SONY 2024 TV's- some big changes

[Tweaky]

Both HDTVTEST and Digital Trends have just released videos about the SONY 2024 line up.

Bottom line is BIG changes, first with the naming of models [ They now shall be named as different series 7/8/9 etc, instead of X for LED/LCD and A for QDOLED/WOLED ]

All TV's will be fitted with the Pentonic 1000 chips, which means still only 2 X 2.1 HDMI sockets out of the available 4

The current top of the line A95L will stay as is, but use Samsungs 2nd gen QD panels [which I think has already happened]

 

The biggest change is to the Mini LED and LED TV's, and the top of the line SONY TV will be a series 9 Mini LED.

HUGE changes to the panels and processing, which is best to watch HDTVTEST's video for a full description on the changes, especially the pre calibrated modes if your main viewing is streamed content, mentioned at the end of the video.

 

Some TV will not be for sale in the UK, if the same thing applies to Australia is yet unknown.

 

 

[mikizee]

The A95L has been discontinued in Australia. No confirmed reason why. Very frustrating, as I have had to turn down customers who had money in hand to buy one.

[TheBlackDisc]

Was hoping for 240hz - maybe next year?

[Tweaky]

23 minutes ago, mikizee said:

The A95L has been discontinued in Australia. No confirmed reason why. Very frustrating, as I have had to turn down customers who had money in hand to buy one.

My guess is the current A95L that is using the 2023 panels has been discontinued here [well not discontinued, just the TV's are going elsewhere], but there will be a 2024 model with a newer version of the Samsung panel.

HDTVTEST said as much in the video above, but he might of got the panel version wrong [V 3 ?], as I understand it, the 2023 model A95L already has the V2 QD-OLED panel.

 

I know when the A95K first came out, a hell of a lot of people in forums around the world were saying they were going to wait until a larger than 65" screen size was made, I suspect this has a been a BIG reason for its virtual none existence in Australia.

 

We had to wait nearly 8 months after the USA/UK got the A95K, it seems that Australia is way down worldwide the delivery ladder , or it this case, taken off it completely.

 

By the same token, going by posts at the AVS forum and others, it would seem a lot of people have had problems with their A95L's, and this might have something to do with it being discontinued before the problem spread further.

We might be better off in the long run.

[thebox_4k]

Series 8 OLED available for pre-order now!

[TheBlackDisc]

@Tweaky

 

Have you heard anything re: 240hz - particularly in larger sizes (85” +).

 

 

[Tweaky]

16 hours ago, TheBlackDisc said:

@Tweaky

 

Have you heard anything re: 240hz - particularly in larger sizes (85” +).

 

 

No I haven't, and I don't expect to see it any time soon.

I think only LG and Panasonic are making 240hz TV's, but TBH I don't think they are TRUE 4k UHD 240hz TV's, they are using black screen insertion or frame interpolation to simulate a 240 Hz refresh rate, like the 1080p / 240hz TV's from years before.

 

You'll only see TRUE 240hz or fast refresh on high end monitors, and even then you best check any test results to see you are actually getting what you paid for.

[Cevolution]

On 18/4/2024 at 3:34 PM, mikizee said:

The A95L has been discontinued in Australia. No confirmed reason why. Very frustrating, as I have had to turn down customers who had money in hand to buy one.

Does the discontinuing of the A95L in Australia have anything to do with the red light flashing TCON board faults with this TV that quite a number of people in international markets have reported experiencing, particularly in the U.S.? Are Australian A95L models which are manufactured in Malaysia affected by this problem? If so what’s Sony Australia planning to do about it? If the A95L is discontinued here in Australia then owners of this TV here can’t request a swap over for a brand new A95L which we are entitled to under Australian consumer law, even though that’s what I would prefer, so are Sony Australia going announce a free repair program for replacing the TCON boards? Since the A95L is discontinued here now, returning the TV to the retailer for a full refund leaves you in a position where you become an ex owner of an A95L and can’t purchase another one, so a repair program at minimum should be announced and offered if Australian models have defective TCON boards inside them.

 

According to D-Nice and Classy Tech, who are 2 well known isf pro calibrators in the industry in the U.S., the TCON board faults are a true problem with the A95L that Sony U.S. have finally officially acknowledged, and apparently for at least U.S. A95L models that have April 2024 manufacturing dates and onward, the issue with the TCON board has been rectified… Jump to 21:50 in the below video where they begin to discuss it:

 

 

 

I’ve owned my Australian model 77” A95L for 5 months, luckily so far I haven’t experienced a single blinking red light TCON board fault, however I think Australian consumers who have bought this TV have the right to know if our countries models are affected and have faulty TCON boards installed in them.

 

 

Edited May 11, 2024 by Cevolution

[mikizee]

1 hour ago, Cevolution said:

Does the discontinuing of the A95L in Australia have anything to do with the red light flashing TCON board faults with this TV that quite a number of people in international markets have reported experiencing, particularly in the U.S.? Are Australian A95L models which are manufactured in Malaysia affected by this problem? If so what’s Sony Australia planning to do about it? If the A95L is discontinued here in Australia then owners of this TV here can’t request a swap over for a brand new A95L which we are entitled to under Australian consumer law, even though that’s what I would prefer, so are Sony Australia going announce a free repair program for replacing the TCON boards? Since the A95L is discontinued here now, returning the TV to the retailer for a full refund leaves you in a position where you become an ex owner of an A95L and can’t purchase another one, so a repair program at minimum should be announced and offered if Australian models have defective TCON boards inside them.

 

According to D-Nice and Classy Tech, who are 2 well known isf pro calibrators in the industry in the U.S., the TCON board faults are a true problem with the A95L that Sony U.S. have finally officially acknowledged, and apparently for at least U.S. A95L models that have April 2024 manufacturing dates and onward, the issue with the TCON board has been rectified… Jump to 21:50 in the below video where they begin to discuss it:

 

 

 

I’ve owned my Australian model 77” A95L for 5 months, luckily so far I haven’t experienced a single blinking red light TCON board fault, however I think Australian consumers who have bought this TV have the right to know if our countries models are affected and have faulty TCON boards installed in them.

 

 

Haven't heard of a single TCON board fault for any A95L that I have sold and haven't had any reports/advice sent through from the Sony Pro distributor, usually if there are any common faults for a product we will get an email/advice about it. I am still unsure why the model has been discontinued in Australia.

 

Regardless of that though, every A95L sold is covered by warranty (1 year from normal retailers, 3 year from Sony Pro dealers) and Australian consumer law so it would be up to Sony to come to the party to resolve, even if the model is now discontinued. Generally, any fault that happens outside of around 2-3 weeks after purchase would be a repair, not a replacement. Australian consumer law doesn't entitle you to a whole unit swap out/replacement inside the whole warranty period unless it is a 'major failure', 99% of electronic faults fall under the 'minor failure' category. (Not saying this TCON board fault definitely falls under 'minor failure', just saying that the vast majority of faults usually do.) Under Australian consumer law, customers cannot demand a replacement/refund for a minor failure unless it can't be repaired, or the repair cannot be completed in a timely fashion.

 

Obviously, any decent retailer worth their salt will and should go into bat for their customer with any product distributor/supplier and ensure the customer's issue is resolved satisfactorily and swiftly. Personally, I was a national service manager managing faults prior to my current role and so I have high standards of what I expect from a distributor when it comes to after sales support and fault rectification. Most Aussie distributors are pretty good, certainly compared to other countries. 

 

 

[TheBlackDisc]

On 11/5/2024 at 7:03 AM, Tweaky said:

No I haven't, and I don't expect to see it any time soon.

I think only LG and Panasonic are making 240hz TV's, but TBH I don't think they are TRUE 4k UHD 240hz TV's, they are using black screen insertion or frame interpolation to simulate a 240 Hz refresh rate, like the 1080p / 240hz TV's from years before.

 

You'll only see TRUE 240hz or fast refresh on high end monitors, and even then you best check any test results to see you are actually getting what you paid for.

Bummer - I have a 240hz monitor - I just want BIG. Might have to deal with 144hz.

[Cevolution]

2 hours ago, mikizee said:

Haven't heard of a single TCON board fault for any A95L that I have sold and haven't had any reports/advice sent through from the Sony Pro distributor, usually if there are any common faults for a product we will get an email/advice about it. I am still unsure why the model has been discontinued in Australia.

 

Regardless of that though, every A95L sold is covered by warranty (1 year from normal retailers, 3 year from Sony Pro dealers) and Australian consumer law so it would be up to Sony to come to the party to resolve, even if the model is now discontinued. Generally, any fault that happens outside of around 2-3 weeks after purchase would be a repair, not a replacement. Australian consumer law doesn't entitle you to a whole unit swap out/replacement inside the whole warranty period unless it is a 'major failure', 99% of electronic faults fall under the 'minor failure' category. (Not saying this TCON board fault definitely falls under 'minor failure', just saying that the vast majority of faults usually do.) Under Australian consumer law, customers cannot demand a replacement/refund for a minor failure unless it can't be repaired, or the repair cannot be completed in a timely fashion.

 

Obviously, any decent retailer worth their salt will and should go into bat for their customer with any product distributor/supplier and ensure the customer's issue is resolved satisfactorily and swiftly. Personally, I was a national service manager managing faults prior to my current role and so I have high standards of what I expect from a distributor when it comes to after sales support and fault rectification. Most Aussie distributors are pretty good, certainly compared to other countries. 

 

 

Thank you for your reply Mikizee. Good to hear that you haven’t heard of it happening here, and experienced any red light flashing defective TCON board issues that has been reported by a number of people which it’s happened to over the last several months with A95L models in other international markets, with Australian a95L models and your customers.

 

If possible though, I would greatly appreciate it if you could mention these failure issues with the TCON boards that other international markets have been experiencing with the TV, especially in the U.S., and pose the question to Sony Australia whether Australian A95L models also have the faulty TCON boards inside, or is it isolated to particular territories and where they have been manufactured, where only some assembly facilities have received defective batches of TCON boards, i.e. the U.S. models of the a95L are manufactured/assembled in Mexico, whereas the Australian models were manufactured in Malaysia?

 

On the topic of Australian consumer law, a defective TCON board would be classed as a major fault under the legislation. I also have to respectfully disagree with you about the majority of faults being considered minor faults, the majority of hardware faults fall under the definition of a being a major fault, and Australian consumers are entitled to choose if they would like a refund, an exchange, or a repair for much long than 2-3 weeks after purchasing said item in the event of a major fault, this also includes outside of the 1 or 3 year warranty period that the manufacturer provides. Australian consumer law is heavily based on what is considered acceptable and reasonable. A Sony master class model TV that’s their 2023 and 2024 flagship QD-OLED model that had an RRP of au$9500 for the 77”, it certainly wouldn’t be considered reasonable and acceptable under the legislation for it develop

a hardware fault only mere weeks or months after purchasing it, or even within 1-3 years of owning it:

 

https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Electrical %26 whitegoods - an industry guide to the Australian Consumer Law.DOC#:~:text=Major failures,burn out after three months
 

 

 

 

Edited May 12, 2024 by Cevolution

[Tweaky]

10 hours ago, Cevolution said:

Does the discontinuing of the A95L in Australia have anything to do with the red light flashing TCON board faults with this TV that quite a number of people in international markets have reported experiencing, particularly in the U.S.? Are Australian A95L models which are manufactured in Malaysia affected by this problem? If so what’s Sony Australia planning to do about it? If the A95L is discontinued here in Australia then owners of this TV here can’t request a swap over for a brand new A95L which we are entitled to under Australian consumer law, even though that’s what I would prefer, so are Sony Australia going announce a free repair program for replacing the TCON boards? Since the A95L is discontinued here now, returning the TV to the retailer for a full refund leaves you in a position where you become an ex owner of an A95L and can’t purchase another one, so a repair program at minimum should be announced and offered if Australian models have defective TCON boards inside them.

 

According to D-Nice and Classy Tech, who are 2 well known isf pro calibrators in the industry in the U.S., the TCON board faults are a true problem with the A95L that Sony U.S. have finally officially acknowledged, and apparently for at least U.S. A95L models that have April 2024 manufacturing dates and onward, the issue with the TCON board has been rectified… Jump to 21:50 in the below video where they begin to discuss it:

 

 

 

I’ve owned my Australian model 77” A95L for 5 months, luckily so far I haven’t experienced a single blinking red light TCON board fault, however I think Australian consumers who have bought this TV have the right to know if our countries models are affected and have faulty TCON boards installed in them.

 

 

 

If by unfortunate chance that you do eventually have a TCON board fault, you can easily bring up the many many instances of it being reported at the AVS forum, and the video above, to back you up.

Because it is such a well known issue, and one that THEY are well aware of, and even if well out of warranty , I'm pretty sure SONY would still be obliged to replace the faulty board under Australia's consumer laws.

[Snoopy8]

Have I missed something?  There is NO evidence that the Australian model has developed a similar fault, yet the pitchforks are already out!   

 

P/s no links to anyone in industry...

[Tweaky]

1 hour ago, Snoopy8 said:

Have I missed something?  There is NO evidence that the Australian model has developed a similar fault, yet the pitchforks are already out!   

 

P/s no links to anyone in industry...

I think the Dolby Vision fault still exists on the A95L, if people notice it is another matter, it would depend on how much DV coded content you watched, which I'm guessing for most people wouldn't be that much.

Although we in Australia won't be able to find out WTF is going on with that from SONY, as from April 1st, the Asia Pacific region has been locked out of the Sony Community, and subsequently are unable to read or post anything on it.

https://us.community.sony.com/s/question/0D5Dp00001MIWQpKAP/sony-a95l-dolby-vision-dark-is-inaccurate-and-broken?language=en_US

 

A hell of a lot [most of the TV series] of content on APPLE's streaming service is in DV, which apart from the very good Quality to Quantity ratio of their content, I think Apple has the best picture quality of all the streaming services........if you have a DV capable TV that is..

[Have you SONY TV set for DV Dark for most accurate PQ, although I must admit some period dramas [Like FRANKLIN] can bee too dark on my 77" A80K OLED, so I switch to DV Bright for those]

[Tweaky]

This video of the SONY series 9 has just been posted, and it's a real eye opener on the A.I. controller backlighting of the series 9 mini LED TV's.

 

See from 3 minutes in, you will see two white panels, and one TV below them.

 

The bottom TV shows what the other TV's would be showing if they had full panels.

 

The white panel on the left is the Sony series 9 and the white one on the right is a 2023 model Samsung QN90C [The testers admit the 2024 QN90D will have updates...but will they match the SONY ? ]

First thing I noticed is the very different spread of the backlighting sensors between the two TV's.

The Samsung's sensors seem to have more, but they are spread in a very even array of small squares, where the sensors on the SONY TV is in a Y shape in some areas, and a triangle in others.

 

Interesting stuff.

 

 

[Snoopy8]

An interesting video that argued that people will easily see the difference of the Bravia 7 and 9 at the store.  If correct, will spell trouble for LG and Samsung at the premium end of the market.

[juggernaut1]

I took delivery of my 77A95L on 20 March 2024 when stock became available through Appliances Online. I do have mine set to DV dark mode and exclusively stream through Apple (or bluray UHD on via a UB9000) - I didn't set my A95L up as a smart TV. I use the attached settings I found on another forum.

 

I haven't seen any issues with the beautiful images this TV generates. In fact I've come to the conclusion every other large screen TV of my family and friends are the ones with the problems .  

[Tweaky]

20 hours ago, juggernaut1 said:

I took delivery of my 77A95L on 20 March 2024 when stock became available through Appliances Online. I do have mine set to DV dark mode and exclusively stream through Apple (or bluray UHD on via a UB9000) - I didn't set my A95L up as a smart TV. I use the attached settings I found on another forum.

 

I haven't seen any issues with the beautiful images this TV generates. In fact I've come to the conclusion every other large screen TV of my family and friends are the ones with the problems .  

 

I do my own calibrations, but was told unless I had a very high end meter, the extended gamut and narrow colour bands of a QD OLED would be basically too much for a serious amateur level meter such as a Colorchecker Display Plus to read.

In the video above [LG G4 calibration] you have two very serious Pro calibrators in Classy Tech and D-Nice, both I know from the AVS foru.

 

D-NICE used to post calibration settings for the top rung TV's he had calibratied, by averaging out the settings he got from several of the same model TV.

He used to post those for everybody to use, then some over zealous moderator gave him a 3 month ban for some reason [about 18 months ago] and he said he was no longer going to do that, he would only give his setting to people that sent him a email requesting them.

I did that when I got my A95K and put in the settings, and what was already a great TV became a truly amazing one, mind you the settings he gave me were for a full 21 point color and grey scale calibration, both for 4k one for Day and one for Nightime viewing and separate ones for Dolby Vision, which you need to download and install the Calaman for Bravia App onto your TV [Its free]

 

I hadn't visited the AVS forum in 6 months, and when I looked to see if any settings [or links to some] of a 77" A95L had been posted, I couldn't see any posts by D-NICE, I then looked for some old posts by him and he has changed the description under his name to "D-NICE is dead", which I'm guessing he might of stopped posting there, which would be a massive loss the the community if true.

 

Anyway, I thought I'd give you the heads up, for all I know he might of calibrated the 77" A95L and given his setting out before this happened, and if so it might be possible for you to still get them.

It would mean you trawling through the SONY A95L owners thread at the AVS forum to find out what the situation is, somebody would have asked previously, and somebody else would have replied telling what the story is, since I din;t own a A95L I have no need, or intention of doing so, especially since it is currently 515 pages long.

https://www.avsforum.com/threads/2023-sony-a95l-bravia-xr-qd-oled-4k-master-series-owners-thread-no-price-talk.3281313/page-510?post_id=63304837#post-63304837

 

Well worth the effort to get his settings if possible, as they are very exact.

 

[juggernaut1]

It is my understanding the settings I attached for the A95L are his settings. He didn't post them because of the ban, but another member who previously obtained them instead posted them.

[Cevolution]

On 12/5/2024 at 5:59 PM, Tweaky said:

 

If by unfortunate chance that you do eventually have a TCON board fault, you can easily bring up the many many instances of it being reported at the AVS forum, and the video above, to back you up.

Because it is such a well known issue, and one that THEY are well aware of, and even if well out of warranty , I'm pretty sure SONY would still be obliged to replace the faulty board under Australia's consumer laws.

That’s exactly what I would do, along with providing my own well written valid case using the legislation to argue the merits. And you’re right, Sony would be obligated to replace the faulty board.

 

I would still like to know though whether Australian models of the a95L are affected by the detective TCON board issue at all. Someone that works in the Australian industry like the member I asked, should be able to find out from Sony Australia, just the same as how D-Nice and Classy Tech were able to from Sony in the U.S..

 

On 12/5/2024 at 8:33 PM, Snoopy8 said:

Have I missed something?  There is NO evidence that the Australian model has developed a similar fault, yet the pitchforks are already out!   

 

P/s no links to anyone in industry...

 

You must have missed something, because nobody has pulled out the pitchforks. There is evidence that international models of the a95L have the fault that has been described, and someone that sells these TV’s in the Australian industry in this thread was simply asked to follow it up with Sony Australia to find out if our models have this fault too. Sony would know which assembly factories were supplied with faulty TCON boards, and which territories/countries have received these TV’s with faulty TCON boards in them.

 

On 13/5/2024 at 1:51 PM, juggernaut1 said:

I took delivery of my 77A95L on 20 March 2024 when stock became available through Appliances Online.

How much did you pay for your 77” a95L from Appliance Online in March?

 

I bought my 77” A95L brand new from Harvey Norman on the 1st of December 2023 for $6500.

