BRAVIA
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BRAVIA is a Sony brand used to market its high-definition LCD televisions as well as front and rear projection TVs. The name is an acronym of "Best Resolution Audio Visual Integrated Architecture". All new Sony high-definition flat-panel LCD televisions in North America now carry the BRAVIA logo. The name BRAVIA replaces the "LCD WEGA" brand name which Sony LCD TVs used up until Summer 2005 (early promotional photos exist of the first BRAVIA TVs still bearing the WEGA name).
The BRAVIA brand is also used on mobile phones in japan market[1][2].
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[edit] Usage and capabilities
Like other high definition television lines the various Bravia models differ in capability as well as screen size. Display capability depends on which high definition outputs are supported, and the input signal supplied to the television. Bravia televisions can display video from a variety of sources. The quality of the picture depends on the quality of the input.
The coax connector can receive regular television broadcasts, cable and VCR/DVD output and will also receive and decode whatever high definition content is available on broadcast or cable television. Most high definition television which is broadcast is in the lower resolution high-definition formats.
Other traditional VCR/DVD outputs such as S-Video or Composite video deliver the traditional television resolution that is no better than the resolution displayed by traditional television.
The HDMI input delivers the highest quality signal to the television and produces the highest quality high definition television picture, to the limits of the capabilities of the television. However, all HDMI has the HDCP content protection system built-in and this will degrade resolution of the display should the HDCP detect the presence of an unauthorized device. This limits the devices which deliver high definition TV content to those which are unable to record or otherwise duplicate protected content.
A VGA style computer connection is available, however the resolution of the video signal received from a computer may be limited to resolutions below the capability of the television depending on the capabilities of the computer's graphics card.
Purists will want to adjust the display on installation. The default configuration artificially enhances the color and contrast of the image to produce a more eye-catching, "vivid", display. This is easily done via a menu selection.
Some of the higher end XBR models include MotionFlow 120 Hz, Sony's name for frame interpolation.
[edit] Advertising campaign
The BRAVIA brand uses the slogan "Colour like.no.other.".
[edit] Launch, 'Balls'
The launch of the BRAVIA brand was supported by an advertising campaign featuring 250,000 brightly-colored rubber balls (real, not computer-generated) bouncing down a San Francisco street. The advertisement was made by former Danish photographer Nicolai Fuglsig. The idea was originally a segment of The Late Show with David Letterman in 1996, in which bouncy balls rolled down the same street. Fallon, the advertising agency involved with the commercial, denied ever having watched the episode and claimed the similarity was a coincidence.
[edit] Music
This television and cinema advertisement is accompanied by the song Heartbeats, written by Swedish duo The Knife and performed by José González. The track became very popular on radio stations in the UK after it was released by Peacefrog Records. The advert helped his debut album Veneer reach number 7 in the UK albums chart.
The soundtrack used in the beginning of the backstage video, Making of Sony Bravia Commercial, is Everything Is Alright by Four Tet.
[edit] Parodies
A parody of this advert was run in the UK by Tango, a brand of soft drink. The advert was filmed in Swansea, Wales, UK, Europe and featured fruit in place of bouncing balls.[citation needed]
Circulating only throughout the internet, a video filmed by a clan features 64 players simultaneously hopping down a slope and over Humvees on the Sharqi Peninsula, a map in Battlefield 2. Instead of "BRAVIA - Color like no other" at the end of the original Bouncy Balls commercial, the clan's video read "Bunny hopping - Like no other". [3]
On Belgian television, channel VT4 showed a commercial for a soccer event, using soccer balls and the same music as the Sony commercial.
At the Game Developers Conference of 2008, video game developer Crytek reproduced the commercial to demonstrate its CryEngine 2 game engine. Instead of multi-colored bouncy balls, Crytek used bouncing teapots. At the end of the demonstration, the video reads "Realtime - Like no other." [4]
Siana, a World of Warcraft player on the Kazzak(EU)realm made a parody replacing the bouncing balls with gnomes jumping down the Ironforge hill. The video ends with all the gnomes formed like a heart around Siana and the text "Gnomes - like no other" is shown. The video then fades off, and the World of Warcraft logo is shown. [5]
[edit] 'Paint'
Following on from the original advert, Jonathan Glazer directed the second in which a Glasgow tower block was covered in 70,000 litres of environmentally friendly paint with the help of over 1400 separate explosions. This was filmed over a 10 day period in July 2006. This ad can be found on YouTube.
[edit] Music
The paint explosion advert is accompanied by music from Rossini's opera La gazza ladra ("The Thieving Magpie" in English).
[edit] 'Play-Doh'
The third advert ('Play-Doh') consisting of hordes of claymation rabbits and cubes frolicking amongst New York pedestrians, was broadcast in the UK in mid-2007. The 89-second advert can be downloaded from http://www.bravia-advert.com/ny_downloads/downloads.html.
