Sony has started to release this year’s
lineup of their OLED TVs, beginning with their
entry level model, the Sony A8H.
Besides being a tongue twister, the A8H has
some impressive performance, and looks to
be decent improvement over last year’s model,
the A8G.
Hi, I’m Brandon, a Test Developer at RTINGS.com,
where we help people find the best products
for their needs.
In this video, we’ll start by looking at
the design and inputs of the TV, and then
we’ll move on to our test results for the
picture quality.
We’ll also look at the motion handling,
input lag and sound.
Throughout the video, we’ll be comparing
the Sony to competing models which are currently
available.
For an updated comparison of models as we
buy and test them, you can check out the full
review on our website.
And If you’d like to skip straight to our
test results, then see the links in the description
below.
Let’s get started.
We bought the 55” model to test, but it’s
also available in 65” as well.
We expect this larger size to have very similar
performance.
In Europe, there is also the A85 series, with
the only difference seemingly being the stand.
Let’s start with the design.
The Sony A8H has a very clean design, it’s
fairly simple in shape, but quite elegant.
The build quality is also superb, it feels
solid with no obvious issues in it’s construction.
The stand supports the TV well and there’s
almost no wobble.
The bezels are quite thin, ever thinner than
last year’s model, and it sits close to
the ground thanks to it’s low profile stand.
If needed, the stand also has a secondary
height setting that sits the TV up much higher.
This provides enough room to fit most sounds
bars and other small electronics.
The back of the TV is plain, with just a cut-out
for inputs along with a VESA mount.
If you do decide to wall mount it, it'll look
good as the back panel will align flush with
the wall, and the TV itself is extremely thin.
The controls, or shall I say control, is located
on the left side of the TV where there’s
just a single button.
This is a step down from last year’s model
which at least had three buttons.
With this button, you can turn the TV on or
off, change the channel, change the input
source, adjust the volume, and restart the
TV.
You do this through a series of short and
long presses to navigate the on-screen menu.
Although I’m not sure anyone wants to go
through that, so make sure you have the remote
nearby.
Now let’s take a look at the inputs.
The Sony A8H has a pretty decent selection
of inputs that should satisfy most people.
Some of the inputs are facing out the left
side, and the rest are located in a cut-out
on the back of the panel, facing downwards.
There are 4 HDMI 2.0 ports, 3 USB ports, an
Ethernet jack, a TV Tuner, a Digital Optical
Audio Out, an Analog Audio Out, an IR input,
and lastly a Composite In, although there’s
no adapter included in the box.
HDMI port 3 supports ARC and eARC, which is
a nice addition over last year’s model,
which only supports ARC.
You may notice there aren’t any HDMI 2.1
ports, which is disappointing considering
competing models, like LG CX, do support it.
Although it doesn’t matter too much, since
this TV doesn't support VRR or 4k @ 120Hz,
some of the main features of HDMI 2.1.
There isn’t much in the way of cable management,
as you can only route the cables through the
back of the stands.
If you plan on wall mounting, you’re going
to have to find you’re own solution.
First we’ll start with the contrast, which
is regarded as one of the most important aspects
of picture quality.
The contrast ratio is the relative brightness
of the brightest white compared to the darkest
black that a TV can display.
A high contrast ratio helps dark scenes appear
more detailed, especially in a darker environment.
Because this is an OLED TV, the pixels are
self-emissive, meaning each one can be turned
off to give a true black.
This gives the TV a remarkable contrast ratio
and is one of the main selling points of OLED
displays.
Content on this display will appear deep and
full of detail, even in dark scenes.
Another advantage of self-emissive pixels
are the viewing angles, which is how accurate
the picture remains when viewed off center.
Light emitted from an OLED pixel is dispersed
fairly evenly across all angles, lending this
TV to have exceptional viewing angles.
This is great if you plan on using it in a
wide-open environment, where some viewers
may not be seated directly in front of the
screen.
While still not perfect, it’s better than
most LCD displays, even those that implement
a wide viewing angle technology, like the
Samsung Q90T.
We actually measured slightly better viewing
angle performance on last year’s model,
but this is likely due to panel variance or
margin of error, and we expect them to perform
similarly in person.
