HD PICTURE QUALITY. HD picture quality was very good. It did an excellent job displaying the finest detail of HD content. We did note some added edge enhancement processing, but it wasn't distracting. Color accuracy was very good, with flesh tones in particular, looking natural. Contrast--the difference between the darkest blacks and brightest whites--was good, so images had depth and dimension. Depth of black level was below average, with darker scenes in particular looking hazy, with little contrast. Image brightness was good (with the backlight control turned up), making it a suitable choice for most rooms. In scenes with subtly shaded light-to-dark areas, such as a sky during sunset, the model did a very good job producing a smooth transition without distinct, coarse bands. There was slight display non-uniformity that created brighter cloudy areas most noticeable on very dark scenes (or in the black bars of a letterboxed movie). We routinely see this issue with LCDs and severity can vary from model to model. Film mode operation for HD film-based content was excellent, with no visible jaggies along the edges of objects during motion scenes. Deinterlacing was very good, with minimal jaggies visible when converting 1080i video content, such as from cable, to the display's native resolution.
VIEWING ANGLE. This Sony has a wide viewing angle overall, better than that of most TVs. It will provide the same picture quality, with fewer problems than most TVs, for typical viewing conditions -- say, if your family is seated across a long sectional or in chairs off to the sides. The picture did show some dimming from the sides but not to any point we found distracting. With dark scenes this model didn't fare quite as well. When viewed from the sides, the depth of black levels varied depending on the vertical position of the viewer's head. As we moved closer to the screen this limitation became even more apparent, especially if seated on the floor looking upward where black levels brightened significantly.
ULTRA HD PERFORMANCE. Overall UHD performance is very good but HD-to-UHD upconversion falls short. All native 4K content (non HDR) we played on this model, including movies and test videos, was presented in full 4K detail with excellent fidelity when played back via the TV's HDMI input. Via the USB port, high-resolution photos were displayed in full 4K detail. With regular HD content, the TV's HD-to-UHD up-conversion processing fell short, revealing some visible jaggies along the edges of diagonals when playing HD content.
HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE (HDR) PERFORMANCE. HDR performance is very limited. The display's lack of high peak brightness capability (by HDR standards) limited its ability to show the benefits of HDR to full effect on our test videos, while revealing little contrast between moderately bright and very bright highlights within a scene
- In HDR mode this TV only allows the optimization of the Brightness (Sony's name for backlight), and Gamma picture settings. All other settings are carried over from the HD picture settings. It did a good job reproducing a greater range of nuanced shadow detail from black to white, with no obvious banding on areas of the image that have subtle shade variations. There was no visible loss of near-white shadow detail in the brightest areas. Brighter colored objects remained nicely saturated.
MOTION BLUR. This Sony TV has good motion performance, with some blurring on our motion tests. Though this model includes Sony's "Motionflow", a feature designed to reduce motion blur. Although this TV includes a "Clearness" setting that was effective at further reducing motion blur it limited the brightness of the image and also added some flicker to the picture, so we left the feature off.
SCREEN REFLECTIVITY. Though not as mirror-like as on some models, this screen surface is glossy and therefore susceptible to reflections from a nearby lamp or window. It does a good job reducing glare from ambient light and maintains contrast in a brighter room environment.
SOUND QUALITY. This model has good sound quality; about average among the models we've tested. When watching a blockbuster movie, a concert, or TV show, it delivers decent performance but falls short of the better performers. Bass was adequate, which added some fullness to the sound but was lacking in definition a bit, and treble was nicely detailed, while the overall sound was a bit closed in. The speakers could play at a fairly loud volume level and without obvious distortion. Most people would find this sound quality acceptable.
EASE OF USE. On first power up there is an on-screen guide that helps you through setting up the TV. Sony's advanced remote offers a traditional button keypad with high contrast labeling that remains fairly readable in a dimly lit environment. It has a dedicated button to access Google Assistant via the remote's built-in microphone. It also provides direct button access to Netflix and Google Play streaming services. Consider the TV's stand is 40 inches wide when choosing a table top to place it on.
INTERNET FEATURES. This TV provides advanced Internet functionality with a selection of applications via its "Android TV" portal with access to a library of applications. Movie streaming services include Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, HBO Go and HBO Now. Includes built-in Google Assistant, a virtual assistant, which allows you to use natural speech to ask questions, launch applications, and search programming via the remote's built-in microphone. Also provides support for Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa.
CONNECTIONS. This model has four HDMI inputs-- one supports ARC (Audio Return Channel), one "component/composite shared" input (which means you can only use one type or the other at a time). It also has three USB ports, an optical digital audio out, a headphone out, an Ethernet port, WiFi wireless networking; DLNA, to access files within your home network; Casting, which allows you to send streaming content from your mobile device to the TV via your home network; Screen mirroring, where the image on your smartphone or other compatible device can also appear on the TV.
INCLUDED IN THE BOX. A printed user manual. A quick start guide. An electronic manual in the TV's menu. A remote control with batteries. One IR Extender.
ABOUT ULTRA HD TESTING: We test UHD picture quality using 4K movies, videos, photos, and test patterns to confirm these displays deliver performance to this format's full potential. We check the TV's ability to reproduce 4K image detail, as well as high dynamic range (HDR) for TVs that support this capability. Image quality is tested using a 4K movie player connected to the TV's HDMI input, as well as from files stored on flash drive plugged into the TV's USB port. We also check how well the TV can upscale HD movies to the display's higher UHD resolution while keeping artifacts such as "jaggies" along the edges of image content to a minimum. The best UHD TVs, and HDTVs, present high fidelity images that reveal the full quality of the best source content without degradation.
