TV Oled KD-65AG8: the most affordable Sony of the 2019 range

Presentation

The Oled Sony AG8 television shares the characteristics of the Sony 65AG9 and its predecessor, the Sony Bravia KD-65AF9. All these models have a 65 inch 100 Hz 10 bit Oled panel with an Ultra HD definition of 3,840 x 2,160 px and the Sony X1 Extreme processor. The main differences are the audio system (Acoustic Surface + on the AG9 versus Acoustic Surface Audio on the AG8) and the lack of microphones integrated into the AG8. Sony still trusts Android TV (strangely in version 7.0) to animate its TV. This system benefits from numerous applications (Netflix 4K, YouTube, VLC, etc.), Google Cast functionality and Google Voice Assistant via the microphone of the remote control.

The Sony KD-65AG8 retails for around € 3,200. It is also available in a 55-inch version (KD-55AG8) for around € 2,200.

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Image quality

The Sony 65AG8 television uses a WOLED panel from LG Display. Each pixel is made up of four sub-pixels (one green, one red, one blue and one white). Since the end of last year, the size of the sub-pixels has changed slightly compared to previous models. The white and red sub-pixels are larger in order to improve the maximum brightness of the screen, while maintaining a color temperature close to 6,500 K. As always with Oled technology, the viewing angles are excellent. We have measured a loss of brightness of only 21% at 45 ° and there is no variation on black - which is absolute. In comparison, LCD televisions like the Sony 65XG9505 - yet one of the best in the field - show an average loss of brightness of 45% on the sides at 45 ° and the variation even reaches 70% on the Samsung Qled 65Q9F 2018.

Oled technology requires, the contrast ratio is considered to be infinite since each pixel can turn off completely independently. Black can thus be total, regardless of the brightness of the other pixels. Blacks are measured at less than 0.0049 cd / m² (our probe cannot measure a lower value). This contrast is still as impressive and you can enjoy all the nuances of the image, even in complete darkness.

In Expert mode, we measured the average Delta E at 2.7; a value less than 3, threshold below which the eye no longer perceives a difference between the color displayed on the screen and the ideal color. Some shades see their Delta E slightly exceed the value of 3, but nothing alarming. Overall, the colors displayed by this television are faithful to those sent by the source and respect the vision of the director of a film.

The range curve is very stable over the entire spectrum and the average value measured at 2.41 is very close to the reference value (2.4). The final grayscale rendering is therefore simply excellent.

As is always the case on Sony televisions, the average temperature is closer to 7,000 K than the reference 6,500 K (video standard). The average measured at 7,280 K results in a slight predominance of blue and therefore a slightly cooler rendering than the 6,500 K reference. Overall, the temperature remains stable which is most important.

The Sony 65AG8 embeds the Sony X1 Ultimate processor already at work on the Sony Oled AG9, AF9 and on its cousins LCD ZF9 and XG9505. This processor manages the scaling of SD, HD and Full HD content on the Ultra HD panel as well as all the motion compensation part. As on previous models, scaling in Cinema mode is very gentle, with a smoothing effect on solid colors, but it does not distort the original source. Intense mode, meanwhile, is much more aggressive in processing Full HD sources and does not hesitate to add details at the risk of revealing artifacts. In some cases, the scaled version will display more details than the native version. The MotionFlow motion compensation engine is still just as good and helps keep sharp images in motion.

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HDR

The Sony Bravia KD-65AG8 TV is compatible with HDR10, HLG, and Dolby Vision. While some manufacturers now ensure compatibility with all HDR formats (see Panasonic TX-55GZ1000), Sony ignores the HDR10 + promoted by Samsung and Panasonic. Remember that the HDMI ports of Sony TVs are configured by default in 8 bits. To unlock them, you have to go to Settings> Television viewing> External inputs> HDMI signal format> Improved format.

