Sony A1E OLED 2017 TV Review

Hi, I’m Cedric from Rtings.com.
We are testing today the Sony OLED A1E. It's the first OLED from Sony and it is great.
It uses an LG panel, so the picture quality is in the same ballpark, but there are some
differences in terms of features.
We bought the 55 inch for our review. It is also available in 65" and later in 77". We
expect the same picture quality across sizes, except bigger TVs usually have more uniformity
issues. Before looking at our measurements of picture quality, let's take a look at the
design.
The Sony OLED A1E has a fancy design and it doesn’t look like the average TV. It doesn’t
have a traditional stand. Instead, it leans back on its stand. The advantage of this is
from the front, you don’t see any stand at all. However, it is angled back and facing
the ceiling which is a little bit inconvenient.
With that said, the build quality is really good and it does look like a premium TV. The
inputs are a little bit hard to reach, especially if you wall mount it since the inputs are
facing down at the back.
Now for the important part of the review, the picture quality. The blacks are perfect,
as expected for an OLED. The advantage of perfect blacks has a big impact if you are
in a dark room, but it doesn’t matter if you are in a bright living room. The shadow
uniformity is about the same as LG OLEDs, which is not perfect. You can see a few vertical
lines, but nothing major. The uniformity is better when you display a brighter screen,
but still not perfect. It is much better than most LCD TVs though.
The input lag is OK, but not as good as LG OLED's. In 1080p, it is 47ms which is a bit
high, but at least it is lower in 4k HDR, around 30ms. So you will feel it a little
bit in video games, but it is definitely playable.
So overall, it's a great TV to play video games. It's also great on a PC since it supports
a 120Hz input at 1080p. You will need to create a custom resolution though, since it is not
listed in the EDID by default.
The brightness behaves about the same as the other OLEDs, which means it is not as bright
as the best LED TVs and it varies depending on the content. The full screen brightness
is much lower than the peak, especially in HDR. It also goes down after a few minutes
of static content, as you can see in this chart.
This is the first OLED that we tested that has a black frame insertion feature. If you
are not familiar with black frame insertion, check out our other video that explains it.
Keep in mind though that like on every other TV, that feature adds noticeable flickering. It
also dims the screen. Here is the brightness that we measured for different window sizes.
Since this is an OLED, the response time is perfect, which means no trail following moving
objects in sports or video games.
Like all OLEDs, it can suffer from image retention if you leave a static picture for a few minutes.
It shouldn’t be a deal breaker, even if you play video games, since it will go away
after a few minutes. But don’t buy an OLED if you won’t be able to sleep at night if
it stays there for longer.
It can display slightly better gradients than the LG C7, with less banding. This is mostly
visible on the sky patterns, like this scene of The Martian.
The A1E doesn’t have traditional speakers. Instead, it vibrates the screen the produce
the sound. The end result is a sound quality better than average, but it still won’t
be as good as having a full separate sound system.
It has a glossy finish very similar to the LG C7. It does a great job at reducing the
ambient light and to increase the perceived contrast ratio. But like all glossy screens,
it can be bothering if you have a bright object directly in your reflection path.
The color gamut and color volume are good. About the same as the other OLEDs. The only
TVs that can beat this is the Samsung QLED TVs, which can display more saturated colors.
The viewing angle is great. It can maintain a good contrast from any angle. There is a
shift of colors though, but the picture will still look better at an angle than any LCD TV.
The Sony OLED uses Android TV. It has a lot of features and apps, but it is not the most
straightforward to navigate and it is a bit slow at times. The remote is the same as most
Sony TVs and it is good.
So, which one is the best between the LG C7 and the Sony OLED A1E. Assuming the price
is the same, it's pretty much a tie since the picture quality is in the same ballpark.
So it depends what you care about. The Sony has better gradients, black frame insertion
and less artifacts when using the motion interpolation feature. On the other hand, the LG has a less
input lag and can get a tad brighter. Now if the price is not the same, then that's
an easy choice, just get the cheaper of the two.
Another question that we get asked often is should you buy a smaller 55” OLED or a bigger
65” LED? That’s a tough question and it is a personal preference of size vs quality.
Our rule of thumb is, if you sit closer than 8 to 10 feet, than get the better picture
quality of the OLED. But if you sit farther than that, size will have a better impact
on your experience, so get the bigger 65" LED instead. Overall, the Sony OLED A1E
is a great TV. Excellent picture quality for movies and good viewing angle. However, it
can suffer from image retention and it is not as bright as some LED TVs like the Sony
Z9D.
You can see all our measurements on our website, and if you liked this video, subscribe to
our channel. And see you next time!

Sony A1E OLED 2017 TV Review - Rtings.com

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