Sony has announced a Network Media Player which lines up against the Apple TV device, more or less as a set top. It contains access to the internet for attached TVs and offers IP based content streaming to the TV by combining a simple streaming client, with Wi-Fi and the guts of Sony’s existing Bravia Internet Video package, which usually comes on its top end TVs.
The device will be DLNA certified so that content can be watched on almost any device in a house using Wi-Fi. Content can also be streamed from centralized network storage. The new device is called the SMP-N100, and comes with the IP noise reduction which is already on many Sony Blu-ray players, which it says cleans streamed video as well as with free iPhone/iPod Touch/Android control apps.
Sony says that the Bravia Internet Video already allows online access to YouTube, catch-up TV platforms and movies and now it can be sent to any room. The SMP-N100 has not yet been priced but best guesses based on US pricing is around £120
Apart from the formats that the Bravia Internet Video player already has, the new SMP-N100 also comes with extra file formats and it can all be accessed through the standard XrossMedia Bar series of on-screen menus, which are standard now on most Sony devices.
The device is already available in the US and Sony says the new SMP-N100 will be launched in October in the UK and Europe and says that Bravia Internet Video in the UK accesses the BBC iPlayer, 4OD, iTV Player and Demand Five as well as YouTube and the online services of Lovefilm.
It will also give access to the new Qriocity (pronounced Curiousity) on demand service that Sony is now pitching as its video and music store including access to some Hollywood blockbusters and classic movies in both HD and SD, up to full 1080p, through HDMI.
The SMP-N100 is DLNA-compliant, so it plugs and plays with all DLNA devices in the home. It even supports both FAT32 and NTFS file systems, and play audio tracks and displays photos.
Using free apps available from the Apple App Store or the Android Market, it’s possible to control all your entertainment using an iPhone, iPod Touch or any device running Android. In the UK it will be up against set tops from Project Canvas now called YouView, supported by all the broadcasters, so it may have more success in continental Europe. On the other hand Youview boxes will only work with local broadcaster content formats so perhaps UK viewers will prefer the Sony box.