Sony Electronics has announced that the BRAVIA XR A95L (2023) starts at $2,799.99 and will be available for pre-order starting August 21 at authorized dealers nationwide. Available in 55-, 65-, and 77-inch class sizes, this is a new QD-OLED 4K HDR TV from Sony that couples one of the world’s premier display technologies with Google TV, Google’s smart TV streaming platform. Users will also find a Cognitive Processor XR, a good number of HDMI 2.1 ports, and Acoustic Surface Audio+ (sound produced from the entire screen).
U.S. Pricing and Availability
- 77″ Class (76.7″ diag): $4,999.99 MSRP (Available to pre-order on 8/21/2023)
- 65″ Class (64.5″ diag): $3,499.99 MSRP (Available to pre-order on 8/21/2023)
- 55″ Class (54.6″ diag): $2,799.99 MSRP (Available to pre-order on 8/21/2023)
Canada Pricing and Availability
- 77″ Class (76.7″ diag): $6,999.99 MSRP (Available to pre-order on 8/21/2023)
- 65″ Class (64.5″ diag): $4,999.99 MSRP (Available to pre-order on 8/21/2023)
- 55″ Class (54.6″ diag): $3,999.99 MSRP (Available to pre-order on 8/21/2023)
BRAVIA XR A95L QD-OLED 4K HDR Google TV Features
- Google TV: Get access to all your favorite streaming apps in one place with Google TV, and simply use your voice to search and ask questions with Google Assistant.
- Intelligent and powerful TV processing: Powered by Sony’s intelligent Cognitive Processor XR, hundreds of thousands of individual on-screen elements are processed and remastered in the blink of an eye, boosting color, contrast, and clarity.
- Sony’s widest palette of colors: With QD-OLED panel technology and enhanced by XR Triluminos Max, millions of self-illuminating individual pixels deliver more saturation and brightness to every color.
- Definitive contrast: By pairing the QD-OLED panel and XR OLED Contrast Pro, see up to 200% color brightness compared to conventional OLED TVs, bringing scenes to life with pure black and our brightest colors.
- Multi View: Exclusively on the A95L, use Multi View to split your screen and enjoy watching content from two different sources at the same time. Such as playing a game on one side and watching a walkthrough on the other.
- Perfect for PlayStation 5: Take your gaming to the next level with exclusive features Auto HDR Tone Mapping and Auto Genre Picture Mode for optimized picture quality while gaming and streaming on your PS5 console.
- All game settings in one place: With Game Menu, quickly manage your gaming picture settings and exclusive assist features in a single convenient interface.
- With Acoustic Surface Audio+, actuators behind the TV vibrate to produce audio from the entire screen elevating the sound and improving dialogue. An integrated subwoofer delivers powerful bass to round out the sound.
- Pairs perfectly with Sony soundbars: Paired with select Sony soundbars, Acoustic Center Sync synchronizes the TVs speakers with the soundbar, boosting the center channel for clearer, fuller vocals. When connected, soundbar settings automatically appear on the TV’s Quick Settings menu for easy to control of volume, sound field, and other soundbar features.
- Enhanced TV experience with included BRAVIA CAM: Connect the supplied BRAVIA CAM to unlock Ambient Optimization Pro which automatically optimizes the picture and sound to where you’re sitting in the room. You can also enjoy video chat with friends and family on the big screen.
- All Eco settings in one place: With the Eco Dashboard, energy saving settings can now be centrally managed. You can easily customize energy saving settings for your TV usage, viewing environment, and the content you are watching.
Enjoy the brightest and widest range of colors and hues, powered by the intelligent Cognitive Processor XR. With a QD-OLED screen enhanced by XR Triluminos Max, experience color performance with up to 200% as much color brightness of a conventional OLED TV. Individually lit pixels produce pure black, so your favorite movies, shows, and games burst to life on screen with extraordinary detail and depth.
Discussion (15 replies)
Join Discussion →LG C3 55" OLED is $1500. Nice try, Sony.
And the Samsung QD-OLED panel in the Sony is far better in brightness and contrast compared to the C3.
