Sony BRAVIA XR A95L QD-OLED 4K UHD Smart Google TV

The picture quality of this TV is undisputedly stunning. I can sit slack-jawed in front of it and stare at almost any 4k content for hours and marvel at how gorgeous the picture is. But in other ways, Sony does some things in a very weird way that defy your expectations of how a smart company designs smart TVs.

On almost every TV these days, there’s a USB-2 port that is most often used to power a rear bias lighting strip that enhances viewing and reduces eyestrain. This TV has one too – but when you turn the TV off, power to that port will spring back to life, on and off, just for a few seconds, for several minutes after the TV is off. Then, hours later it will come on for a minute or so, then just an inexplicably go off. Why?? Why can’t the USB port simply be powered off when the TV turns off like every other manufacturer’s TV does? TCL TVs can set the timeout for USB power, and when it’s off it’s truly off and doesn’t spring to life in the middle of the night. This appears to be a common problem amongst all Sony TVs. How difficult can this be to get right on a $3k device? (Answer – not at all difficult).

Similarly with the LED power indicator on the front – it’s on whenever the TV is plugged in, whether it’s on or not. The LED is always there, and on. Other TVs have options to deal with this, but not this one. I covered it up as I am already quite aware whether or not there is power to my house.

The back panel for the signal connections is located at the very bottom left of the TV, meaning that there is no room for cables to exit the back without being seen under the bottom edge when using the legs. When wall mounted, there is no easy channel to get HDMI/ethernet/etc cables into a wall or down a cable channel without a lot of serious 90 degree bending. Someone in the design department simply wasn’t thinking about how to deal with the real world plethora of cables that have to come out of this thing. (The Sony HT-A7000 soundbar also has this problem, with HDMI cables exiting the back at different angles and locations, making a neat installation more difficult than it needs to be.) In addition, the huge size of the detachable panel cover makes it difficult to attach rear bias lighting LED strip to the outside back edge all around that lower corner.

The power cable is not detachable, meaning you have to use an extension cord if it’s not long enough. This is just weird – why not provide a standard AC jack like every other TV and let us use a power cord that works in our location instead of assuming that the 5 feet you gave us will always be perfect? Who thought this was a good idea?

The Bravia camera on top is an ugly wart that serves no real purpose after setup. Mine is back in the box, and the TV looks much nicer without it. Maybe you need it for Zoom but not me. It looks expensive – can I get back the money I spent on it? No?

(About Google TV OS, the less said the better. Disdain it, and get yourself an Apple ATV4K+ box. You will be a MUCH happier streamer. It’s night-and-day easier to use, and you aren’t constantly being pushed into the Google-sphere. I am not at all an Apple fanboi but the design and UI of this streaming device is far more sophisticated and operationally smooth than either a Google or Roku.)

Kudos to Sony for a box design that allows for attaching the legs before completely removing the support styrofoam underneath, meaning you don’t ever have to lay the panel down flat on its face or have someone hold the weight of it while you attach the legs. This makes it a lot easier to deal with a giant expensive device. Even if I’m going to mount a TV on the wall, as I will with this one, I always start out with it on the legs. This makes it easier to do initial testing, figure out where the VESA mount goes, how the cable routing will work, etc.

The remote is made of aluminum, feels solid, and has an accelerometer that turns on the backlighting when you pick it up. This is very suave. The size of the remote is also smaller than previous Sony remotes which were uselessly too big. This is appreciated.

There was a lot of apparent effort put into making the back of the TV appear with a consistent pattern across the entire back – little textured one inch squares. The detachable panel covers all line up and when everything is in place its a very consistent look. But it’s totally useless – who looks at the back of their TV, ever? I don’t care how beautiful or ugly the back panels are. Nobody cares. I’d rather it was an inconsistent mish-mash of ugly plastic thingies, if only the USB-2 port power would behave correctly and the cables were easier to route.

Overall, this TV is certainly a major win. I’m very very happy so far, but there are just these little annoyances that would cost Sony nothing to deal with properly that make me wonder about how (or if) they think the consumer will be using it out here in the real world where very little resembles a Sony testing lab.

I bought the 65″ about 18 months ago. It lasted for 12 months and then the panel just would not turn on. The sound is on, just no picture. Sony would not help and did not want to. There was no place it could be taken to be looked at. I offered to drive somewhere within 6 hours, and they said no. It is kind of a huge bummer to buy a semi-expensive Oled TV and then have the manufacturer just totally ignore you when the panel is not working. I will never buy a Sony TV ever again. Mainly because of the customer experience. I have 2 85″ Samsung 8k Qleds that are good, and now a 65″ Samsung Oled that I think keeps up with Sonys Oled tech. I am definitely a TV enthusiast and I buy a lot of tech, I recommend a lot of tech to my friends and family too. I can not recommend Sony ever again.

I am also the type of person that have bought Sony Phones, just kind of been a Sony enthusiast. There’s just something about their tech that I have liked. Now, out of principle, I’ve become a Samsung and Google Pixel user… so not only did I lose a TV, I feel let down by a company I supported.

Written on my Wife’s account.