Now onto the gray uniformity, which is how
even and uniform colors appear throughout
the display.
Ideally, every pixel of the display will be
the same brightness and color as every other
pixel, but unfortunately, this isn’t always
the case.
Screen uniformity issues can result in some
areas of the display appearing darker or brighter
than their surroundings.
This is what’s known as the dirty screen
effect, and it can be distracting when viewing
fast moving content, such as sports, like
football or hockey.
Luckily, this TV has outstanding gray uniformity,
so there shouldn’t be an issue here.
Even in dark scenes, we didn’t notice any
vertical or horizontal lines that some other
TVs struggle with.
It is worth noting that gray uniformity can
vary between units, so yours may perform differently
than ours.
If you come across a panel that doesn’t
correspond to our results, let us know in
the comments below.
As for black uniformity, as expected, this
TV performs perfectly.
This is because the pixels are self-emissive,
and turn off when displaying black.
So there won’t be any backlight uniformity
issues as found on some LCD displays.
If your TV is in a brighter environment, then
it’s important to have good reflection handling
to counter-act distracting glare.
Like with all OLEDs we’ve tested, the A8H
has excellent reflection handling.
The display has a glossy finish, but it does
great job at cutting out light thanks to it’s
anti-reflective coating.
This creates clear, defined reflections which
some may prefer over the more diffuse reflections
found in TVs like the Q90T.
It does create a slight purple-ish tint to
the reflections, but this shouldn’t be an
issue when viewing content.
Also important for a bright environment is
the peak brightness, which is how bright a
screen can get when displaying content.
Along with reflection handling, a brighter
screen can help overcome distracting glare
from the sun or other light sources.
Peak brightness will differ depending if content
is mastered for SDR or HDR.
For SDR content, the Sony gets decently bright,
at about 430 nits at it’s peak.
Keep in mind this is at it’s peak, and the
brightness of the display will change depending
on the scene, as well as how long it is been
displayed.
This is due to the Auto Brightness Limiter
and you can see how it affects brightness
in our full measurements on screen now.
It doesn’t get as bright as LED backlit
displays, which is a clear advantage in their
favor, but it is a decent step up over last
year’s A8G.
If you plan on watching HDR content, then
the ability to produce brighter regions of
the image is important for impactful highlight
detail.
This is what really helps content ‘pop’
in HDR, especially on OLED displays.
For HDR content, the A8H has decent brightness,
getting up to 780 nits in our 2% window, but
again, there is a lot of variation depending
on the window size and scene duration.
It can get as low as 150 nits in a 100% window,
but we still expect most people to be pleased
with the HDR performance.
That said, it may not get bright enough for
some HDR enthusiasts, who plan on watching
content that was mastered at 1000 nits.
Bright LED displays, like the Samsung Q90T,
are going to offer better highlight detail
since they can easily hit above 1000 nits,
although they’ll lack some of the benefits
of OLED.
Also important for HDR is the ability to take
advantage of wider color spaces that content
can be mastered in.
In this regard, the Sony is no slouch, as
it covers about 97% of the P3 color space,
and around 75% of the Rec 2020 color space.
This is great and HDR content will look rich
and saturated.
The Sony also has a pretty good color volume.
It excels in dark colour reproduction, although
it does struggle with displaying very bright
colors due to it’s ordinary brightness.
Now let’s look at the pre-calibration measurements,
which is how closely the colors align with
our calibration target, after only changing
some basic picture settings.
Out of the box, the A8H has great color accuracy.
The gamma is nearly perfect and most color
inaccuracies won’t be noticeable.
Although the white balance is a little off,
resulting in a color temperature that’s
a bit warmer than we prefer.
Before moving onto motion handling, it’s
important to note that this is an OLED display,
and there is the risk of permanent burn-in
if displaying static content for long periods.
OLED pixels use an organic compound to emit
light, which degrades with usage.
You can see our video here for an investigation
into this issue, however, we don’t expect
this to be a problem with how most people
use their TVs.
Now let’s take a look at the response, or
the time it takes for a display to change
from one color to the next.