Since the Sony AG9 test, Sony has visibly corrected the Display Tone Mapping slightly. With a maximum HDR signal of 10,000 cd / m², the television now smoothes the signal from 60% luminance in order to avoid clipping as much as possible, which therefore never occurs. The capacities of the slab are exploited to the maximum. The brightness peak is also better than on the AG9 (we assume that the latter had to be updated since it has the same panel and the same processor) since it reaches 674 cd / m² in Expert mode. This is far from the 859 cd / m² of the Philips 55OLED803, but we assume that Sony is fairly conservative on this point in order to avoid damaging the screen. Obviously, we are far behind the LCD models: Sony 65ZF9 (1,940 cd / m²) Samsung 65Q9F (1,600 cd / m²) and Samsung 75Q900R (2,280 cd / m²). Fortunately, Oled technology retains some advantages, including the many details in the dark areas, a really black black and a total absence of blooming.

This Sony TV displays perfect colors in HDR mode. We measured an average Delta E in Expert HDR mode at 2.9 and only two colors exceed a Delta E by 4. The colors in HDR mode can therefore be considered as perfectly faithful to the source.

The Sony KD-65AG8 has the same color coverage as all other Oled TVs. It thus covers 70% of the Rec. 2020 color space and 93% of the DCI-P3 standard. It is the latter that is currently used in cinema and on Ultra HD Blu-ray.

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Video games

If the Sony AG9 displays a delay of 26.5 ms, this Sony KD-65AG8 television is content with 47.3 ms, that is to say a little more than three images of delay compared to the source. We carried out the tests several times with several different settings and we can not explain this difference between the two models yet equipped with the same panel and the same processing processor. Fortunately, the Sony TV remains under 50 ms of delay, a value from which we can feel a certain heaviness in the controls. Samsung (QE65Q85R) and LG (55C9) remain the benchmarks in this area with an input lag less than a single image (less than 16 ms, at 60 Hz). In terms of afterglow, Oled technology is still unequaled on the market, with a time less than a millisecond.

We are now interested in the accuracy of colors in games. The atmosphere created by the creators of the game must be respected by the television. The Sony 65AG8 displays an image very close to that of Expert mode. We measured a Delta E at 3 in SDR and 3.1 in HDR. The temperature is also in the nails (7,200 K), just like the gamma.

As on the AG9, we were able to observe strong drops in brightness while playing (in FIFA 19 in particular). Sony explains that the TV uses an algorithm that detects fixed areas of the image (areas that display information such as remaining life or score) to reduce their brightness and reduce the risk of scarring.

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Clouding

Oled technology is not affected by the clouding phenomenon since this defect only affects LCD TVs using a light diffuser. We did not find a banding problem. The homogeneity of the brightness on the screen is good and the average difference is measured at only 5% on this 65 inch TV. This very good result is mainly explained by the use of Oled technology where each pixel produces its own light.

Remember, however, that some television users encounter marking problems. Extensive tests have shown that the marking of modern Oled tiles is limited during everyday use. We have never seen this problem on the models we are testing, but we are focusing our tests on cinema, TV series and video game use. Continuous news channels displaying banners with saturated colors (red, blue or green) seem to be a problem, especially when the brightness is pushed to the maximum. The risk of tagging exists and cannot be totally ignored, but Sony seems to have a fairly good management of this problem (cf. the paragraph dedicated to video games). Remember that you must switch off the television using the remote control and that it is not recommended to disconnect it completely from the power. The television performs maintenance operations on the screen when it is in standby in order to preserve uniformity and precisely to avoid marking problems.

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Ergonomics

The Sony KD-65AG8 adopts a fairly classic design. Sony engineers have worked particularly on the foot which can adopt two positions: one very close to the ground like the AF8 of last year, which allows a minimalist design, and the second of our photo which allows you to raise the TV 6.7 cm (6.1 cm at the feet).

This position allows you to use a soundbar while avoiding to hide the image. The other position of the aluminum foot is a little more design, but the size is the same.

Common to all Oled TV models, the anti-reflective filter is very effective. The only TVs capable of doing better are the high-end Qled models from Samsung.

A new device now allows us to measure the quality of the anti-reflection filter on televisions, a criterion of importance according to our ...

Oled technology makes it possible to manufacture very thin slab televisions. The rest is not much larger since the widest part is only 5.1 cm thick. The size of the TV on the TV stand is always linked to the depth of the stand which is 29 cm.

