Moshcam, vTuner and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
Both UHD TV models will be bundled with eight Sony Pictures feature films mastered in 4K when they go on sale at retailers in July. At this stage Sony hasn’t announced any Australian availability of its US distribution service that provides a supply of 4K content to Sony’s US customers.
Sony said the remastered 4K collection had been created by matching the algorithms used to down-convert 4K movie masters to HD and then up-convert them back to 4K with the Sony 4K X-Reality PRO engine.
Despite its obvious growing popularity, the use of advanced functions offered by smart TVs may not be so widespread. Research published overnight by Analysys Mason in the UK said fewer than half of those claiming to own a smart TV actually connected it to the internet.
“Although .. manufacturers and their distribution channels, particularly retailers, have been successful in getting smart TVs into consumers’ homes, they haven’t done so well when it comes to getting consumers to actually use the ‘smart’ functionality within the sets,” senior analyst Cesar Bachelet said.
Last night Sony also announced Australian pricing and availability of its 2013 Bravia range of HD TVs. Sets are priced from $749 to $4999. Some include Near Field Communications (NFC). It lets users wirelessly display content from a compatible smartphone or tablet to the set.
Sony also showed off a new set of tall speakers that offer 5.1 surround sound. The set is avaiable in black or white and the back two speakers communicate wirelessly with the entertainment console. The set costs $999.
