Sony Wants to Prove It's Cool
TOKYO -- Sony Corp. unveiled television sets that let users surf channels by thumbing a tiny joystick, as the company strives to show it still is the coolest gadget maker around.
The eight-model lineup consists entirely of flat-panel television sets -- a first for a company that won its stripes with the Trinitron picture-tube TV set and until last year had few flat-panel models on the market.
The new TV sets also borrow from Sony's other product divisions, incorporating top-end picture and sound-processing technology, as well as software and microprocessors from the videogame division for zippy controller response. Sony also showed two high-end models that pioneer a new lighting technology to produce more vivid colors. For the first time ever, the TV and audio groups worked together, designing a powerful 3D speaker and sound system for the new sets.
With its new product line, Sony is trying to show that it has recovered its innovative edge.
"Sony is absolutely the leader in image and sound," said Ken Kutaragi, the creator of the PlayStation videogame console, who since late last year has overseen all home-electronics operations and was personally involved in the planning for these models.
Sony's new controller is a clam-shell shape that opens to a button-filled bar for the TV's complication maneuvers.
The new lineup is a sign of how effectively Sony has shaken up its inflexible and insular TV division, making it cooperate more closely with the rest of the company.
Sony is famous for its proud, stubborn engineers attached to the Trinitron picture-tube technology, but resistance to change in the TV-engineering group is cited as one of the reasons Japan's gadget king came late to the race to put out flat-panel sets. The new lineup shows that the attempt to revitalize pockets of old engineering culture is starting to bear fruit.
"These were made by bringing together the total power of the Sony group," said home-electronics head Tsutomu Niimura at a news conference to launch the models.
The audio technology is a case in point. Although Sony has a division that for years made high-fidelity audio equipment, the TV division hadn't tapped its expertise. "We did everything inside the TV group," recalled Makoto Kogure, Sony's TV chief.
The TV group also worked with Sony's videogame arm to adapt game technology for use in the sets. In what could be the start of a standard Sony software look, all the models sport the distinctive cross-bar menu first used last year in the PSX video recorder, and all respond to the controller with the snappy feel of a videogame. That is because the menu software is run on the same fast chips that power the PlayStation 2 videogame console.
Even the remote controller is a departure for the TV group. Built in clamshell shape like a hefty cellphone, when closed, the controller has only a few buttons and a small knob-shaped joystick for scrolling through menu options and icons. That is enough to handle most of the TV set's functions. For complicated maneuvers, the controller opens up to a typical button-filled bar shape.
Mr. Kutaragi said he would like the same software interface -- and the same remote controller -- eventually to be used on other gadgets as well, such as the Sugoroku DVD recorder and Sony's next-generation Blu-ray optical-disk recorder.
The new sets also incorporate image-processing technology that can sharpen picture quality -- from ordinary standard-definition quality to high-definition, or from high-definition to ultrahigh. The technology, unveiled last week, also enables users to zoom in on parts of images and pan around inside the frame. Those features aren't included in the current TV lineup but may appear in future models.
Sony also showed two liquid-crystal display models it plans to sell under its luxury Qualia brand, in which the screen is illuminated from behind by hundreds of tiny red, blue and green light-emitting diodes, rather than the thin florescent tubes used in most LCD TV sets.
Sony says the new lighting system extends the range of colors the TV can display. The 46-inch Qualia TV is expected to retail for ￥1,102,500 ($10,085). Sony says it hasn't decided whether it will sell the sets abroad as well.
The other models, which will be sold under the Wega brand, are expected to cost between 399,000 yen for the 24-inch LCD TV to 1,029,000 yen for the 50-inch plasma model. Although the plasma models will be sold in the U.S., they initially won't feature the cross-bar menu, Sony said. Sony hasn't decided when it will start sales overseas of the LCD models.
All the TV sets will go on sale in Japan in the next few months, and three plasma-display models will be shipped to the U.S. around the same time. Sales in Europe likely will start early next year.
