Earlier this month, Sony released its new TV for 2022. Just a week later, media such as the State Grid of China were fortunate enough to have access to this year's TV series in advance. It is worth mentioning that this should be sony's 2022 K series TV in the world's first semi-public appearance, in the process of communication, Sony has also repeatedly said that whether the TV is software or hardware or the state of the engineering machine, does not represent the final level. It can be seen that sony attaches great importance to the Chinese market this year, and has also brought many surprise functions and designs to domestic users.
The exclusive part of the National Bank, let's sell a close first, first look at the picture quality part of the TV.
K-series TVs debut three technologies in parallel
We all know that with the popularity of 4K TV, the development of TV technology in recent years has more around the effect of HDR presentation, that is, brightness, contrast, color and other indicators. Among them, Mini LED technology mainly achieves a breakthrough in brightness, OLED technology mainly achieves a breakthrough in contrast, and quantum dot technology achieves a breakthrough in color.
At present, the three hottest display technologies represent the three main parameters of display, and also represent the three technical routes of the future TV industry.
So, Sony, which is famous for technology, will choose in 2022 in the face of these three technologies?
Sony's choice was: I wanted it all.
So, we see the Z9K and X95EK equipped with MiniLED technology, the size range covered by OLED TVs is further expanded, and of course, there are "thousands of calls to start", the world's first QD-OLED TV. This year, Sony can be said to have presented a state of full-line explosion.
MiniLED is no longer a problem? Halo issue solved
First, let's talk about LCD TV. For MiniLED, Sony is also a "belated" state in the industry, and many brands of Mini LED have been iterated for several generations, and even derived the concept of "SuperMiniLED" and so on. From the perspective of Sony's previous strategy of focusing on OLED TVs, the Z9K and X95EK equipped with MiniLED can be said to be "reasonable and unexpected". After all, MiniLED is always a little worse than OLED TVs.
Remember when OLED TV was just introduced, the color performance was very different from LCD TV, and many people thought that this was a common problem of OLED technology and a natural gap between it and LCD TVs. When Sony re-entered OLED, the performance of A1 that year suddenly reversed the industry's prejudice against OLED TVs.
At that moment, just in time. In fact, for MiniLED TV products, including the author, many people have the same view - the halo problem is the death pit of MiniLED TV, which is caused by the structure of MiniLED technology and is a congenital deficiency.
Halo problem has become a stubborn disease of MiniLED TVs (take other MiniLED products as an example)
However, Sony has such a magical power, Z9K, X95EK really alleviate the halo problem a lot! And not only the front, the author has watched at a nearly 180° angle many times on the spot, and there is no obvious halo that often appears in other products, and both TVs also have the blessing of a wide sharp viewing angle. Even for night-themed samples, the halo is very faint and does not interfere with normal viewing. Unfortunately, there is no way to take pictures on the spot, if you are interested in MiniLED users, you must go to experience it with your own eyes after the domestic listing.
Sony 85Z9K TV
Why does Sony do what the industry generally can't? In terms of hardware, it is the powerful computing power given by the XR cognitive chip to more intelligently detect the chiaroscuro contrast of the screen; Technically, it is the XR Dynamic Backlight System Master Edition that adjusts the MiniLED backlight more accurately and finely; Of course, behind it is also inseparable from Sony's "from the lens to the living room" of the whole industry chain technical reserves.
The "next generation" OLED is here! Today's strongest OLED TV is available
Compared with MiniLED, QD-OLED gave the author a greater shock. As a "sub-era" OLED TV, it is also expected by many enthusiasts. Previously, there has been news that QD-OLED panels have begun mass production, breaking the exclusive monopoly of OLED panels. But somewhat surprisingly, in 2022, Sony, which has not been involved in panel manufacturing, has launched a QD-OLED TV in the world, and it is the only mass-produced model so far.
Sony 65A95K TV
The A95K, which was equipped with QD-OLED (sony's new OLED panel) for the first time, also replaced the position of its predecessor A90J (A90K) and became a new generation of OLED picture series TVs. And from the perspective of display effect, the change of ownership of the painting truth is indeed deserved.
A90J as the Sony of the year flagship in 2021, is also recognized inside and outside the industry as one of the best OLED TVs of the year, but also won the 2021 high-end home appliances peak of the red top award, such a word of mouth and honor-like products, after the A95K boot, QD-OLED instantly came to the face of the visual impact or make it appear a little "eclipsed".
(Sony's official comparison chart, the left is A95K, the right is A90J, both of which are vivid mode.) It should be noted that the A95K is an engineering machine, does not represent the final state, and the image comparison is for reference only)
I believe that after looking at this comparison chart, everyone can also recognize the picture performance of A95K. Whether it is the skin color of the characters, the clothes or the walls and woods in the background, the A95K presents a very vivid and vivid state, and the effect of OLED being blessed with quantum dot technology is so exaggerated. What is valuable is that the overall picture of the A95K is gorgeous and not exaggerated, the colors are controlled within the actual perception of the human eye, and there is no strange effect caused by saturation overflow.
