HD PICTURE QUALITY. HD picture quality was excellent. It did an excellent job displaying the finest detail of HD content. Color accuracy was excellent, so colors, especially flesh tones, looked very natural and lifelike. Very good contrast--the difference between the darkest blacks and brightest whites--gave images convincing depth and dimension. Excellent deep black levels are among the best we've seen, giving dark scenes great depth. This was one of the brighter models we've tested (with the panel brightness control turned up), so the picture remains quite viewable in a very sunny room. A lower panel brightness setting is recommended for a dimmer viewing environment. There was visible banding (unnatural contours) on scenes with subtly shaded light-to-dark areas, such as a sky during sunset, rather than smooth transitions. The deinterlacing and film mode operations were excellent on HD content; there was little or no trace of jaggies on the edges of objects for video and film-based 1080i video content, such as from cable.
VIEWING ANGLE. The overall viewing angle on this display is unlimited, better than most TVs we've tested. Contrast, and depth of black level did not vary regardless of viewing position. When we viewed the TV from the sides the picture showed a slight shift in color tone, but overall color remained consistent with no degradation in overall image quality. When viewing the image from above or below eye level to the screen, the vertical viewing angle was excellent. The picture showed no change in color, contrast, and black level.
ULTRA HD PERFORMANCE. Overall UHD performance is excellent 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 effective. The display's higher brightness capability helped enhance the realism of our 4K HDR test videos, while revealing excellent contrast between moderately bright and very bright highlights within a scene. 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. Very bright colored objects remained nicely saturated.
MOTION BLUR. This Sony TV has very good motion performance, with minimal blurring on our motion tests, thanks to Sony's "Motionflow". This feature is designed to reduce motion blur, a shortcoming of most displays. Although this TV includes a "Clearness" setting that was effective at further reducing motion blur, it limited the brightness of the image and added some flicker to the picture, so we left the feature off.
SCREEN REFLECTIVITY. The screen surface on this model has one of the shinier mirror-like surfaces we've seen, which makes it very 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 excellent sound quality, among the best we've tested. Whether you're watching a blockbuster movie, a concert, or TV show, it is able to deliver a top quality listening experience. Bass was very deep, providing almost subwoofer-like fullness to the sound but 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. Also, at higher volume, dynamic compression kept the sound from distorting but also limited the clarity of peaks in loudness. You can get better quality from a high performing soundbar or separate home theater system but with this model that shouldn't be necessary.
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. The TV's stand is 16 inches wide.
INTERNET FEATURES. This TV provides basic Internet functionality with a limited 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, 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 Amazon Alexa.
CONNECTIONS. This model has four HDMI inputs-- one supports ARC (Audio Return Channel), one composite input, and no component input. 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. A detachable power cord.
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.
