FIRST LOOK: Sony A9 MASTER Series TV

Sony is bringing BRAVIA® OLED to a 48-inch screen for the first time. Here, we show you the new TV in action.

00:21 OLED
00:37 Pixel Contrast Booster
00:53 X1™ Ultimate Picture Processor
01:07 4K X-Reality™ PRO
01:35 TRILUMINOS™ Display
01:52 X-Motion Clarity
02:11 Acoustic Surface Audio
02:52 Dolby Vision™ / Dolby Atmos™
03:08 Netflix Calibrated Mode
03:18 IMAX Enhanced
03:25 Ambient Optimization
04:00 Android TV
04:38 Perfect for Playstation®
04:52 Premium design

[drvish]

I ended up going for the 48CX. Four HDMI 2.1 ports and with GSync/FreeSync did it for me.

[maheshm]

Best explanation of the MASTER series OLED very easy to understand, And BEST TV IN THE WORLD 🔥🔥🔥🔥 LOVE YOU SONY😎😎😎

[SirCramptonian]

I returned my LG CX 48” and got this. The visual and sound experience is much better!

Then seeing how the LG OLED’s are having issues with VRR and HDMI 2.1, I’m even more happy with my switch. Look forward to playing my PS5 on it. Playing on the PS4 has been beautiful. 😁👌

[hajime]

I love how this is the same Model name as Sony best Camera the a9

[nurp]

ok Sony, good job, now back to work and bring HDMI 2.1 with all feature (120hz+VRR+QMS+QFT+ALLM) on your entire flagship series Next Year!!💪

[thecallawaykid]

Just ordered mine, my current Sony Bravia is 10 years old, and not missed a beat - Simple you get what you paid for!

[anthonyoquendo]

If the Sony A9G is the KING OF TVs.. then the new 48 inch Sony A9 is the PRINCE OF TVs.. LONG LIVE the KING and PRINCE 🤴🖥👍

[Sami-dfdj]

Even for console gamers I don’t think you really need hdmi 2.1 unless playing competitive games that actually reach further than 60 FPS. Unless you have a 3080 or 3090 graphics card. Allm is pointless really because it just saves you a few clicks. Earc is actually useful because it eliminates the lag between tv sound and sound bar so you can use both at the same time. 4k 120 and vrr for those competitive games. So it’s only for a small percent of people that really need hdmi 2.1. It has to be someone who games on next gen console or a graphics card and play competitive games and have the actual budget of having the next platform and tv.

[Mr_Latte_UK]

Dear Sony - Many would of chose this over the LG if it had the 120Hz option.
Maybe LG wanted exclusivity for a while? Perhaps in 2021...

[denissssss]

This is a BEAST! Can’t wait to see the higher inch models!

[superbnva]

But the A8H is the better tv in 2020? I own the A9G, but can trade it in for A8H. Should i do that or go for the Panasonic Hzw2004?

[richardhunter]

Lovely pics and great sound just got for £995 if your watching tv from less than 6ft away ie bedroom 48inch is enough baffled why people want bigger lol it’s about spec not size and this delivers x

[kingme]

I’m stuck between the LgCX and the Sony A9G in either 65 or 77 inch. I play COD, Madden & 2K. But I also watch movies a lot and series.I know the LG have all the gaming features but is it something that’s clearly noticeable? If I’m playing a game on the Sony do it look not as good as the LG? Help me out please

[cryceaye]

For anyone looking to buy this TV for the next generation of consoles, i'll give you a run down on it and why i picked this TV over the more prominent LG CX OLED 48 inch.

So what can this TV do?

1080p 120Hz
4K 30Hz
4K 60Hz
4K 60Hz HDR 10 with Chroma Subsampling 4:2:2 or 4:2:0 (Get into that later.)
4K 60Hz Dolby Vision (No colour compression)

What it can't it do?
4K 120Hz
4K 120Hz HDR10

What is the Input lag?
18ms is the only research i could find. It may be able to emit a lower input lag, i'm not sure.

Does this have an HDMI 2.1 Port?
Technically, yes it does but it only has the possibility to support the feature of eARC and not additional features found on the LG OLED CX which has, variable Refresh rate and another option. It also doesn't have G-Sync capabilities. However this TV supplements these feature for its motion technology so it's input lag is still excellent, just not as good as the CX.

What is Chroma Subsampling and is it a bad thing for this TVs capability in particular?
Chroma Subsampling is a compression of colours. The full range of colour is set to RGB 4:4:4 the compressed version is set to YUV 4:2:2/ 4:2:0. Colour compression however for video games and movies in particular is unnoticeable and you will not be able to tell the difference with your naked eye. If you're using this TV as a PC monitor however and decide for some inane reason to compress your colours manually and go ahead and write an essay, then the text will be distorted. There is no case for this unless you plan on testing it yourself. No colour will compress itself to that extent unless you force it. With colour compression related to video game text on a console, no distortion will be apparent. For one video games don't make you read a 20 times font size of text across the entire screen and if they did, video game developers take colour compression into consideration.

To give you further example of why colour compression is not of any visual impact, you'll notice all television and film encoded onto a Blu Ray disk is set to the colour compression of 4:2:0.