索尼力推全新系列电视机
索尼公司(Sony Corp., 又名：新力公司)新推出一个系列的电视，观众用拇指控制一个小小的操纵杆就可以转换频道。索尼以此表示自己依然是最新潮电器的生产商。
这个系列的电视一共8款，全部都是平面电视。对索尼这家凭藉特丽珑(Trinitron)彩色显像管而扬名的公司来说，这可是破天荒头一次。而且直到去年，索尼面市的平面电视机还不多。
新款电视还借鉴了索尼其他生产部门的先进技术，包括领先的成像技术和声音处理技术，还有电子游戏部门提供的软件和微处理器技术，为的是让遥控器更加灵敏。索尼还展示了两款高端型号，率先采用一种新型背光技术，使色彩更加逼真。这也是索尼的电视和音响部门有史以来第一次携手，为新款电视开发一套先进的3D扬声器和音响系统。
这个新推出的产品系列表明索尼在重振电视部门活力、改变该部门固步自封局面取得了卓有成效的进展。
有“PlayStation游戏机之父”之称的久多良木健(Ken Kutaragi)说，“索尼绝对是图像和声音领域的领先公司。”去年年底以来，他一直负责所有的家用电器部门，也参与了这个电视新系列的规划设计工作。
新系列的推出也表明索尼有效整顿了电视部门的低效和孤立，使之能与其他部门更加密切地合作。
索尼以特丽珑成像技术的发明团队而自豪，但这个团队也一幅顽固面孔，拒绝改变，因此也成为索尼在平面电视机领域落后于同行的原因之一。新系列的推出也表明索尼旨在更新这个团队文化的种种举措有了成效。
索尼家用电器部门主管Tsutomu Niimura在推出新款电视机的新闻发布会上说，“这是整个索尼集团通力合作的结果。”
音响技术就是一例。虽然索尼某个部门多年来一直在生产高保真音响设备，电视生产部门却从未利用过他们的专业技术。索尼负责电视业务的主管Makoto Kogure说，“所有的事都是在电视部门内部完成的。”
电视部门还同索尼旗下的电子游戏部门合作，借鉴他们的技术。新系列的各型号电视机均采取特色鲜明的交叉菜单，这种排列方式是去年的PSX录音机率先使用的，此后所有的电子游戏控制器全都采用了这个创意，很可能会就此成为索尼软件的经典外观。能够这样做的原因就在于菜单软件与PlayStation 2电子游戏机运行在同样的快速处理晶片上。
电视遥控器也不是电视部门自己开发的。遥控器看起来像翻盖式手机，合起来的时候只有很少几个按键和一个小小的旋钮式操纵杆，通过摇动就可以选择各种菜单选项和图标。这足以控制大多数的电视机功能了。对那些喜好复杂操作的观众来说，只要掀开遥控器，就可以看到一个常见的布满各种按键的长条型遥控器。
Kutaragi说，他希望索尼生产的各种电器最终都能采用统一的软件界面和遥控器外观，例如Sugoroku DVD录音机和索尼新一代Blu-ray光盘刻录机。
新款电视机还采用了新型图像处理技术，可以改善图像质量。把普通标准分辨率的图像提高到高分辨率水平，如果已经是高分辨率水平就能提高到超高分辨率水平。这种技术上周才刚刚推出，可以让观众放大图像的某一部分，并在整个图像框架内摇动浏览。这些功能尚未添加到这次推出的新款电视机上，但以后会逐步添加。
索尼还展示了两款准备用豪华的Qualia品牌推出的液晶电视机，电视屏幕是用红色、蓝色和绿色共上百个微型发光二极管从背后照亮的，不像普通的液晶电视机那样利用细长的荧光管发光。
索尼表示，新型背光技术能够让电视机展现更多色彩。预计46英寸Qualia电视机零售价为1,102,500日圆（合10,085美元）。索尼表示，尚未决定是否在海外市场推出这款电视。
另一款将用Wega品牌推出，预计24英寸液晶的零售价为399,000日圆，50英寸等离子电视的售价为1,029,000日圆。索尼称，虽然这款等离子电视也会供应美国市场，但最初不会采用交叉菜单设计。索尼尚未决定在海外市场推出液晶电视机的时间。
全系列8个款型的电视将在未来几个月在日本全面上市，同时3个款型的等离子电视将在美国上市，欧洲市场大概从明年年初开始供货。
