Regardless of the economic downturn manufacturers will continue to pump out their new ranges and Sony is no exception. They have just made available the details of their 2009 Bravia LCD TV line-up for the European market and they come with a number of new features and innovations.

One of the main features all TVs must have now is a focus on green tech and these Bravia TVs will all carry the new EU Flower logo. That eco-label is what the European Commission are using to denote a product that complies with certain regulations to ensure they are having a very low impact on the environment for their entire lifetime.

In order to meet those green requirements Sony doesn’t look to of compromised on image quality. The new TVs use the Bravia Engine 3 that enhances both HD and SD signals to give the best picture detail it can while combining it with 100Hz refresh. The TVs use Live Color to ensure color reproduction on-screen is optimal. The sets also contain an additional green LED allowing for extra brightness and better white balance.

Networked access to media is a key new feature using something Sony have called DLNA. If you happen to own a Vaio laptop, PC, or media center, then the media they contain can be streamed to your Bravia TV and controlled with the TV remote. This is complemented by a USB media player that basically allows you to plug gadgets directly into your TV and access media off them.

An included Ethernet connection provides a gateway to Internet access, something Sony have named AppliCast. They are also taking a leaf out of Window Vista’s book by allowing you to have a sidebar of widgets that can be displayed while you watch TV. The list of widgets is sure to grow, but you can get a clock, a calculator, and an alarm.

Altogether there are 19 TVs in the new Bravia line-up ranging in size from 22″ right through to 52″. The options are as follows with each model featuring some or all of the new tech mentioned above:

• Bravia WE5 (40/46″)>/li>
• Bravia W5500 (32/37/40/46/52″)
• Bravia E5500 (32/40″)
• Bravia E5300 (22″)
• Bravia V5500 (22/32/37/40″)
• Bravia S5500 (22/32/37/40″)

The Bravia WE5 is the greenest model and supports the presence sensor we reported about in January that switches the display off if you leave the room.

Read more at the Sony press release

Matthew’s Opinion
There are a dizzying number of models in this new range and you have to wonder why so many? I realize they cater for different price points, but it would be nice to have one or two TVs per size category which are the company’s best. Then we wouldn’t have to figure out which model number a TV is before buying.

The new features are all welcome additions in my opinion. Being able to stream media from other devices is going to become more important as digital download services gain traction. It’s a shame this is limited to Vaio products, however, and allowing for any brand device to stream from would have earned the TVs a few extra points. The USB connection does make up for this somewhat, but total freedom with our media hardware is what we all want.

This new range has benefited from R&D at Sony over the past year, but with budgets cut it will be interesting to see if the 2010 line-up sees a similar level of innovation and progress. That is surely something that will affect all electronics manufacturers next year.