Sony-Bravia-Cinema-is-coming-home
Sony is renewing BRAVIA as a brand for watching movies to enrich the ultimate home cinema experience. With the expansion of streaming services, watching movies in the comfort of the home has gained in popularity. Sony’s wide variety of products such as digital cinema cameras, professional monitors, and professional headphones have been widely utilised by film production professionals, allowing the company to deeply understand the cinema industry and the intentions of filmmakers and content creators. New BRAVIA further enhances the sense of reality of cinematic content and delivers outstanding picture and sound quality at home to enjoy films with much of the same magic of the big screen. By unifying TVs, soundbars and other home audio technologies under a single brand, Sony aims for customers to have a one-stop destination to enjoy that ultimate cinematic experience of dazzling picture quality and evocative sound as the filmmaker intended. The matching features and design of BRAVIA TVs and BRAVIA Theatre home audio products make it easier for consumers to choose and combine a complete home entertainment package for an outstanding cinematic experience.
“Building on the decades of operating at the heart of the professional film production equipment development as well as film production and distribution, Sony is in a unique position that allows it to utilise its unparalleled film industry, professional equipment, and consumer electronics experience with its pioneering BRAVIA TVs and BRAVIA Theatre home audio devices”, said Jobin Joejoe, Managing Director, Sony Middle East and Africa. “We’re excited to launch the new BRAVIA TV and BRAVIA Theatre home audio products that usher in new exciting features, elevating the way you can watch films at home to new heights”, added Joejoe.
Cinema is coming home with BRAVIA
BRAVIA Theatre: immersive cinematic audio for watching movies at home
Sony has unique, extensive experience in the film industry, ranging from professional cameras and monitors to film production and distribution. Building on those strengths, for its newly announced BRAVIA Theatre home audio product line-up the company has focused on the differences between the viewing environments at the cinema and home, working on various initiatives to provide the same immersive audio to the home setting. The acoustics of a cinema is precisely designed, and the sound emitting from a large number of speakers placed on the ceiling and walls creates a localised sound field, providing the audience with an overwhelming sense of immersion. With BRAVIA Theatre, you can enjoy the same kind of acoustic cinema experience at home.
Key technologies and features of the 2024 BRAVIA Theatre home audio products
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360 Spatial Sound Mapping
Utilising Sony’s proprietary 360 Spatial Sound Mapping technology, multiple phantom speakers are generated in locations where there are no actual physical speakers, such as above or to the side. This enables a 360 spatial sound experience that is optimised for a specific home setting, with a wide sound field that surrounds you with audio from various directions mirroring the cinema experience, without having to install physical speakers on the ceiling or walls. Previously, both a soundbar and rear speakers were required to generate phantom speakers – with the newly released BRAVIA Theatre Bar 9 and BRAVIA Theatre Bar 8, you can enjoy 360 Spatial Sound Mapping using just a single soundbar. Also, BRAVIA Theatre Quad can realise wider surround sound with 4 slim speakers.
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Sound Field Optimization
BRAVIA Theatre Products are compatible with Sound Field Optimization, which automatically adjusts and tunes each speaker based on the layout of your room to help find the optimum location to place your system to feel the impact of cinematic sound at home.
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Acoustic Center Sync
Acoustic Center Sync integrates your sound system such as a soundbar with the TV so that the sound precisely matches the action on the screen, bringing a cinema-like setup home. In cinemas, speakers are placed directly behind the screen, which has numerous small holes, and the sound emitted from it is passed forward so that the dialogue and sounds overlap with the image projected onto the screen and are heard from the correct position. When you combine BRAVIA TVs and BRAVIA Theatre products, the Acoustic Center Sync function fuses the sound of the TV’s speakers and the soundbar seamlessly, creating a cinema-like experience where the sound appears to come directly from the TV screen.
“We’re excited to bring audiences an unrivalled cinematic experience in the home and beyond with Sony’s new BRAVIA IMAX Enhanced certified TVs and BRAVIA Theatre home audio products,” said Vikram Arumilli, SVP and GM, Streaming and Consumer Technology at IMAX. “IMAX Enhanced is designed to preserve and enhance filmmaker’s vision and intent, and Sony’s expanded device offering adds more ways for fans to experience the power of IMAX through some of the most iconic films hosted on the platform.”