[edit] Music
The accompanying soundtrack is 'She's a Rainbow' by the Rolling Stones.
[edit] 'Pyramid'
The latest advert, filmed in Egypt features thousands of coloured cotton reels tumbling down a pyramid. It is visible on YouTube at http://youtube.com/watch?v=FbbLT05Oe-8, and there is information on the direction of the ad at http://adsoftheworld.com/media/tv/sony_bravia_pyramid.
[edit] Alternate advertising
In the JDM advert, many people went to a carnival dancing in special clothes. The background music's genre was Salsa.
[edit] Product line
The Sony Bravia product line includes the following television sets.
[edit] Japanese models
These models are available or announced as of April 2008.
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- KDL-70X7000
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- KDL-52X5050
- KDL-46X5050
- KDL-40X5050
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- KDL-52X5000
- KDL-46X5000
- KDL-40X5000
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- KDL-52W5000
- KDL-46W5000
- KDL-40W5000
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- KDL-52X2550
- KDL-46X2550
- KDL-40X2550
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- KDL-52X2500
- KDL-46X2500
- KDL-40X2500
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- KDL-46V2500
- KDL-40V2500
- KDL-32V2500
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- KDL-46S2500
- KDL-40S2500
- KDL-32S2500
- KDL-20S2500
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- KDS-60A2500
- KDS-50A2500
[edit] Mobile phones
BRAVIA brand phones produced by Sony Ericsson Japan. BRAVIA brand phones are able to watch 1seg terrestrial television.
- For NTT DoCoMo
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- FOMA SO903iTV
- FOMA SO906i
[edit] Discontinued models
- E1000 Series
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- KDF-50E1000
- KDF-42E1000
[edit] USA models
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[edit] International Series Names
As on May, 2008 the Sony website displays the following LCD series
- X series
- W series
- D series
- V series
- S series
- U series
- G series
Sony releases equivalent series in Japan, the United States, and Europe, often under different names. The following table shows the equivalent series for each region.
| Japan | United States | Europe |
|---|---|---|
| X7000 | 70" XBR3 | X3500 |
| X5050 | XBR5 | X3500 |
| X5000 | XBR4 | X3000 |
| X2550 | XBR3 | TBD? |
| X2500 | XBR2 | TBD? |
| W5000 | W3000 | W3000 |
| V5000 | V3000 | V3000 |
| V3000 | S3000 | TBD? |
[edit] Accessories
In April 2007, Sony launched the Bravia TDM-IP1,[6] a docking cradle to permit playback of audio and video hosted on an Apple iPod on a Bravia model television.
[edit] Internals
According to the licenses supplied with the Bravia (model KDL-40V2500 and presumably other models) the device runs at least partially on embedded Linux and utilizes other free software and publicly available software components.
[edit] GPL and LGPL software components
- MontaVista Linux Kernel
- busybox
- insmod
- libuClibc.so
- ld.so
- libc.so
- libm.so
- libpthread.so
- libgcc_s.so
- libstdc++.so
Source code for the above can be obtained from within Sony's web site.
[edit] Other software components
- libjpg.so
- OpenSSL (or portions thereof)
[edit] Upgrading and maintenance
The software can be upgraded via a USB type A interface located behind a cover labeled "DMEx / service only".
2006–2007 models may be updated using an MS -Memory Stick, or USB. Depending upon the country and TV standard the Tuner may need a Service Device to update it.
It appears that units manufactured through November 2005 for sale in Asia and North America contained a software bug that prevented the device from powering up/down after 1200 hours.[7] A free upgrade is available.[8]
[edit] References
- ^ FOMA Spring 2007 Gallery: SO903iTV. NTT DoCoMo. Retrieved on 2007-08-09.
- ^ Symbian OS phones: FOMA SO903iTV. Symbian. Retrieved on 2007-08-09.
- ^ Mine 2 Trailer. Google Videos. Retrieved on 2007-04-15.
- ^ CryEngine 2 GDC 2008 demonstration. Gametrailers.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-23.
- ^ | The video on Youtube and planing of the movie on WoW-europe forum
- ^ Sony introduces Bravia TDM-IP1 iPod dock. Engadget. Retrieved on 2007-04-15.
- ^ Brandon Hill. Over 400,000 Sony Bravia TVs Found To Be Defective. Daily Tech. Retrieved on 2007-04-15.
- ^ Update My TV. Sony. Retrieved on 2007-04-15.
[edit] External links
- Sony Bravia - Most Recent Advert
- Sony UK Site.
- Sony Bravia Advert - Behind the scenes
- Sony Bravia - What’s It Mean?
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