Sony Ericsson Promising To Change The Way You Listen To Music “Forever”

Sony Ericsson’s marketing engine is full steam ahead with a rather bold claim that they are going to change the way you listen to music forever, all starting on September 21st. I’m a bit skeptical here about how they will do this, considering the only information is flash animation of some dweeb with headphones drinking a soda. At least the VAIO team has it right by showing off some odd angle of a product when they tease something that’s coming soon. I’m reminded of a Sony Ericsson patent filed years ago where you could listen to music on a portable device without cords, bluetooth, and so forth – the music transferred via electric signals traveling through the body. It was an amazing idea at the time despite the maximum transmission rate of 48kbps ATRAC3plus, but if there was a large enough investment who knows how much this idea could have advanced. I doubt we’ll be seeing that on the 21st, but the main tagline of this promotion is “Put your ears in control.”

Maybe its a way to control the music functions of a phone through our ears, or the addition of a large streaming media service.

Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” Trailer In HD

This Is It was a planned series of 50 concerts by Michael Jackson to be held at the The O2 arena in London. The shows were scheduled to begin in July 2009 and continue through March 2010, which would have totaled over a million in attendance and injected a billion into the UK’s economy. It was an enormous boost for London, and ticket sales surprised everyone – it’s impossible to deny the cultural phenomenon for Michael was back after all tickets sold out in mere hours. Unfortunately, the singer died in a tragic drug overdose that has sparked enormous controversy and greivance towards the fallen entertainer, still known to many as the “King of Pop.”

Last night during the MTV Music Awards, a trailer was shown for the upcoming “This is It” film – based on more than 80 hours of concert footage that was recorded by the concert promoter, AEG Live. The film is due to arrive in theaters on October 28th for a limited two week run and is distributed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Here is the exclusive trailer:

Sony’s 400 Disc Changer in Action

Fresh off winning a CEPRO award, Engadget has posted a video of the BDP-CX7000ES in action. The Sony representative walked them through not only the XMB interface, but treated them to seeing how metadata is displayed via Gracenote. While you can’t display metadata tiled on the screen, or change the size of thumbnail’s Sony is supporting third party control system such as Crestron or Control4 which would allow that level of customization on their devices.

Unchartered 2 Sneak Peak Event

Unchartered 2 has officially gone gold. With a release date set for October 13th, one of Sony’s most anticipated titles of the year will be available in less than a month. In an exciting move for game fans, SCEA and Sony Electronics have partnered together for four sneak peak events. From details provided on PLAYSTATION.BLOG, these are set to be VIP events that will allow  attendees to join Naughty Dog in a night of food, fun and Multiplayer tournaments with the chance to win lots of cool prizes—including the coveted Unchartered 2 Fortune Hunter Edition. Individuals will also have a chance to play the game on Sony Electronics 4K Digital Cinema Technology at a resolution four times greater than any high-definition set. From the details provided Sony further stated they are working with major theater’s across the country to create “digital destinations” so this might not be the last time we see a gala event like this for a key title.

Details will be forthcoming on how to ensure a seat for this special event. The sneak peak event is set for 10/5 and 10/6 at the following locations:

Chicago Area – Rosemont, IL, Muvico Theater

LA Area – Thousand Oaks, CA, Muvico Theater

Seattle Area – Bellevue, WA, Lincoln Square Theater

San Francisco – Landmark Embarcadero

Congratulations to Sony for creating such buzz around this title and giving the fans a chance see the game in such an innovative way.

Tokyo Game Show 2009 Detailed

The Tokyo Game Show (TGS) 2009 is held over a four-day period this year between Thursday, September 24 and Sunday, September 27, 2009 10AM to 5PM at Makuhari Messe in Chiba City. TGS is one of the largest shows in the world, and what makes it so unique is that public is given a chance attend the final 2 days. With areas such as the Gaming Science Museum where you can learn about things such as the internal architecture of the current generations consoles to the Sense of Wonder Night where game developers can show off their prototypes that wow the senses. It’s easy to see why it’s one of the most anticipated shows of the year.

Delivering the Keynote this year will be Kazuo Hirai/President & Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment. The tentative title of his address will be “Sony Computer Entertainment’s 2009 Strategy”. Sony Computer Entertainment Japan has also released details on their floor presence as well. Sony will be organizing each of it’s product line’s into zones, and we can expect the latest in LED technology from Sony at their various zones to spotlight their games.

Here is a list of what is set to be playable:

PS3

• FIFA 10
• Lost Planet 2
• Shin Sangoku Musou MULTI RAID Special
• Pro Evo 2010
• Final Fantasy XIII
• FRONT MISSION EVOLVED
• Bayonetta
• Gran Turismo 5
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
• God of War III
• Infamous
• Heavy Rain (Tentative)
• Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time
• Quantum Theory
• Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2
• Tekken 6
• Dragon Ball Rising Blast
• Assassin’s Creed II

According to the rough translation, we can expect 2 unannounced titles as well.

