Our Verdict
Excellent TV for a variety of uses. The perfect blacks of the emissive display result in excellent dark room performance. In a bright room, the reflection handling is excellent. Motion handling is also excellent due to the instantaneous response time, which is great for sports or gaming. Unfortunately, the brightness of the screen changes depending on the content and there may be a risk of burn-in with static content.
- Excellent dark room performance
- Instantaneous response time
- Accurate image even when viewed at an angle
- May be a risk of permanent burn-in (see here)
- 1080p input lag is mediocre
Outstanding TV for watching movies. Picture quality is impressive when viewed in a dark room due to the perfect blacks and black uniformity. Gray uniformity is also great, and 24p movies can always be played at the correct cadence. It isn't perfect though, as some stutter may be noticeable with low frame rate content due to the instantaneous response time.
Great TV for shows in a bright room. Picture quality is impressive and image remains accurate when viewed at an angle. Reflection handling is also excellent for a bright room and the TV brightness is also good enough that it shouldn't be an issue for most rooms. Android TV also isn't as intuitive to use for casual watching as other platforms, and there may be a risk of burn-in with lots of static content.
Great TV for watching sports in a bright room. Picture quality is impressive and instantaneous response time means that only a short trail of persistence blur is visible behind fast motion. Image remains accurate from an angle, which is great for watching games with large groups of people. Unfortunately the screen brightness changes depending on the content, especially with large bright areas such as hockey.
Excellent performance for gamers. Instantaneous response time means only a short trail of blur can be seen behind fast-moving objects, which can be cleared up with the black frame insertion feature. Input lag is good but is a bit higher for 1080p sources. Unfortunately, there may be a risk of burn-in with static content.
Excellent TV for watching HDR movies in a dark room. Picture quality is remarkable due to the perfect blacks. The Sony A8F can produce a good peak brightness in HDR and also has a wide color gamut to produce saturated colors. There are no cadence issues with 24p content but some stutter may be noticeable, especially with long panning shots due to the instantaneous response time.
Superb TV for gaming in HDR. Input lag is low with 4k and HDR so the TV feels responsive. It has excellent picture quality due to the perfect blacks and can produce a good HDR brightness especially with small highlights. The Sony A8F can also produce saturated colors due to the excellent wide color gamut. Response time is instantaneous, so very little blur is seen behind fast-moving content.
Great choice for a PC monitor. The TV feels responsive due to instantaneous response time and low input lag at 4k. The edges of the screen also remain accurate when viewed from close. It supports Chroma 4:4:4 for clear text across all backgrounds. Unfortunately, large white windows can't get very bright and there may be a risk of burn-in with static content.
Changelog
- Updated May 21, 2020: Converted to Test Bench 1.5.
- Updated Feb 21, 2020: Converted to Test Bench 1.4.
- Updated Feb 28, 2019: Converted to Test Bench 1.3.
- Updated Jun 12, 2018: It turns out 1080p @ 120 Hz is possible, when the Xbox's connection type is changed from Auto-detect (Recommended) to HDMI, but unfortunately in this mode 4k and HDR aren't supported.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the 55" (XBR55A8F). For the most part, we expect our review to be valid for the 65" (XBR65A8F).
If someone comes across a different type of panel or if their Sony XBR-55A8F doesn't correspond to our review, let us know and we will update the review. Note that some tests such as the gray uniformity may vary between individual units.
| Size | US Model | Alternative Name | EU Model |
| 55" | XBR55A8F | XBR-55A8F | KD-55AF8 |
| 65" | XBR65A8F | XBR-65A8F | KD-65AF8 |
Popular TV Comparisons
The Sony A8F is a great OLED TV with excellent performance for a variety of uses, but it comes at a steep price and has a lot of competition from both LED and OLED TVs. See some of our comparisons below for how it compares to other TVs on the market. See our recommendations for the best TVs.
The overall performance of the Sony A8F OLED and the Sony A1E OLED is very similar. There is no significant difference between the two, beyond the design. The Sony A1E has a larger stand that could cause issues for some people, while the A8F has a more common stand design.
The LG C8 OLED is slightly better than the Sony A8F OLED. While the overall picture quality and performance are very similar, the LG C8 has lower input lag, which is great for gamers. The C8 also has a better smart interface that is faster and easier to use.
The LG B8 OLED is marginally better than the Sony A8F OLED. The LG B8 has better input lag, which is great if you play video games, as it's more responsive. The Sony A8F has better gray uniformity that will please sports fans and supports a 1440p @ 60Hz input signal, which will please Xbox One or PC gamers.
The Sony A8F OLED is better than the Sony X900F unless the possibility of burn-in inherent in OLED technology concerns you. The A8F delivers a perfect dark room experience, as the self-emissive technology can turn off or dim individual pixels. It has much wider viewing angles and better reflection handling. The X900F uses a VA panel, which isn't expected to experience burn-in.
We buy and test dozens of TVs yearly, taking an objective, data-driven approach to deliver results you can trust. Our testing process is complex, with hundreds of individual tests that take over a week to complete. Most of our tests use specially designed test patterns that mimic real content, but we also use the same sources you have at home to ensure our results match the real-world experience. We use two main tools for our testing: a Colorimetry Research CR-100 colorimeter and a CR-250 spectroradiometer.
Test Results
Older Test Bench: This product has been tested using an older TV test methodology, before a major update. Some of the test results below aren't directly comparable with other TVs. Learn more
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