OLED For Less

SONY’S NEW XR-65A80J OLED TV isn’t a member of the company’s Master Series—that designation belongs to its XR-A90J OLED models, which are spec’d to deliver higher brightness than the XR-A80J sets. And while we haven’t yet tested those pricier Sony OLEDs, the XR-65A80J is far from being a second-class citizen. Read on to find out why.

- Thomas J. Norton

The A80J’s physical design is solid and well-executed. If you opt for a conventional installation instead of a wall mount, its feet can be installed either 40 inches or 27.3 inches apart to accommodate a wide range of TV stands or cabinets, and they can also be slightly elevated to make space for a soundbar.

Sony’s OLED supports the Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG high dynamic range formats, but not HDR10+. Two of its four HDMI inputs are version 2.0, which is sufficient for most current Ultra HD sources, and the other two are HDMI 2.1. One of the latter supports eARC, and both are compatible with the 120Hz output of next-gen gaming consoles and offer ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode). But the A80J doesn’t yet offer one other game-centric feature: VRR (Variable Refresh Rate). According to Sony, VRR will be added in a future firmware update.

The A80J includes the new Cognitive Processor XR, which provides a significant advance even over recent high-achieving Sony TV processors in handling all the set’s important traffic-cop chores. These include motion, noise reduction, dynamic contrast enhancement, XR Contrast Booster, upscaling, HDR tone mapping, and more.

Cognitive Processor XR also adds a major new wrinkle: Instead of the same-old, same-old AI (Artificial Intelligence—so 2020 in Sony’s world), it is said to reproduce the depth, texture, and vividness of the real world by analyzing hundreds of thousands of picture elements almost instantaneously, detecting the most important focal points in each frame and enhancing them in a manner that complements how our brains work.