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Voice Zoom 3
If you combine BRAVIA Theatre home audio products and compatible BRAVIA TVs, Sony’s new Voice Zoom 3 recognises human dialogue through an AI algorithm and amplifies or reduces its volume so even small dialogue sounds loud and clear.
Settings for Voice Zoom 3 and the BRAVIA Theatre audio product line connected to BRAVIA can be operated using the new BRAVIA Connect App (formerly Home Entertainment Connect App) without displaying the menu bar on the TV screen while watching a movie.
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Optional speakers
By adding a wireless subwoofer or rear speakers, you can enjoy powerful deep bass and enhanced surround sound. Equipped with a powerful 180mm driver and a passive radiator to deliver 300W of deep bass sound, the SA-SW5 or the SA-SW3 subwoofer can be placed anywhere with wireless connectivity. SA-RS5 is a pair of rear speakers that have a built-in battery and up-firing speaker and do not need to be connected to a power source, which makes it possible to have it placed in a variety of locations. You can also experience a much clearer and wider sound experience of 360 Spatial Sound Mapping with rear speakers.
Sony’s new neckband speaker delivers immersive sound that surrounds your ears for open-air yet personal listening. You can experience immersive cinema at a high volume without having to worry about your surroundings and enjoy enveloping Dolby Atmos® sound when paired with Sony’s compatible BRAVIA TVs with 360 Spatial Sound. Connect two BRAVIA Theatre U speakers to a single TV or other devices using the Speaker Add function. Each viewer can enjoy clear, immersive surround sound with the freedom to adjust the volume to a preferred level.
“Storytelling is at the heart of everything we do at Dolby,” said Mahesh Balakrishnan, Vice President of Consumer Entertainment, Dolby Laboratories. “With Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, creatives have a wider set of tools to work with so audiences can experience their stories exactly as they envisioned. Through the combination of Sony best-in-class engineering and Dolby’s industry-leading innovations, consumers can enjoy truly cinematic Dolby experiences on their favourite Sony BRAVIA and BRAVIA Theatre devices.”
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Compatible with IMAX Enhanced and Dolby Atmos
BRAVIA Theatre Bar 9, Bar 8 and Quad not only support industry-standard audio technologies including Dolby Atmos® immersive audio and DTS:X, but also have IMAX® Enhanced certification.
Environmental initiatives
Sony has set forth an environmental plan called Road to Zero, which aims to achieve zero environmental impact through its business activities and product life cycles by 2050. To contribute to this vision, BRAVIA and BRAVIA Theatre will pursue innovations that provide the best viewing experience with high picture and sound quality and a premium design, all the while contributing to reducing environmental impact as described below.
Reducing virgin plastic usage
The choice of material affects sound quality in particular. Sony has spent years developing a unique recycled plastic that is both environmentally conscious and conducive to creating high-quality audio products. BRAVIA Theatre home audio products use unique recycled plastic, enabling Sony to reproduce superb acoustic performance whilst reducing the use of virgin plastics. The fabric used in the BRAVIA Theatre home audio products is recycled from PET bottles. The material was carefully selected for optimum sound quality, design, texture, and colour.
Commitment to Accessibility
Sony aims to contribute to an inclusive society through its business, increasing accessibility to enable those with diverse needs to use its products. BRAVIA and BRAVIA Theatre develop products with accessibility in mind so that all customers can enjoy the movie experience, regardless of disability or age.
To help the visually impaired set up BRAVIA Theatre home audio products, a raised square frame on the package indicates a QR code for the BRAVIA Connect app, which offers screen reader support. Tactile dots on the back panel of BRAVIA Theatre Bar 9 and 8 indicate the eARC HDMI terminal for connecting to a TV.
The new BRAVIA Theatre Quad will be available from April 2024, while the BRAVIA Theatre Bar 9 and 8 will be available from July 2024 as well as the BRAVIA Theatre U from July 2024. Recommended retail pricing will be released at a later date.
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