So why the colour compression for this TV at 4K 60Hz with HDR 10 enabled?
The simple answer is that its HDMI ports do not have enough bandwidth. However the bandwidth of a HDMI 2.0b for this TV does allow 4K 60Hz with Dolby Vision at the full range of colour. So if it bothers you that much, choose Dolby Vision over HDR10, this feature I'm sure will be accessible through the TV with the latest consoles. Dolby Vision at the moment is only accessible through this TV when using something like Disney Plus, i'm sure the PS5 will feature the option considering Dolby Vision is considered a landmark option. I can't however give you the opinion using it will be better than HDR10. Either way the bandwidth isn't a concern when you consider you cannot tell the difference between compressed and uncompressed colour relating to video games.



Is this TV Future proof?
Nope, neither are any OLEDS on the market. Until OLED technology is sufficiently improved this TV nor any other OLED is future proof, they may never be. Your lifespan for an OLED depends on how much you use it, whether you leave it on standby to prevent image retention etc. Loads of factors chime into this, but i won't go into it here, research for yourself. You're mostly likely looking at an average of 5-10 years before you see significant reduction in image quality. So anyone selling you on "Future Proof" OLEDS is having you over a barrel. Although 5-10 years isn't necessarily a bad thing, it just aint future proof.

So what can the next generation of Consoles do in regards to resolution and frame rate? And what really makes the difference with this TV in comparison to LG CX 48?

First of all the difference is the HDMI bandwidth. This Sony TV's has a bandwidth of 18Gbps whilst the LG has a bandwidth of 43Gbps. The better bandwidth for LG means more features enabled for the ability to run something at 4k with 120Hz. What they don't tell you is how useless those numbers mean for the next generation of consoles. Neither console is strong enough to support 4k 120Hz without losing graphical fidelity and the use of what the consoles primary targets are for gamers, for example Ray Tracing. So unless you plan on using a gaming PC that will eventually support both, then i wouldn't worry this TV cannot give you that output.

To go further into this, we'll look at the PS5. The developer insomniac has given people two choices so far, run a game at 4k 30FPS with improved visuals and Ray Tracing or 4K60FPS with reduced visuals and no Ray Tracing. We aren't going into 120FPS yet and already at 60, devs are having problems being able to give you both. In the future they will be more than capable of utilising the PS5's full potential, but neither consoles full potential will ever give you 4K 120FPS with improved visuals and Ray Tracing. If you're looking for a sacrifice in years to come, then 120FPS isn't a necessity at all. And if sacrifice is okay with you, then so is losing resolution for this TV in particular, which will be able to output 120 at 1080p.

Other numbers you need to be aware of is that the LGCX has a better input lag of 10-15ms on certain settings but doesn't make a difference in comparison to 18ms from this TV. Why doesn't it make a difference? Because the variable difference is these numbers are absolute minuet. For example anything considered below 40ms is good, these TVs are 20 times better than that which make the number 18ms and 10ms phenomenal.

Why choose this TV over LG CX?
For starters LG have decided to recall a lot of their TV's. Some serial numbers include the CX, i wouldn't want to buy into a recall. The best thing for me however is simply the technology inside the Sony TV that makes the difference for me. It's Master series boasts the best visual image found in any OLED with it's X1 processor and the sound is a landmark for me personally in comparison. Plus the advantage of watching IMAX supported movies is seller, for me personally along with its motion technology for gaming. Yes it doesn't have a HDMI 2.1 but i'm not up to sacrificing graphical fidelity in the next generation of gaming consoles to reach 120Hz. Also considering the fact it doesn't have the features of a HDMI 2.1, it still boasts an impressive 18ms of input lag without needing the additional features that only supplement an extra 3-8 ms of input lag. It goes to show you just how vast the technology inside this OLED is.

Why choose the LG CX over this TV?
The thing is there are two equal sides. Despite the amount of technology found in this Sony OLED, i do not believe it warrants is extra 400 pound price fee. Especially when it has chosen not to implement the HDMI 2.1. I know i've stated it doesn't matter for this generation of consoles, it's still a feature, a feature it does not have.

If i was into PC Gaming i would also buy the LG CX over the Sony A9. The LG boasts the NVid Gsync, which is always a nice feature to have. Also the 4K 120Hz with the increase of graphical fidelity is always going to be possible with a PC. So if you're into constantly building that super computer, you won't have to wait long before something surpasses even the RTX 3080.

A quick note on the N Videa G Sync for the LG CX though. I understand it has had its problems but has since been fixed. If you want to know what the G Sync does, it primarily stops screen tearing. However you also need a system that prevents that from happening, the G Sync is just an additional feature to prevent it even more. The fact LG markets it as a step above the Sony Oleds is nothing to shout about. It's up to the next generation of consoles themselves that will prevent that. For example Mafia the Definitive Edition suffers from screen tearing on the base PS4 with a high end OLED TV, it does not suffer with screen tearing on the PS4 Pro.

[heyramineni]

Hey Sony, what about the software updates on 2019 OLEDs? And where in the world is the apple tv app?

[ryan]

Did you bother checking with the Sony camera department or at least googling sony a9 before choosing the name?

[oneofakindkev]

amazing tv i have had issues with sony b4 but im still tempted to buy this but will get a 5 year warranty this time . But like most oled tvs how does this one handle with burn in issues ?

[clixt]

If you're a purist/cinema focused person, get this. Otherwise get the CX for PC/gaming use. I would get this though if it has HDMI 2.1...

[srijonmondal]

We need a Alpha 9iii Camera (A9iii) than a a9 TV

[franciscoalfonso]

Can we swap our. Sony Bravia HDR 65 to this, we’ve only got in the last 3 yard or so, but somehow recently booting repeatedly and only showing black screen. Would you please advise what to do with it... to get our confidence back with Sony products. Thank you would appreciate your assistance and reply.