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Sony's new Bravia OLED TV makes the screen the speaker

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Sony's new flagship A1E Bravia OLED Series uses vibrations of the screen to emit sound
Sony's new flagship A1E Bravia OLED Series boasts a world-first Acoustic Surface sound system
Sony's new flagship A1E Bravia OLED Series
Sony's new flagship A1E Bravia OLED Series
Sony's new flagship A1E Bravia OLED Series uses vibrations of the screen to emit sound
Sony's new flagship A1E Bravia OLED Series has a large rear-facing subwoofer that also serves as the TV's stand
The A1E Bravia OLED Series will come in 55- 65- and 75-in sizes
Emily Ferron/New Atlas
The rear-facing subwoofer that doubles as a stand can be removed so the TV can be mounted on a wall
Emily Ferron/New Atlas
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A few years ago, a number of major electronics manufacturers put OLED TV panel manufacturing in the too-hard (or not profitable) basket and focused their attentions back on LCD, leaving LG as the last company offering OLED TVs to consumers. But this year a few have returned to the OLED TV fray, including Sony, which was actually the first to release an OLED TV. And with its new line of Bravia OLED TVs unveiled at CES, Sony's doing something new with the panel – it's using it as a speaker.

Since OLED panels don't require any backlighting as is the case with LCD panels, with the new flagship A1E Bravia OLED Series Sony has made the whole screen resonate to produce sound in what the company calls the world-first Acoustic Surface sound system. Aside from making the speakers "invisible," Sony says this approach also lets sound emanate directly from the screen itself, providing sound and image synchronization for the viewer, wherever they're sitting.

Sony's new flagship A1E Bravia OLED Series has a large rear-facing subwoofer that also serves as the TV's stand

Getting the display, which is most likely an LG panel, to act as a speaker has necessitated the mounting of two actuators to the rear of the display, while all inputs have been relegated to a large rear-facing subwoofer that also serves as the TV's stand. The stand can be removed to allow the TV to be mounted on a wall, and Sony says that the vibrations of the screen won't be visible to the eye, even at high volumes.

Aside from the audio innovation, the A1E Series boasts 4K resolution and HDR compatibility with image processing provided by Sony's 4K HDR Processor X1 Extreme, which combines with the OLED panel to deliver perfect blacks, infinite contrast ratio, a blur-less image and a wide viewing angle. The panel also features Sony's Triluminos technology that is designed to deliver enhanced color accuracy.

The A1E Bravia OLED Series will come in 55- 65- and 75-in sizes and will be available later this year at prices yet to be announced.

Source: Sony

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4 comments
Daishi
The difference between 4k and 8k isn't really visible to the human eye either but we will probably still deploy the technology. There is bound to be some vibration of the surface which would have to be visible to some degree.
Gizmowiz
It's too bad manufacturers don't research better ways to add closed captioning for the deaf and give them EQUAL treatment as they do to hearing people with their sound. Instead we get the same outdated closed captioning with no control over the placement of the CC, no ability to turn it off and on quickly (instead it's buried in tens of menus to made a simple adjustment to being off or on or placement). No ability to quickly change the font size (again, without buried menus and dozens of steps) if needed, etc.
It's pure discrimination by ALL manufacturers of TV.s All of them.
MK23666
Doubtful, if they have limited the volume then vibrations from the actuators should be negligible.
noteugene
Amen to Vincent. You spend 1k on a 55"smart tv, go through menu to select screen size and if you choose to fill screen (which is the reason to buy the large tv in the first place) half of the captioning is scrolled off screen. You have to choose a smaller screen fill size which reduces by half, making your 55" tv a 27"tv. Only way to get anything done is group by the tens of thousands. It's kind of difficult to get the hearing impaired to band together to do anything. I don't ever see this situation improving because almost no one considers the deaf. I'm throwing this new tv in the trash and buying the first tv that allows for cc placement. Or the manufactures could spend a little time in testing their products before releasing them. Hire a deaf engineer and we wouldn't be having this problem. You wouldn't get this silly crap past him/her. Concerning the 4k and 8k, it looks like QLED (just released) will be a much cheaper option. I think I'd just forget about 8k for now.