Walk into any Best Buy or scroll through Amazon and you’ll see the same thing: a sea of black rectangles that all claim to be the "best." It’s exhausting. But if you’ve been looking at a Sony 65 inch OLED TV, you’ve probably noticed the price tag is usually a few hundred bucks higher than the competition from LG or Samsung. Why? It isn't just the brand name. Honestly, it’s about how Sony handles the "brain" of the television.
The 65-inch size is the sweet spot. It's big enough to feel like a theater but doesn't require a structural engineer to mount it on your wall. Sony has spent decades in Hollywood—literally—with their Sony Pictures studios and professional mastering monitors like the BVM-HX310. They take that exact color science and shove it into their consumer sets.
Most people think OLED is OLED because LG Display makes almost all the panels anyway. That’s a mistake. While the glass might be the same, the processing is where the magic (or the mess) happens. Sony’s Cognitive Processor XR doesn't just "sharpen" an image. It tries to figure out where your eye is supposed to look. If there’s a lead actor in the foreground, the TV prioritizes the detail there, just like your brain does in real life. It feels more natural. Less digital.
The Reality of the Sony 65 inch OLED TV Experience
One thing nobody tells you about these TVs is that they aren't meant for a sun-drenched sunroom with floor-to-ceiling windows. OLED pixels are self-emissive. They turn off completely to create perfect blacks. That’s great for The Batman, but it means they struggle to fight off intense afternoon glare. If you’re putting this in a dark basement or a room with controlled lighting, it’s unbeatable. If you’re putting it opposite a sliding glass door in Florida? You might be disappointed by the reflections.
Sony’s current lineup, specifically the A80L and the flagship A95L (which uses QD-OLED technology), handles motion better than anyone else in the game. You know that weird "Soap Opera Effect" where movies look like cheap daytime TV? Sony’s MotionFlow is subtle. It keeps things smooth without making Dune look like General Hospital.
Sound that actually comes from the screen
This is the weirdest part of the Sony 65 inch OLED TV design. They use something called Acoustic Surface Audio+. Instead of tiny, crappy speakers pointing downward at your floor, Sony uses "actuators" behind the screen. These vibrate the actual glass to create sound. When someone speaks on the left side of the screen, the sound comes from the left side of the screen. It’s localized. You’ve probably heard people say you must buy a soundbar with a new TV. With a Sony OLED, you can actually wait a bit. It’s the only TV brand where the built-in audio isn't an embarrassment.
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Why gamers are sometimes annoyed
Let's talk about the HDMI ports. This is a legitimate gripe. For years, Sony only offered two HDMI 2.1 ports on their TVs, and one of them was also the eARC port for your soundbar. If you have a PS5, an Xbox Series X, and a high-end sound system, you’re basically playing musical chairs with your cables. Samsung and LG offer four full-bandwidth ports. Sony is still catching up here. It’s a weird oversight for a company that literally makes the PlayStation.
Understanding the "Sony Tax"
Is it worth paying $2,300 for a Sony when you can get a similar-sized OLED for $1,600?
That depends on your eyes. If you mostly watch sports and news, probably not. But if you’re a cinephile who cares about "Intent of the Creator," then yes. Sony’s out-of-the-box color accuracy is legendary. Most TVs come with "Vivid" mode turned on, which makes everyone look like they have a bad spray tan and makes the grass look like radioactive neon. Sony’s "Professional" or "Cinema" modes are tuned to match the reference monitors used in Hollywood.
- Upscaling: This is Sony's secret weapon. Most of what we watch isn't 4K. It's 1080p cable, old YouTube clips, or 720p sports broadcasts. Sony’s XR Clear Image tech is the best at taking low-resolution junk and making it look clean.
- Google TV: Unlike Samsung’s Tizen or LG’s webOS, Sony uses Google TV. It’s fast. It has every app. It integrates with your Google account so your "Watch Next" list actually works across devices.
- Build Quality: They feel solid. No creaky plastic. The stands are usually adjustable, meaning you can raise the TV up to fit a soundbar underneath it without blocking the bottom of the screen.
The QD-OLED Leap: A95L vs. A80L
If you're looking at a Sony 65 inch OLED TV, you'll see two main price brackets. The A80L is the standard WRGB OLED. It’s fantastic. Then there’s the A95L. This uses Quantum Dots.
The A95L is a beast. It’s significantly brighter. One of the main complaints about OLED has always been that it's "too dim." Quantum Dots solve this by allowing for much higher peak brightness and more vibrant colors at those high brightness levels. In a standard OLED, when the screen gets really bright, the colors can look a bit washed out because a white subpixel is doing all the heavy lifting. QD-OLED doesn't have that problem. But be warned: you will pay a massive premium for it. We're talking "buy a used car" money for some people.
Most people will be perfectly happy with the A80L. It’s the "everyman’s" high-end TV.
Setting It Up The Right Way
Don't just plug it in and leave it.
First, turn off "Power Saving Mode." It dims the screen to meet energy regulations, but it kills the HDR performance. Second, find the "Peak Luminance" setting and make sure it’s on High if you want that OLED pop. Third, disable "Digital Noise Reduction" for high-quality 4K content, or you'll lose the fine film grain that directors like Christopher Nolan worked so hard to keep in there.
Also, please, check your cables. If you're buying a $2,000 TV and using an HDMI cable you found in a drawer from 2012, you aren't getting 4K/120Hz or Dolby Vision. Get a certified Ultra High Speed cable. They’re like 15 bucks. Don't let the guy at the store talk you into a $100 "diamond-plated" cable; that’s a scam.
What to do next
If you're ready to pull the trigger on a Sony 65 inch OLED TV, do these three things immediately:
- Measure your stand: These TVs often have wide footprints. Make sure your media console is at least 55 inches wide, or plan to wall mount it.
- Check for "Open Box" deals: Because Sony TVs are expensive, people often buy them, realize they can't afford them, and return them three days later. You can save $400+ at places like Best Buy just by grabbing a "Satisfactory" or "Excellent" condition open-box unit.
- Download a high-bitrate app: Don't judge the TV based on a compressed Netflix stream. Use the "Sony Pictures Core" (formerly Bravia Core) app that comes pre-installed. It streams at up to 80Mbps, which is basically physical Blu-ray quality. It will show you what the TV is actually capable of doing.
Owning a Sony OLED is a bit like owning a luxury car. It requires a bit more care in setup and a higher entry price, but once you see that infinite contrast and the way it handles a dark scene in a horror movie, it's really hard to go back to a standard LED screen.