The back of the TV is fairly simple. The connectors are placed on the right and the power supply on the left. Sony provides two plastic covers which allow the use of the upright of the feet to discreetly pass the cables.

The connection of the Sony 65AG8 consists of four HDMI 2.0b inputs, one of which is placed on the side, three USB ports, two of which are also on the side, an Ethernet port, an optical digital audio output, a headphone output, a composite input (in yellow), a PCMCIA port (CI + common interface), a rake antenna connector and a satellite connector. It has a dual DVB-T / T2 (TNT), DVB-S / S2 (satellite) and DVB-C (cable) tuner. It also has 802.11a / b / g / n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 for connection with a wireless audio device (headphones or speaker).

While the Sony AG9 ships Android TV 8.0, this Sony 65AG8 is content with Android TV 7.0. It doesn't really change the functionality of the system much, and it's only the interface that is different, but we would still have preferred the latest version of the system for a 2019 TV. Android TV is one the most complete on-board systems on the market, and especially the one with the most applications. In addition, the integrated Chromecast allows you to receive and display a video stream sent from a smartphone, tablet or computer. On the other hand, the experience is less fluid than on the AG9 equipped with Android TV 8.0.

The Sony AG8 is satisfied with a Mediatek MT5891 processor (4 cores ARM Cortex-A53 clocked at 1.1 GHz) against a Mediatek MT5893 (4 cores ARM Cortex-A73 clocked at 1.5 GHz), which explains this difference of performances. In addition, Sony has not integrated the new quick access bar of the AG9.

The other difference is the absence of the two microphones at the base of the TV that allow you to use the Google Assistant without remote control on the AF9 and the AG9. Like most TVs on the market, you must therefore use the remote control to use Google Assistant.

As with all Android TVs, the first boot takes longer. It takes 45 seconds here, which is 7 seconds longer than the AG9. This start-up begins when connected to the mains. The TV does not display an image for 20 to 25 s, then the Android logo appears. The startup is much longer than the Tizen systems from Samsung or WebOS from LG, which start up in less than 5 seconds. Fortunately, the TV wakes up from standby in less than 4 seconds, while consuming less than one watt in standby. Sleep is instantaneous.

Another difference from the AG9 is that the Sony AG8 does not come with the new Sony aluminum remote control, but with the AF9 remote control from last year. This remote control is completely covered with an eraser which protects the keys from small daily accidents, in particular splashes of liquid. However, the dry noise of the keys will not necessarily please everyone. The remote control gives access to all the TV functions and even benefits from multimedia keys. It also has a microphone to converse with Google Assistant. Finally, Sony ignores the backlighting of the keys.

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Audio

The Sony 65AG8 has the Acoustic Surface 2.2 audio system made up of two tweeters and two midrange placed at the back of the TV already at work on the AF8. The tweeters vibrate the panel, allowing sound to come directly out of the image, while usually the speakers are placed under the panel and use the TV stand as a reflector.

In line with the A1 and AF8, the Sony KD-65AG8 delivers excellent sound for a television. This system is still as impressive as ever. If it can't match a home cinema system, it can easily replace an entry / mid-range sound bar. The bass is audible from 75 Hz and the spectrum is covered up to 20,000 Hz. On this point, the Sony TV is a real benchmark on the market.

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Consumption

With a white calibrated at 150 cd / m², the Sony 65AG8 consumes 109 W on our test pattern, that is a relative consumption of 94 W / m²; it is the same consumption as the Sony 65AG9 and the equivalent of the Sony 65AF9 (92 W / m²). Like all Oled models, this television always consumes more than LCD models like the Sony KD-65XG8505, equipped with an Edge-Led backlight system and which is the category record holder (consumption of only 56 W / m²). The Samsung QE55Q6FN is content with 61 W / m² and the TCL 55DC760 with 66 W / m².

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Conclusion

The 65AG8 is a great TV, but Sony hasn't really forced its talent on this model. It essentially takes over the characteristics of last year's Sony AF8 with a latest generation Oled panel and a more practical stand, but that's it. The excellent display quality is always there.

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