As unveiled at CES 2021, Sony has announced a new streaming service called Bravia Core. It's available exclusively to owners of Sony Bravia XR TVs and aims to provide near lossless quality that rivals 4K Blu-ray discs.
What Is Bravia Core?
If you buy a Sony Bravia XR TV and are based in the United States or Canada, you will get exclusive access to Bravia Core.
Bravia Core aims to "bring the cinematic experience home" thanks to a technology that Sony is dubbing Pure Stream. This streams movies at up to 80 Mbps, which delivers lossless 4K UHD picture quality.
If Sony's figures are accurate, Bravia Core offers far better quality than other streaming services. For example, Netflix only suggests 25 Mbps for its 4K content.
Some content also supports IMAX Enhanced, which delivers a remastered IMAX picture and immersive sound from DTS.
Bravia Core also offers a range of behind-the-scenes extra footage and interviews from a series it calls Studio Access.
You can only use Bravia Core on specific Sony TVs, which are: Z9J, A90J, A80J, X95J, X92, X90J, A80CJ, X90CJ, X91CJ and X80CJ.
According to Sony, you can stream Bravia Core's content as much as you like, though the movies that you have access to will depend on the model of TV and your country.
However, to stream a movie you need to spend a credit. Some models come with 10 credits, while others come with 5. It's not known whether one credit gives permanent streaming access to a movie, or if you need to spend a credit every time you want to watch.
More information about which models that applies for can be found on the Bravia Core page, though it lacks details about what happens when that promotion expires—as Sony has not announced long-term pricing plans for Bravia Core, nor whether it will become more widely available.
It's still early days for Bravia Core and we can expect to see more details released soon, like precise details on what content will be available and how much it will cost in the long-term.
However, Sony isn't positioning this as a service to rival the likes of Amazon Prime or Netflix, especially since it isn't available for everyone to sign up to. Instead, it's a service that will let you best experience the fancy new Sony Bravia XR TV that you just purchased.