Sony's breathtaking Bravia A8H OLED TV is surprisingly affordable

The Sony Bravia A8H OLED TV hitting stores today, bringing us one of the most anticipated 4K smart TVs of the year. The top-of-the-line Android TV boasts a gorgeous OLED panel, Sony's powerful X1 Ultimate processor and features ranging from a huge app selection to built-in Google Assistant.

We've been keeping an eye on the new 4K smart TV ever since we saw it at CES earlier this year, as it promises to be one of the best TVs of the year. Check out our Sony Bravia A8H OLED TV hands-on for our first impressions of the new TV.

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The Sony Bravia A8H OLED is available starting today, and comes in 55- and 65-inch sizes. The 55-inch model sells for $2,299 and the 65-inch model for $3,099. That's notably more affordable than last year's Sony Master Series A9G OLED, which sold the same sizes for $2999 and $3499, respectively.

The A8H looks superb, thanks to the combination of an excellent OLED panel and Sony's X1 Ultimate processor. The display pairs the deep contrast and true blacks of OLED displays with 180-degree viewing angles and Sony's Triluminos color enhancement.

The new processing chip offers pixel-level color and contrast enhancement and object based processing for HDR improvements and upscaling. But the biggest change is the addition of X-Motion Clarity, Sony's pixel-by-pixel motion smoothing, which should deliver fast action with perfect smoothness, without the soap-opera effect that plagues most motion smoothing techniques.

The A8H also has incredible sound, boasting support for Dolby Atmos and producing sound directly from the screen using Sony's Acoustic Surface Audio technology, which uses the glass of the OLED panel to produce sound. This allows the set to produce sound right from the source, so that dialogue comes directly from the actors speaking for a more immersive viewing experience. The display can also serve as a center channel speaker when used with a surround sound setup.

Equipped with far-field microphones embedded in the bezel, the A8H also lets you use the built-in Google Assistant without having to speak into the remote control or press a button. Instead, with the mics enabled, you'll be able to simply speak to the room, effectively turning the TV into a Google Home smart speaker, complete with the ability to look up information and control other smart home devices. If you'd rather pair it to an existing smart speaker, the new Sony TV is also compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Home speakers, as well as Apple Airplay 2.

All of this is wrapped up in a sleek design that puts the OLED TV into a slim housing and low-set stand that only raises the TV up a couple of inches.

Stay tuned for our own upcoming review of the Sony Bravia A8H OLED TV and the rest of our TV coverage.

Brian Westover is currently Lead Analyst, PCs and Hardware at PCMag. Until recently, however, he was Senior Editor at Tom's Guide, where he led the site's TV coverage for several years, reviewing scores of sets and writing about everything from 8K to HDR to HDMI 2.1. He also put his computing knowledge to good use by reviewing many PCs and Mac devices, and also led our router and home networking coverage. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he wrote for TopTenReviews and PCMag.