As Senior Product Manager at Sony, Patrick Moncet oversees the marketing of products in the brand’s TV range and fosters partnerships with content providers. Moncet has built upon his background in engineering to become a specialist in connected video and displays.
What are the advantages and shortcomings of OLED technology?
Today, OLED technology outperforms LCD technology in terms of restituting absolute blacks. Another advantage is the absence of blooming and the flawless transition between dark and light zones, without the halo effect that is often a drawback of LCD screens. Yet, OLED displays are not the brightest displays available. While 2017 OLED models offer much higher peak brightness than previous generations, they are still no match for the best LCD screens. The latter have been making strides with regard to displaying absolute blacks, at least for displays with a Full LED backlighting system and efficient local dimming. For example, our ZD9 range includes Full LED displays with individual control for each of the hundreds of LEDs which compose the backlighting system, thus enhancing the appearance of blacks and offering a peak brightness level 3 or 4 times higher than OLED displays. The ZD9 displays offer some of the highest peak brightness levels available, making them a reference among film producers who use the ZD9 display to optimize the HDR calibration of their films.
What sets your OLED displays apart from competing models?
Sony has always stood out from the competition thanks to the brand’s mastery of image processing and the natural and realistic images produced by its displays. In 2008, Sony commercialized the first OLED display, which featured an 11? screen. In 2017, the Sony OLED A1 range offers some of the best image processing available, thanks to the Sony X1 extreme processor which is also integrated into the ZD9 series and has been lauded by a number of specialists. Our OLED displays offer an ultra-precise upscaling process, natural colors, reprocessing for all video sources, and absolute blacks, and all of regardless of any noise in the signal emitted by the source. The large majority of OLED displays on the market do not remove the noise from the image before processing it, so if the signal sent by the source is noisy or compressed, the resulting image may lack contrast and dark zones of the image may appear blocky or grainy.
What kind of sound quality can be expected from these OLED displays?
Sony integrates an exclusive technology?called Acoustic Surface?into its OLED models. For the first time, the speaker is the screen! The display restitutes the soundwaves for a rich and immersive listening experience. The listener will have the impression that the sound is coming directly from the screen, and dialogues directly from the mouths of the characters, just like at the movie theater.
Why has Sony chosen Android TV?
The Android TV operating system seems to us to be the best choice because it offers many advantages to the user, starting with the thousands of applications already available via any tablet or smartphone. Mycanal, Molotov, myTF1VOD, Playstation video, Spotify, Deezer, SFR sport? in addition to hundreds of games which only require the addition of a Bluetooth or PSF controller. Android is also a gateway to the Apple ecosystem. You no longer need an Apple TV, because simply downloading the Airplay app from Google Play Store will allow you to access your TV with your iPhone, iPad or Mac. Moreover, the Chromecast Built-in function is very practical: no need for a dongle to display photos and videos accessed via your Android or iOS smartphone on your TV. It is very easy to display photos or videos from any Apple device. Unlike other Smart TV systems, your smartphone sends the link, and not the content, to the TV. The smartphone thus remains available to fulfill other functions and, above all, its battery is not drained.
Is it possible to watch 4K HDR content with NetFlix or Amazon Prime Video?
Yes, the Netflix and Amazon Prime video apps integrated into Sony TVs are compatible with 4K content. In addition, the Googlecast function integrated into Sony Android TVs allows the user to display 4K videos recorded with a smartphone and thus enjoy home movies in high definition.
Do Sony TVs feature a voice control function’
A voice-activated search function is another advantage offered by Android: it grants the user instant access to video content or news. Searching YouTube and other apps preinstalled on the TV is easy. By simply saying ?James Bond,? for example, the TV will find YouTube videos, as well as all the James Bond videos which can be rented from Google Play Store. For users who have installed apps such as Mycanal, ARTE Replay and Playstation video, any content related to James Bond will also appear in the search results.
