Kids of all ages love plans, especially plans made by their parents for them. So, when I told my kids to invite a few friends over for a “movie night,” as mundane as it may sound, they were all on board and looking forward to it. They all knew that this not so random movie night was a not so clever ruse for me to check out and use the stunning Sony Bravia TV and Blu-ray Player on loan to us thanks to the Sony DigiDad Project.  Even so, the promise of pizza and TV was enough of a lure to get everyone together and in a good mood.

Excuses, Excuses…

From my perspective, I have been crazy busy at work and traveling a lot these days, so using my new-found “Daddy Blogger” status as an excuse to spend some quality time with the kids sounded fine to me.  In truth, we should do “movie nights” at Chez Sass far more often than we do because the inevitable side commentary and goofing off in between the frames always makes it fun.  With pizza delivered (and a liter of diet coke spilled on the kitchen floor) we were ready to enter our Bravia New World by watching “A River Runs Through It” on Blu-ray DVD.  I memorialized the evening with the Sony A330 DSLR, and using the photos, put together the Animoto video below.  (Note: Animoto is the most awesome of awesomeness.)  More specific comments on the Sony Bravia and Blu-ray player are below the video.

Yes, that is an Xbox 360 you see.  A Playstation is not on the list of loaners, and frankly, my kids could not resist seeing what their favorite games looked like on the Bravia’s impeccable 1080p HD screen.  They were not disappointed.  Connected by HDMI for the best quality, the well rendered virtual worlds of “Midnight Club: Los Angeles” are REAL on the Sony screen (I literally recognized streets I have driven on…)   In general, the quality of the HD image on the Bravia screen is the best I have ever seen, and reminds me of the the super high-end displays I see at the Consumer Electronics Show or Museum exhibits.  Yes, it is that good.  Here are my down and dirty, no baloney thoughts on…

The Gear:

Sony Bravia XBR9 40 – As noted above, the HD image on this TV, with 1080p and and an HDMI source is absolutely stunning.  The sound quality is also first class.  As they say in the movies, “you are there!”  While we watched the movie, comments from the peanut gallery I overheard included, “…that looks real!” and “… you can see the stretch marks on his neck and stuff…” (no offense to Tom Skerritt!)  The layout of controls and inputs/outputs are very well thought out, and with three conveniently placed HDMI inputs it was a cinch to connect the XBox, Blu-Ray Player and TV source.   All the other standard inputs and outputs are also present.  The “connected” aspects of the Bravia are pretty spectacular and could easily replace much of the functionality of the Apple TV I have connected to my old (and now hard to look at) Plasma screen TV.  The “Internet Video” feature is outstanding, and to be honest, watching YouTube, full screen, on the TV, is probably the thing my kids are enjoying the most (well, in truth, second to the video games!)  The interface is very easy and intuitive, and frankly I found browsing, finding and playing YouTube videos on the Bravia a better experience than the “other” set top box I have.  In addition to YouTube, there are a slew of pre-packaged feeds of standard and HD internet video from both mainstream, and lesser known sources.  Watching video podcasts is a breeze, and after poking around a few minutes I became mesmerized by some “TedTalks” HD videos (in particular, this one blew me away in HD.) Having easy access to all this high quality, high definition, on demand content, without the need for a PC or set-top box is definitely the way to go, and second to the pure quality of the image, it is my favorite thing about the Bravia.

Of course, it’s not ALL good.  Here are the things I dislike about the Bravia.  Internet Widgets.  While it sounds cool and looks cool, having Yahoo Widgets (for weather, stock quotes, Twitter, etc.) floating over your TV screen while you watch something is not really very practical.  It sounds good in theory, and the widgets work well and are easy to manage, but come on, if you just invested in this gorgeous display, and you are feeding it incredible High Definition content, do you really want to clutter it up with widgets???  Sure it was cool (for about 30 seconds) to see a full blown Twitter widget hovering over the TV screen but would I ever use it?  No.  It is much easier and more enjoyable to handle interactive multitasking with a phone or laptop while watching TV.  Also, do you want your Twitter exchanges broadcast on screen for everyone in the room to see?  In my opinion, TV Widgets = useless gimmick.  Just sayin’…  The other thing I disliked about the Bravia is the internet connection.  It requires a direct Ethernet connection or purchasing an external Wi-Fi adapter.  I don’t know why they just wouldn’t include a Wi-Fi chip.  Not everyone has a network outlet near their TV, and aren’t excess cables the devil when it comes to setting up a home entertainment center?  I was lucky because I have U-Verse, and the AT&T U-Verse box has Ethernet out, making a short cord all I needed.  The Internet features are very cool, but I believe they should work right out of the box, so internal or external, Wi-Fi connectivity should be included in the Bravia package.

Sony Blu-ray Disc BDP-S560 – Slim and sleek the Sony Blu-ray player is a perfect compliment to the Bravia.  A cool feature is that when they are connected by HDMI, the TV and DVD player recognize each other.  Turn on the Blu-ray player and the Bravia comes to life, turning itself on, and going right to the DVD input.  No need to fuss with the remotes.  That is a nice touch.  This was my first experience with Blu-ray and I have to admit, the quality of the image (especially in combination with the Bravia TV) is very, very impressive.  The Sony DigiDad team wisely sent us a movie that highlights the quality as the magnificent cinematography in “A River Runs Through It” brought the raging rivers and Montana mountains into our family room with awe inspiring clarity.

The Good and the Bad: Unlike the Bravia, the Blu-ray player does have integrated Wi-Fi, and connecting to my network, including entering the WEP code, was intuitive and easy.  Unfortunately, in order to use the “BD Live” internet features, you need to stick a USB drive into the player or it does not have enough internal memory to access internet features.  Granted, as a geek dad I’ve got plenty of USB sticks lying around the house, so this wasn’t a hard one to solve.  That said, I am a big proponent of things working “right out of the box” and with the cost of digital memory fast approaching zero, I don’t understand why Sony wouldn’t build in sufficient memory for BD Live to just work, or at the very least include a 1GB USB stick.  Neither of the two DVD’s Sony sent me included any internet interactivity so I look forward to renting some other Blu-ray DVD’s that leverage the Internet in their bonus features.  “BD Live” itself is underwhelming.  All it seems to be is a pseudo website where you can download to the DVD player trailers, promos and demos for other Sony DVD and game products.  It is slow, and doesn’t seem to add much value to a so-called “connected DVD” experience.  The Internet Video features on the Bravia TV are far more exciting, and I frankly don’t see much need for the BD Live function.  So far the real value of the BDP-S560 seems to be the high quality of the image and sound, and the slick interface with the Bravia TV.

I hope these “reviews” and my participation in the Sony DigiDads Project are entertaining and of value to you. I’d welcome your feedback in the comments, including your own experiences with this or similar gear.  Tips on “Movie Nights” are also welcome and encouraged!

Jeff Sass is the proud dad of ZEO (Zach, 21, Ethan, 19 and Olivia, 17).  He is also a seasoned entertainment and technology exec and active social media enthusiast.  You can see more of Jeff’s writing at Sassholes! and Social Networking Rehab.

This post is part of series called the “Sony DigiDads Project” by Sony Electronics where a group of dads, including C.C. Chapman, Jeffrey Sass, Max Kalehoff, Michael Sheehan, and Brad Powell, have been given the opportunity to test and review Sony gear.  If you want to know more about this project visit the Sony Electronics Community.

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