This new-age TV is costlier than Audi A3 — here’s why

Sony has become the talk of the electronics world with its launch of the Sony's Master Series Z9G Ultra HD television set. This 98-inch OLED high dynamic range screen is sure to give the viewer a mind-blowing TV watching experience, thanks to the 8K resolution it supports.

There is a catch and it is the price tag – a whopping US $ 70,000, which amounts to approximately Rs 50 lakh. This is the flagship model in the 2019 TV line-up from Sony. The rival for this is the 98-inch Samsung 8K QLED TV, which also has a similar price tag. So, it looks like a bitter high-end TV war is going to be fought between the two giants.

Sony’s high-end line-up is expected to be available from June.

The Rs 50 lakh pricing is more than required to buy fancy luxury cars from Audi, BMW or Mercedes-Benz. In India, the Audi A3 has an ex-showroom price tag of Rs 36 lakh for the highest trim and the BMW 320d Prestige has an ex-showroom price of just under Rs 40 lakh. The Mercedes-Benz CLA class of cars have a starting price of Rs 35 lakh ex-showroom.

So, why would we pay more for a television set than a cool set of wheels from these reputed brands?

For starters, it is a massive OLED display and this technology is not cheap. Secondly, this is the high-end line of Sony’s television sets and is called the Master Series. The 8K resolution (7680 x 4320 pixels or 33.2 megapixels) is reproduced with the help of Sony’s flagship X1 Ultimate processor. What this means is that the 8K images produced are not ordinary upscaling the picture from 4K.

What makes this Z9G give it that exceptional contrast is the Backlight Master Drive, which individually controls every single LED on the panel to get those life-like images. In an OLED TV, each individual LED can be switched off to get very dense blacks.

The X-Motion Clarity technology by Sony ensures that fast moving objects are clear and there are no smudgy pictures.

When it comes to audio, this the speakers are located behind the screen and this gives the best possible sound because it is front firing and the sound reaches the listener’s ears directly.

Other specifications:

HDR 10 and Dolby Vision, Atmos | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac | Ethernet port Bluetooth 4.2 supports | Built-in Chromecast | Composite video | RS232 video input | 4 HDMI inputs | HDCP 2.3 | Digital audio output | Headphone output | 4 tweeters, 8 woofers, 4 subwoofers with 80 W power output | S-Force Front Surround PRO | Dolby Audio | DTS Digital Surround | Android operating system | 16GB onboard storage | Voice search with built-in mic | Works with Google Assistant | Can connect to Google Home | Works with Alexa | Power consumption while in operation: 1102 W | Weight with stand: 101.8Kg

Sony’s most expensive offering in India is the A9F 65-inch OLED 4K HDR TV that has a price tag of Rs 5.79 lakh. For the Rs 50 lakh pricing of Sony’s 2019 flagship offering, one could buy the A9F and an Audi A3.

Currently, the most expensive OLED TV one can buy in India is the W8PTA 77-inch model from LG and is priced just under Rs 33 lakh.