April 8, 2008

Sony’s New Flagship TVs Come With HD Decoder April 8, 2008

Read more Entertainment , Games , Gizmodo UK , HD , HDTV , TV

sony w4000.jpg

Sony always charges extra for its TVs compared to other manufacturers. Sometimes it’s worth it and other times it not. The company will probably charge more too for its new high-end LCD TVs but it’s banking on some new sexy features to justify the extra layout.

The Bravia W4000 are to be the flagship tellys in its LCD range, offering Full HD (1080p) and 24fps support and coming in 32,40,46, and 52in flavours. Alongside the digital TV tuner there’s also a HDTV tuner, that can decode any Freeview, or other, HD channels you can find without needing a set-top box. Useful, but not really until the scheduled Freeview HD rollout in late 2009. Still, you'll be ready.

Continued...

Under the hood, the Bravia 2 engine offers 10-bit signal processing combined with the 10-bit LCD panel, to yield 1024 shades of gradation between colours compared to the 256 available from normal 8-bit panels. In real terms, Sony is boasting 64 times more colours for the W4000.

The style-conscious will be chuffed to note Picture Frame Mode which allows the TV to display photos like paintings when not in use, and comes with six ‘art classics’ - from Pop Art To Van Gogh - to get you started. Even the Sony logo on the front is subtlety illuminated by LEDs.

Stylish indeed, but at a price. The 32in will cost around £1,000 while the 52in comes in at around £2,200.-Martin Lynch

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Comments

Are you sure that the TV doesn't just have a DVB-T tuner capable of HD AVC decoding (as would work in Sweden currently and also France)?

The UK won't be using DVB-T, but instead DVB-T2 (which uses different and more efficient modulation and error correction) for HD via Freeview. Production silicon to receive this isn't, AFAIK, close to shipping for use in consumer goods as the standard has only just been officially ratified, and the UK variant hasn't been finally selected.

If the W4000 range doesn't have a DVB-T2 compatible tuner (and it isn't the kind of thing a firmware upgrade adds in functionality terms) then it will be useless for Freeview HD in the UK when it launches (optimistically), late next year.

posted-by Steve | April 8, 2008 9:33 AM

This TV and every other TV on the market until sometime next year - likely late next year - will NOT be able to receive Freeview HDTV in the UK.
Ofcom has explicitly stated that HDTV on DTT must use the DVB-T2 standard.

In Sweden HDTV on DTT has been postponed a least 18 month ( from FEB08) and will use VHF band III and likely DVB-T2.

This TV is - in the UK - ready for an external HD DVB-T2/MPEG-4 Set Top Box.

Lars :-)

posted-by reslfj | April 10, 2008 6:38 PM