Sony TVs to recommend what to watch

Next generation TV more suggestive thanks to Macrovision tech

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12 March 2009 11:27 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Sony will launch a TV later in the year that will give programme recommendations based on what you watch, Pocket-lint has learnt.

The new service, currently codenamed "Neon", is expected to appear on the company's forthcoming Bravia televisions that haven't even been announced yet.

The service will be powered by Macrovision, the company that previously made sure we couldn't copy stuff, but has now moved in to providing "content discovery".

"The TV guide will offer you recommendations based on who is in front of the TV after you've answered a series of questions", Richard Bullwinkle, chief evangelist (yes, that is his real job title) at Macrovision, told Pocket-lint.

"The system will even change what it recommends if you say that your 7-year-old daughter had joined you".

The new software will be powered by Macrovision's massive database of metadata (that already provides services to companies such as Spotify, Nokia, Sony, Samsung, PlayStation, Sky, and Shazam) and hopes to not only provide relevant suggestions from your electronic programme guide, but also any content that you have stored on different devices connected to the TV.

"Sony will make it possible to access the content on your PS3 via your TV without having to turn the channel over to the PS3", said Bullwinkle, suggesting that a unified system interface would be available on future TV sets coming from Sony.

However, it won't just be recommendations from Sony that will help you decide what to watch. Macrovision plans to give manufacturers the ability for a viewer to get recommendations from friends.

"It would be very easy to have it so you can see what you friend's favourite programmes are and then have those recommended to you to watch or record", says Bullwinkle.

The new "Neon" technology should be in televisions coming out before Christmas, we've been told.