Touting its high-tech “lens-to-the-living room” film and television production to consumer home theater product ecosystem credentials, Sony has announced its 2024 Bravia line of audio equipment and mini-LED TVs.
Sony’s latest televisions and audio equipment were previewed to international media, including TWICE, for several days at the historic Sony Picture Studios, the former production facilities of MGM and Columbia Pictures, in Culver City, in California.
While Sony’s video and audio demos are as impressive as ever, the company’s product pricing strategy is a bit curious. Touting its mini-LED version as brighter and close to parity in terms of black levels and color reproduction with OLED, Sony has priced its new flagship Bravia 9 mini-LED model between the 2023 G3 and OLED models. LG’s similarly sized 2024 G4, much higher than mini-LED models from TCL, Hisense and others, and even higher than new mini-LED sets from Samsung, which also raised its 2024 mini-LED prices for 2024.
Whether or not retailers will be able to point to the claimed technical and quality advantages of Sony’s new mini-LED models to justify their near-OLED pricing – especially since consumers expect the models to Mini-LEDs offer a more affordable alternative to OLED – the course of which remains to be seen. Sony has not introduced an update for its XR-A95L OLED TV.
New Sony Bravia TVs
Sony has revealed four new Bravia TV models, ‘flagship’ and ‘premium’ mini-LED editions, the Bravia 9 and Bravia 8 respectively, a ‘basic’ full-array Bravia 7 LED and a ‘standard’ Bravia 6 LED direct “.
Sony claims its high-end Bravia 9 (85-inch $5,499.99 MSRP, 75-inch $3,999.99, 65-inch $3,299.99) is the “brightest 4K TV Sony has ever produced,” 50 % brighter than last year’s top of the line Bravia. X95L mini-LED TV and 1.5 times brighter than the company’s current OLED, with a 325% jump in dimming zones. During a demonstration, engineers removed the panel to reveal only the Bravia 9’s backlight compared to a competing set from another brand to illustrate its increased accuracy. Sony also claims that the Bravia 9 uses 20% less power than last year’s mini-LED.
Sony also claims that the Bravia 8 mini-LED (77-inch $3,899.99 MSRP, 65-inch $2,799.99, 55-inch $1,999.99) is 31% thinner than its own A80L OLED with a 29-inch bezel. % thinner and offers the company’s Acoustic Surface Audio+ technology.
Similar to the Mini-LED models, the FALD Bravia 7 LED TV (85-inch MSRP at $3,499.99, 75-inch at $2,799.99, 65-inch at $2,299.99, 55-inch at $1,899.99 $) offers a 790% increase in dimming zones compared to its 2023 X90L full-array LED model with a comparative 15% drop in power consumption.
At entry level, the Bravia 3 (85″ $1,799.99 MSRP, 75″ $1,299.99, 65″ $999.99, 55″ $849.99, 50″ $699.99, 43″ $599.99) offers “dynamic” HDR with 8% power savings compared to last year’s X77L models. .
Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski and cinematographer Claudio Miranda were on hand to enhance the cinematic qualities of the Bravia 9. “We’ll spend weeks, if not months, color grading a film,” Kosinski explained. “I don’t know how well the consumer understands HDR details, colors or shadows, but it’s nice that the consumer has the ability to see the filmmaker’s intent.” Miranda added: “Based on the demos we’ve seen of Top Gun [on the Bravia 9]I could see that was exactly how we shot it.
Sony also revealed a new auto-calibration mode for Amazon Prime content that can automatically adjust luminance, color temperature, color accuracy, contrast, brightness, type of TV panel detected, conditions ambient lighting and dynamism. According to Sony, the company’s APIs allow a streaming service to report metadata about individual content in order to produce accurate grading.
Home theater speakers
On the home theater side, Sony has announced four Bravia Theater speaker products:
The Bravia Theater Quad ($2,499.99) is, naturally, a four-speaker system, with each speaker consisting of four drivers that provide 360° spatial sound mapping, with the Sony Bravia TV providing the center channel . The array’s 16 speakers provide 16 phantom channels, so sounds sound as if they’re emanating from the precise location on-screen.
Bravia Theater Bar 9 ($1,399.99) is a soundbar equipped with 13 separate speakers supporting both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. While Sony has auditioned the soundbar paired with a subwoofer and rear speakers, the Bar 9 is sold separately and not as a bundle.
Bravia Theater Bar 8 ($999.99) is a slightly smaller and less featured soundbar, equipped with 11 speakers.
Bravia Theater U Neck Band ($299.99) is the latest around-the-neck Bluetooth speaker that sits on a user’s collarbone and features upward-firing drivers to deliver a more surround-sound listening experience personal, more open than often claustrophobic and non-surround headphones. . However, this latest neckband lacks the downward-firing woofers of the previous model (SRS-NB10), which provide a more haptic listening experience.
Sony’s new Bravia soundbars feature the company’s Voice Zoom 3 adjustable audio technology that can be set on a sliding scale either to isolate voices and highlight dialogue that cuts out sound effects, or to mute dialogues, like drowning out the chatter of sports announcers to get a more ambient sound experience in person.
In particular, Sony hopes to justify its more expensive televisions and home theater speakers by slightly changing the direction of the potential purchase, emphasizing that “the cinema is coming back to the home.” “It’s not about turning the living room into a home theater,” said Rob Brennan, head of audiovisual products at Sony. “We want to offer a cinema experience in their living rooms.”
