It's just a week until Black Friday officially arrives, but depending on who you ask, the deals are already in full flow. As expected, there are offers aplenty on some of our favourite OLED TVs, including these two Product of the Year recipients.
The Sony Bravia 8 (this year's Award-winner) and A80L (Product of the Year winner for 2023) are two exceptional OLED TVs that are well-deserving of their accolades, and both happen to have hundreds of pounds slashed from their respective price tags.
We reviewed the A80L at £2399; however, it can be yours for just £1149 at Argos, which is £1250 off the original price. That's exceptional value and shows that it can truly be worthwhile scouting out the slightly older sets to find the biggest savings.
That being said, if you want to opt for the latest and greatest model, you can find some equally impressive savings on the 55-inch Sony Bravia 8. Usually retailing for £2199, the Bravia 8 is down to its lowest price yet, currently just £1499 at Richer Sounds, Sevenoaks, Currys, John Lewis and Amazon.
If you're still not convinced then you should jump over to our in-depth review of the K65XR80 65-inch model – we have it on good authority that picture performance and features are consistent across the two sizes.
Both of these TVs are excellent in their own right, however, the Bravia 8 has a handful of upgrades making it the better TV of the two. That being said, if you're after pure picture-per-pound performance, then the A80L is certainly worth a look.
Putting the Bravia 8 through its paces in our dedicated viewing rooms against direct rivals and its predecessor, the A80L, it proved to be one of the best TVs to arrive this year. The Bravia 8 particularly impressed us with its natural, authentic picture performance, offering wonderfully warm and realistic skin tones, excellent motion handling, and impressive light control that creates a truly three-dimensional image.
One of the standout features of the Bravia 8 is its refined picture processing. The TV's new Bravia XR processor leverages AI to deliver what our testing confirmed to be a more authentic, natural-looking home cinema experience. This is particularly evident in how it handles colours – watching content like Blade Runner 2049, we noted that dark areas retain plenty of detail while maintaining natural skin tones and delivering impressive depth to scenes. During testing, using Oppenheimer, the TV revealed exceptional levels of detail in black and white scenes, with every stitch and weave on characters' suits remaining clearly visible.
The Bravia 8 also brings notable improvements in peak brightness compared to its predecessor, with Sony claiming a 10 per cent increase. Our tests confirmed this enhancement, with the TV showing better detail retention in bright scenes while maintaining the natural, authentic picture that Sony is known for. This was particularly noticeable in HDR content, where the Bravia 8 delivered immersive peak brights while retaining more detail than its predecessor – especially evident in challenging scenes showing sunsets and starfields.
Audio performance is another area where the Bravia 8 excels, thanks to Sony's unique Acoustic Surface Audio+ technology. This innovative system uses actuators to vibrate the screen itself to generate sound, resulting in what we found to be one of the better-sounding OLED TVs we've tested, with particularly impressive control and spaciousness. While it might not match a dedicated soundbar for bass impact, its ability to track moving sound effects and maintain clear dialogue makes it stand out from typical TV speakers.
For gamers, the TV offers two HDMI 2.1 ports supporting 4K/120Hz gaming, VRR, and ALLM, along with Dolby Vision Gaming support – making it well-equipped for current-gen gaming consoles. The inclusion of Google TV ensures access to all major streaming services, including Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video, with all UK catch-up apps present and correctly streaming in 4K HDR where applicable.
At £1,499, we think the Sony Bravia 8 OLED represents exceptional value, especially considering the picture quality we experienced with the 65in version, its innovative audio system and gaming capabilities. For anyone in the market for a premium OLED TV, this record-low price makes it an extremely tempting option.
Or for £1149, the A80L remains an excellent option that delivers most of what the Bravia 8 is capable of at a considerably lower price.
MORE:
Read our full Sony Bravia 8 review
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