“Sony has come up with a valiant attempt at creating the ultimate Internet TV vehicle, but Google TV’s persistent holes make for a bumpy ride.”
Avg
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Full integration of Google TV into every aspect of the TV
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Image quality exceeds specification expectations
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Modern edge-to-edge glass design
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Smart, capable driver
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Reasonable price
Against
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Google TV is still under construction
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Steep learning curve for the controller
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Shaky pedestal
Information about the Sony GT1 series: This review is based on our hands-on experience with the 46-inch NSX-46GT1 TV. However, our observations also apply to the other two sizes in Sony’s GT1 series of Internet TVs, including the 40-inch NSX-40GT1 and the 32-inch NSX-32GT1. According to Sony, the three sets have identical specifications (except for dimensions and weight) and should offer similar performance.
If every HDMI cable on earth was suddenly chopped into copper strands and you could never connect any device to your TV again, Sony’s Internet TVs would be the ones to own. Simply put, no other connected TV packs so much content into one clean, self-contained unit. While the lack of cables and all-in-one access make it easy to set up and use, Google TV’s rough edges will still have us warning non-nerds to stay away from this otherwise sharp connected TV for now, but patient tech fans will find plenty content and capabilities embedded immediately.
Features
Take an HDTV and a Google TV set-top box, smash them together and you’ll most likely have a broken TV and a broken set-top box. (You didn’t think where we were going with that, huh?) No, Sony’s Internet TV goes a level deeper than the Neanderthal mush you might expect by painstakingly integrating every aspect of television functionality into the Google TV platform. The glowing logo below the screen could also be read as Google.
Sony makes Internet TV in 24-inch, 32-inch, 40-inch, and 46-inch screen sizes, but basically they all share the same basic Google TV features on a 1080p LCD screen. Like all Google TV devices, this means access to streaming essentials like Netflix, Pandora and Pandora, local access to everything available via DLNA or UPnP, and a full Flash-enabled web browser for just about anything you can imagine. It also integrates with wireless and cable streaming, allowing you to watch live TV while browsing the web.
Beneath the surface, both Sony’s Internet TV and Logitech’s Revue are powered by a 1.2GHz Intel Atom processor that’s not far off from what you’d find in a netbook. The set offers both Wi-Fi and a standard Ethernet connection for Internet connection and network access.
On the pedestrian side, Sony’s Internet TVs offer the usual array of Sony features, including 1080p upscaling, MPEG noise reduction, USB media playback, and eco settings for lower power consumption.
In an apparent concession to the all-in-one’s forward-looking design, Sony goes easy on traditional connectivity, offering analog RCA, component video, digital optical audio and headphone outputs, but only one of each, and both component and RCA video inputs they share the same audio inputs, so you can use one or the other. Notably, there is no VGA input for old-school laptops. However, geeks will be happy to find four HDMI inputs (two on the back, two on the side) and an impressive four USB inputs (all four on the side for easy access).
To shape
Sony’s Internet TV set is just like a television, and Sony delivers that stand-alone philosophy in style. It’s one of the few big-screen TVs we’ve ever seen in white, an eggshell shade that wouldn’t look out of place in a kitchen. But you’ll have to peek behind the edge-to-edge glass on the front to even see it, which is tinted around the edges to sport the same “monolithic” look seen on high-end Sonys like the NX8 series.
Then there’s that stand. For all the over-engineering that goes into TV stands, from Samsung’s liquid-inspired teardrops to Sony’s own glass and aluminum marvels, the bare metal bar supporting Sony’s Google TV is certainly… an aberration. It’s basically an oversized paperclip. Visually, it goes with the whole “device” look, but if the oversized staple holding the TV gives you pause, it should. The 46-pound Internet TV sits on a metal stand like a fat kid on a fence, swaying at the slightest provocation. We assume that the main goal of the stand and the overall design is to attract a younger, more technical audience. And it hits in that sense.
Despite the fact that it actually houses a mini PC, Sony kept the NSX-46GT1 to just 2.25 inches deep, and there’s no fan. The upper and lower perforations in the plastic housing give off heat well.
Set
With no cables to connect, setting up a Sony Internet TV is literally as easy as plugging in the power cord and turning it on. Once you’ve entered your Wi-Fi password (or connected an Ethernet cable), it’ll automatically download the latest version of Google TV and walk you through setup, which includes simple steps like allowing it to search for TV stations. A total of seven steps — and maybe 5 minutes — later, you’re up and ready to go.
Google TV
Hardware aside, Sony’s Internet TV does basically the same thing as Logitech’s Revue, when you get down to 1 and 0. Which is why we were surprised that Sony, through a handful of subtle tweaks, does it much better.
To save some digital ink, we won’t repeat our overall impressions of Google TV. Check out our Revue assessment of the introduction to Google TV or our skeptical look at the future of Google TV to see where Google got it wrong. In short, Google TV is promising, but still deeply flawed in its current state. Still, Sony manages to get the best out of an imperfect platform.
