Sony Bravia A8 (65-inch) OLED TV deals
The Sony A8H OLED TV (called the A8 or A85 in the UK) strikes the perfect balance between price and performance by taking the high-end OLED features of the Sony A9G Master series and bringing it to a lower price point. Although its 65-inch model costs just $2,799 / €2,799 at launch, the Sony A8H/A8 is equipped with Sony's X1 Ultimate processor, Sony's Pixel Contrast Booster (for richer image reflections), and a new version of OLED from the X-Motion. Clarity Function initially developed by Sony for its FALD LCD TVs. So the Sony Bravia A8H OLED TV is so impressive that we recommend keeping it even as an older model. The A8H has been succeeded by the newer Sony A80J OLED TV, but that doesn't invalidate the A8H's overall quality. On the audio side, Sony's usual acoustic surface audio system (where the TV screen is actually "excited" to produce sound) is joined by a two-subwoofer bass system and an automatic acoustic calibration system that can Optimize TV sound for your room with just a few quick test pulses. The results are simply magnificent.
- Sony Bravia A8 (65-inch) OLED TV (65-inch HDR) at Amazon for $ 2,198
Price and release date
The Sony A8H/A8 OLED TV was announced at CES 2020 and is now available globally in two sizes, 55-inch and 65-inch, along with a unique UK design variant called the A85 OLED, which changes the blade stand. metal for a "premium support". In terms of price, the 55-inch Sony KD-8A55 / XBR-8A55 is €1,899 / €1,799, while the larger 65-inch Sony KD-8A65 / XBR-8A65 is €2,799 / €2,799. That's nearly identical to the price of LG's OLED CX, though the CX is also available in a 48-inch size this year, as well as a massive 77-inch screen size.
(Image credit: Sony)
Integrated
The 65-inch Sony KD-8A65 / XBR-8A65 you sent us for this review features a remarkably industrial design, and the outer few inches of the screen are as incredibly thin as you'd expect from OLED technology. Those thin parts are exceptionally well finished on the 65A8, while still being incredibly tough and strong. The rest of the rear has a much deeper part of the bodywork that is just as strong and contains essential elements such as connections, processors and panel controllers. However, this deeper section is so muscular, minimalist, and shapely that it actually adds to the appeal of the design rather than feeling like a "necessary evil." From the front, the screen has a pleasingly monolithic appearance, with noticeably small bezels to distract you from the image. The metallic nature of this trim, however, continues with the high build quality, and the relatively subtle desk legs do their job with minimal distraction. The feet can also be attached in two different ways. Either with the screen sitting on it, or with the screen sitting a few inches higher, so you have room to add a soundbar to your setup. Connections include four HDMI, three USB, an Ethernet port, a headphone output, a composite video input, and a digital audio output. Plus, of course, there's built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. All HDMIs are capable of supporting the latest HDCP 2.3 anti-piracy system and support both automatic game mode switching and eARC audio to deliver uncompressed Dolby Atmos to compatible sound bars. However, this Sony model doesn't have support for 4K/120Hz or variable refresh rates, despite the fact that all of those features will appear on Sony's own PS5 gaming console later this year. One last big innovation in terms of design concerns the remote control of the 65A8. With its sleek metallic-effect finish, spacious layout and responsive buttons, it's a far cry from the maddening layouts and unnecessary download buttons of the latest generations of Sony TV phones.
(Image credit: Google)
Smart TV (Android TV)
As with almost all Sony TVs these days, the A8H/A8 relies on Android TV for most of its smart TV feel. However, it also offers YouView in the UK to make up for Android TV's shortcomings when it comes to supporting catch-up apps from UK terrestrial broadcasters. The Android TV implementation is version 9 (Pie) and the operating system also features some Sony-specific enhancements. Highlighting an option in Settings menus, for example, now displays a nice "expanded" explanation of what that feature does. Sony has also introduced a new electronic guide to programs that has four beautify plus informations on the screen that the majority of the EPGs have in parvenant to preserve a (three small) version of the chain that you regard in the superior coin correct. There are also new on-screen "tips" for voice control, as well as better detection and information about external devices. As always with Android TV, the Sony A8 provides built-in support for Google Chromecast, Google Assistant, and the GooglePlay store. There's now also out-of-the-box support for Apple Airplay 2, and the latest collection of Android TV apps includes Disney Plus, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Tidal (including support for Dolby Atmos Music), and YouTube. However, there is currently no support on Android TV for the Apple TV app (or the Apple TV Plus streaming service). Android TV is still a long way from our favorite smart platform. In addition to missing a key app or two, the way the home screen takes up the entire screen and doesn't let you continue watching TV while browsing is particularly frustrating. But the Pie version, at least, runs reasonably smooth and smooth compared to previous versions.
