| Manufacturer | Sony Corporation |
|---|---|
| Type | mainly LCD & Organic light-emitting diode HDTV |
| Retail availability | 2005 to present |
| Menu interface | XrossMediaBar |
| Predecessor | Sony WEGA |
| Related articles | HDTV Sony |
| Production | Saitama, Kantō, Japan Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico Nitra, Nitriansky kraj, Slovakia Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain Wuxi, Jiansu, China Kuala Lampur, Malaysia |
BRAVIA is an in house brand owned by Sony which produces high-definition LCD televisions, projection TVs and front projectors, home cinemas and the "BRAVIA Home Theatre" range for it's parent company Sony KK. The name is an acronym of "Best Resolution Audio Visual Integrated Architecture". All Sony high-definition flat-panel LCD televisions in North America have carried the logo for BRAVIA since 2005. BRAVIA replaces the "LCD WEGA" which Sony used for their LCD TVs until Summer 2005 (early promotional photos exist of the first BRAVIA TVs still bearing the WEGA moniker). Bravia televisions and their components are manufactured in Sony's plants in Japan, Mexico, and Slovakia for their respective regions and are also assembled from imported parts in Brazil, Spain, China and Malaysia. Principal design work for BRAVIA products is performed at Sony's research facilities in Japan, at the research and development department at the Sony de Mexico facility in Baja California, Mexico and at the Sony Europe facility in Nitra, Slovakia.
The brand is also used on mobile phones in North American, Japanese and European markets.[1]
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The BRAVIA ENGINE/(Sony Mobile BRAVIA Engine) brand uses the slogan "Color like.no.other.".
The launch of the BRAVIA was supported by an advertising campaign, with a commercial featuring 250,000 brightly colored rubber balls (real, not computer-generated) bouncing down a San Francisco street. The idea was brought to life by director Nicolai Fuglsig with the help of Los Angeles-based special effects guru Barry Conner. In addition to the 12 air mortars, Conner deployed three giant skips, each lifted 50 feet into the air and containing 35,000 colored bouncy balls. The first shot required 50,000 balls to be sent cascading down a hill, colliding at a road junction with a further 50,000 that had been fired along a side street. A team of 50 interns was on hand to gather up the balls for the six takes it took in the more than four days to film the advertisement. Golf nets were erected at the sides of the street and every drain was blocked.
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. The commercial 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 and helped his debut album Veneer reach number 7 in the UK albums chart. The commercial shows a similarity to The Knife´s original Heartbeats-video which was directed by Johannes Nyholm, Andreas Nilsson, Bo Melin. It is probable that the original video inspired the makers of the commercial video.[2]
A parody of this commercial was run in the UK by Tango, a brand of soft drink. Filmed in Swansea, Wales, it featured fruit in place of bouncing balls[3] and used the same music.
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 - Colour like no other" at the end of the original commercial, the clan's video read "Bunny hopping - Like no other".[4]
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 Utah teapots. At the end of the demonstration, the video reads "Realtime - Like no other."[5]
A popular sex toy manufacturer also ran a parody with the end title "pleasure like no other" by KY.
Following on from the original advert, Jonathan Glazer directed the second in which a condemned tower block in Toryglen in Glasgow, Scotland was covered in 70000 litres of environmentally friendly paint with the help of over 1400 separate explosions featured as imitation fireworks, concluding with a simulated "reverse demolition" of the building. This was filmed with a crew of 200 people over a 10 day period in July 2006.[6] The music used in this commercial is the Overture to The Thieving Magpie by Gioachino Rossini. The tower block was demolished in 2007.
It was filmed in a street in New York City where 200 bunnies made from 2.5 Tonnes of plasticine united to form a 30-foot giant rabbit. The accompanying soundtrack is "She's a Rainbow" by The Rolling Stones. The commercial was filmed in New York City.[7]
The latest advert, filmed in Egypt features thousands of coloured cotton reels tumbling down a pyramid.
