Video: Sony's XBR9 and Z-series TVs herald the death of the set-top-box

It's been a long time coming, but television manufacturers have finally wised up to the ways of the Internet and the realities of modern content sourcing and distribution. Case in point, Sony, with its XBR9 and Z-series televisions with built-in Ethernet jack for accessing internet media and informational widgets based on the Yahoo platform. The cats over at SonyConvergineer have put together a few introductory videos (embedded after the break) showing-off Sony's connected capabilities on a production set using Sony's Xross Media Bar UI and Bravia remote control. Right, XMB, thus making the user experience on these Bravias consistent with Sony's PS3 and PSP gaming consoles and select VAIO laptops. A unified-UI trend noticed by Samsung and others that helps promote a consistent user experience across devices. About time, eh?

[00ガンダム @ May 27th 2009 4:26AM]

Brilliant! Now I just need to save up for another 2 or 3 years and.. oh this will be obsolete by then =(

[Aaron @ May 27th 2009 11:17AM]

But by that time, they are hopefully less expensive and built with better technology/design/etc.

Unless it turns out to be a short lived trend. I don't think it will be.

[toopropa @ May 27th 2009 1:29PM]

I think the will be adding widgets to the PS3 maybe at e3. It looked very slow a better investment would be the faster PS3 a media device that runs what you are seeing in the demo.... and tons more.

[Wonderkid @ May 27th 2009 4:30AM]

This is awful. Makes an intuitive TV as messy and lacking fluidity as a PC desktop environment. Yahoo are appalling at human factors and should not be left close to consumer devices.

[Wonderkid @ May 27th 2009 5:14AM]

Correction: 'let near' to consumer devices.

[Cunthor @ May 27th 2009 5:38AM]

You don't have to use it...

[Max @ May 27th 2009 4:38AM]

Ahh sony, you make such pretty products but why wont you let me use my EPG in australia.

[Information Central @ May 27th 2009 4:37AM]

No way should anyone allow Flash or Yahoo on his TV. NEWS FLASH: TVs already have a UI. We don't need a layer of inept garbage on it.

[Aaron @ May 27th 2009 11:23AM]

I don't think it's that bad. XMB focuses on multimedia. If these things have hard drives, or other types of storage, you could finally store videos, music, DVDs, photos, and other crap to use in your home theatre. Then just pop in an SD card to pull and move content around other devices.

Then there's the internets. Netflix, youtube, pandora, hulu?

[tikiwk @ May 27th 2009 6:20AM]

My concern with all of this is that it may sound exciting now, but content filtering, more push advertising, data mining, and consolidation of content providers (euphemistically referred to as "convergence") are all real dangers as these technologies become more commonplace. Freedom of choice could ultimately be the victim. I'll keep my set top box and some of the other goodies, so there are no "parental controls" placed on me.

We already have companies in control of the content being carried on the companies hardware, being reported on by the same companies' news arm. Let the brainwashing begin... err, continue.

* http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom/pr/0,20812,1896921,00.html

*sorry, that was simply an extremely convenient connection I didn't know existed.

[tikiwk @ May 27th 2009 6:26AM]

By the way, I'm all for internet on my next TV as long as there are safeguards to my ptivacy and the integrity of the content is maintained. Not sure I'm a good candidate since I watch TV while I browse on my laptop... both at full screen.

[Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ May 27th 2009 7:11AM]

Still dont see the purpose in this...that can take up valuable space on the screen while I'm watching something. No Thanks. Much rather have a Ethernet port on a TV so that I can stream movies without a box connected, al the extras are not required.

[Ken N @ May 28th 2009 3:59PM]

That's exactly what the platform will offer - streaming video without a set-top box, on an open platform for any content provider to provide an app.

[zingo75 @ May 27th 2009 8:21AM]

Looks pretty close to the PS3 dashboard. why can't we have that on the PS3 dashboard? is this coming in an update?

[IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII (BarCODE) @ May 28th 2009 4:16AM]

If you looked closely at the UMB and it's Icons, one was a PS controller (Game) icon, another was the PSN icon, and most surprising is the F@H! Does this Bravia have a CELL BBE?

[Snake Robot Podium @ May 27th 2009 8:26AM]

Consistent with the PS3, yet heralding its demise. Just wanted to point out the irony.

[Julien Sévère @ May 27th 2009 9:04AM]

This système is avaible on W5500 ? see W5500 have Applicast but i dont know if is like this ?