(Image credit: Sony)
HD / SDR images from the Sony A8 are truly impressive. For starters, the upscaling of all sub-4K content is wonderful. High levels of detail and texture are added seemingly effortlessly, without making the image seem forced or noisy. This is true even if you are feeding the 65A8 from a very grainy or poor quality source. The color judgment applied to each scaled pixel is also exceptional, meaning there's nothing smaller scale engines can do. Unusually for today's television world, the 65A8's Vivid, Standard, and Cinema picture presets apply HDR remastering to SDR sources you can't turn off. Just as unusual for today's television world, this remaster is truly compelling. It adopts relatively soft sharpening, which prevents its color and light spread from deviating too much from the SDR source material. It also works on an object basis, rather than applying a single set of rules to the entire image, again allowing it to look more natural than most SDR to HDR converters. If you're a gamer, well, you'll be happy to know that with the 65A8 switched to its gaming preset, input lag (the time it takes for the screen to render its images) drops to a respectable 18.ms.
(Image credit: Sony) The 4K/HDR images of the Sony 65A8 take the beauty already seen with HD/SDR content to an even higher level. Dark HDR scenes, for example, show Sony's fantastic control over one of the trickier aspects of OLED technology: the transition from solid colors to near-black colors. There's no sign of the low noise level that some OLED displays can experience in very dark areas. In fact, we've yet to see excellent black level control, refinement, depth, and consistency compared to any other OLED TV, or any other period TV for that matter. The Sony 65A8 also stands out for the wide color gamut associated with HDR images. The immense tonal subtlety of Sony's color management enables 4K HDR images to be perfectly three-dimensional, natural and rich in nuance. In fact, the level of sophistication presented with traditionally difficult areas like skin tones, dark colors, and shadow detail is as good as anything I've seen anywhere outside of an OLED mastering monitor. Sony's bitmapping technology, on the other hand, mitigates in the 65A8 the kind of color fringing artifacts that fine blending in HDR / Wide Color Gamut content can cause on HDR displays. Sometimes the processing behind this causes a slight loss of detail in the "bitmap" area. But the positive points clearly outweigh this small negative point. Otherwise, the sharpness and detail of native 4K images are fantastic. Classic fine details like skin pores, forest leaves, distant bricks, and lichen-covered, rock-filled mountains are impeccably rendered. Additionally, extreme sharpness is achieved without common sharpness-related artifacts such as ghosting edges and stressful objects, exaggerated noise source, or exaggerated grain. Sharpness hardly misses a beat, even when there's a lot of movement to deal with. Sony's 'MotionFlow 1' setting brilliantly eliminates the jerk with 24p film sources, giving it a more cinematic look, without accumulating the overly soft 'soap opera' that less sensitive motion processors can cause. Even better, though, is the Clearness motion option, which uses Sony's new X-Motion Clarity feature. In its OLED form, X-Motion Clarity doesn't insert full screens of black between real images like typical black frame insertion technology does. Instead, it inserts partial black frames only in parts of the image, while magnifying the remaining areas of the image. This produces the natural 24p feel associated with BFI technology without causing the usual side effect of reduced brightness.
(Image credit: Sony) As with previous Sony OLED TVs, the main argument against the 65A8 is that its pictures aren't very bright, even by OLED standards. It measures around 640 nits in a white HDR square that takes up 10% of the screen in its Vivid and Standard image presets, and that drops to 540 nits in Cinema mode. The LG OLED65CX, by comparison, hits over 800 nits in its Vivid mode and over 700 nits in its Cinema Home and Standard modes. This brightness limitation of the 65A8 is something...