A slow response time can result in a blurry
trail behind fast moving objects, so it’s
important to have a fast response time, to
help reduce motion blur.
Since this is an OLED panel, it has near-instantaneous
response times.
We measured an 80% response time of just 0.2ms,
and a 100% response time of 2.3ms.
Motion blur will not be an issue here, although
the instant response times can make low frame-rate
content appear to stutter.
If that bothers you, you can enable motion
interpolation in the settings.
To make motion appear smoother, this TV can
interpolate low frame rate content up to 120fps.
It works fine for slow moving scenes, but
unfortunately there’s a lot of artifacting
during quick movement.
This likely due to the TV interpolating intense
scenes, which other TVs tend not to do.
Another way to improve motion blur is to enable
Black Frame Insertion.
BFI turns the display off between frames to
reduce motion blur caused by the sample and
hold technique of modern displays.
You can learn more about how this here.
The TV can flicker at 60Hz or 120Hz no matter
the framerate of the content, which is nice
as it can be adjusted depending on the user’s
preference.
Since the TV doesn’t have a backlight, there
isn’t any PWM flickering.
We did measure a slight dip in brightness
every refresh cycle, but this shouldn’t
be noticeable to the naked eye.
Now onto Input Lag, which is important for
gaming as you want the TV to feel responsive
to your inputs.
This TV has low input lag and it’s a great
improvement over last year’s A8G, which
is slower by about 10 to 30ms.
With game mode enabled, we measured an input
lag of around 18.5ms in most scenarios.
Outside of game mode, it jumps up to 93ms
in 4k and 110ms in 1080p, so make sure to
turn game mode on if you want to have a responsive
experience.
Unfortunately, as mentioned earlier, this
TV doesn’t support Variable Refresh Rate,
which may be disappointing to some.
This is in stark contrast to the similarly
priced LG CX, which supports VRR and 4k@120hz.
Those looking to do PC gaming or to prepare
themselves for next-gen consoles may want
to look elsewhere.
The TV also struggles with properly displaying
a 1440p image, but it does fine with 1080p
and 4k.
It’s capable of 120Hz, but only with a 1080p
signal.
Doing so at 1440p causes it to skip frames.
Now let’s take a look at the sound.
Like other Sony TVs, the A8H is using Sony’s
Acoustic Surface Audio, which is just a fancy
way of saying it vibrates the screen to produce
sound.
This actually works quite well and it has
a good frequency response with little compression
at max volume.
However, it does lack low and sub bass that’d
you’d find in dedicated room speakers or
a sound bar.
The microphone in the remote can automatically
adjusts the frequency response of the TV,
based off the acoustics of the room, which
is nice touch.
Finally, let’s take a look at the smart
features.
Like other Sony TVs, this one is running Android
TV version 9.0.
Because of this, there’s a huge variety
of apps that can be accessed through the Google
Play store.
Navigating the menu is very smooth, and it’s
pretty fast to get to where you need, thanks
in part to customizable quick menu.
The remote also has mic to summon Google Assistant,
which works well for the most part, but it
can’t change certain settings.
Unfortunately, there is a row of ads on the
home screen, but these can be removed with
some tinkering.
So overall, the Sony A8H is an excellent TV.
It’s an OLED that delivers great picture
quality on all fronts.
Compared to it’s predecessor, the A8G, it’s
a solid step up thanks in part to it’s improved
brightness, color volume, and input lag.
However, some may find it’s feature set
disappointing when compared to other models
like the LG CX.
The CX offers a better gaming experience because
of it’s lower input lag and VRR support.
The Sony does have a slight edge in picture
quality though, so if gaming isn’t a huge
focus, it’s still a good pick.
If you’re looking for a display with a higher
peak brightness that offers great detail in
highlights, then there’s the Samsung Q90T.
This TV can get much brighter and offers VRR
support, but since it’s not an OLED, it
lacks many of the benefits found in the Sony.
So that's it!
What do you think of the Sony A8H?
Is it worth picking up over the competition?
Let us know in the comments.
As always, you can check out all of the measurements
on our website.
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Thank you for watching and see you next time.