See also: Samsung adds new 98-inch model to its ultra-wide TV lineup
Touting its high-tech “lens-to-the-living room” film and television production to consumer home theater product ecosystem credentials, Sony has announced its 2024 Bravia line of audio equipment and mini-LED TVs.
Sony’s latest televisions and audio equipment were previewed to international media, including TWICE, for several days at the historic Sony Picture Studios, the former production facilities of MGM and Columbia Pictures, in Culver City, in California.
While Sony’s video and audio demos are as impressive as ever, the company’s product pricing strategy is a bit curious. Touting its mini-LED version as brighter and close to parity in terms of black levels and color reproduction with OLED, Sony has priced its new flagship Bravia 9 mini-LED model between the 2023 G3 and OLED models. LG’s similarly sized 2024 G4, much higher than mini-LED models from TCL, Hisense and others, and even higher than new mini-LED sets from Samsung, which also raised its 2024 mini-LED prices for 2024.
Whether or not retailers will be able to point to the claimed technical and quality advantages of Sony’s new mini-LED models to justify their near-OLED pricing – especially since consumers expect the models to Mini-LEDs offer a more affordable alternative to OLED – the course of which remains to be seen. Sony has not introduced an update for its XR-A95L OLED TV.
New Sony Bravia TVs
Sony has revealed four new Bravia TV models, ‘flagship’ and ‘premium’ mini-LED editions, the Bravia 9 and Bravia 8 respectively, a ‘basic’ full-array Bravia 7 LED and a ‘standard’ Bravia 6 LED direct “.
Sony claims its high-end Bravia 9 (85-inch $5,499.99 MSRP, 75-inch $3,999.99, 65-inch $3,299.99) is the “brightest 4K TV Sony has ever produced,” 50 % brighter than last year’s top of the line Bravia. X95L mini-LED TV and 1.5 times brighter than the company’s current OLED, with a 325% jump in dimming zones. During a demonstration, engineers removed the panel to reveal only the Bravia 9’s backlight compared to a competing set from another brand to illustrate its increased accuracy. Sony also claims that the Bravia 9 uses 20% less power than last year’s mini-LED.
Sony also claims that the Bravia 8 mini-LED (77-inch $3,899.99 MSRP, 65-inch $2,799.99, 55-inch $1,999.99) is 31% thinner than its own A80L OLED with a 29-inch bezel. % thinner and offers the company’s Acoustic Surface Audio+ technology.
Similar to the Mini-LED models, the FALD Bravia 7 LED TV (85-inch MSRP at $3,499.99, 75-inch at $2,799.99, 65-inch at $2,299.99, 55-inch at $1,899.99 $) offers a 790% increase in dimming zones compared to its 2023 X90L full-array LED model with a comparative 15% drop in power consumption.
At entry level, the Bravia 3 (85″ $1,799.99 MSRP, 75″ $1,299.99, 65″ $999.99, 55″ $849.99, 50″ $699.99, 43″ $599.99) offers “dynamic” HDR with 8% power savings compared to last year’s X77L models. .
Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski and cinematographer Claudio Miranda were on hand to enhance the cinematic qualities of the Bravia 9. “We’ll spend weeks, if not months, color grading a film,” Kosinski explained. “I don’t know how well the consumer understands HDR details, colors or shadows, but it’s nice that the consumer has the ability to see the filmmaker’s intent.” Miranda added: “Based on the demos we’ve seen of Top Gun [on the Bravia 9]I could see that was exactly how we shot it.
Sony also revealed a new auto-calibration mode for Amazon Prime content that can automatically adjust luminance, color temperature, color accuracy, contrast, brightness, type of TV panel detected, conditions ambient lighting and dynamism. According to Sony, the company’s APIs allow a streaming service to report metadata about individual content in order to produce accurate grading.
Home theater speakers
On the home theater side, Sony has announced four Bravia Theater speaker products:
The Bravia Theater Quad ($2,499.99) is, naturally, a four-speaker system, with each speaker consisting of four drivers that provide 360° spatial sound mapping, with the Sony Bravia TV providing the center channel . The array’s 16 speakers provide 16 phantom channels, so sounds sound as if they’re emanating from the precise location on-screen.
Bravia Theater Bar 9 ($1,399.99) is a soundbar equipped with 13 separate speakers supporting both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. While Sony has auditioned the soundbar paired with a subwoofer and rear speakers, the Bar 9 is sold separately and not as a bundle.
Bravia Theater Bar 8 ($999.99) is a slightly smaller and less featured soundbar, equipped with 11 speakers.
Bravia Theater U Neck Band ($299.99) is the latest around-the-neck Bluetooth speaker that sits on a user’s collarbone and features upward-firing drivers to deliver a more surround-sound listening experience personal, more open than often claustrophobic and non-surround headphones. . However, this latest neckband lacks the downward-firing woofers of the previous model (SRS-NB10), which provide a more haptic listening experience.
Sony’s new Bravia soundbars feature the company’s Voice Zoom 3 adjustable audio technology that can be set on a sliding scale either to isolate voices and highlight dialogue that cuts out sound effects, or to mute dialogues, like drowning out the chatter of sports announcers to get a more ambient sound experience in person.
In particular, Sony hopes to justify its more expensive televisions and home theater speakers by slightly changing the direction of the potential purchase, emphasizing that “the cinema is coming back to the home.” “It’s not about turning the living room into a home theater,” said Rob Brennan, head of audiovisual products at Sony. “We want to offer a cinema experience in their living rooms.”
See also: Samsung adds new 98-inch model to its ultra-wide TV lineup