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You’ve never seen a TV like this before. In fact, you’ve never even imagined one. My words here are pretty inadequate in offering up a compelling description to any person who hasn’t yet seen one themselves. Stunning, vivid, jaw-dropping and awe-inspiring come close to describing it’s magnificence. Watching a Blu-ray like After Earth on the device transports you to make it seem as if you are actually floating around in outer space. That’s what it is like sitting in front of the 84” Sony 4K TV which fully lives up to Sony’s “Life Beyond Definition” description. You don’t just see… you feel. It is, in a word, immersive. If ever there were a TV that would make you consider ditching your season tickets because you could get a better in-home experience, this would be it. Want to own it? eBay is giving one away. Click here for your chance to enter.
Design
At the end of the day, the hardware is chic enough to dwell comfortably in the most fashionable abode. It’s no small feat designing a television whose screen size is fully four times larger than a 42” smaller cousin, but here Sony is able to pull it off. While it admittedly isn’t the world’s most beautiful TV, it is by no means ugly. This TV was designed to be big and deliver a big experience and that it does. To support that larger-than-life experience, a rugged, modern, x-shaped base stand was fashioned that shines in it’s minimal yet functional duties. I much prefer this look to that of a wide, spreading mass that invades the surface it lives on. It’s not the thinnest TV I have ever laid eyes on, but then that’s not really why one buys a $24,000 set, is it? You don’t purchase it so it can disappear quietly into the background. You buy it so that it, along with you, can proclaim luxury, bleeding-edge and grandeur. For that same reason, the speakers aren’t hidden away in a soundbar underneath the screen. Oh no. They are purposefully detached, one off to each side to draw your eye to them so you know for a fact that the sound design that accompanies this behemoth wasn’t merely an afterthought.
Features
The size of this set is of obvious note and Sony makes viewing it a pleasure with a comfortable 60° viewing-angle. Even so, the main attraction here is the 4K resolution. There are other large TVs out in the wild, but this is one of only two 84” Ultra HDTVs on the market (the other is made by LG). That means you can forget about 1080p HD. This is Ultra-HD; four times the resolution of normal HD content. The screen’s 8 million individual pixels combined with advanced picture processing (including very rich, dark blacks) deliver a truly phenomenal picture experience.
Needless to say, a couch-enveloping screen and incredible resolution would be pointless without equally immersive content to view. Thankfully Sony has made a range of 4K content available delivered, “Straight from Sony.” Additionally, this TV does a great job of upscaling 1080p HD content thanks to it’s XCA8-4K chip. This means that content from Blu-ray discs to your lower-resolution smartphone clips are all going to look much better.
When it comes to sound, there’s no need to worry as the out-of-the-box sonic capabilities won’t disappoint, though they are certainly capable of being upgraded. The two soundbars, one on either side of the screen, hide 10 speaker units which, in total, are capable of washing over your ears with 50W of sound. Unlike many flatscreens, this TV comes with 4 built-in subwoofers to ensure the bass will thump (while the speaker housing cuts down on resonance to make for a rattle-free listening experience).
The 3D on this device is actually what left me most wanting more. It’s simply the most spectacular 3D I have ever seen. While no 3D looks 100% perfect and life like, the effect here was really, really great. I watched IMAX Under The Sea 3D and those fish looked amazing. It was almost more than real if that makes sense. In the midst of the large size of the screen and the 4K resolution, this was actually the feature with the most wow factor.
Something the gaming crowd will find interesting is the ability for two players to simultaneously play a game without the need for split-screen viewing. This is accomplished through the use of lightweight glasses.
Like any smart TV fresh off the line these days, this Sony 84” TV comes packed with all the apps you’ve come to expect like Netflix, Hulu Plus, Pandora and more.
