Sony’s New ‘Affordable’ 4K TVs Are Just As Good As Any 4K TV


Sony has two new UltraHD TVs with the same technology as its monster 84-inch 4K LED model. At 65 and 55 inches, Sony CEO’s Kaz Hirai said these are going to be the company’s “affordable” 4K TVs. How affordable that “affordable” is we don’t know yet. No price has been announced. The only thing I know is that they look and sound amazing.

Of course, you can apply that to every new Panasonic, Samsung or LG 4K TV we’ve seen so far. Sony claims it has the best ones, but any consumer will think that each of these TVs are awesome, even when comparing them side to side.

Both use the same core technologies as the 84-inch model, but they are much sharper since they use the same resolution. I saw them running perfect 4K footage, and it was as impressive as expected.

I have to see them in action with upscaled material to see how good the graphic engine is while dealing with low-resolution video, but the UltraHD footage looked perfect. The natural colour rendering, the saturation, the contrast and the brightness were all perfect. No sign of artefacts. The motion was natural and gorgeous.

The built-in sound was pretty good. Even in a noisy booth you can feel the power of the built-in speakers, which Sony claims offer a better sound thanks to their “own magnetic fluid speakers and unique digital signal processing technology to deliver smooth midrange, lower vibration and deep bass”. Magnetic fluid speakers made by wizards living in Mt Fuji. The drives are bare and the whole design looks simple and beautiful.

Both models are coming out by June 2013, along with a barrage of new mortal TVs. No price has been announced yet, but “affordable” probably means that they will cost half a kidney instead of a full one.