Sony has provided film lovers an extra incentive to buy one of their smart TVs.
The new Bravia Core service offers feature films and other content in the highest quality to purchasers of Sony’s newest TVs. It is a joint development with Sony Pictures Entertainment. Underpinning the streaming quality is a functionality called ‘Pure Stream’. Pure Stream claims to offer the highest streaming quality available.
Owners of a new Sony Bravia XR TV who sign up to Bravia Core can select from a selection of at least 300 titles. These include Peter Rabbit, Ghostbusters, Blade Runner 2049 and Jumanji: The Next Level. Payment is made using Bravia Core credits. Bravia Core also offers a host of extra footage, interviews and more.
Announcing the move, Pete Wood, SVP, New Media Distribution, Sony Pictures Entertainment said:
“For about four years now we’ve been working to really think how we re-imagine the at-home experience and how we deliver great, immersive technology that you typically see in the cinema. Bravia Core is a great out-of-box experience where consumers will get the best films that the studio has to offer, from some of our best and newest releases, to some of the all-time Sony classics.”
Remastered IMAX picture
Bravia Core also brings access to the largest IMAX Enhanced movie collection. It delivers remastered IMAX picture and immersive sound by DTS.
Bruce Markoe, Head of IMAX Post, IMAX Corporation commented: “We worked closely with Sony Pictures and DTS to remaster over 50 IMAX Enhanced titles that deliver the highest-fidelity image and sound on a Sony Bravia XR device. We’re thrilled to continue expanding the IMAX Enhanced collection on Bravia Core…”
The announcement will be a welcome boost to Sony’s smart TV business, which has fallen behind other manufacturers. According to recent research, Samsung’s Tizen smart TV platform accounts for the largest market share among UK smart TVs.
About Sony Pure Stream…
Bravia Core features Sony’s Pure Stream functionality, streaming at up to 80Mbps. It claims it can deliver “lossless 4K UHD picture quality on a wide range of content”. Pure Stream is turned on in the Bravia Core settings. According to Sony, once on, it remains on, adapting streaming bitrates to the available line speed.
You’ll need a minimum broadband speed of 43 Mbps to benefit from Pure Stream. To enjoy the highest streaming speed of 80 Mbps, you need an Internet speed of 115 Mbps or faster.
But there is a catch: The Ethernet (wired LAN) connection is limited to 100 Mbps on all currently compatible TVs. As a result, the top streaming experience is only available with a Wi-Fi connection to a router that supports IEEE 802.11 ac/n (wireless LAN). In turn, the router needs a very high speed connection. In the UK, you can mostly only achieve these speeds on a “Fibre to the Premises” (FTTP or ‘full-fibre’) connection. Such connections are still in the minority. FTTP roll-out is due to take several years. Therefore, Pure Stream won’t yet fully work in many households.