TCL to gain majority ownership over Sony’s Bravia TVs

TCL will own 51 percent of the high-end TVs.

See full article...

 

[rcduke]

With the memo stating "home entertainment business", does any of this apply to the PlayStation and it's associations?

I wouldn't think so, but I also wouldn't be surprised if Sony sold off the PS hardware and focused solely on software/digital downloads/subscriptions.

 

[l8gravely]

I've got a Sony LCD TV (42") which is 17 years old and still works fine. I want it to die so I can justify a new one which is also bigger and better display... but why replace something that still works just fine? And I was planning on spending the money on a Sony Bravia for my next one... but now? Who knows....

 

[citizencoyote]

The joint announcement suggested focuses on bigger TVs, higher-resolution displays, and “smart features.”

Oh boy, can't wait for even more dubious features I'll never use!

This pretty much crosses off all Sony TVs from my future purchase choices.

 

[flamingjello]

With how protective the Japanese government is over native Japanese industries I'm surprised they are allowing this.

 

[DavidByrne]

Bravia TV's have a weird cult-like following. Like hardcore AVS forums love them, but their specs are generally mid-level and are wildly overpriced.

I would partly agree, the OLED-displays were often mid-to-top-level. But the Sound were really ahead of the competition with its technology to have the sound coming directly from the Glass Front. Just really good sound localisation from my experience. And they looked quite cool and premium with its angled stands (see AF9). Not sure how the situation is today.

 

[Fred Duck]

The joint venture will operate globally, handling the full process from product development and design to manufacturing, sales, logistics, and customer service for products including televisions and home audio equipment.

Televisions, home audio equipment and...what else?

With the memo stating "home entertainment business", does any of this apply to the PlayStation and it's associations?

That's Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE).
Also, its.

 

[barich]

Bravia TV's have a weird cult-like following. Like hardcore AVS forums love them, but their specs are generally mid-level and are wildly overpriced.

I bought an A95K a few years years ago and multiple reviews said to have the deliverer's open it and check the panel, and I did it TWICE and both had horrendous weird patches of visibly damaged panel and had to send back.

I got a Sony OLED because it's basically an LG but with Google TV instead of WebOS and better motion processing.

 

[Varste]

I just replaced our TCL with a Bravia, just in time it seems. I like that I can still use it as a fully functional TV without connecting it to the internet; I have a Shield for all that jazz.

 

[killerhurtalot]

I got a Sony OLED because it's basically an LG but with Google TV instead of WebOS and better motion processing.

I considered a Sony oled too, but LG was way cheaper and putting a apple tv/chromecast dongle was basically just as good...

 

[barich]

I considered a Sony oled too, but LG was way cheaper and putting a apple tv/chromecast dongle was basically just as good...

At the time I bought mine, the equivalent LG and Sony were basically the same price, but if you could get the LG for notably cheaper, that certainly makes sense.

 

[Lexus Lunar Lorry]

The upcoming joint venture also comes as Sony has focused less on electronics in recent years. For example, it stopped making its Vaio PCs in 2014 and quit Blu-rays last year. Meanwhile, it has been focusing on intellectual property, like anime and movies, as Bloomberg noted.

I just had flashbacks to IBM. Hopefully Sony will care deeply about the quality of its intellectual property business and not fall for various financial engineering scheme.

 

[SolarMane]

I wonder if this joint venture will improve TCL's image processing, which is one of its weaknesses.

 

[WhyNotZoidberg]

The news comes as the TV industry has struggled with decreasing margins and has become more competitive.

They're betting that they can still command the Sony pricing with TCL quality and puff up their margins.

 

[NickAVV]

I considered a Sony oled too, but LG was way cheaper and putting a apple tv/chromecast dongle was basically just as good...

I'd say better even, since you can upgrade the <$100 stick when it gets slow/unsupported/outdated rather than the entire TV

 

[bman212121]

This is going to be bad for TVs in general. If you're not aware on a TCL Roku TV, plugging another device into one of the source ports it will ask for your consent to view / use that input for data collection purposes. The options are "agree" or "learn more" or something to that effect. You have to learn more and scroll down to find a disagree option to actually use your input sources without agreeing to data collection.

 

[iim]

I remember years ago when LG and Samsung were eating Sony’s lunch, when Sony announced a retreat, that they were going to focus on the premium end of the business. Along with an announcement that they were going to be buying OLED panels from LG.

And it worked up until the point when Samsung and LG were getting really good and no longer content to just having the low and mid tier.

And now the Chinese have are in, and they’re basically doing the exact same thing but progressing technologically far faster. I guess the message is that there is no safe place in the market anymore.

Speaking of the Chinese brands, what I really like about Hisense and TCL, is they don’t bother with the stupid format wars (HDR 10+ / Dolby) that Samsung is engaged in. They support both standards, you can run either.

