Sony XR-77A80J review

Once upon a time, Pioneer plasma TVs ruled the roosted and made the best TVs bar none. When they left the market, there was a void, which makers tried to filled with LED but there were obvious differences and also deficits in those panels.

With time refinements made LEDs better, but only the top panels could really look anywhere close to the Kuro plasma panels. Then came OLED panels, made solely by LG and you now could experience the kind of inky blacks previously seen in the Kuro panels.

Over the years, they have refined them and these OLEDs have come to represent good quality contrast, motion flow and if not for their price and the potential risk of burn in, they would have have captured a larger market share.

Although LG is the only company making OLED panels, Sony and other companies buy their panels and add their own components such as video chips to them to make it their own.

LG OLED panels have been doing pretty well, and amongst the various options, the C series has been well regarded as the segment which represents good value for money. 

Now Sony has released their 2021 range, and the XR 90J LED, as well as the two OLED panels, the A90J and the A80J look the most promising.

So our review today focuses on the latter.

Some info from the official site:

https://www.sony.com.sg/electronics/televisions/a80j-series#local_banner_default

Features to note:

- new XR processor, which promises gains in motion contrast and overall picture quality 

- acoustic speakers + subwoofer

- HDMI 2.1 (two ports only)

- eARC

- three way stands

- 3 USB ports

Let's begin with the looks. Most TVs look pretty much the same, there is a thin bezel, slim depth and the titanium finish is nice. The TV looks like the A90J before going on an intense diet, but compared to the older plasma TVs or even the Z9D I have, it's much thinner and lighter too (28.9kg vs 41.3 kg). 

The stands are quite clever and allow a three way configuration, with a choice of a narrow or broad design, and a lower closer to the console style or higher to accommodate a soundbar. However those stands still take up more space than the older central stand but bear in mind, even with the clever three way stands, you can't get more than 8cm clearance, so it may not fit a real centre speaker from your home theatre system. There is a very simple click in mechanism, and that's very impressive.

The remote is decently built, but a tad long and there's no backlight in the 80J series. You do get a talk function which is quite handy. Pairing between your TV and the remote should be automatic unless you happen to have two Sonys near one another.. there are quick access buttons to the popular streaming apps, such as Netflix, Youtube and Prime Video, and the buttons feel decent, but not as premium as the old Pioneer plasma remote. 

The user interface is a standard Sony one. If you have been using them or even if you come from another brand, it should be fairly simple to work out. It will take you through a rather thorough setup process, which allows you to set up wifi, google, and get your basic apps going. The interface is responsive and I did not see any pop up ads.

You get Airplay, Bluetooth, and there is a Google interface, which allows voice commands. I found the Sony to be responsive, and picks up my voice quite easily. The nice thing about the Bluetooth is that it will turn on your associated Bluetooth speaker or soundbar automatically too.

If you add a HDMI based device, such as a Blu Ray player or Apple TV, it will turn on the TV and you can control both with the Sony remote.Very neat. 

So how does it look?
I'm not capable of measurements that professional websites like Rtings can do, but here's my personal impression.

Many buyers and readers also are aware that Sony gets their panels from LG, so you may think that all OLED TVs should look the same, so why pay more for a Sony? Well, when you lay eyes on the panel and put on some 4k scenes, you'll know why..  there is that extra magic that Sony adds, in terms of their video processing and that's where the extra outlay goes to.

And the key here is the blacks as you may expect, but the near blacks are the more impressive part... traditionally, OLED TVs excel at the blacks, their contrast ratio, motion flow and the viewing angles. But near blacks have been less impressive especially in certain models.

Here, they are really impressive and whilst the photos don't do it justice, take my word for it, they are really a wonder to behold..

Mr Clooney never looked more spaced out and sharp... puns intended..

To showcase this TV to it's maximum, you'll want to check out it's HDR performance and it has the nits to perform. And you'll not beed a totally dark room to appreciate these blacks..

If you have sources with Dolby Vision, you'll really have a blast. The colours and contrast seen take it to a different level. 

Motion flow was also very good and the images were very sharp, with good light control and the contrast is very impressive.

I also checked for screen uniformity, and maybe I got lucky because mine was pretty good. 

I did not have a A90J on hand to compare with this A80J but they use the same MediaTek MT5895 chipset, and whilst the A80J uses the same 77" panel as before, it's not too shabby. 

I also found that the internal free to air receiver picks up channels very nicely. I live behind a hill, and that stands between me and the local TV stations, but despite using a basic indoor antenna with no booster, I had no trouble getting all the local channels. The screen size does make these free to air channels look significantly worse than other media, but they are as sharp as you can get with the source.

As for the apps, when you feed it a high quality source eg 4k Dolby Vision from either the internal apps or a UHD disc, you will then truly appreciate the picture quality on hand here and you will know where your hard earned money has gone to.

As for upscaling, I fed a DVD and also a Blu Ray disc, and even with a 480p source, the Sony also performed well enough, but you'll always know that it's a lower resolution. 

As for the sound, I am definitely impressed with the implementation here. I had a entry level Sony HT G700 soundbar with me, and I simply stowed it away, as the internal speakers provide more than enough heft and you will be able to hear dialogue quite nicely. The bass is more than decent, although if you are a home theatre enthusiast with a decent sound system, you may not appreciate the speakers in built into the TV. Even so, for those nights where you wish to just turn on the Sony without bothering to use the sound system, those speakers will do very nicely indeed.

I used these two to test the sound:

Bear in mind the 77" model comes with a slightly better sound than the smaller panels and the acoustic speakers built into the panel are quite decent, and whilst you can forget about real surround despite all the Atmos monikers pasted on the set, you will be fine with TV broadcasts and even the odd dialogue based movie. 

These days, a 75" panel can be had for less than a grand. OLED panels are also offered at lower prices by some of Sony's competitors. Sony should not expect buyers to pay a premium for nothing. In fact some may find it hard to part with so much more for the higher end TVs, but if quality matters, and you feed it with a good source, you will not regret it. 

Now if Sony can give a competitive street price which places it closer to the mass priced LG C1 series, then this panel will be a winner in quality as well as value. Recommended and a reference level equipment. 

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 I have no financial interest or other interests in any of the items / events I write about.