First up, Sony’s quintessential Japanese slash remote. Small, blunt and covered in more buttons than ants on a spilled Coke, it’s the antithesis of everything Apple’s user interface philosophy stands for. But it works well. Unlike Apple’s slim remote, you can enter passwords and search terms in less than the time it would take to translate said text into Morse code and back. Unlike Logitech’s large Revue keyboard, it fits well in your hands and won’t take up an entire couch cushion. Unlike the nearly perfect Boxee Box remote, it has an optical trackpad for fluid cursor movement. The learning curve may be steeper than either of these (just figuring out how to activate the mouse was a pain at first), but we respect Sony for offering a more powerful tool instead of one that’s just easy to use.
Second, integrating Google TV directly into the television offers a simplified, unified experience that simply isn’t possible with a set-top box. All television functions are connected to Google TV, from brightness and contrast to parental controls. Everything is under one roof, with one menu structure and one remote control. Even the built-in tuner gets a boost from Google TV, which fetches all the metadata for local stations and lets you seamlessly switch between them without leaving the Google TV interface. It’s like having the TV guide functions of a cable box, plus free TV. (It always annoyed us that our standalone TV had an OTA tuner, but the Revue could never use it, even with the ability to send IC signals to essentially control it.)
However, many of our original objections remain. The controller may be better, but Google TV still relies too much on the mouse for actions like making videos full-screen. Commands still don’t work the same across platforms – you can play and pause with dedicated remote buttons in Netflix, but in Pandora you’ll need to use the directional pad to highlight on-screen commands for the same functions. And speaking of Netflix, Google TV’s freaking “universal search” still pulls content from it.
The wireless tuner access also highlights another problem: Why can’t Google TV act as a DVR again? Searching for TV shows routinely reveals content available in the future, but without pairing it with an aftermarket DVR, you’re powerless to do anything but set the alarm and roll out of bed at 1 a.m. for Judge Judy.
Not surprisingly, given the Atom processor it shares with the Revue, Sony’s Google TV isn’t more responsive. This means that menus pop up quickly and are easy to navigate, but the web browser stutters while scrolling and sometimes seems to display strange displays with Flash content. Crashes are also not eliminated. Episode of Penn & Teller’s Bulls*t it hummed along just fine for us until the browser crashed and closed unexpectedly in about four minutes.
Display
Throwing a feature that costs $300 in a stand-alone box into an already expensive TV is a good recipe for an overpriced, no-market disaster. Many of Google TV’s features ultimately appeal to frugal consumers who would rather not drop triple digits on their cable bill every month. Instead, Sony has wisely built its first line of Internet TVs out of what might otherwise be considered mid-range sets. Each model gets full 1080p resolution, of course, but you’re looking at standard edge-lit backlighting (LED on the three largest and CCFL on the 24-inch) and a 60Hz refresh rate, which even budget models tend to bump up to 120Hz now.
Fortunately, the specs trump the reality of the situation, which is that even these ho-hum panels look great. Despite its 60Hz refresh rate, the 46GT1 actually showed less motion blur than we’ve seen in hyped 120Hz sets, and black levels were surprisingly good for an edge-lit LED panel.
After ditching the stellar Sony NX810, we were prepared for the picture quality to drop, but surprisingly, Internet TV held its own in the office. Viewable colors certainly lacked the same striking sizzle, but even without Sony’s Bravia Engine 3, video quality from less-than-perfect streaming sources looked smooth and detailed, especially HD content from Netflix.
Choosing “standard” settings instead of “retail” during setup saves the rainbow explosion we’re used to with new TVs, delivering clean, conservative settings right out of the box that 90 percent of viewers will be happy with. Our only tweaks were boosting the backlight to accommodate the brightly lit room we had it in, turning on MPEG noise reduction, and turning on the black corrector.
Although Sony has had to build the price of Google TV into every set, its Internet TVs offer picture quality that rivals similarly priced TVs that lack the same connectivity.
Conclusion
Sony’s Internet TV is the closest thing to a 46-inch laptop in your living room, combining the flexibility of a PC with the size and picture quality of a TV. But “closest” does not mean perfect. Google TV remains a tortured beast, full of big holes in content from networks like CBS and NBC, major sites like Hulu are still blocked, and the browsing experience drags clumsily to be used casually. Sony manages to make the most of it with seamless integration of TV controls and menus, easy setup and a smart controller, but patching the other holes is left to Google. Right now, buying a 46GT1 is a $1,400 bet that Google will do just that. Google TV will get better over time like a fine wine, or it will be replaced by the next feature-packed platform, like the latest color of the Amp energy drink. Gambling is up to you.
The tallest:
- Full integration of Google TV into every aspect of the TV
- Image quality exceeds specification expectations
- Modern edge-to-edge glass design
- Smart, capable driver
- Reasonable price
Lowest values:
- Google TV is still under construction
- Steep learning curve for the driver
- Shaky pedestal
Editor’s recommendations
Categories: GAMING
Source: newstars.edu.vn