Sony BRAVIA 4K Displays Receive Industry Certifications, Crystal LED Virtual Production System Wins Two Awards, Joins GPA’s Partner Program

Sony has remained busy over the last month with a trio of new announcements.

Sony Electronics Gains Certifications from Crestron, Cisco for BRAVIA 4K Professional Displays
Sony has enhanced its interoperability and integrations with third party alliance partners, by receiving certification from Crestron and Cisco for its BRAVIA 4K Professional Displays. As a credible display partner of choice, Sony offers robust compatibility, seamless integration, and an improved user experience for customers around the globe.

“Sony has always been a valued technology partner with Crestron by adopting our popular Crestron Connected 3rd party device control technology, and they have once again raised the bar by becoming certified with Crestron’s 2nd Generation Crestron Connected control platform, which now includes integration to Crestron’s XiO Cloud Remote Management solution,” says Bob Bavolacco, Crestron’s Director of Technology Partnerships.

Crestron is the number one market leader in automated and integrated control systems that create a flawless workflow between audio visual equipment, environment accessories and IT technologies. Crestron has developed a global certification program, Crestron Connected, that is turn-key at the engineering level, allowing certified manufacturing partners to natively connect, communicate, and monitor from one central location. With previous certification for Crestron Connected, Sony has now integrated its latest IoT-based AV management platform, XiO Cloud, enabling businesses to access its workplace technology all in one place. As a certified partner, Crestron’s XiO Cloud platform allows customers to deploy, monitor and manage Sony’s displays from a centralized location, reducing installation time and increasing uptime.

“We are excited to have Sony joining our ecosystem of Webex Certified partners, providing customers with ease of use and ultimate quality to enable meeting spaces for video meetings and virtual collaboration,” says Finn Helge Lunde, Product Director at Cisco Webex.

Sony’s BRAVIA 4K Professional Displays, including the recently launched FW-100BZ40J and FW-32BZ30J, are Webex certified and integrated with Webex Room Kit Series, the market leading devices for video meetings and virtual team collaboration. Meeting the standards of Webex Certifications including secure optimized image quality and automation ensures a seamless integration between Sony’s BRAVIA 4K Professional Displays and Webex Room Kit Series.

“We are delighted to receive these prestigious certifications from Cisco Webex and Crestron, two of the biggest players in the AV enterprise market offering credible solutions for UC and control. By partnering with such respected brands, we can help our customers prepare their workplace for years to come,” comments Damien Weissenburger, Head of Professional Displays and Solutions Europe.

“As we continue to prioritize our focus on creating value for our customers, alignment with industry leaders including Cisco Webex and Crestron is critical. Building out a diverse ecosystem of partners elevates Sony’s abilities and creates a more robust and user-friendly experience that enables collaboration and integration,” says Rich Ventura, Vice President of B2B, Sony Electronics’ Imaging Products and Solutions Professional Division, North America.

Society of Information Display Gives 2022 Display Industry Award, Display Application of the Year to Sony’s Crystal LED Virtual Production System
The Society for Information Display (SID), the world’s largest electronic display society, has awarded Sony Corporation, Sony PCL Inc., and Sony Innovation Studios Inc., the “Display Application of the Year” award for their “Crystal LED Virtual Production System Solution.” This is being awarded in recognition of the display’s innovative and outstanding application, and its great impact on the market in 2021.

The awarded “Crystal LED Virtual Production System Solution” is a new content creation solution that enhances the freedom of expression for creators. This is enabled by the “in-camera VFX” method, which combines the Sony’s large LED display “Crystal LED B-series” and their digital cinema camera “VENICE,” alongside a camera tracking system and real-time engine.

A virtual background such as 3DCG (three-dimensional computer graphics) is displayed on the Crystal LED B-series display, which has features supported such as high resolution, high brightness, and wide color gamut. This enables video production that combines CG and live-action in real time without post-processing such as composition. The combination of the Crystal LED and VENICE delivers high-quality color reproduction and gradation expression, resulting in reduced editing work and high-quality content. Furthermore, the point cloud software “Atom View” – Sony Innovation Studios award winning and patented technology – scans existing places and objects and converts them into 3DCG models. This makes it possible to create photorealistic virtual backgrounds, as if the subjects were really there.

