Sony’s TVs Will Be the First With Google Assistant Inside

SONY’S LATEST 4K panels boast powerful processors that improve the look of just about any video you throw onto the screen. But the chips inside these TVs don’t stop at making movies look better: Like giant Pixel phones, the TVs will have Google’s voice-controlled Assistant built into them.

Well, they will eventually. According to Sony, Google Assistant will be added to their new sets via a firmware update later this year.

The sooner they can do it, the better. Tens of millions of people are expected to decide it’s finally time to buy a 4K TV this year, and the deals are delicious at every point of the pricing spectrum. Variety abounds too, as the industry’s big brands try to solve different pieces of the picture-quality puzzle. Samsung is preaching the power of quantum dots, Vizio is all about value, and LG is team OLED. While Sony finally has an OLED of its own, the company believes its competitive advantage comes from two places: Having a TV with the best image processing, and having a TV with a great voice platform.

OK Google, Change the Channel
Sony’s sets already come with Android TV, but this year’s models will be the first television sets with Google Assistant on board. The sets won’t always be listening for that “OK Google” cue: You need to hit a button on the included remote for Assistant to register your queries, but you can also use a Google Home speaker to communicate with the TV without hitting a button.

If you’re familiar with the way Assistant looks and sounds on a phone, a demo looked similar on Sony’s big screens. You hit a button on the remote, ask it things, and Assistant’s bubbly little bar appears on the bottom of the display. You’ll be able to ask it general queries and control other devices in the Google Home universe, but the built-in Assistant will have a few TV-specific features. For example, you can change source inputs just by asking, launch apps on the TV, start playing a show just by asking for it, and adjust the volume and channel. Google Home can already interact with any TV with Chromecast capability built in, so you if you have one of those sets, you can order it around by barking at Google’s smart speaker. But this level of integration on the Sony sets is much deeper.

Trust the Processor
Sony’s top-of-the-line X1 Extreme processor remains in its flagship Z9D television, and it’ll be in the upcoming Bravia A1E OLED. One of the key features is an “object-oriented” approach to improving the contrast and color attributes of different items in a video. Instead of applying broad strokes to each frame, the processor analyzes different elements within it. It can apply different levels of noise reduction to different objects in the frame, eliminate artifacts to achieve pure black, and apply smooth color gradation within objects in a scene.

Now, Sony is putting the X1 Extreme into more of its TVs. It’s also adding more-powerful processors to its lower-end sets, purportedly making the lower-priced panels perform better than their hardware specs would indicate.

The new X800E, X850E, and X900E TVs will have lower-end X1 processors that provide similar object-oriented HDR processing and contrast-enhancing features. The higher-end X930E and X940E, which both play Dolby Vision HDR video, will have that top-of-the-line X1 Extreme processor. The X940E is a full-array LCD set with local-dimming technology to boost contrast and justify its higher price. But the litmus test of what Sony’s most powerful processing engine can do is the X930E, which is an edge-lit LCD panel the company says can perform like a full-array TV with local dimming.

A traditional edge-lit LCD TV uses a backlight systems that isn’t directly behind the LCD panel. This design makes them thinner, but also makes it harder for an edge-lit LCD TV to control contrast, and it makes the lighting appear uneven across the whole screen. The X930E is an edge-lit set, but due to its processing engine, Sony claims it performs just as well as a full-array backlight system with local dimming—the most sought-after combo in LCD tech.

All that remains to be seen, but the X930E has a promising legacy. Its predecessor, the X930D, earned high marks from several reviewers, and Sony claims the contrast levels on the newer set are noticeably better than last year’s.

Ideally, these powerful processors would mean cheaper panels with better performance, but that’s not the case just yet. Sony intends these smarter sets to go up against the OLEDs and QLEDs of the world, and they’ll be priced accordingly when they ship next month. The 65-inch X930E will run you $4,000, the 55-inch model costs $3,300, and the lowest-end X800E—a way-too-small 43 inches—starts at $1,000. OK Google, when are prices going to drop?