Mighty Gadget Blog: The latest technology news & reviews in the UK

The 3D revolution is now in full swing with companies such as Sony future-proofing and readying its new AV tech ready for our 3D future. We’ve seen the up-coming Bravia TV’s that Sony are coming our way, well now we have some Blu-Ray players to match them.

The BDP-S470 and BDP-S570 will both be 3D compatible the first requiring a future software update and the latter will be compatible straight out the box. Both will achieve this with Active Shutter 3D technology delivering full 1080P HD quality 3D images to your peepers.

Also designed much like its new line of Bravia TVs, these black beauties will be internet enabled. The S470, the obvious entry-level one, will connect via ethernet or can go Wi-Fi with the help of a Sony wireless dongle. The S-570 will do this all by itself. Once connected they can hook up to the Bravia Internet Video service we’ve spoke of before, allowing catch-up TV playback like BBC iPlayer, YouTube  or stream from LoveFilm’s new service. Both can play media from USB but S-570 is DLNA compatible for home network streaming.

Both are arriving sometime this month the BDP-S470 is currently on the US Sony store for $199.99 and the S570 for $249.99.

Although officially not released by Sony yet, Tesco had put up a new Sony Vaio M Netbook for sale for just under £300 but now it appears to have been removed from the site probably due to the fact Sony are keeping quiet about its official release, oops.

A nice little black number the Sony Vaio M if pricing is true will be the cheapest Vaio we’ve seen to date and if you’re looking for a netbook this offers some pretty decent spec and the obvious recognition of quality Sony craftmanship. Inside the 10.1” Netbook will be Intel’s latest Atom chipset the N450(an improvement in speed and power consumption) powering a 250GB HDD, 1GB RAM and Windows 7 Starter Edition.

As said Sony haven’t confirmed it for sure and are still staying coy about it and although it appeared on Tesco the other day, I’m struggling to find it now but surely it won’t be long till it’s in officialdom.

Freeview HD is still in it’s first steps. Although the signal is being broadcast in some regions, the sheer lack of set top boxes available to catch the signal seems to be hindering it hitting the mainstream. Sony though have announced that new lines of TVs incorporating the subscription-free Freeview HD tuners will be launched this week.

The NX803 will be available in 40”- 52” screen sizes capable of LED backlit 200Hz images and future-proofed with 3D support. With built in Wi-Fi this model can stream media from your PC but also incorporates the Sony/LoveFilm widget, allowing subscribed users to stream movies from the DVD rental people(when it gets launched)and Skype and Bravia Internet Video(a TV catch-up service).

Also for the more budget/eco conscious, there’s the HX803 and Bravia Essential EX703. The HX803 same as the above but minus the networking options and the EX703 will have the networking options only a less responsive 100Hz screen and energy saving features. Both the latter models will be available in 40” and 46”

The highly anticipated VAIO X Series is the world’s lightest notebook at just 655g, and measures 13.9mm thin, has a 11.1” X-black widescreen LCD and up to 16 hours of battery life.

It will also cost an arm and a leg at $1,499 (£933) and will ship with an SSD drive and Windows 7 Home Premium.

No word on what CPU it uses yet but at that price it better had be one of Intel's new ULV CPUs.

Below is an interesting image from Sony showing the innards of the X Series.

We’ve talked before about gadgets supplying wireless electricity. Palm’s touchstone, The Powermat and Dell’s new Latitude Laptop, utilise the technology to charge or power themselves without the need for a straight to the mains connection. Sony has got it’s boffins working on the efficiency of wireless power, enough to power a whole television, ideal for those who don’t like wire clutter or no hanging wires from your wall mount.

Sony’s power supply will use magnetic resonance to send the electricity through the air to the TV without the need for a plug. Sony have claimed to have hit an efficiency rate of 60% which means it can send 60W of energy within a 50cm range. This means that although the TV will not require no trailing power leads it would still have to be in range of a power socket.

When the tech or the TV will get launched is unclear but CES isn’t far away and that usually leads to the competing TV companies to show off some goodies.

It’s been only 2 weeks but a big UK retailer has let slip that a 250GB version of the PS3 Slim is scheduled to come out in October. An anonymous source has claimed Sony will unleash full details of new bundles at the end of September. A release date will be revealed in October.

The rumours are the details will come from the Tokyo Games Show, and will be along the lines of a bundle of console and a game from Assassin’s Creed II, Gran Turismo 5 or Uncharted and will retail at £299.

At the very end of the press conference Fujio Nishida announced the new Sony Vaio X netbook. He was very vague about specific details but the Vaio X is a gorgeous 14mm thick, sub 700g, carbon fibre netbook.

At the moment specifications are very thin on the ground but a fellow blogger (sorry I didn’t get his name!) commented on it being the new Pineview N450 CPU and 2GB of Ram.

I managed to play with it for a few minutes and I found it very responsive, granted there wasn't really very much installed on the machine so there was not much to slow it down but initial impressions are very good.

There is no word on pricing but I am hoping it will be somewhere between the Vaio P pricing and a traditional netbook like the Mini 9. If it was £400-500 I could be very tempted with one of these but I think that maybe wishful thinking!

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There were 2 impressive announcements from Sony at the press event last week, and without a doubt the biggest one they are trying to push is the range of 3D Bravia’s due for release next year.

The press conference included some example footage of the 3D used in the Bravia’s and it will be using RealD 3D technology which is the type of 3d that uses polarized images to and the sunglasses style glasses.

The footage they played included a clip from the movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, some 3D gaming footage of Wipeout, some nature footage and some footage of a Football game.

The Sony booth also included some TVs running the above footage.

Personally my experience was a bit hit and miss with it. I thought the football was poor however the movie, Wipeout and the nature footage were good.

Personally I am not totally sold on the 3D at home idea, I think 3D technology has some way to go before I would consider it. I don’t think it is an of the TV’s though, more a lack of quality content that shows off the 3D technology properly. I wish they had show some footage of Avatar instead of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, I think that may of change my perception of the 3D tech quite a bit.