In Japan, Sony PCL began demonstration experiments of Virtual Production technology in 2020, and is now actively providing the solution. Sony PCL has already achieved results in various content production businesses such as commercials, movies, and music videos. Sony PCL will continue to provide cutting-edge production technology and creative work, including Virtual Production at the “Kiyosumi Shirakawa BASE,” a new studio which was newly established in February this year.

“The SID Display Industry Awards recognize the best display products or applications introduced to the market during the previous calendar year,” notes Wei Chen, SID’s Display Industry Awards Committee Chairman. “We are proud to award Sony Corporation, Sony PCL Inc., and Sony Innovation Studios Inc. a 2022 Display Application of the Year honor for its Crystal LED virtual production system solution. We commend the company’s ongoing commitment to innovation and to helping shape the future of display performance and solutions.”

Sony Strengthens Global Position, Local Communication by Joining GPA’s Partner Program
Sony has joined GPA’s Partner Program as a strategic global display vendor, strengthening its global position and offering to its enterprise customers. GPA is a global organization of audio, video, and unified communications business units, who are committed to sharing best practices to guarantee the same excellent customer experience across the globe.

GPA, being a credible global organization with business units in each key territory, helps Sony strengthen its supply chain and provides central and local contact points for its global clients, to ensure seamless communication and deployment for the end customer. The GPA partnership allows Sony to fill the gaps and ensure a strong and prolific offering of its Professional Displays and Solutions to new and existing customers.

Sony’s product vision has always been around quality; quality of image reproduction, quality of product durability and reliability in the field, and quality of local supply chain and support. This 12-month partnership shows its dedication to providing that quality across the globe, locally, to every single client.

“We are thrilled to announce that we have joined GPA as a display vendor, joining one of the world’s largest AV organizations, and bringing our spectacular products and solutions to clients across the globe, including our newly launched BRAVIA 4K 100” and 32” professional displays,” comments Damien Weissenburger, Head of Professional Displays and Solutions Europe. “For a long time, our customers have asked for central contact points with local supply and support who understand the local nuances of doing business in their market, to make it easier for communication and a seamless deployment for the end user. By joining the GPA network, we can collaborate with talented professionals in the AV industry and ensure that the ultimate customer experience is delivered every time. We look forward to engaging with each individual local GPA business unit to build a strong relationship and solidify mutual growth plans.”

GPA has a proven track record of working with Sony Electronics in America, who have been working with AVI systems (GPA Regional Business Unit in America) on a meeting room “tech in a box”, offered through a finance model. The meeting room technology packages are available for a monthly fee, allowing key technology to be trialled without a significant outlay, minimizing risk, and making upgrades easier with evolving technologies. Sony with GPA can deliver these innovative business models for customers to seamlessly deploy technology to make businesses more streamlined and competitive in 2022 and beyond.

“As business needs grow globally, we at Sony are taking measures to continue our transformation. Being able to provide solutions for our customers regionally and internationally is critical and we see the GPA as an important partner in the delivery of Pro AV technology to our customers,” says Rich Ventura, Vice President of B2B, Sony Electronics’ Imaging Products and Solutions Professional Division, North America. “Their proficiency in standardization, knowledge of best practices and ability to leverage the strengths of their member organizations augments our best-in-class solutions. Together we’re enabling a streamlined process that emphasizes quality, expertise, speed and scalability and supports our shared commitment to deliver a superior end-to-end experience to our customers.”

“We have been doing some exciting things with Sony at a regional level over the past year, not only from a technology solution design standpoint, but also in concepts like business model innovation,” says Byron Tarry, CEO of GPA. “I’m very excited to see the strategic global relationship now formalised in a comprehensive partnership agreement and plan and look forward to the successes we each know lay ahead amid the tremendous market opportunity.”