[John McDole @ May 27th 2009 10:33AM]

Speaking from the field of DigitalTV: Not going to happen.

The vast majority of people like their TV's to do one thing; channel change. This will not signal the end of the STB because those people are not going to switch away from "my tv comes in via a cable and I hit chan-up". Sure, tech trendy people have already moved to PC/MAC's hooked up to their TVs, and some may jump on these TVs as a cleaner solution... but its not game changing.

[Jon @ May 27th 2009 11:09AM]

so basically this TV can do everything I've been doing for 5 years now with a $10 HDMI cable I connected from my PC to my big screen. I just don't understand making TVs more like PCs. UMMMMMMM.... just connect a PC to a TV. I understand having a huge bulky PC connected isn't always an option, but with platforms like ION this is becomming more of a option in my opinion. These limited proprietary menues and systems like companies like Sony put on theses TVs are crap and allow no flexiblity and consumer choice.

[Demodave @ May 27th 2009 12:00PM]

Here's what I don't get:

Most people do not have an ethernet cable sitting at the back of the TV. But more and more people do have wi-fi set up in their home. Why don't all of the TV manufactures add in a wi-fi receiver? The chips would not add that much to the cost of the TV.

[Ken N @ May 28th 2009 4:03PM]

Even if it only adds a dollar to the manufacturing cost of each TV, it's tough to convince a vendor (who is already dealing with razor-thin margins in a cutthroat market) to spend an extra $500,000 on production of a model to add WiFi. We can assume that eventually all TVs will have WiFi, but for now it's reserved to the higher-end models.

[badbob001 @ May 27th 2009 12:42PM]

I read the title and thought it mean these TVs had built-in cablecard support. Internet video support is nice, but I seriously doubt it's going to replace one's normal TV service. I hope TV is not going to degenerate from reality shows to 10 minute podcasts/clips.

[Richard Glitter @ May 27th 2009 1:28PM]

Screw Sony. I will not pay them a single dime of my hard earned money from here on.

http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/26/1223224
http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/05/sony-pictures-ceo-internet-needs-regulatory-guardrails.ars

This will probably only play DRM-laden content anyway. Once the other manufacturers make a nice internet-connected TV with support for standard DLNA integration, then I'll be listening. For now, my Xbox + PlayOn works great.

[Bigshynepo @ May 27th 2009 6:09PM]

PlayOn works great with the Sony Playstation 3 as well... ^_^

[Terry @ May 27th 2009 2:40PM]

Hulu and Netflix are (unsurprisingly) absent from these demonstrations, and I'm pretty sure that Hulu will never make an appearance on this platform. I saw a "USB" option in the list of video sources, but somehow I doubt my catalog of h.264 .mkv movies will be supported (see Playstation 3 video file compatibility.) I'll wait to get an ion set-top-box (that will hopefully support tru2way soon) and let it pull videos and information that I actually want from the sources I choose because as a consumer, having a "choice" is what I've come to know and love. Thanks internet.

[Noah @ May 27th 2009 4:39PM]

This is a big deal for me. I bought a 30" samsung tube widescreen a few years back, and I suppose I would upgrade with widgits/hulu access (and bittorent maybe? no, guess not). Or wait for OLED, lot less power used.

[SteveBrm10 @ May 27th 2009 10:36PM]

I cant wait, my XBR9 is being delivered on Thursday, boy I LOVE my employee discount.

[SteveBrm10 @ May 27th 2009 10:38PM]

I cant wait, my XBR9 is being delivered on Thursday, boy I LOVE my employee discount.

[Bervick @ Jun 2nd 2009 8:53PM]

Why are these silly widgets such a big deal. Just like another poster, I've had my PC hooked up for years and use a wireless keyboard and mouse and get the full-blown functionality of a PC. Imagine having to struggle typing with that onscreen keyboard. Secondly, what if you want content other than the widget. Basic eg. Browser. And for those that are going to "beach" about the PC form factor - just plug in that tiny Asus EEE Box PC using a VESA mount hidden behind your panel. The Asus even supports wireless broadband. Hook it up to the PC port and you can do PAP/PIP - whatever that is, that will allow you to simultaneously browse the internet and watch TV at the same time, if you so wish.

http://www.gadgetguy.com.au/assets/images/4635_ASUS_Eee-box-monitormount.jpg