A secret array of new Sony products, have been exposed at a private US trade function. Not shown at the CES Show in Las Vegas in January, the new products include new Bravia LCD TVs, new Blu-ray players with Wi Fi, new portable music players and a new digital camera range.
Not expected in Australia until mid year the range includes several new features including wireless and Bluetooth capability and IP based content systems for TV viewing.
In 2007 Sony in the US came out with the Bravia Internet Link, a Wi-Fi module that connected to a port in the back of select Bravia TVs. For 2008, that module is now compatible with more TV models and is being relaunched with Sony Australia talking to content providers who are capable of delivering IP based content.
Sony also showed off its two newest low cost Blu-ray players. Both the BDP-S350 and the BDP-S550 will be Profile 1.1 and firmware upgradable to BD-Live, which allows Internet-based content features with compatible discs. Both players will include USB ports for storing downloaded content, but the higher-priced model will also ship with a USB flash drive. The BDP-550 also includes 7.1 analogue audio outputs and DTS-HD Master onboard decoding.
In the home theatre-in-a-box category Sony has revealed for the first timed a series of Bravia Theatre Systems that work with the new Air Station wirelesses multi-room module.
The Air Station connects wirelessly to select Sony receivers via 2.4GHz to allow music streaming from the CD, DVD or connected MP3 player. The top of the line home theatres a 5-disc standard upscaling DVD player with 5.1 speaker system, wireless rear speakers, iPod cradle and one Air Station. Up to three additional Air Stations can be added.
In portable music, Sony has revealed new Walkman designed to take on both Apple and Samsung in the portable content market. The NWZ-S710F players, in 4 and 8 GB models include built-in noise cancellation. The noise cancellation control is embedded in the player but is dependent on the headphones, which include a microphone for the NC feature and a proprietary power connection to the player. The line features a 1.8-inch color screen and plays music, videos and FM radio.
The NWZ-A829/828 features built-in Bluetooth and 2.4-inch display. The 8GB model comes with wireless Bluetooth headphones, while the 16GB version does not.
In digital cameras, Sony unveiled the Cyber Shot DSC-W300. A palm-sized point-and-shoot camera it comes with a 13.6 MP sensor and a 3x zoom lens. A highlight of the camera is the 6,400 ISO sensitivity for low light shooting as well as face and smile detection. The camera is housed in a titanium body for extra protection.
