At a press event in New York this evening, Sony officially unveiled their new line of Internet TVs, the first to be powered by Google TV. With models ranging in price from $599 to $1399, sized from 24 to 46 inches, the TVs are expected to be hot sellers and, according to Sony, will be the only TVs powered by Google TV on the shelves this holiday season. The TVs can be pre-ordered now from SonyStyle.com and will be available in Sony Style stores this weekend. Best Buy will have them in showrooms the week of October 24th, according to a Sony spokesperson.
If you've recently purchased a TV, don't despair as Sony will also offer a Network Blu-ray player model with built-in Google TV, the NSZ-GT1, priced at $399. To keep up with the processing needs of Google TV, the player will feature an Intel Atom processor with 8 GB of online storage.
Sony touts the difference between their implementation of Google TV and those of others like Logitech is the open nature of the Sony platform, which integrates Sony's Qriocity with Google TV, the Android OS and Google's Chrome browser. Not limited to just searching for media, the Sony Internet TVs include all of Sony's pre-built apps, with access to services such as Pandora and Twitter, but also allows you to seemlessly switch between live TV, recorded media results, DVR recordings and full-powered Google search in the Chrome browser. Combined with Sony's new Internet TV remote, a cross between a compact QWERTY keyboard and PS3 controller, one sees little need for a separate PC in the living room. When you consider Google's other web-based offerings, including Google Apps and G-Mail, you start thinking whether you really need a separate PC at all.
In a live demo, Sony reps showed off the TV's Dual View capability, which allows you to perform your media searches or access apps without interrupting the viewing of live or recorded TV programs. A search on "Food v. Man" yielded a combination of live TV results, internet videos and DVR recordings (courtesy of the networked DISH Network receiver). The presenter switched over to view a recording of the Food Network show which highlighted Katz's Deli in New York. Switching over to a Google search, he then looked up Katz's address, plotted its location in Google Maps, and tweeted to his friends his dinner plans for a meet-up.
The new Sony Internet TV models, powered by Google TV, include four LCD TVs: the 24-inch class NSX-24GT1 ($599.99), the 32-inch class NSX-32GT1 ($799.99), the 40-inch NSX-40GT1 ($999.99), and the 46-inch NSX-46GT1 ($1,399.99).
Overall, Sony's implementation of Google TV looks impressive, if not only for the demo which went without a hitch (except a couple of typos) but also for the fact that these models will be on display in stores as early as this weekend with customer shipments to follow later this month.
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More live shots from the event:
