Sony Adds Gaming Features to New Flagship OLED, Mini-LED TVs

Sony today gave its Bravia XR TV lineup a boost with new flagship OLED and LED models. It also revealed some new gaming features that will be available on its TVs and a new soundbar.

The Bravia XR A95L (available in 55, 65, and 77 inches) is Sony’s newest top-of-the-line quantum dot-enhanced OLED TV, while the X95L (85 inches only) is the newest LED TV. Both use the company’s Cognitive Processor XR image processor to drive brighter pictures through their panels. According to Sony, the XR OLED Contrast Pro on the A95L and the XR Contrast Booster 15 on the X95L enable each TV to put out more light than their previous versions. The image processor also enables Sony’s new XR Clear Image feature, an improved upconversion process for content with lower native resolutions than 4K.

In addition to the flagship models, Sony announced several other TVs under its high-end Bravia XR umbrella. The X93L is similar to the X95L but available in 65-, 75-, and 85-inch versions and uses conventional 4K upscaling instead of XR Clear Image. The X90L comes in screen sizes from 55 to 98 inches and has XR Clear Image, but doesn’t get as bright as the other two LED models with its XR Contrast Booster 10 backlight control. The A80L is an OLED TV that lacks the A95L’s quantum dot layer, but is otherwise very similar and available in 55-, 65-, 77-, and 83-inch versions.

Sony A80L
(Credit: Sony)

Sony has already launched its high-end A-series soundbars, but it’s announcing a new lower-end model, the HT-S2000. This 3.1-channel soundbar is smaller than the A-series models, and less expensive than them at $499. It features built-in dual subwoofers in addition to its left-, right-, and center-channel drivers, and can be expanded with the SA-SW3 or SA-SW5 wireless subwoofers and the SA-RS5 satellites. It supports Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, though doesn’t have physical height channels. Instead, it uses Sony’s Vertical Surround Engine to simulate height as well as horizontal imaging.

The new Bravia XR TVs will include some useful new gaming features, centered around a new Game Menu similar to the Game Bar on Samsung smart TVs. The Game Menu will be available through a button on the remote whenever the TV is in the Gaming picture mode, and will let players toggle a variety of settings including variable refresh rate (VRR), blur reduction, and a black equalizer that brightens dark areas of the screen to make shadow details easier to see.

The Game Menu also provides access to an on-screen crosshair that stays fixed in the center of the frame to improve aiming in first-person games and reduce motion sickness. The crosshair can be set to dot or cross shapes, in green, red, or white. Finally, the most unique new gaming feature is the screen-resizing function. Gamers can scale down the active picture to as low as 30% of the original size, displaying a smaller screen to keep track of when the game would benefit from that.

The Sony HT-S2000 will be available mid-April. Pricing and availability for its new TV models were not announced.