HD PICTURE QUALITY HD picture quality was Excellent. Reproduction of fine HD image detail was Excellent, but image detail was very exaggerated and made images appear less natural, despite our attempts to minimize this with the sharpness control. Color accuracy was Excellent, so colors, especially flesh tones, look very natural and lifelike. Excellent contrast--the difference between the darkest blacks and brightest whites--gave images great depth and dimension. Black levels were Very Good, and delivered fairly deep blacks that helped the contrast in darker scenes. Sony's full-array local-dimming feature helped. The quality appeared worse as we viewed from the sides--see our Viewing Angle results, below. Black levels were fairly deep, just shy of the very best models, which gave dark scenes better depth. This was among the brightest models we've tested (with the backlight control turned up), so the picture was well suited for a very sunny room--a lower setting is recommended for a dimmer viewing environment. Its reproduction of smooth edges on image content for "up-converted" HD-to-UHD images was Very Good with minimal "jaggies" (jagged edges) deinterlacing of 1080i video, and film mode detection from 1080i content, were both Excellent.
4K UHD PICTURE QUALITY Overall 4K UHD picture quality was Excellent. In our UHD testing, we played native-4K movies and test videos (non HDR) thru the TV's HDMI input, and found their image detail was all there. For color, contrast and black level, the TV performed similarly to its HD picture quality.
HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE (HDR) PERFORMANCE HDR performance was generally effective. In our tests, the display's high peak brightness capability was Very Good, and helped reproduce the realism of our HDR 4K content. It revealed only a little contrast between moderately bright and very bright highlights, while the brightness levels in the mid-to-lower tones, like those in an indoor scene, were preserved. In HDR mode this TV only allowed us to optimize the Brightness, Gamma, and Peak Luminance. picture settings. All other settings were as they were for the standard-dynamic range (SDR) HD picture. It did a good job reproducing a greater range of nuanced shadow detail, from black to white, with no obvious banding within the gradually shaded areas, but we noted some loss of detail within the highlights of the brightest areas. Brightly colored objects remained nicely saturated.
VIEWING ANGLE This Sony model has a narrow viewing angle overall, below-average performance among TVs. Only those seated directly in front of the screen will see the best picture quality. We examined the image quality at various viewing angles--its image quality notably decreased as we moved away from the center position. In our tests, the picture did show some slight dimming from the sides, but not to a distracting degree. When we viewed the TV from the sides image quality degraded significantly. The picture showed a moderate loss of color, so flesh tones looked a bit washed out. Black levels visibly brightened, and reduced the contrast especially on dark scenes. Halo effects around objects in darker scenes (a side effect of the local dimming feature) also become more prominent at off angles. We viewed the image from above and below center screen, and noticed Good vertical viewing angle performance, with only slight changes in color, contrast, and black level.
MOTION BLUR In our motion tests, this Sony TV had Very Good motion performance, with minimal blurring, thanks to Sony's "Motionflow." This feature is designed to reduce motion blur, a shortcoming of most displays.
SOUND QUALITY We got Good sound quality, about average among the models we've tested. When watching a blockbuster movie, a concert, or TV show, it can deliver decent performance but just not like the better performers. In our listening evaluations, we found the bass (low frequencies) to be adequate but lacking a sense of fullness and some definition. Treble (high frequencies) was satisfactory. The overall sound was a bit closed in. This TV should be OK in rooms large or small, noisy or quiet--we found the speakers could play at a fairly loud volume level and without obvious distortion. Overall, though imperfect, most people would find this sound quality acceptable.
EASE OF USE Consider the TV's stand is 48 inches wide when choosing a table top to place it on. On first power up, an on-screen guide appeared—which you could choose to follow when setting up the TV. The remote controls the TV via an RF signal and doesn't need to be pointed at the TV. It has a full number keypad for entering channel numbers. It includes all the buttons we typically expect: power, channel up/down, volume control, mute, source input, menu and exit buttons. The remote has a microphone for accessing a built-in voice assistant feature. The TV also has a microphone for accessing a built-in voice assistant feature. It also has dedicated buttons for streaming YouTube, Netflix, Disney+, and Prime Video.
INTERNET FEATURES This TV provides internet functionality via its "Google TV" portal, with access to a library of applications from the Google Play Store. Movie streaming services that can be downloaded to this TV, or are built-in, include Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Disney, Apple TV and HBO Max. More so, Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Disney, Apple TV and HBO Max can be streamed in 4K UHD. It includes built-in Google Assistant, a virtual assistant which allows you to use natural speech to ask questions, launch applications, and search programming by talking to the remote or to the TV. Claimed support for external voice assistants (not built in to the TV) include Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple Siri HomeKit.
CONNECTIONS This model has four HDMI inputs (one supports ARC, enhanced audio return channel). It also has two USB ports, an optical digital audio out, an Ethernet port, WiFi wireless networking DLNA, to access files within your home network and AirPlay, for sharing videos, photos, music, and more from Apple devices to the TV. It has an ATSC 3.0 tuner for receiving "Next-Gen TV" signals, a feature many other sets lack.
WHAT'S INCLUDED You get with this TV: a printed user manual, a quick start guide, an electronic user guide via the TV's menu, a remote control with batteries, and a detachable power cord.
ABOUT UHD TESTING Ultra-high definition "UHD" can refer to both the TV and program content. While the UHD industry standard includes 4K and 8K, most UHD TVs and UHD content at this time are 4K. A 4K UHD image is presented as 3840 x 2160 pixels--four times the pixel-count of HD. We test UHD TV picture quality using 4K UHD movies, videos, photos, and test patterns to confirm these displays deliver performance to this format's full potential. We examine the TV's ability to reproduce 4K UHD image detail, as well as high dynamic range (HDR)--for TVs that support this capability. Image quality is tested using a UHD movie player connected to the TV's HDMI input, and from files stored on USB flash drive. 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.
