Not linking with Bravia Internet Link

As exciting as the possibility for Day and Date releases are within the current test by Sony is incredibly frustrating. We have a number of Bravia LCD sets in our house yet none currently have the $299 Bravia Internet link accessory and I have no reason to believe buying this will offer anything beyond this for the time being.

I already have a few ways to get internet content to my television (AppleTV and a Wii) and thus far watching YouTube has remained a rare, because I can experience. Of course downloading or streaming movies is great and currently I enjoy that via AppleTV though nothing in the available selection is currently playing in the theater.

The main cause of my frustration is Sony’s standard view that they need to control the end to end experience. There are plenty of ways to distribute high bandwidth content online and a few options on the DRM front as well. The NYT piece makes no mention of the PS3 as a receiver in the system, so for now I will assume it is not an enabled component. The PS3 represents the greatest distribution point for Sony and could cover a few bases for marketing the experience as well. Bravia’s Internet Link is yet another thing a consumer has to purchase and fiddle with and adds complexity to an already crowded space by the TV. I get that everyone wants to control the full deal here, but if you make it complicated and difficult or worse proprietary – the consumer will just continue to work around the system.

I look forward to the day when I can enjoy a high quality currently in-theater production from the comfort of my couch. Who wouldn’t want day and date feature (not DVD release) in their home theater? I am even willing to pay a premium for the pleasure over the theater ticket price to make up for the lack of concession sales. $300 is a bit more than I am willing to gamble on Hancock. If instead Sony offered videos through AppleTV, PS3 or even (gasp) the XBox, people would be more than happy to download and watch. Actually I would buy a PS3 if that was the conduit here … it would enable multiple experiences for the family and actually deliver some value.

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