 

[redleader]

Bravia TV's have a weird cult-like following. Like hardcore AVS forums love them, but their specs are generally mid-level and are wildly overpriced.

I bought an A95K a few years years ago and multiple reviews said to have the deliverer's open it and check the panel, and I did it TWICE and both had horrendous weird patches of visibly damaged panel and had to send back.

Mine deep sleeps (everything off) with more vampire drain than my Raptor Lake PC running normally at windows desktop because no one cared to implement basic power management. If it's not unplugged periodically the audio in stops working if you try and video call. For a year or so they pushed an update that would crash all audio playback if you tried to use the YouTube app.

IMO they're fine panels but extremely under-engineered with half baked software and some fairly questionable power management.

 

[ScifiGeek]

Bravia TV's have a weird cult-like following. Like hardcore AVS forums love them, but their specs are generally mid-level and are wildly overpriced.

I bought an A95K a few years years ago and multiple reviews said to have the deliverer's open it and check the panel, and I did it TWICE and both had horrendous weird patches of visibly damaged panel and had to send back.

I still see them winning blind tested shoot outs. Their tuning is top notch.

 

[ArsSide]

Cool! My two cheap TCL TVs are now Sonys!!!!

 

[msawzall]

I guess they're no longer "high-end".

 

[Bob Dobilina]

My last Sony TV was a 36” VEGA. It sat in my basement for years because I couldn’t get it up the steps. My plan was to break it apart and haul it out in pieces. My wife wanted to recycle it. I paid $200 for the recyclers to get it to the top of the stairs and then watch it roll down the stairs and go through the wall at the bottom, shedding pieces as it rolled. Nah, I’m not bitter.

 

[romrunning]

A number of these low-cost TV manufacturers are making their profits on the backend with harvesting & selling user viewing data. That's why I isolated my TV (not TCL) a while back from having direct Internet access, and even went with a standalone AppleTV for streaming. Not perfect, but I'm happy to do what I can to slow down that type of surreptitious collecting.

 

[rrward]

More "smart features"? No thank you. I don't use the ones my current TV has. Got tired of Android needing to update every time I turned the TV on, so I disconnected the Ethernet cable and have been using it as a dumb display ever since.

 

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

This seems like one of those agreements where you are basically putting a brave face on the fact that the people you once regarded as fungible board stuffers are in position to replace you.

Similar to the trajectory iRobot went through recently, where they farmed out roomba-ing to an ODM to save money; then ended up getting picked up for a pittance in brand name once the ODM asked the 'so what is it that you say you do here?' question.

 

[ZenBeam]

I have a Sony Bravia from about 15 years ago, and I'm still happy with it, and glad it sill works well. IIRC it's 240 Hz, and supports 120 Hz stereo vision from back when TVs were trying that out. (Possibly I'm remembering a different TV, though.)

It's supposedly a smart TV, but I don't let it connect to the internet, and I think it's too old to have any work-around built in. I did try it out at first, and it was awful, painfully slow to do anything. Maybe five years later I thought "It can't have been that bad" and tried again. It was that bad.

I wonder if last of the pre-joint venture Bravias will be cheap on clearance, or pricy because people will buy them before they're gone?

 

[joelsa]

As noted above, TCL does some really, truly "it should be illegal!" type stuff re: privacy, and it's likely to get worse now.

I stopped buying Sony anything after the rootkit debacle. Don't support companies that treat you like a criminal, folks!

Also, friendly reminder that privacy is a fundamental human right, and you don't have to agree to give it up for a companies profit margin.

 

[motytrah]

I've got a Sony LCD TV (42") which is 17 years old and still works fine. I want it to die so I can justify a new one which is also bigger and better display... but why replace something that still works just fine? And I was planning on spending the money on a Sony Bravia for my next one... but now? Who knows....

My Panasonic Plasma display is still working strong.

It's also odd when you shop in Japan. There's very little Chinese brands on the shelves, and a lot of TVs from Japanese electronic makers I thought exited the business.

 

[Luddite_Adjacent]

The old wood paneled Sony Trinitrons were such good televisions and ahead of their time. I learned the hard way to avoid modern Sony televisions.

 

[murty]

I still see them winning blind tested shoot outs. Their tuning is top notch.

How are blind people being used to judge TV image quality?

/s

 

[equals42]

This is going to be bad for TVs in general. If you're not aware on a TCL Roku TV, plugging another device into one of the source ports it will ask for your consent to view / use that input for data collection purposes. The options are "agree" or "learn more" or something to that effect. You have to learn more and scroll down to find a disagree option to actually use your input sources without agreeing to data collection.

Well, I suppose the bright spot there is that it can’t do anything with that data collected if it’s not connected to the Internet.

 

[the cave troll]

I for one am really excited that I will finally be able to control my TV using scripts written in TCL!

