Over the years, Sony has built a solid reputation for itself as a premium TV maker on the back of some impressive devices. Since 2005, under the Bravia moniker, Sony has not only attempted to push the boundaries of technology in the television segment but in the past few years also democratised higher-end technologies to make them more accessible to a wider audience.
In India, such attempts have led to Sony launching premium segment TVs at aggressive price points, with the most recent of such attempts being the Sony Bravia X75K and Bravia XR OLED A80K series smart TVs. On the sideline of these launches, we at Digit reached out to Tomohiro Nakashima, Deputy Managing Director at Sony India, to get a deeper understanding of these TVs and the technologies powering them. During our interaction, he also took out the time to explain the vision behind the Sony Bravia TVs and the company's plans for the television segment in India.
Q. Let's start from the beginning. Tell us about the story of Sony BRAVIA? How have BRAVIA TVs evolved in terms of technology and product portfolio?
A. Symbolizing Sony's spirit of challenge to "do what has never been done before,” Innovation and Immersive experience are at the core. Starting from first transistor television in 1960, Colour television Trinitron, the world’s first LED-backlit, OLED television and recently introduced World’s first Cognitive Intelligence television, Sony BRAVIA is known for introducing industry first state-of-the-art technologies. Newly introduced BRAVIA XR offers most immersive experience through vision and sound than ever, because this television understands how humans see and hear with cognitive intelligence. XR television looks and displays the content the same way humans see and hear it in the real world.
Q. Talk to us about the competition. What's your take on the growth in technology across the industry?
A. The pandemic itself and with it, the rise in OTT content consumption created a shift from small screen to large screen televisions, which is prominently visible across all industry reports. Technologies like XR OLED, 3D surround sound, Dolby Vision Atmos, IMAX Enhanced and Netflix Calibrated mode are now household names. OTT exclusive releases and quick digital launches created a demand for Cinema home set-up with large-screen televisions.
Q. Coming back to your existing line-up of products, tell us what makes the latest series of TVs from Sony special?
A. Sony BRAVIA FY22 entire line-up is now upgraded to Google TV platform for the best of UI experience and convenient content watching. Three major segments 4K LED–X75K, X80K and X85K, 4K XR Full Array LED–X90K and XR OLED–A80K are loaded with latest and innovative tech technologies for an immersive television viewing experience.
Q. What is next from Sony? Give us an insight into what we can expect from Sony TVs in the months, and years to come?
A. Introduction of Consumer Electronics Show (CES) award-winning technologies BRAVIA CORE and BRAVIA CAM will initiate new chapters in the television industry. BRAVIA CORE with Pure Stream will justify BRAVIA XR television’s full potential to play the highest streaming picture. BRAVIA CORE features Pure Stream™ which can stream HDR movies at up to 80 Mbps similar to 4K UHD Blu-ray7, on a wide range of content. This means significantly more detail, colour and contrast than conventional 15–25 Mbps streaming content. It has the largest collection of IMAX Enhanced movies along with free access unlimited movie streaming up to two years.
CES Best of Innovation award-winning BRAVIA CAM unlocks a lot of new features in BRAVIA televisions. The optimal viewing experience, BRAVIA CAM recognises where you are in the room and how far you are from the television, then adjusts sound and picture settings so they're just right. You can also enjoy an array of fun new television experiences with BRAVIA CAM including gesture controls, video chat and much more.