Advertisement in India features thousands of square anthropomorphic pixels. A Kathakali dancer's green face turns into pixels which run away from him. He finds his face later in a Sony BRAVIA television.
This advertising campaign was launched in October 2008. Shot on location in India’s states of Rajastan and Uttar Pradesh. The 60 second Dominos video takes viewers on a journey on a tumbling journey of color, from a magnificent fort in Jaisalmer through a desert all the way to the Taj Mahal in Agra. The music for the spot was created by Song Zu and Darker My Love's Rob Barbato.[8]
In December 2008, Sony filmed a large zoetrope called the BRAVIA-drome in Venaria, Italy to advertise Motionflow 240Hz in the Sony BRAVIA KDL-52XBR7.
Motionflow 200Hz/240Hz is Sony’s motion interpolation technology, where three new frames are added per second to smooth the picture. Sixty-four images of the Brazilian footballer Kaká were used inside the BRAVIA-drome to demonstrate that with increased frame rate (speed at which the zoetrope rotated), there is increased smoothness of motion. Measuring 10 metres in diameter and weighing 10 tonnes, the BRAVIA-drome has officially been declared the world’s largest zoetrope by Guinness World Records.[9]
The advert was directed by Vernie Yeung, produced by Fallon Worldwide, the agency behind the ‘Balls’, ‘Paint’ and ‘Play-doh’ trilogy, and is currently airing in Australia.[10] The music used in this commercial is "Underdog", by Kasabian.
On November 10, 2008, a video was uploaded on YouTube by "UBS Network News", a mock news report about an anonymously sent video purporting to be an "Unidentifiable Fast Moving Object" (UFMO). The second part, uploaded on November 24, showed a reporter interviewing a "scientist" about the object, which seems to leave behind exhaust like a rocket. However, in the final video, uploaded on November 25, it is revealed that the videos were part of an advertising campaign by Sony and that when BRAVIA Televisions were installed, the footage actually "shows" (the original footage does not actually show) Canadian skater Cindy Klassen. [1]
In April 2007, Sony launched the BRAVIA TDM-IP1,[12] a docking cradle to permit playback of audio and video hosted on an Apple iPod on a BRAVIA model television.
Current accessories available include a Skype Camera (CMUBR100) and WiFi adapter (UWABR100).[13]
Sony Bravia Internet Video first became avaliable in late 2009 on Internet enabled Bravia TV's, later becoming available on Sony Blu-ray and home theatre systems. The original Bravia Internet Video was built around Sony's XMB interface and had several streaming media partners including: Amazon Video On Demand, YouTube, Yahoo!, Netflix and Sony Video (Qriocity).[14] 2011 saw a revamp of Bravia Internet Video, with a rework of the interface and an added Skype capability.
Sony Bravia Internet TV is the first TV to incorporate Google TV, currently only available in the US it plans to revolutionise IPTV.[15]
For sale in Japan on July 30th, Sony's green product, a new flat-panel 32-inch TV for 150,000 yen (US$ 1,400; € 900) BRAVIA KDL-32JE1 offers ecological consumers the advantage of 70% less energy consumption than regular models with same image quality. For consumers who rely on electricity generated from carbon dioxide emitting sources, it reduces carbon dioxide emissions totaling 79 kilograms (174 pounds) a year.[16][17]
BRAVIA brand phones produced by Sony Ericsson Japan. BRAVIA brand phones are able to watch 1seg terrestrial television.
The LCD panels within BRAVIA TVs are manufactured by S-LCD, a 50/50 joint venture between Sony and South Korean rival Samsung.[18] Since 2010, high end Bravia LX, HX and selected NX series use 10th gen Sharp ASV panel. The 8th gen SPVA panel from SLCD continue to serve other midrange and budget Bravia models.
Many Sony televisions with USB connectivity run Linux.[19].
The software can be upgraded via a USB type A interface 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 (2^32 milliseconds).[20] A free upgrade is available.[21]