I hate this tv and it’s the most expensive television I’ve ever purchased. Yes, the tv looks wonderful and I’m very please in that aspect. However, it took me over 4 hours to set up because the software exlerience is designened to sell ALL THE THINGS to me verses just making it a simple and great watching experience. My husband won’t use it because he’s not a strong tech person and be shouldn’t need to be to watch his streaming services. I just attempted to connect my Xbox which resulted in another 2 hours of research troubleshooting. Remember when we used to connect the HDMI cord and the tv recognized the device right way?! Why in the world do I need to delete the external device cache to connect a device? AND all the things I researched didn’t work. I finally unplugged the stupid thing and plugged it back in and for some reason it fixed the issue?! This is aggravating since the tv is brand new! Additionally things randomly stop working like my tv channel set up. Unplug system starts working again. Also the tv randomly glitches out and pulls up strange Bravia screens when I was in the middle of watching a show? Worst, most expensive and not worth the hassle tv ever. Oh I forgot, it also doesn’t play nice with competitor apps like Apple TV – the features to enable this app usage was hiddennand not transparent. I don’t give a crap about your competitor relationship, I do care that Sony designed the app to add a lot of friction connectioning a streaming service a pay for. Hate this tv!!!!!!!!!

Wow. Seriously.

I don’t know what voodoo Sony used to pull this off, but the picture on this TV right out of the box is INSANE. It has depth to it like I’ve never seen out of a television; almost like it’s 3D. It looks like you could reach right into the screen and grab something – difficult to explain without seeing it in person.

I was not impressed with the Amazon delivery service though – they didn’t even wear gloves when setting it up and now I’m dealing with smudges, ugh.

But the TV itself is unreal I’ve never seen something this good before. Totally glad I spent the extra $$ to get this. A+

Edit: Forgot to mention that this TV runs 4K120 & VRR flawlessly

The a95l has the best picture ive ever seen but for 5k and quality control issues it’s unacceptable… each tv had the same issue which was a scratch to the coating beneath the glass in carious spots on the tv .. best but was nice and understanding but 4 is enough right now i still have it waiting on another tv

Outstanding television with fantastic picture. The Updated Remote Control is easy to use.

HOWEVER, To get the best picture, turn off some annoying settings.

Very important! Ambient optimisation Settings use TV sensors that can change TV picture lighting depending on conditions surrounding the TV.

ambient optimisation is awful and can result in a dark, substandard picture. Turn ambient optimisation settings for ambient light and TV position off.

Then set brightness controls to the level that you desire.

The result will yield a beautiful, bright picture under all conditions that never fails to amaze.

With ambient light optimisation off, this is the best TV picture I have ever seen.

Sony should stop messing with external sensors and ambient light, and focus on producing the brightest possible picture.

Picture is stunning and I mean stunning! However I noticed that the screen had a few pit marks. Not good may have to exchange for another! Update Amazon replaced TV,Unfortunately This TV has The Same Problem,Screen Is Pitting On This One Also! Sony Support Is A Joke! I Will Never Buy A Sony Again! Stay Away From The QD-OlED Screens They have A Defect Sony Is Aware Of.

The people who have bought this tv and love the picture are right. Vivid, dimensional and captivating in a way my other oleds are not. But part of the reason I paid the premium over the G3 was because I really liked the acoustic surface speakers on my other Sonys and figured I could do without a soundbar or other external audio components. Unfortunately, the A95l I ended up with distorts on some material even at relatively low volumes. I got in contact with Sony, sent them recordings of the issue and they basically admitted it was a design flaw and told me to hook up a sound system to it. I expect better from a flagship product. It’s going back. I guess I’ll have to wait until something better comes along.

I love the TV.
Amazon delivered it, unboxed it, and installed the feet for me.
The also removed all the packaging (a rather plain cardboard box).

I was able to setup the Wifi and get the Google TV log on in about 10 minutes.
Great color – very rich and bright.
Resolution is impressive – easy to read across the room (15′).

The sound was a pleasant surprise. I was planning to connect my home theater system to the TV, but I have decided there is no need, unlike my previous Sony TV (XBR-49E900 series). This one has surround sound that works great, even on some local channels (CBS) that had problems with the previous TV. Big improvement on the sound output and clarity.

Closed Captioning is very pleasant and I use it more and more.

I found the VESA wall mount kit easy to install because this TV comes with the proper screws already in the TV.

The remote was really engineered well. It feels good – nice size with a textured aluminum case that is easy to grip. The had back lighting that comes on in a dark room when you just pick it up or move it.
But, the best part was the button layout. Finally, SONY got this part exactly right!
It is intuitive and works really well with the built-in apps.
I easily installed other apps, too.

The remote has 6 pre-programmed streaming service buttons on it (Netflix, Disney+, Amazon) which I found very handy. But the biggest surprise was that the key layout was ideal for Google TV (Youtube TV) viewing. The home button and return button are where you expect the, the cursor works as it should, and a surprise feature was the channel button actually worked on the Google TV menu ! Also, the previous channel comes back if you press the center “OK” button for 2 seconds.

The TV is fast – going through the settings was quick.
The menus are nicely arranged.

The TV had a single power cord and no power “brick”.
I just wish the cord was white instead of black.

I installed the TV on an adjustable wall mount.
(I didn’t like either of the SONY wall mounts – just get a $60 kit from Amazon)

Instructions were poorly printed and almost useless.
I had to get a magnifying glass to read the fine print and even then, they were not helpful.
I had to go on-line and download the manuals to my computer and look at some videos.

Then, the bonus was finding a remote control app for my iPhone which works perfectly!
I think it’s just called “TV Remote”. The one called “Sony TV remote – BRAVIA” did not work at all)
Why use an iPhone app as a remote ? Because, you don’t have to ask someone to pass you the remote when you need to mute or adjust the volume!

Suggestion: TVs should come with 2 remotes, anyway !

!WARNING! Do not buy the OLED a95l 77″! My unit makes a loud buzzing sound from the internal power supply inside the TV. Sony assures me that it is in fact operating normally and therefore cannot request an exchange or service.

The picture would look nice if i could stand to leave the TV on for more than 5 minuets.