There’s a lot to take in if you’re thinking of buying a new TV these days. New technologies are revolutionising picture quality, smart features are becoming ever more sophisticated, and there have never been so many content sources to choose from. It’s enough to make your head spin.

Up steps Sony's range of 4K televisions. The superb Sony Bravia 4K HDR TV range covers all the latest features: High Dynamic Range (HDR), Ultra HD 4K picture resolution, Slim Backlight Drive technology, YouView shows and movies, Android TV apps and more. And all while delivering the best picture quality money can buy.

Here are eight key ways the Sony Bravia 4K HDR TVs stand out from the crowd.

1. HDR playback

If the arrival of 4K resolution brought us more pixels, the arrival of high dynamic range technology has brought us better pixels. And all of Sony’s 4K TVs are optimised to get the very best from this new standard in picture quality.

In its basic form HDR is about brightness and contrast, allowing pictures to appear with a much more expansive light range between the highest light peaks and the darkest black depths that makes pictures look much more life-like. The outstanding light controls of Sony TVs are perfectfor this big change in picture quality.

Today’s HDR sources aren’t just about expanded brightness, though; they’re also partnered with an enhanced colour range that fits perfectly with Sony’s Triluminos colour technology. Delivering colour like you've never seen before. 

2. Stunning contrast

Getting good contrast out of an LCD TV means controlling its backlight effectively - and nobody knows more about controlling backlighting than Sony. For example, the XD93  uses the all-new Slim Backlight Drive system which delivers more localized light control than any other edge-lit LCD TV. The flagship 75XD9405, meanwhile, puts its lights directly behind the screen and uses a clever combination of power redistribution and local dimming (where clusters of LEDs can be dimmed or brightened independently depending on what’s being shown on the screen, improving contrast) to produce a stunning, HDR-friendly contrast range.

3. Triluminos Display

All of Sony’s 4K TVs for 2016 feature the brand’s own Triluminos technology - a combination of processing and wide colour phosphors - to deliver much more dynamic and subtle colours than you get with normal TV colour systems. This helps get more detail out of the screens’ 4K resolution, and is perfectly suited for high dynamic range playback (which we’ll talk about in more detail later).

4. Powerful processing

All the elements that go into great picture quality don’t just happen by accident. Getting everything working together in perfect harmony - especially in these 4K and HDR times - requires serious processing horsepower. This is why Sony developed the ‘X1’ processor for its 4K TVs which works with the 4K X-Reality PRO processor to ensure they get the very best picture from the myriad of sources available to us now

Whether you’re watching a standard definition YouTube video or the highest quality Ultra HD Blu-ray, the X1 processor will analyse the incoming content and optimise the settings required to make that source look as good as possible.

5. Better by design

As our taste for ever-bigger TVs grows, the need for those TVs to look good becomes ever more important. Sony’s 2016 4K TV range is the brand’s most attractive yet, boasting stunningly slim frames that enhance the look of any living room regardless of whether you hang them on the wall or set them on their attractively angled aluminium stands.

Sealing the design deal is an innovative cable management system to help you retain the TVs’ clean lines, and the injection of a gorgeous silver or gold (depending on which range you choose) sliver that runs all the way round the screen’s outer frame.

6. Android TV

Having already built up a vast user base and mammoth collection of apps, the Android platform installed in Sony’s 2016 TVs is perfectly placed to deliver a seamless smart TV experience. There are thousands of apps to choose from, taking in everything from video streaming services to games, news providers, and content management systems. What’s more, all these extra sources of entertainment and information are presented in an easy to follow interface backed up by voice search support.

7. Enhanced compatibility with your smart devices 

The best way to share YouTube videos or photos on your phone, tablet or laptop with the rest of your family is to play them on your TV. Problem is, making this happen is usually seriously hard to achieve - if not plain impossible. Cue the Google Cast feature found on all of Sony’s 2016 4K TVs. Google Cast makes it incredibly easy to connect your Android or iOS devices wirelessly to your TV so you can share your content with just a tap of your screen or keyboard. 

8. YouView 

If there’s one smart feature most TV users value above all others, it’s catch up TV. And no catch up TV system for the UK’s main broadcasters is easier to use than YouView. Sony is the first brand in the UK to offer YouView. and it is . built into all of Sony’s 2016 4K TVs allowing you to find shows you’ve missed via either separate BBC, ITV, Channel 4 or Channel 5 apps, or through a brilliantly straightforward electronic programme guide that lets you scroll back in time as well as forwards.