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Sony Announces Details, Prices of Google TV Lineup

Sony on Tuesday launched internet-connected HDTVs and Blu-ray players powered by the new Google TV software interface. With Google TV, Sony says users can “watch television while tweeting about what they’re watching, checking their fantasy football scores, or finding related content on the web.” As the video above shows, Sony’s emphasis with Internet TV is […]
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Sony on Tuesday launched internet-connected HDTVs and Blu-ray players powered by the new Google TV software interface.

With Google TV, Sony says users can "watch television while tweeting about what they’re watching, checking their fantasy football scores, or finding related content on the web."

As the video above shows, Sony's emphasis with Internet TV is less about delivering stand-alone content over the web than recasting the television set as a multitasking device. Prices range from $400 to $1,400, and all models will be available for purchase Oct. 16.

Sony's Internet TV HDTVs will come in four sizes: 46-inch ($1,400), 40-inch ($1,000), 32-inch ($800), and 24-inch ($600). All four will have Intel processors, 1080p resolution and LED backlighting (except the 24-inch HDTV, which has a CCFL backlight). They will all have four HDMI and four USB inputs. (The press release has no information about component or composite inputs.)

They all have Wi-Fi, will come with the now-famous QWERTY RF remote with integrated mouse, and of course will have Google TV built-in. (Each Internet TV model has the NSX prefix and a GT1 suffix; for example, the 46-inch Internet TV is the NSX-46GT1.)

Sony will also be selling an Internet TV Blu-ray player, called the NSZ-GT1, for $400. It will have the same remote, a similar Intel processor, and will be able to play back Blu-ray discs. The Blu-ray player will have one HDMI input, one HDMI output and four USB inputs.

Google first presented its new Android-powered search, information and application platform for television at the I/O Conference in May. Last week, they launched a new Google TV website to announce their content and application partners, and Logitech debuted its Google TV set-top box, the Revue.

Sony's contribution to Google TV, however, has probably attracted the most speculation. An ABC News story on Sony's Internet TVs showed an oversized remote control that disappointed many (including a few of us here at Wired). Last week Sony Insider received leak about the product line (which we wrote about here at Gadget Lab) that nailed the screen size of all of the HDTVs but happily overshot the prices by as much as $500. I had an inkling, though, that those prices might be high when Sony held a contest to give away a new 40-inch Internet TV and pegged the approximate retail value of the prize at just $1,000.

Sony is certainly pricing Internet TV much more aggressively than most observers expected. In fact, the new Internet TVs will actually be selling for about $100 less than already-discounted current Bravia models with similar specifications. For example, the 46-inch Bravia NX-800, which also has an LED backlight and built-in Wi-Fi, currently retails for $1,500 at SonyStyle.com (marked down from $2000); the comparable NSX-46GT1 with Google TV will start at $1,400. The Blu-ray player does cost more than comparable non-Google TV Sony Blu-ray players with Wi-Fi, which run between $200 and $300. But for only $100 more than the $300 Logitech Revue, the additional Blu-ray playing capability may make $400 seem like a very fair price too.

A handful of Google TV apps will come pre-installed on Sony devices, including Pandora, YouTube, Napster, Twitter, television content from CNBC and the NBA, and Sony’s own Qriocity on-demand video service.

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