YOUTUBE CONTENT NOW AVAILABLE ON SONY BRAVIA INTERNET VIDEO LINK Wired.com and Crackle's C-Spot Channels Also Added NEW YORK, June 5, 2008 - Sony announced today that YouTube is the latest online video provider to join the company's BRAVIA Internet Video Link service. The service went live today providing BRAVIA Internet Video Link users access to millions of videos on YouTube at no additional charge. Joining YouTube are Wired.com and C-Spot, which offers original episodic short comedy series. "Sony was one of the first to bring streaming Internet video to the television in the United States without a PC, and now you can access one of the most popular online video destinations, YouTube, on your BRAVIA TV," said Randy Waynick, senior vice president of Sony Electronics' Home Products Division. "There are literally millions of videos to choose from on the BRAVIA Internet Video Link service and we'll continue to add the most compelling content available on the web." The BRAVIA Internet Video Link is a small module that attaches to the back of a selection of the the company's 2007 and 2008 BRAVIA LCD flat-panel television models. The service seamlessly streams on-demand entertainment including movies, TV programs, your favorite YouTube videos and a variety of other free content as well as news, weather and traffic informaiton via an existing Ethernet connection without the use of a personal computer. A broadband connection of at least 2.5 Mbps is recommended. Content is easily navigated with Sony's Technical Emmy award-winning Xross Media Bar (XMB ) user interface. Once the TV and BRAVIA Internet Video Link module have been purchased, videos are available at no charge, bringing content to Sony televisions not found on network or cable/satellite TV stations. The new content adds to existing channels including Yahoo!, AOL, Sports Illustrated, blip.tv, Cond Net's Style.com, Men.Style.com, Epicurious and Concierge.com channels, Sony Pictures' Crackle, The Minisode Network and Inside Sony Pictures channels, FEARnet, Ford Models, SingingFool and VideoDetective. Sony will continue to add new content partners and increase the growing list of on-demand video content. "The partnership with Sony helps us achieve our goal of making YouTube accessible on any screen," said Chris Maxcy, YouTube's partner development director. "The integration of YouTube into the television enhances the living room entertainment experience by offering a large number of channels for people to select from, enabling them to watch what they want, when they want it." The Wired.com channel delivers exclusive, original reporting at the point where technology intersects with business, entertainment, politics, culture, science and art. Content will include Game|Life, Wired.com's weekly web video covering the world of gaming, and AltText, a satirical commentary on technology, business, entertainment, communications and culture. Crackle's C-spot offers original character and story-driven episodic series. The channel will offer series including "Hot Hot Los Angeles," "The Writer's Room," "Penn Says," and "The Roadents." Sony's BRAVIA Internet Video Link module is currently available for about $300. It can be purchased online at sonystyle.com, at Sony Style retail stores and at Sony authorized dealers across the country. The module used with a consumer's existing broadband Internet connection is compatible with a majority of the latest 2007 BRAVIA television models, as well many new 2008 models.

Your first question: What Internet video might that be? Yes, yes, it's a very good question. Before we get into that, though, let's see how it works.

The module connects to the TV via HDMI (video and CEC) and USB (metadata, images and additional commands). It is compatible with most new Bravias, ones that have the PlayStation-style Cross Media Bar (XMB) menu system. On new Bravias, there is a spot for the included mounting bracket, but you can also use the included table stand.

It is not wireless, and at $300, you're asking: Why the hell not? The timely answer is that Sony thought 802.11g was too slow, and since 802.11n wasn't fully ratified, they didn't want to sell something that would be obsolete or off-spec. (Insert crochety firmware-upgrade comment here.)

Sony recommends either a direct Ethernet connection or a high-def powerline bridge—something like Netgear's HDX101—which can cost $150 to $200 a pair. This is a hidden-cost issue Sony says it will try to make clear when people are buying the product.

Once it's connected to the TV, it's a great user-interface experience. You just grab the TV's remote and click MENU. Inch over to the movie icon in the XMB menu, and new video channels simply appear. Each video page follows a Sony-designed template: a large Brady Bunch-style grid of videos to choose from, all laid out on a PS3-inspired black-and-blue background. Move the cursor over a square, and you get info about the clip.

Now, about that content question you asked before...

Obviously Sony Pictures and Sony BMG are kicking in content, though the free service doesn't exactly have Hollywood studios lined up with blockbuster flicks. Sony Electronics has mainly partnered with Internet video distributors. Grouper and AOL are in there, though the principal launch partner will be Yahoo. So, yeah, clips mostly. Yahoo currently offers videos of up to 10 minutes in length. I do give it props for a continuous play feature that strings together one clip after another. Still, where is the first season of Lost, or The Big Lebowski?

The other question you are asking is how bad Web video is on a 1080p set. For the most part, the canned standard-def or Web-optimized content I saw looked decent. There were no true user-generated clips, though, so I can't judge the true output just yet. Some services, such as Grouper, are showcasing 3Mbps HD video files in the demo. Still, there's no telling if/when/how this would materialize when the product is in homes.

The other connected feature is the Yahoo-designed My Page, a source of traffic, weather and news headlines personalized to your zip code. Yahoo is the biggest content partner in the mix, and while it is a powerhouse, you might be wondering about that other "Y" company that knows a thing or two about Internet video.

Other elements currently missing that could potentially be part of the system:
• Personalized content based on your log-in ID
• Clip search
• Sharing/viral feature
• PC connectivity and local-file streaming

I hate to beat it up before it has time to prove itself. Like I said, the system is a good one, but without content you'd want to come back to again and again, its a $300 weather and news page (which Wii owners of course don't need anyway).

I have wrapped my brain around this many times over, and the fact is, sweet engineering or not, this makes way more sense as a $50 box with a content subscription of guaranteed quality. $300 is a lot to pay for a crapshoot. That's half a PS3. If it's not going to be a crapshoot, we need brand-name entertainment right there on the table. Please Sony, for your sake and ours, get crackin'! – Wilson Rothman

Press Release [Sony Electronics]

Sony Internet Video Link Coverage [Gizmodo]

The TV net streaming box that only works with a few newer Bravias seemed to bring the mega corp's bad taste in launching media formats to a formatless media — net video. It has strange partners, like AOL, Yahoo! and Grouper(?). And Sony's own picture company is donating Spiderman 2 in HD, which is reminiscent of how the UMD got its start. But without a billing system in place, like the PS3's store, and at half the price of the console at $300, why would you get this streaming piece of crap instead of a PS3? And we thought the AppleTV was overpriced for a streamer. - Brian Lam

Oh, the hardware itself is a small module that fits into most new Bravia TVs, small enough that it won't prohibit the TV from being hung on the wall. And its wireless. [UPDATE: It's ethernet.]Sounds like it'll take a long time to DL content. And that it probably has a HDD. [UPDATE: It doesn't]And since it only works with some TVs, this means that it uses some hardware inside of the TV to function.

Of course, it's Sony, so it has to be a closed system in some way. Here are the limited number of TVs that support the tech.

The new TV models include the KDL-46S3000, KDL-40S3000, KDL-32S3000 and KDL-26S3000 units - all shipping this spring.

[UPDATE: Greggy B. Thanks for the Fact Check.]
Sony [Sony]