PICTURE QUALITY. 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. 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 an excellent 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. 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. This Sony has a moderate viewing angle overall, decent, but not quite as good as the better-performing TVs we've tested. The optimal seating position for best picture quality is directly in front of this model. When we viewed the TV from the sides, image quality got worse. The picture showed a slight loss of color, along with a moderate color shift. Black levels visibly brightened, 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 HD-to-UHD upconversion fell short. 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 HDR (High Dynamic Range), but the process of getting the TV to recognize HDR is a flawed. Only HDMI inputs 2 and 3 support HDR, and for the TV to detect HDR you'll have to go into the TV's menu and set the "HDMI signal format" mode to "Enhanced," which is not a friendly process (and not described in the user manual). The TV should do this automatically, and we hope a future firmware update will address this. On the positive side, the display is among the brightest we've seen and this helped enhance the realism of 4K content that was mastered specifically for HDR (once HDR was playing effectively). The TV does not support the Dolby Vision's version of HDR, but did recognize our HDR10 format clips when played via the TV's USB port. 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. And again, support for HDR is only on HDMI inputs 2 and 3.
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. 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 movie blockbuster, a concert, or TV show, it delivers decent performance but falls short of the better performers. With movies, dialog was generally clear and natural sounding but background music and other sounds were slightly recessed. Bass was adequate, which added some fullness to the sound but was a tad boomy, and treble lacked detail, while the overall sound was closed in. The speakers could play at a fairly loud volume level, but quality degraded at the highest volume settings. Also, at higher volume, dynamic compression kept the sound from distorting, but also limited the clarity of peaks in loudness. Most people would find this sound quality acceptable.
EASE OF USE. Overall, it was fairly easy to setup and fairly easy to do routine things. Getting the TV to recognize videos mastered for HDR is cumbersome (see Ultra HD performance comments). 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.
CONNECTIONS. This model has four HDMI inputs—one supports MHL (Mobile High-definition Link), one composite input, and 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, to control the TV from a smartphone that has the suitable app installed. Screen mirroring, where 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 printed user manual. A quick start guide. An electronic manual in the TV's menu. A remote control with batteries. 1 IR Extender. Two pairs of 3D eyeglasses.
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 the quality of 4K streaming from Netflix or YouTube (if the service is supported by the TV), and 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.