The LG G3 Evo is a better comparison, but the Sony/Samsung is still a better display. All LG did with the G3 Evo is drive the pixels harder for more brightness. Which just means shorter life and greater chance of burn in.
I'll say that this is probably true, but if one had to choose between buying a Samsung TV and an LG TV, irrespective of the panel I'd go LG every time. I'll happily buy a QD-OLED in someone else's monitor or TV, like in an Alienware (Dell) monitor or a Sony TV.
But that leads to another problem - Sony postures their products as the 'premium' option, which makes LG more price competitive for the same panel size. Also, while the argument about peak brightness almost certainly holds, we're already into 'good enough' territory here.
And if one needs a truly bright panel, OLEDs are still not going to be going toe to toe with LCDs.
More is not always better, I don't get this mania for "moooar brigtness" when I'm already running my traditional LCD far from peak brightness.
OLED's are not bright, and get washed out in bright rooms. Since they don't use backlighting like a LCD.
I don't know why anyone would want Google permanently embedded in their TV.
Because google helped offset the cost in some say that was beneficial for sony so sony says everyone wants it.
So I have an older LG OLED - a C6?. So not only is it one of the older models that doesn't get as bright, it has a few hours on it as well.
What Riccochet says is true - it does struggle if the room is bright. It's at it's absolute best when the lights are dim. I wouldn't call the screen dim, it has a peak output of around 600 nits, and if you had a pure white screen it could be blindingly bright, but it has a very aggressive auto-dimmer which will only let the brightness stay there for a moment and then it will dim the entire screen to preserve the contrast of the image (a nice trick to have when you have an infinite black level I suppose). Most of the time it isn't noticeable - you are watching something dynamic and the explosion only needs to be bright for a second, or the screen is sustained and it dims early on and stays dimmer for the duration - but it is present. But counter to that, as bright as the panel is capable of getting, I wouldn't want to run it at that level full time anyway as it would burn my eyeballs out.
That said, my biggest issue with it isn't that the screen brightness or the aggressive means needed to protect the screen - it is an issue, but compared to the contrast and color the screen can put out, it's a minor annoyance at best. My biggest gripe is the fact that the screen itself is glossy and reflects so much. Now, part of that does have to do with screen brightness, so I recognize it's somewhat related. I have to pull all the shades down in the room during the day or you can't see anything on the screen because of the reflections. The addition of an anti-reflective coating in the 2023 OLED models is the first thing that has had me thinking of upgrading.
But you can pry the absolute blacks and rich colors from my cold dead hands - I wouldn't trade that for all the brightness in the world. I guess everything has a tradeoff, it's just a matter of what you are willing to live with and pay for.
What I can't live with is an auto dimmer that changes the brightness of the screen to fake dynamic range.
I love my C2 and C9. The C9 is positioned so that it's more susceptible to reflections and light from the windows. The C2 has some of that going on but not as bad since it's closer to the corner of the room and away from most of the windows. Both are in the living room. My experiences with both have pretty much mirrored what @Brian_B said. All that being said and I've no plans to upgrade anything as I feel everything is mostly how I want it (finally). I wouldn't mind upgrading the CRG9 but it gets the job done and is not worth the amount of money it would take to do it.
I totally agree. One of the first things I look to turn off with a new display.
I can NOT wait to get on that level...
My only experience with an OLED HDTV was an LG C1 (one friend has a 48" and the other has a 77"), but good gawd was it glorious. I need more of that in my life.
Not sure it's for dynamic range, more so than panel protection.
And for video (movies etc.), it's not a poor compromise. Where it'd be unbearable would be for desktop use.
It is definitely for fake dynamic range if the screen is dimmed when much of the picture is dark. Most backlit TVs do this. It is the first thing I turn off.
And no, it is not just a poor compromise it is an unacceptable one, I'd rather have slightly softer blacks than this fake nonsense that makes the actual part of the screen where there is something to see too dark to make out also.
I love mine as well. I have a C2 as my monitor and a CX in my bedroom and another in my basement. I wouldn't go back to a traditional monitor at this point.
It's fake dynamic range on a backlit monitor. It's pixel protection on an OLED.
It still sucks, but the key differences are infinite black level and per-pixel control.