New Sony Vaio V2-Series: The Visual Entertainment Vaio
Watch and record TV, play DVDs, see the action come to life on the vivid X-Black enhanced LCD screen
Brussels, 14 September 2004 - Experience the evolution of entertainment technology with today’s launch of the Sony Vaio V2-Series.
The Vaio V2 is a true PC-TV fusion, rooted in the strengths of both technologies, and opening up their potential to the full.
The innovative design owes much to its television heritage, and will make a stylish addition to any living room. Inside the cabinet, the Vaio V2 is anything but a conventional TV. The system is powered by a Pentium 4 processor enhanced with Hyper-Threading technology, ready to run future software at maximum speed. A 250GB hard disk on the Sony Vaio VGC-V2S (VGCV2S) and 200GB on the Sony Vaio VGC-V2M (VGCV2M) provides enormous storage capacity for recorded video and other data, and both models in the Vaio V2 range feature multiformat DVD with dual layer capability.
Used with the wireless keyboard with integrated touchpad and mouse, the Sony Vaio V2 is a fully-featured and powerful desktop PC in every respect. Sit back, pick up the remote, and it’s a 21st century entertainment system.
The custom VAIO Zone interface works with the remote control to give users rapid access to every key function. They can step from PC-TV and digital recording to watching DVDs, listening to music or browsing photo and video libraries with total ease. Wherever appropriate, VAIO Zone provides users with guidance and the tools to do the job, which makes it ideal for non-expert users.
The Sony Vaio V2-Series is capable of outstanding picture quality. TV, recorded video and DVDs look their very best thanks to the Vaio V2’s wide LCD screen which provides the space to display widescreen formats properly. Behind the scenes, unique Sony image control technology plays an active role in reducing the blurring that can affect LCDs displaying any kind of motion video.
Sony’s exclusive X-Black screen enhancement takes image quality up to a new level by boosting brightness and contrast and revitalising colours. The Vaio V2 Series includes models with 17-inch and 20-inch diagonal screens, giving users the choice over which best suits their home.
Virtual Dolby Surround effects make DVD soundtracks fill the room, while professional-grade audio processing courtesy of Sony’s Sonic Stage Mastering Studio application means music at its best. Sony’s easy-to-use Giga Pocket application makes light work of recording TV, while hardware MPEG 2 compression ensures top quality results every time.
Creating DVDs is simplicity itself with Sony’s Click to DVD software, which guides users through the process with maximum efficiency. The next-generation double layer DVD drive doubles the amount of DVD-quality video that can be recorded to a single disc from 2 to a full 4 hours.
As a final touch, the flagship Sony Vaio VGC-V2S model features high-speed wireless networking, ready to become part of a home wireless network straight from the box.
“It’s tempting to say that the Vaio V2 is the future of television,” says Jun Koyama, Director of Sales and Marketing for Information Technology Europe. “But that would be to miss the point. What matters is now, and right now, the Vaio V2 is at the absolute forefront of PC-TV convergence. Someone wanting the best PC-TV solution today need look no further.”
NOTES TO THE EDITOR
Inside the V2-Series
There are two models in the range, the VGC-V2S and the VGC-V2M. Both are configured with 512MB of high-speed double-data rate SDRAM, and both have extra-large capacity 250GB (V2S) and 200GB (V2M) hard disks. Both machines also have double layer DVD±RW drives.The Sony Vaio VGC-V2S has a 3.2GHz Pentium 4 processor, a 20-inch WXGA screen and integrated 802.11b/g wireless networking.
The Sony Vaio VGC-V2M has a 3GHz Pentium 4 CPU, a 17-inch screen and does not come with wireless networking as standard.
Both models are shipped with Windows XP Home Edition, and comprehensive software including VAIO Zone and the Adobe Companion Pack for VAIO.