As one of the first media in the world to see the actual effects of QD-OLED TVs, I did have the feeling of witnessing the "next generation" technology of television after witnessing the A95K on the spot. In fact, compared with the past OLED TVs, the technology of QD-OLED is still quite different:
The characteristics of OLED TV determine that the WOLED TV on the market now is olED panel only emits white light (actually blue light with yellow filter), and then through the RGB filter to present the traditional three-primary color imaging principle. The advantage of this is that the difference in the life of different color pixels is smoothed out, but the disadvantages can also be imagined, due to an additional layer of filters, the brightness of the picture will be attenuated.
To this end, the WOLED panel introduces a second technology, that is, WRGB technology, which increases the brightness of the picture as a whole by adding white subpixels. Unlike the "fake 4K" WRGB in previous years, the actual resolution of the WOLED panel is not damaged, but the four subpixels of WOLED will not light up at the same time, which means that when the white subpixel participates in increasing the brightness, the color gamut coverage of the picture is attenuated, which is the "high brightness gamut attenuation" problem that WOLED TVs have long been criticized.
The A95K uses QD-OLED technology, in which QD stands for QuantumDot. As the name suggests, this is a new display technology that mixes OLED and quantum dot technology, using a photogenic quantum dot material instead of the filter of the WOLED panel. The biggest advantage of quantum dot technology is the ultra-high color gamut coverage, in the QD support of the OLED panel, the color compared to WOLED significantly improved, according to the supplier's information, 55 and 65-inch QD-OLED TV color gamut coverage can reach 90.3% of the BT.2020 color gamut, refreshing the screen display technology color gamut coverage record.
How well does the A95K perform in color? For example, the Terri Charm series technology represents Sony's technical integration in color, and the A95K is directly named "XR Tri Charm MAX" title, and the color performance is directly full, filling the last short board of OLED.
In addition, the overall brightness of the A95K will be higher. In terms of light control, it belongs to the traditional art ability of OLED, so I will not talk about it.
Different technologies familiar with Sony style
What is even more valuable is that Sony can use the four words of "special road and same destination" when facing the challenge of various routes at the same time. That is to say, whether it is MiniLED or QD-OLED, whether it is 4K or 8K, no matter what the size of the TV is, the final effect is still the familiar "Sony flavor".
You know, these four words look simple, but for WOLED, QD-OLED and MiniLED, the three technologies with very different temperaments, not only enough understanding, but also enough ability to control, take the essence of their dross, let them show similar display effects, but not overnight.
Sony 65A80K TV
Smarter, more open "smart TV"
At the pre-show conference of CES2022, everyone first saw Sony's TV appear with a camera, and they were a bit confused: how did Sony also engage in the "wisdom" routine? Unexpectedly, after the on-site experience, I found that Sony is not a Handan toddler, and some ticket manufacturers, make a voice dialogue, video surveillance will live together - but to really.
Really, this year's Sony TV is probably one of the most "smart" smart TVs on the market, or even one of them.
Let's put it this way:
Before the industry's popular multi-screen interaction, Sony on, and not only the mobile phone can be used as a remote control so simple, directly realized the mobile phone / TV two-way screen projection, most importantly, do not limit the brand and system of the mobile phone, any brand of mobile phone can be screen projection;
Video calls, Sony has, and the mobile phone does not need to install additional apps, directly call WeChat Mini Program, with the TV built-in Tencent Small Micro, direct voice calls are not under the line;
Smart home, Sony has also joined the dual platforms of JD.com and Tencent this time, which can control more smart home appliances. Sony TV became the center of the whole house smart home, this thing put a few years ago you dare to believe?
That's not even counting the system-level optimization features that come with Sony's BRAVIA camera, including automatic optimization of sound and picture effects for identifying user positions, gesture control, reminders of children's distance from the TV, and more.
Oh yes, this time the national bank version of the remote control returns to the international version of the big family, using a global unified design language, the feel and operation are much stronger than the previous "national bank exclusive", Z9K, A95K, A80K, X95EK equipped with the remote control also has a backlight and find the remote control function.
There may be consumers will be concerned about the sale of BRAVIA cameras, at present, according to Sony's introduction, new TVs in addition to X90K are equipped with magnetic cameras as standard, X90K needs to be a separate optional USB camera.
As for the time and price of TV products, Sony said it would communicate in detail during the March AWE period.
Localization is not only sincerity but also expectation
It is not difficult to see that this year's Sony TV has made a lot of localization improvements to the Chinese market, which is obviously not something that a Chinese region can achieve alone. After a brief inquiry, I learned that Sony had just set up a "product planning department" in Chinese mainland. By extending the product design planning department of the Tokyo headquarters to China to directly understand the voices and needs of Chinese consumers, the design and manufacture of products and functions that are more in line with the Chinese market and Chinese consumers. This not only reflects Sony's emphasis on the Chinese market, but also shows that in Sony's eyes, Chinese consumers can lead the consumption trend and development of TV products.
As we all know, the Chinese market in 2021 has also set off a storm, but Sony has once again proved its sincerity in the face of the Chinese market through its products in 2022, and believes that sony will continue to provide more touching technologies and products for Chinese consumers in the future.