 

[Granadico]

I've got a Sony LCD TV (42") which is 17 years old and still works fine. I want it to die so I can justify a new one which is also bigger and better display... but why replace something that still works just fine? And I was planning on spending the money on a Sony Bravia for my next one... but now? Who knows....

I had a 10+ year old hand me down that I only bought once the sound started to get weird (I admittedly could have just bought an AV receiver but I did end up buying that later too). The jump from an old LCD to an OLED was incredible but I'm totally in the same boat of using something until it breaks. My biggest concern would be all the computer pricing issues, I assume TV prices are going to start to jump eventually as well.

 

[no_free_lunches_for_ai]

Bravia TV's have a weird cult-like following. Like hardcore AVS forums love them, but their specs are generally mid-level and are wildly overpriced.

I bought an A95K a few years years ago and multiple reviews said to have the deliverer's open it and check the panel, and I did it TWICE and both had horrendous weird patches of visibly damaged panel and had to send back.

As mentioned directly below you; their TVs have a cult-like following because:
1) They last forever. I've owned 3 (4?) Bravia TVs at this point, most of them for 10+ years and they continue to just work.
2) They come with a bare minimum of TV software bloat (or at least my most "recent" tv from ~2017)
3) They are hardly overpriced; yes they are more expensive on average than other TVs with similar specs, but you are guaranteed good quality in both build and display (see point 1). Wait for an open-box deal or get last year's display on sell and you get excellent quality for the price.
4) Personal option here, but I generally prefer their design, UI/UX, and specs over other TVs I've owned/used in the past.

This news makes me sad, and now wondering if I need to pick up a new Bravia before they enshittify have that hold me over for another 10 years and hope some other company can take their place of high quality, low bloat/bullshit/gimmicks TVs.

 

[plugh]

My last Sony TV was a 36” VEGA. It sat in my basement for years because I couldn’t get it up the steps. My plan was to break it apart and haul it out in pieces. My wife wanted to recycle it. I paid $200 for the recyclers to get it to the top of the stairs and then watch it roll down the stairs and go through the wall at the bottom, shedding pieces as it rolled. Nah, I’m not bitter.

I also had an the same Sony CRT TV relegated to the basement only to spend a few years trying to figure out how to get it out of there. It was a great TV for its day. Much better color and dynamic range than the bigger LCD that replaced it, but bigger screens and HD beckoned.
I offered it to a neighbor's son who was heading off to college. Managed to get it out of that basement for free!

 

[Elrabin]

As mentioned directly below you; their TVs have a cult-like following because:
1) They last forever. I've owned 3 (4?) Bravia TVs at this point, most of them for 10+ years and they continue to just work.
2) They come with a bare minimum of TV software bloat (or at least my most "recent" tv from ~2017)
3) They are hardly overpriced; yes they are more expensive on average than other TVs with similar specs, but you are guaranteed good quality in both build and display (see point 1). Wait for an open-box deal or get last year's display on sell and you get excellent quality for the price.
4) Personal option here, but I generally prefer their design, UI/UX, and specs over other TVs I've owned/used in the past.

This news makes me sad, and now wondering if I need to pick up a new Bravia before they enshittify have that hold me over for another 10 years and hope some other company can take their place of high quality, low bloat/bullshit/gimmicks TVs.

I cross shopped the Bravia 7 line with the TCL QM8K but the Bravia cost $600 more for........no discernable reason.

The 65" QM8k has nearly 4 times the number of dimming zones, higher peak brightness(which 99% of the time doesn't matter) and similar image processing capability.

Viewed side-by-side, the TCL had significantly less bloom around bright objects on dark background due to the far smaller dimming zones.

I simply couldn't justify the price increase for a markedly lower picture quality. Not when Black Friday put the QM8k below $1000. Both are Google TVs, both have support for all the formats, it really feels like you're paying for the Sony name. I hedged my bets and got a 5 year warranty on it and was still below $1000 after taxes and warranty.

I'm glad you like your Bravia, but I can't figure out what they're charging for.

RTINGS prefers the QM8k for contract, black level uniformity, HDR and for gaming. I don't care about Sony's mildly superior processing because I'm running everything through an Nvidia Shield Pro which does a superior job on processing/upscaling than EITHER TV. https://www.rtings.com/tv/tools/compare/sony-bravia-7-vs-tcl-qm8k/53322/101781

 

[bman212121]

Well, I suppose the bright spot there is that it can’t do anything with that data collected if it’s not connected to the Internet.

With an asterisk that it's not on the internet. That's the one piece that you can't always be sure of. There were a few products a decade ago that could build ad-hoc wireless networks, so if you have one of those products nearby then it's possible it can find a way online. Keep in mind that it doesn't have to be your device, if someone else's IoT has internet and it can provide a gateway, there will be a path.