Sony Unwraps New Connected HDTVs

Following up new HDTV models announced at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, Sony today unveiled its Bravia W-Series HDTVs. These new 1080p-resolution LCD TVs follow some of the trends we spotted at CES, such as faster refresh rates and Internet connectivity.

The Bravia W-Series comes in three screen sizes—40, 46, and 52 inches—and boasts 120 Hz refresh rates, resulting in smoother fast-motion image quality. 120 Hz technology has become increasingly common in the past year, going from a high-end feature to one found in many mainstream LCD-based HDTVs (and TVs with even higher refresh rates are in the pipeline from Sony and other vendors).

But the big news is Internet connectivity (so-called "connected TVs"). The W-Series are not Sony's first Internet-friendly TVs--Sony announced a number of connected TVs at CES--but they shows that Sony is making a concerted effort to bring online entertainment to your home theater. Some connected TVs were available last year, but CES was a coming-out party of sorts, with many vendors announcing Internet-connected TVs. Connected TVs generally support streaming video from services like Netflix and news feeds through widgets (such as though Yahoo Widget Engine).

The W-Series does both through Sony's Bravia Internet Widgets (based on Yahoo Widget Engine) and Bravia Internet Video services. Bravia Internet Widgets can track news, sports, finance and weather--the usual suspects--as well as photos posted on Flickr. The Bravia Internet Video service allows you to stream video from Sony's various content providers (including Amazon, YouTube, and Yahoo, among others).