Sony showcases its first HD Freeview TV

SONY IS MAKING a change with an increased focus on content and services as opposed to 'arbitrary technical specifications that consumers know little about'.

At an event in London Sony was showing off its latest range of Bravia TVs, the first include an DVB-T2 tuner, capable of receiving high definition Freeview channels. However that's not all the new range has to offer, as Sony was keen to demonstrate.

In terms of design, the new Monolithic design - which clearly takes its name from the famed artefact in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey - presents a solid black slab which is designed to recline at six degrees off vertical, which according to Sony offers a better viewing experience when you're plonked on your couched. Furthermore the aluminium stand can include an optional speaker as well.

The company has even revamped the remote to better suit the Monolith concept and has included a power toggle button on the back for when you don't want to be put off by all thosepesky buttons.

While the new TVs include all the latest technology you would probably expect such as 200Hz refresh rates, Edd Uzzell, a proposition development manager for Sony told us that the company is taking a much greater focus on services and content, in a bid to differentiate itself from the competition.

With this in mind, many of the new Bravia's and several of its upcoming Blu-ray players are network enabled and incorporate Sony's cross-media bar interface, which is currently found in the Playstation Portable, PS3 and some Sony Ericsson phones. The exact services will vary from device to device, but from this interface users will be able to access content from the network and the internet, including social networks and a range of IPTV and video streaming services like Youtube and soon Demand Five, Lovefilm and Iplayer amongst others. Certain models will also include support for widgets, giving you access to real time updates about weather, news and the like.

Due to the lack of an inbuilt browser, most of these new features are accessed through bespoke interfaces better suited to navigating with a remote, but we did see a basic on-screen keyboard for inputting text, for example when searching Youtube.

Unsurprisingly all of this is currently delivered on a proprietary system, but Uzzell told us that Sony is working with the Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HBBTV) consortium to create an open standard for harmonising the broadcast and broadband delivery of entertainment to the end consumer through connected TVs and set-top boxes.

The new design and interface will be available in some of the new Blu-ray players and a range of LCD, LED and LED Backlit Bravia TVs with screen sizes ranging from 32 to 60 inches. Pricing details weren't given, but Uzzell reckons that they will be on par or even cheaper than last year's equivalent models. µ