PICTURE QUALITY. It did an excellent job displaying the finest detail. Color accuracy was excellent, so colors looked very natural and lifelike. Contrast—the difference between the darkest blacks and brightest whites—was good, so images had depth and dimension, typical of most models we test. The brightness level was good, making it a suitable choice for most rooms. Black levels are excellent, with help from Sony's Auto Local Dimming , a local dimming feature, delivering very deep blacks that enhances contrast in dark scenes. 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. Check your model and see if you find it a problem. Film mode operation for HD film-based content was only good, as was deinterlacing performance. There were visible jaggies along the edges of objects during motion scenes on movies, and jaggies were also visible when converting 1080i video content 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. When we viewed the TV from the sides the image quality showed some loss. The picture showed a slight loss of color, along with a slight color shift. Black levels brightened slightly, reducing contrast especially on dark scenes. When viewing the image from above or below eye level to the screen, the vertical viewing angle was very good. The picture showed minimal change in color, contrast, and black level.
ULTRA HD PERFORMANCE. Overall, excellent. This Sony UHD TV delivers full 4K picture detail, but only decent HD-to-UHD upconversion. All native 4K content we played on this model, including movies and test videos was presented in full detail with excellent image fidelity when played back via the TV's HDMI input. This TV supports the playback of HDR (High Dynamic Range), and the display's high brightness helped enhance the realism of 4K content that was mastered specifically for this format. The TV does not support Dolby Vision HDR, but did recognize our HDR10 format clips when played via the TV's USB port and automatically triggered its "HDR-video" picture mode. However, getting the TV to recognize HDR from our 4K player (Samsung UBD-K8500) via the TV's HDMI port is not so easy. This requires going into the TV's menu to set the HDMI signal format mode to "Enhanced" which is not a friendly process. The TV should do this automatically, and we hope a future firmware update will address this. This model also supports video streaming of 4K programs via both Netflix and YouTube (among other sources), and images were finely detailed. Using the TV's USB port, we were able to play back 4K videos stored on a flash drive which were encoded in both the HEVC and VP9 formats, as well as MP4. High-resolution photos were displayed in full 4K detail, and like the videos, revealed great clarity, taking full advantage of UHD's extra resolution. When playing 1080p movie content from a Blu-ray disc, we found the TV's HD-to-UHD up-conversion processing fell short of the best we've seen, with edges along diagonals of image content showing more jaggies than we expect. All four of the TV's HDMI inputs comply with the latest HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2 specifications that support play back for 4K video at 60Hz, and copy protection, a requirement for compatibility with 4K movie play back devices such as a 4K Blu-ray player.
MOTION BLUR. This Sony TV has very good motion performance, with minimal blurring on our motion tests, thanks to Sony's "Motion flow". This feature is designed to reduce motion blur, a shortcoming of most LCD displays.
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. The screen is dark so it does a good job reducing glare from ambient light and maintains contrast even in a bright room.
SOUND QUALITY. This model has fair sound quality with below average performance. It's acceptable for typical programming, but shortcomings become obvious with movie soundtracks and music. With movies, dialog was generally clear and natural sounding, though a bit muffled, and overall a bit recessed with respect to background music and other sounds. Bass was lacking. , Treble lacked detail, and the overall sound was a bit thin and closed in. The speakers produced a good volume—so this model should play sufficiently loud in typical room environments, and was made worse by the fact that sound quality degraded at high volume levels. Also, at higher volume, dynamic compression kept the sound from distorting, but also limited the clarity of peaks in loudness, which was distracting on some audio content. If sound quality matters to you, you might want to add a soundbar or other external speaker system.
EASE OF USE. Overall, it was very easy to setup and OK to do routine things. On first power up there is an on-screen guide that helps you through setting up the TV.
STAND ASSEMBLY. The TV's base does not come pre-attached, so some assembly is required. Mounting the support stand to the TV is straightforward, as the stand requires the assembly of two parts before mounting.
INTERNET FEATURES. This TV provides advanced Internet capabilities via its "Android TV" portal with access to a library of applications. Movie streaming services include: Netflix, Amazon, Hulu Plus, Vudu, YouTube, HBO Go, Google Play Movies & TV, PlayStation Video.
CONNECTIONS. This model has four HDMI inputs—one supports MHL (Mobile High-definition Link), one component input, and 2 composite inputs, one is component/composite shared input (which means you can only use one type or the other at a time). It also has 3 USB ports, an optical digital audio out, a headphone out, an Ethernet port. Wireless connectivity is built-in. DLNA: accesses files within your home network. Casting: control the TV from a smartphone that has the suitable app installed. Screen mirroring: the image on your smartphone or other compatible device can also appear on the TV. Note: HDMI and other cable connections made to the rear-facing panel will protrude beyond the panel's slim depth.
INCLUDED IN THE BOX. A quick start guide. A remote control with batteries. 1 USB IR Extender. A detachable power cord. No 3D eyeglasses. Power Brick. No printed manual is included.