PSP

• Persona 3 Portable
• Dynasty Warriors 6 Special
• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
• Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep
• Valkyria Chronicles 2
• Phantasy Star Portable 2
• Gran Turismo
• Minna no Sukkiri
• Minna no Tennis Portable
• Jigen Kairou
• Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier
• SOCOM: U.S. Navy Seals Portable
• Bleach Soul Carnival 2
• MotorStorm Raging Ice
• LittleBigPlanet
• Undead Knights
• God Eater

According to the rough translation, we can expect 3 unannounced titles as well.

PlayStation Network

• Angel Senki
• PixelJunk Shooter
• Thexder Neo
• Crystal Defenders
• Gravity Crush
• Hustler King
• Fat Princess
• LocoRoco Midnight Carnival
• Play x Catalog
• x-Radar Portable
• Disgaea Infinite

It’s shaping up to be another amazing how. Stay tuned to Sony Insider for news as it develops.

Sony’s Random $5,399 Dream Setup At CEDIA Expo 2009

There were many displays of high-end components, receivers, televisions and more in the Sony booth at CEDIA Expo 2009, but there was one configuration in particular that really jumped out at me. I think in total I must have seen about 50-75 LCD televisions at the Sony booth, which were mostly W-Series Bravia’s aside from the other specific product displays. It was awesome to be surrounded by all these product demonstrations and I wish I could have brought half of it home with me.

52″ BRAVIA W Series LCD HDTV (KDL-52W5100) = $2299.99

ES Series Network A/V Receiver (STR-DA5500ES) = $1999.99

400 Disc Blu-ray/DVD/CD MegaChanger (BDP-CX960) = $799.99

120GB PS3 Slim (PS398017) = $299.99

Total: $5399.96

Sony Wins Award at CEDIA 2009

This year CEPro started it’s Inaugural CE Pro BEST Awards Products. Edging out some very difficult competition in the Source Components category from Pioneer, Crestron and Control4, Sony’s BDP-CX7000ES (pictures taken at CEDIA Expo 2009) was given the award.

The BDP-CX7000ES is the industry’s first 400 disc Blu-ray Disc MegaChanger. When connected to a broadband connection, the CX7000ES automatically downloads and organizes movie and music metadata from the online Gracenote database so that the DVD, BD, or CD can be found quickly and efficiently. Combine that with Full HD 1080p,Super Bit Mapping video processing, Dolby True HD and DTS-MA audio decoding with analog 7.1 channel output, BD-Live 2.0 support,and DVD upconversion and you have quite a package.

Congratulations to Sony Electronics Inc.

Video: Youtube Sony Bravia Internet Widget

Here is a short video overview of Youtube in its Bravia Internet Widget form, found on certain Sony televisions and Blu-ray players (such as the BDP-N460) that support this feature. It’s a pretty cool service, enabling you to enjoy Youtube content just like the website. I was impressed with the overall speed of the service, and found that searching was easy to do with the remote. The video playing while choosing other videos is something that differentiates this service from the competition, along with the implementation of Cross-Service Search. Unfortunately it seems that Sony and other companies who have implemented Youtube playback are not offering YoutubeHD at this time, but it could happen down the road, and be a feature that doesn’t require new hardware.

Video: Twitter And Netflix On Sony Bravia Internet Widgets

Here is another video I shot at CEDIA 2009 of some other Bravia Internet Widgets, including a fully featured Twitter client and a glimpse at Netflix On-Demand. The Twitter client was very well done, and I didn’t get too deep into it because most of us understand how the service works already. After you log in, you see your friend’s tweets,  which are easy to read – it’s also easy to tweet, while the search is fully functional and simply to type in with the remote. You can also update your profile and other options. I sensed that Sony had nearly captured the whole Twitter client perfectly, but I felt that it could have been made into a stronger option if they allowed the ability for you to tweet about the program/movie/game you are experiencing – let’s say I hit a button in the Twitter Bravia Internet Widget client that said “Tweet About This,” which automatically figures out the title of what I’m doing and allows me to write a short blurb about it.

Unfortunately they didn’t have a functional Netflix experience, but did have a working menu structure that showed thumbnails from the various movie covers available in the library. I didn’t see any search, genre selection, and so forth, but the Netflix Bravia Internet Widget I captured on video was still in prototype form. There is some really oddball movies in that selection pool, by the way!

Facebook Coming To Sony Bravia Internet Widgets

At CEDIA 2009, Sony announced that they added 25 content partners for Bravia Internet Video, but I was surprised that there was less emphasis that Facebook will also be coming to Sony’s Internet equipped TV’s and Blu-ray players as well. Unfortunately, Sony didn’t have a working demonstration of the service on hand, but we did manage to snag a picture of a poster at the booth that clearly states Facebook is coming in Fall 2009. I’m not sure exactly when that is, but I assume it will be before CES in January, that way CEO/President Sir Howard Stringer can brag about it during his keynote speech.