CES 2009 set the tempo for TV tech for the year. Whether intentionally or not, you could more or less have switched one manufacturer’s speech for another only with a different company logo behind them.

On the one hand, the global recession was a factor and, on the other, environmental meltdown. What this meant in consumer tech terms was that you could connect all new TVs to the internet; each company has a cleaner, greener way of putting their sets together and that no one showed off the new world’s biggest panel.

For us, we now have a sea of widget TV interfaces to work through until we’ve found the one that suits us best and a marsh of greenwashing shpeel to wade through until we can see if these machines will either save a) the planet, b) our wallets, or ideally, c) all of the above.

So when Sony invited the UK techno-scribblers to have a look at their 2009 Bravia range, I simply couldn’t refuse the excellent opportunity to stand in front of some panels scowling and pretending to be much less impressed than I actually am…