‘Immersive’ TV display tops list of new Sony gadgets

Eighty-four-inch TV screens are not new, but the new Sony XBR 4K Ultra high-definition TV display has a sharpness and clarity that far exceeds regular high-definition TV pictures.

It retails for a staggering $25,000, but the company says less pricey versions of the 4K sets will be unveiled and their pricing revealed at the national Consumer Electronics Show in January.

Sony calls watching the TV an "immersive" experience, and it does not require special glasses to watch, as do 3-D televisions.

The 7-foot-wide 4K TV was the centerpiece of a Sony Hawaii new product showcase Friday at its newly expanded service center in Mapunapuna. The company will mark its 45th anniversary in the islands next year, which will kick off with the Sony Open in January.

The 4K TV display has eight times the resolution of 2K TV, and four times the resolution of 1080p Full HD technology, said Ted Abe, a sales account manager and the product demonstrator for Friday’s event.

To demonstrate the TV’s sound quality, which was at once lush and crisp, Abe played a video of an orchestra playing "The Ride of the Valkyries."

While the feature film industry is using 4K, it may take the TV industry about five years to equip itself with cameras and other tools necessary for 4K implementation, according to industry publication TVNewsCheck. Programming distributors such as cable and satellite companies also have yet to embrace and fully integrate 4K technology, but the 4K TV upscales HD or lower-resolution images from all sources.

The huge TV is Sony’s first consumer product to use the 4K technology with which blockbuster movies such as "Skyfall," the new James Bond film, have been produced by Sony Pictures, said Karl Oke­mura, Sony Hawaii senior vice president. The London Olympics also were produced using Sony technology, he said.

The lower-priced 4K sets will be more realistically attainable for more households.

Okemura explained that the 4K’s key is RGB LED technology in back of the screen.

RGB, or red, green, blue, is the color spectrum that creates TV pictures, while LED stands for light-emitting diode. Other manufacturers use white LEDs, and the TVs are engineered differently for thinness, which has been an industry standard favored by consumers, Oke­mura said.

Putting the RGB LED technology in back of the screen makes the 4K TV thicker, but Sony decided to sacrifice thinness for the highly advanced picture quality, he said.

As one might expect, the TV is equipped with full network connectivity, and can be controlled using a smartphone or tablet using the Media Remote app. It has built-in Wi-Fi and can access content through the Sony Entertainment Network’s variety of more than 50 entertainment providers, including Netflix.

Abe displayed on the huge screen a scenic photograph of a village taken with a Sony Alpha camera, stunning attendees with the clarity of detail in the roof tiles, foliage and other aspects of the image.

He "threw" the image onto the TV from the Xperia tablet he was using for the presentation, a function the new Sony tablet is able to perform without a separate wireless router, which older models would require. Video also can be "thrown" from the tablet to the TV, Abe said.

Three models of the Xperia retail from $399 to $599, depending on the memory capacity, though each contains a slot for an SD memory card.

Sure to be a popular item for geeks and active outdoor folk alike is the Action Cam, a digital camera that is a fraction of the size of a cigarette pack and weighs less than a can of soda.

One version has built-in Wi-Fi for streaming of live video to a device such as a tablet, smartphone or computer and for potential uploading to social networks, Abe said. The Wi-Fi-equipped Action Cam retails for $269.99, while the version without Wi-Fi retails for $199. Each comes with a clear case that is dustproof and waterproof to a depth of 197 feet, he said.

The tiny digital camera stores as much video as a micro SD card or micro memory stick can hold, up to two hours of HD video, Abe said. It is called a "POV," or point-of-view, camera and is intended to be strapped to such things as bicycle handlebars, surfboards or, as demonstrated by Sony Hawaii professional equipment manager Kyle Kim, a headband.

Kim referred to himself as "Action Man" for purposes of the demonstration, during which the Action Cam streamed live video of attendees to a tablet and TV screens in the service center. Abe also showed Action Cam video of sky divers in Hawaii on the large screens.

Personal and home audio products also were displayed at the service center, including "X" headphones and the G-Tank lighted speaker system, which includes docking for MP3 players or iPods and also features a built-in radio.

The lighted speakers "change color" along with the music, intensifying with heavier bass beats, said Sony Hawaii marketing and sales executive Ricardo Sandoval. "This is my favorite," he grinned. The G-Tank retails for $299.

The number of products displayed was not as large as the dealer shows and open-to-the-public Sony Expos that Sony Hawaii staged in past years. Still, with the Japa­nese-based manufacturer gearing up for the Consumer Electronic Show in January, "this is just the tip of the iceberg," Oke­mura said.