Sony TVs
2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 lineup compared

Even in 2021, Sony‘s lineup is not the biggest, but it ranges from mid-range 4K UHD LED TVs to high-end OLEDs. For its OLEDs, it uses the technology developed by LG. The Japanese consumer electronics manufacturer wants to score points on the TV market primarily with its so-called “Master Series”, which is supposed to revolutionize home entertainment and is primarily designed for the home theater experience.

However, it is noticeable that Sony does not specialize in gaming TVs, even though the Japanese company has dominated the console market alongside Microsoft for years and only launched the PlayStation 5 in 2020. As far as cloud gaming is concerned, however, Sony is better positioned than any other manufacturer thanks to the Google TV operating system!

More about TV manufacturer Sony

When it comes to the best image processing, Sony has been ahead for years. Above all, the OLED TVs successfully manage to display movies and series as intended by the creators: natural, realistic and rich in detail. That’s why Sony OLEDs are always at the forefront when it comes to the best home theater TVs, since the Sony technology, which has been perfected for years, simply does a great job in combination with Dolby VisionDynamic HDR-format with a color depth of up to 12 Bits and Mastering of up to 10,000 Nits.

Sony is relying on a Black Frame Insertion feature called “X-Motion Clarity“, which is also available on the new OLEDs this year. With the “X-Wide Angle” layer, the manufacturer is addressing the common problem of VA panels and, similar to its competitors, is trying to improve the image from an oblique viewing angle. Further features are the “Pixel Contrast Booster” for OLEDs, which is intended to enhance color and contrast ratio, and in the area of sound, “Acoustic Surface Audio+“, where the sound is to come directly from the center of the TV set by means of forward facing speakers.

For orientation: Sony model names have a letter at the end of the model name that indicates the year of publication and ranges from E = 2017 to H = 2020. The number before it stands for the value within the group. The higher the number, the more expensive the television.

Unlike LCDLCD = Liquid Crystal Display – a type of screen using liquid crystals for creating the image panels, OLED panels do not need additional backlighting. OLED is the abbreviation for “organic light emitting diode” and means that each pixel, consisting of 4 subpixels (white, red, green, blue), can either emit light in the corresponding color in different intensities or not emit light at all (black).

The manufacturer promises a quasi perfect black value and thus a theoretically infinite contrast. (Since there is no perfect black, the contrast is not really infinite:1, but it is very high at around 1,000,000:1). Another advantage is that OLEDs don’t have any problems with backlighting or local dimming, since each pixel lights up individually. The disadvantage is unfortunately that all pixels have to be dimmed in large bright scenes to avoid damage to the panel or even a burn-in (ABL: Automatic Brightness Limiter).

This is a term for an additional display layer that is intended to extend the viewing angle of VA-LCD panels. Compared to Samsung’s Ultra Viewing Angle layer, the X-Wide Angle layer is not competitive, but it expands the otherwise quite narrow viewing angle immensely.

X-Motion-Clarity is a Sony brand name for the Black Frame InsertionProcess that inserts black “blank images” as intermediate images. This makes movements appear finer and clearer. feature. When this feature is activated, the motion blur is minimized, which should be done by black frames in between. These are placed between the normal images at a high frequencyHertz is the derived SI-unit of frequency with 1Hz=1/s – When talking about TVs this means how many different pictures a TV can display in one second., so that the black images are not recognized by the human eye and thus blur is prevented. However, the black intermediate images make the image appear darker, which can be particularly annoying in the low brightness of OLEDs.

In order to provide a cinema-like sound backdrop, the impression should be created that the sound comes directly from the movie – i.e. from the center of the picture. With this feature, the display of the TV itself becomes the center speaker of the sound system, giving the viewer the feeling of being right in the middle of the action.

This is a feature Sony uses in OLEDs to increase the contrast ratio and achieve a higher level of visible detail, especially in very bright areas. This is also intended to increase the color range so that the TV can display colors more vividly.

Sony uses Triluminos technology in its LED TVs to achieve stronger colors and higher contrasts so that the picture looks more vivid overall. Sony achieves this by installing LEDs with fluorescent nanoparticles in their TVs, which start to glow due to the backlight itself. When the pure red, green and blue LEDs overlap, a neutral white is created, which ultimately expands the color space enormously. What remains is a natural and realistic color representation, for which Sony is so well known.

The Triluminos technology is also used by other manufacturers, but under a different name. Samsung calls its color-enhancing technology Quantum Dot and LG uses the name ColorPrime Pro.

The abbreviations VRRVariable Refresh Rate – synchronizes the display’s refresh rate with the output refresh rate of the graphics card and ALLMAuto Low Latency Mode – Automatically detects connected consoles and keeps input lag as low as possible. refer to the Variable Refresh RateVariable Refresh Rate – synchronizes the display’s refresh rate with the output refresh rate of the graphics card and the Auto Low Latency Mode. Both are features that are especially important for gamers of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

If a TV supports VRR, then it can adjust the frequencyHertz is the derived SI-unit of frequency with 1Hz=1/s – When talking about TVs this means how many different pictures a TV can display in one second. to that of the graphics card of the console or PC. If the TV displays the frames per second as the graphics card produces them, then so-called tearing does not occur. According to this, the individual images are torn apart in moving pictures.

ALLM is a function that ensures that the TV immediately switches to gaming mode as soon as a console is connected and turned on. This keeps input lag as low as possible, which is very important in video games. A fake ALLM is a feature from Sony that only specifically addresses the PlayStation 5, but not the Xbox Series X, which is why the latter console is at a disadvantage here.