Blur-reduction technology on the V2S
LCDs displaying motion video are prone to latency effects, which cause moving objects to appear blurred. This is caused by each successive frame remaining visible fractionally too long, and briefly overlapping with the next. As the frames are shown in sequence, the eye perceives a fading ‘history’ trailing behind anything moving rapidly on the screen.To reduce this unwanted effect, the Sony Vaio VGC-V2S with it’s 20-inch display, has a special control system, which feeds in a blank black frame between each live action frame. This happens far too fast for the human eye to register, but what people do see in real time is a noticeable reduction in blur.
Better viewing with widescreen
Conventional XGA resolution (1024 x 768) yields just under 0.8 megapixels. The Vaio V2-Series’ widescreen display runs in Wide XGA (1280 x 800), yielding over 1 megapixel: 1.3 times the usable area of XGA. Widescreen film and high-definition TV formats both benefit from being able to display properly on this type of panel, without loss of picture at the edges and excessive amounts of dead space above and below the image.Sony X-Black explained
Conventional LCD screens are usually coated at the front with a light-diffusing layer intended to reduce reflection from the surface. A potential drawback to this approach can arise if light from the LCD itself is also scattered and diffused as it passes through the anti-reflection coating. This scattering effect causes black areas of the image to appear washed out, and lighter in tone than they should. It has a similar effect on colours, which lose their depth and vibrancy.Sony exclusive LCD panels are powerfully lit by special lamps, and use a reflection-reduction layer that has no diffusing effect on the light passing through it from the screen, and therefore no negative impact on image quality. This means these Sony X-Black LCD displays are consistently very bright, with a wide and extreme range of contrast. Colours appear vivid and lifelike, and blacks more truly black.
Double layer DVD doubles video capacity
Essentially, DVD+R DL discs are made up from a sandwich of two very thin films of organic dye separated by a transparent spacer layer. Information is recorded by permanent changes in the dye films caused when they are exposed to energy from the laser in the drive’s recording head. The upper layer is semi-transparent, so the laser can be focused through it onto the lower layer, allowing data to be recorded and read back from both layers in turn.Each layer stores 4.25GB, giving the disc a total capacity of 8.5GB. This means that Double layer DVD will hold up to 4 hours of DVD-quality video compared with 2 hours for a standard disc. Because both layers can be accessed simultaneously by the drive’s lasers, there’s no need to turn the disc over half-way through.
DVD+R DL discs are a write-once media format offering compatibility with DVD-ROM drives and DVD Video players. DVD+R DL compatible drives are also able to read and write to ordinary single layer DVD discs. The Sony Vaio V2-Series supports the DVD+R DL format.
In the Zone
Exploiting the full AV-IT potential of VAIO systems has never been easier thanks to the new VAIO Zone interface. VAIO Zone was developed for maximum ease of use, making it the ideal way for individuals who are not experienced PC users to explore and master the many AV-IT features VAIO systems have to offer. With VAIO Zone, users can rapidly access key functions including TV and TV recording/playback, music, photo collections, and DVD playback. In keeping with its status as an evolved, next-generation interface, VAIO Zone can be operated entirely by handheld remote for total convenience. Visually elegant, functionally refined and deceptively simple to use, VAIO Zone is the perfect way for people to interact with their VAIO system.Multiformat DVD writer for maximum flexibility
The Sony Vaio V2-Series is distinguished by having a DVD burner capable of reading and writing in both DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW formats. This can be an advantage when creating DVDs intended for playback on domestic DVD decks, since the DVD-R format offers the widest and best compatibility with DVD decks. When it comes to archiving data or building a photo library, the DVD+RW format comes into its own, allowing true multi-session recording, where the same disk is written to again and again, almost as if it were a hard drive.VAIO Essentials
Sony offers key accessories designed to bring the simplicity and neatness of wireless networking within everyone’s reach. Users can build their own high-speed home-office WLAN around the PCWA-A320 wireless access point, which provides the essential link or bridge between wireless-enabled devices on the network. The PCWA-A320 supports the latest – and fastest – 54 Mbps 802.11g standard, but is also backwardly-compatible with the established 11 Mbps 802.11b protocol, so any existing WLAN hardware will not need to be upgraded. The PCWA-DE30 is an external 802.11b/g WLAN adapter for use with desktop systems.
