Sony’s new BRAVIA XR A90J brings us the world’s first cognitive intelligence TV

In this article, you’ll find out what to expect from Sony’s new BRAVIA XR televisions and how they surpass what we’ve seen before.

• Buy the Sony BRAVIA XR A90J from Currys PC World

A TV with human cognition at its heart

At the very heart of BRAVIA XR TVs is a brand-new image processor like nothing we’ve ever seen before. Unlike other leading forms of television AI, Sony’s XR Cognitive Processor has been developed to process audio-visual information much like the human eye – and for that matter, the human mind.

When our eyes see, we don’t just indiscriminately absorb visual information – our minds select and prioritise what’s important to us. Sony’s all-new XR Cognitive Processor can do that too. It doesn’t simply relay pictorial data to the TV screen: it interprets and optimises whatever you’re watching frame by frame.

The Cognitive XR Processor is the most powerful TV processor Sony has ever made and can analyse pictures in numerous ways, all in realtime. For example, the processor will automatically search for what it thinks to be the focal point of the picture – a face, a moving car, an athlete on the track – and will enhance this area of the screen. But at the same time, it will also detect other ‘zones’ of the picture that will need their own, separate optimisation.

The Cognitive Processor XR also has a vast database of reference images to help perfect the picture. Flesh tones, sunsets, fields of grass: it knows exactly when you’re watching these things and how to make them look as good as possible. And it’s doing all this on a millisecond-by-millisecond basis.

Sony’s mind-blowing Cognitive Processor XR doesn’t just stop at the picture: it extends to the audio. Via the unique Acoustic Surface Audio + technology that Sony BRAVIA XR OLEDs use, sound is intelligently processed and delivered directly from the screen. Two cutting-edge actuators behind the TV vibrate delicately, turning the entire screen into a speaker – the effect is one that of the audio seemingly filling the room you’re in, surrounding and immersing you.

The ultimate home experience

Such incredible playback experiences shouldn’t come as a surprise from a brand such as Sony. After all, it’s a company that’s also in the movie-making business. The new BRAVIA XR televisions are all about watching films and TV in the best conditions you’ll find outside of the cinema.

Something we’re hugely excited about with these new televisions is the inclusion of BRAVIA CORE (Centre of Real Entertainment), Sony’s new streaming service. This gives you access to a library of new blockbusters and classics alike, which you can stream in lossless 4K up to a seriously impressive 80Mbps. Better still, BRAVIA CORE offers the largest catalogue of IMAX Enhanced films for breathtaking Ultra High Definition viewing. And when you buy the A90J, you get 24 months of unlimited access to BRAVIA Core and 10 IMAX films.

• Buy the Sony BRAVIA XR A90J from Currys PC World

You’re also getting another newly-developed user interface in the form of Google TV. With Google TV, you can explore over 5000 apps on the Google Play Store – that’s more than any other smart TV platform. And of course, you can also find the latest films and shows on Netflix, Disney Plus, Prime Video, Apple TV, NOW TV and many more. To find out more, you can read our What is Google TV article.

As the A90J has a built-in mic, you can control your TV and find what you want to watch, all with just your voice. This highly intuitive UI brings your favourite content from across your apps and subscriptions and organizes them just for you.

The BRAVIA XR also offers two incredible boons for gamers. Firstly, the entire range features HDMI 2.1 connections, which offer data speeds of 48Gbps. That’s three times the bandwidth of the HDMI 2.0 offered by most televisions, which allows you to achieve 4K at a refresh rate of 120Hz – in other words, ultra-competitive gaming with 4K/120FPS.

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A new scale of home television

The BRAVIA XR OLED is also blazing a whole new trail in terms of size – these are some of the largest televisions that Sony has ever produced. While the 2020 BRAVIA AG9 was only available in 55-inch, 65-inch and 77-inch sizes, its successor, the A90J, is also available in a 83-inch size. That happens to make it one of the largest OLED TVs in existence.

Television technology continues to progress at dizzying speeds, and we’re now watching images on screens at a quality that was hard to imagine even just a few years ago. Is there anywhere else for TV to go? With the new possibilities unleashed by Sony’s new human-style picture processor, we think the future of television looks very bright indeed.

• Buy the Sony BRAVIA XR A90J from Currys PC World

The Sony BRAVIA XR A90J is available in 55-inch and 65-inch screen sizes at Currys PC World. To find out more about the BRAVIA XR range, you can head to the Sony website.