How Sony Made The Best TV of The Year
Sony invited us to its headquarters in Japan to take a look at some prototype technology the company is working on to make some of the best TVs, like the Sony A95L OLED TV, even better. In addition to close-up looks at a sound-mapping robot and the professional-grade Sony BVM-HX3110 master monitor, Sony showed us a prototype technology that could give the company’s Mini-LED TVs in particular a serious edge over the competition.
Transcript
00:00Have you ever wondered what goes into making award-winning TVs?
00:03I'm here at Sony offices in Tokyo to see just how the magic happens.
00:07Let's go take a closer look.
00:10Now, what we weren't expecting to get access to was an exclusive look at some TV tech that
00:14totally blew us away and gave us an insight into what the future of TVs might be.
00:19More about that coming up in the video.
00:21For now, let's talk about why Sony really stood out among this year's TV manufacturers.
00:27Every year, Value Electronics holds a TV Shootout event, for which a panel of professionals
00:33— think video colorists, film editors, TV reviewers, and video scientists — evaluate
00:38a handful of top-rated 4K TVs to pick a winner based on some key parameters.
00:43This distinction is considered by many to be the ultimate badge of approval for a TV,
00:48calling it the best TV of the year definitively.
00:51This year, the winner was the Sony Bravia XR-A95L QD OLED TV.
00:56Now, we at Tom's Guide use our own set of guidelines for reviewing a TV and take into
01:01account use cases and budgets when making our recommendations.
01:05Part of our testing process includes in-house benchmarking that you've seen me refer to
01:09many times in my TV reviews.
01:12When we conducted our tests on a 65-inch review unit of the Sony A95L, it scored some of the
01:18highest marks we've benchmarked across the board.
01:20With HDR material, the A95L's brightness reached about 1,215 nits on 10% of the screen,
01:27which is what we typically measure.
01:29Even if it's a lower score than we got for the LG G3 OLED TV and the Samsung S95C QD
01:34OLED TV, it's still exceptional for a non-LED TV.
01:39But it's the color gamut coverage that really impressed us.
01:42The Sony A95L had more-than-complete coverage of not just the Rec.709 color gamut, and it
01:48also thoroughly nailed the UHD-A P3 color gamut.
01:51It also has the highest sub-100% value we've seen.
01:54Then, the A95L's coverage of the wider Rec.2020 color gamut gave us a result that's its own
02:00kind of spectacular—89.41%, which is over 15% more than the coverage from both the LG
02:07G3 OLED and the Samsung S95C OLED.
02:12But why do Sony TVs have a big advantage specifically in these scores?
02:16Like most manufacturers, Sony won't disclose all of its secrets.
02:20But when we were in Tokyo, we got up close with the Sony BVM-HX3110,
02:25the company's newest professional reference monitor that maxes out at 4,000 nits
02:30and costs well over $30,000.
02:32This reference monitor will roll out to film studios in the next few years,
02:36acting as the authority for producers, editors, and colorists as they work on motion pictures.
02:42I could go into detail about the monitor's specs and technology that power some of the
02:46most precise 4K HDR imagery I've ever seen with my own two eyes on a screen.
02:51But more important than that is, you have to imagine that Sony takes what it learns
02:55from developing a professional-grade master monitor
02:58and finds ways for it to trickle down to the picture performance of its consumer TVs.
03:04Of course, picture isn't the only thing that matters about a TV.
03:07Sound, though sometimes an afterthought, is a critical element of TV watching that Sony
03:12treats with as much consideration based on what we see at their offices.
03:16Their engineers developed a sound mapping machine that visualizes sound in 3D
03:21to analyze the virtual listening volume of a given set.
03:24It takes the form of a three-arm robot that moves on XYZ axes
03:28to measure frequency across 16,500 points in front of a TV,
03:32and the process takes between 30 to 40 minutes.
03:37Sony knows that the sound experience doesn't stop at the TV, though.
03:40The company's 360 Spatial Sound Mapping feature
03:43makes achieving surround sound in your home rather approachable.
03:47Essentially, 360 SSM offers flexibility in speaker installation,
03:52since it's not always possible to have an ideal layout,
03:54by introducing virtual speaker positions that can correct and expand the sound stage
03:59surrounding your ears.
04:00This means that wherever you're able to place your actual speakers,
04:04the sound will adjust to be excellent for your space.
04:06We've been talking about what makes an existing TV like the Sony A95L special,
04:11but while at the company's headquarters,
04:13we got an exclusive look at some prototype technology
04:16that Sony may use to raise the bar of their future TVs.
04:20Something I've truly never seen before,
04:22Sony peeled back TV screens to show us the mini-LED drivers the company is working on.
04:27Mini-LEDs work like gradients to offer precise output of light,
04:31and the accuracy of those gradations is super important.
04:34If you look at the backlight of most TVs,
04:36you might see gradients that look somewhat pixelated,
04:39making these blobs of light output that don't totally ruin a TV,
04:43but with smaller LEDs with precise control from an advanced TV processor,
04:47that basically means more definition from the backlight.
04:51This lets a TV portray better levels of black and dark shades,
04:54which in turn makes for a better image contrast.
04:57Contrast helps an image look more nuanced and realistic,
05:01offering a larger range from the brightest part of the screen to the darkest.
05:05From what we saw, mini-LED will be the type of TV technology to watch for the next year.
05:10Of course, we're still expecting Sony to come out with OLED TVs,
05:13and there are other exciting technologies to keep an eye on.
05:17But as we learned at the company's headquarters,
05:19a lot more than you think goes into making the best TVs as great as they are.
05:24It's not every day we get to see how the TVs that end up in our living room
05:27get tested and measured.
05:30I know I thought it was super cool, but I want to know what you think.
05:34Be sure to let me know in the comments.
05:35You can catch more of our TV content on social, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok at
05:40Tom's Guide.
05:41And as always, I'm at Kate Kozich.
05:43Thanks for watching.
05:43I'll catch you next time.