Edited May 14, 2024 by Cevolution

[Snoopy8]

36 minutes ago, Cevolution said:

You must have missed something, because nobody has pulled out the pitchforks.

If it was me, I would first collect Australian evidence that Sony TVs have developed a similar fault. Then I would have every right to jump up and down and take this consumer affairs.  The fault may yet develop over time but until then, it is all theoretical.

 

And I have no ties to anyone in the industry (and certainly not to Sony)...

[Cevolution]

1 hour ago, Snoopy8 said:

If it was me, I would first collect Australian evidence that Sony TVs have developed a similar fault. Then I would have every right to jump up and down and take this consumer affairs.  The fault may yet develop over time but until then, it is all theoretical.

 

And I have no ties to anyone in the industry (and certainly not to Sony)...

Collecting information and evidence is exactly the point of my initial post, and asking the member that sells the a95L if they have had it happen to any of their customers who have bought the Australian model.

 

The Australian model a95L has been discontinued in Australia (the a95L was released in Australia towards the end of October 2023 and was discontinued here in January 2024, that’s essentially a 3 month window that it was available for here, therefore the amount of Australians that own this TV would be an extremely tiny percentage), you practically can’t buy them here anymore except for handful of 65” models that are still around to buy, therefore data is limited. Pretty much the only places you can collect Australian evidence/data is from here, or on Whirlpool, unless you want to include amateurish sources like FB groups and Reddit, which I don’t visit and have user accounts for those sites.

 

Personally it’s my opinion that Australian models aren’t affected, however confirmation from Sony Australia would be great. I believe that it’s 110v models that have this defect, not 230v models which Australian models are, when I mentioned this months ago on AVS some idiot called Sd13 over there laughed at thought and idea, and argued that it was a ridiculous theory, and that all models worldwide are affected. So I’m out to get some facts on the situation.

Edited May 14, 2024 by Cevolution

[Tweaky]

14 hours ago, juggernaut1 said:

It is my understanding the settings I attached for the A95L are his settings. He didn't post them because of the ban, but another member who previously obtained them instead posted them.

Those look like the format D-NICE would send you his settings in, but his settings would go a LOT further than that, and would be at least 3 pages long, with individual R/G/B offset settings for each of the 20 IRE adjustment points, plus per color adjustment settings for R/G/B/Y/M/C

All those settings only become available once you have installed the Calaman for Bravia App.

The settings you have posted can be inputted into  a SONY A95L without having the App install.

 

If you have the multiple pages showing those settings, and the page you posted was just the first page, then you will have D-NICE's settings.

Otherwise I'm guessing somebody has just taken the settings posted at the RTings website and put it in the same format as D-NICE would.

 

[juggernaut1]

13 hours ago, Cevolution said:

How much did you pay for your 77” a95L from Appliance Online in March?

 

I bought my 77” A95L brand new from Harvey Norman on the 1st of December 2023 for $6500.

$8,478 delivered.

 

FYI AO was able to ring Sony whilst i waited on the phone and was able to find out when new stocks would be arriving into Australia.

Edited May 14, 2024 by juggernaut1

[juggernaut1]

7 hours ago, Tweaky said:

Those look like the format D-NICE would send you his settings in, but his settings would go a LOT further than that, and would be at least 3 pages long, with individual R/G/B offset settings for each of the 20 IRE adjustment points, plus per color adjustment settings for R/G/B/Y/M/C

All those settings only become available once you have installed the Calaman for Bravia App.

The settings you have posted can be inputted into  a SONY A95L without having the App install.

 

If you have the multiple pages showing those settings, and the page you posted was just the first page, then you will have D-NICE's settings.

Otherwise I'm guessing somebody has just taken the settings posted at the RTings website and put it in the same format as D-NICE would.

 

They were from the AVS forum. I now think they were Classy Tech's calibrations settings from the below thread link - although I'm not 100% since they were re posted by somebody else.

 

https://www.avsforum.com/threads/sony-a95l-qd-oled-settings-tips-tricks-gaming-thread.3285807/#replies