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Bravia (brand)

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BRAVIA
File:Sony-electronics-bravia-logo.jpg
BRAVIA logo from Sony
ManufacturerSony Corporation
Typemainly LCD & Organic light-emitting diode HDTV
Retail availability2005 to present
Menu interfaceXross Media Bar
PredecessorSony WEGA
Related articlesHDTV
Sony

BRAVIA is a Sony brand used to market its high-definition LCD televisions, projection TVs and front projectors and for the PlayStation 3 (principal bravia intend), along with its home cinema range under the sub-brand BRAVIA Theatre. The BRAVIA 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 BRAVIA logo since 2005. The name BRAVIA replaces the "LCD WEGA" brand name 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 are manufactured in Sony's plants in Spain and Slovakia.

The BRAVIA brand is also used on mobile phones in the Japanese market.[1]

Advertising campaign

Bravia's Flagship X series as of October 2008
From left to right: XBR8, XBR7 and XBR6 (North American model type)

The BRAVIA brand uses the slogan "Color like.no.other.".[citation needed]

Launch, 'Balls'

The launch of the BRAVIA brand 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 over four days. 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.

Parodies

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.[2]

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".[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 Utah teapots. At the end of the demonstration, the video reads "Realtime - Like no other."[4]

'Paint'

Glasgow tower block, the day after filming

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 70,000 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.[5] The music used in this commercial is the Overture to The Thieving Magpie by Gioachino Rossini. The tower block was demolished in 2007.

'Play-Doh'

The accompanying soundtrack is 'She's a Rainbow' by the Rolling Stones. The commercial was filmed in New York City.[6]

'Pyramid'

The latest advert, filmed in Egypt features thousands of coloured cotton reels tumbling down a pyramid.[citation needed]

India

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.[citation needed]

Dominos

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.[7]

BRAVIA-drome

The BRAVIA-drome at Venaria, in Northern Italy

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.[8]

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.[9] The music used in this commercial is "Underdog", by Kasabian.

UBS Network News: Tale of the Tape

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]

Product line

BRAVIA KDL-46X2000 LCD.

The Sony BRAVIA product line includes the following television sets.

File:Bravia VPL-VW200.jpg
Sony projectors also bear the brand name BRAVIA. This is a high end BRAVIA SXRD model VPL-VW200
Sony's BRAVIA series HDTV

Green TV

For sale in Japan on July 30, Sony's green product, new flat-panel 32-inch TV 150,000 yen (US$ 1,400; € 900) BRAVIA KDL-32JE1 offers ecological consumers advantages of less energy consumption (70% less a year) 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.[10][11]

Mobile phones

BRAVIA brand phones produced by Sony Ericsson Japan. BRAVIA brand phones are able to watch 1seg terrestrial television.

FOMA SO903iTV
FOMA SO906i

Accessories

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.

Internals

The LCD panels within BRAVIA TVs are manufactured by S-LCD, a 50/50 joint venture between Sony and South Korean rival Samsung.[13]

Upgrading and maintenance

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).[14] A free upgrade is available.[15]

References

  1. ^ "FOMA Spring 2007 Gallery: SO903iTV". NTT DoCoMo. Retrieved 2007-08-09.
  2. ^ "TANGO Balls Commercial". youtube. Retrieved 2009-11-28.
  3. ^ "Mine 2 Trailer". Google Videos. Retrieved 2007-04-15. [dead link]
  4. ^ "CryEngine 2 GDC 2008 demonstration". Gametrailers.com. Retrieved 2008-02-23.
  5. ^ Sweney, Mark (2006-10-17). "Sony ad bursts on to screens". The Guardian. London.
  6. ^ Sweney, Mark (2007-10-04). "Sony goes from balls to bunnies". The Guardian. London.
  7. ^ http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2008/sony-bravia-domino-city-in-india/
  8. ^ http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/21/sony-sets-guinness-world-record-with-bravia-drome
  9. ^ www.motionflow.eu
  10. ^ www.iht.com, Sony develops green flat-panel TV to woo ecological consumers
  11. ^ gmanews.tv/story, Sony woos ecological consumers with new flat-panel TV
  12. ^ "Sony introduces BRAVIA TDM-IP1 iPod dock". Engadget. Retrieved 2007-04-15.
  13. ^ Samsung and Sony Sign Final Contract Regarding Production Line for World’s Most Advanced Generation LCD Panel
  14. ^ Brandon Hill. "Over 400,000 Sony BRAVIA TVs Found To Be Defective". Daily Tech. Retrieved 2007-04-15.
  15. ^ "Update My TV". Sony. Retrieved 2007-04-15.
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