Tired of telling your kids not to push their noses against the TV? Sony’s new Bravia Cam does it for you.
Introduced at the same time as the new XR range of televisions, Bravia Cam sits on top of your fancy new TV and keeps an eye on you as you watch TV. If you get too close, you’ll see a message telling your sprog to back off and only resume his episode of Hey Duggee if he does.
But it’s a lot more than just a high-tech babysitter. Get up to make a cup of tea knowing no one is watching and dim the screen to save power. Plus, you can use gestures to do things like change channels or adjust the volume, although the thought of them might hurt you in painful Xbox Kinect flashbacks.
When you sit in front of it, the Bravia Cam can also adjust the brightness of the picture and the balance of the sound so that you are always in the sweet spot, even if the dog is sitting on the sofa and you have had to make do with a pillow on the floor. It will also encourage dialogue as you sit further away to make sure you don’t miss a word.
Last but not least, you can always use it as your standard webcam, meaning you can make video calls in front of your big TV instead of being crammed around a tiny laptop screen on the kitchen table. This will initially be the only Bravia Cam feature available, the rest will be added after a software update.
Bravia Cam plugs into one of the TV’s USB ports so you can always unplug it when you’re not using it. After all, it would be embarrassing if someone found out exactly how many episodes of Tipping Point they watch in a day.
Buy one of Sony’s top-end mini LED TVs Z9K or A95K and get a Bravia Cam in the box, X90K, X85K, and X80K. There’s no information right now about how much it will cost or when it will be available, but the TVs will all go on sale later in the year.
