Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

*Updated Jan 2016... So, firstly I want to say that this TV is an excellent buy. I should know, it was one of 3 models that I had delivered to my home. However, there are some proprietary issues with the OS and screen which I noticed which forced me to opt for a Samsung JS8500 (which dropped to the same $1998 price point for last Black Friday). A comparison between those two is not necessarily fair; the JS8500 is a step up from the 850C (which is more akin to the JU7100 in Samsung's range), so I won't go there. However, I will give you the reasons for my return, before you read the rest of this review and make your own decision. I also speak about these issues with experience as I had a second 850C delivered to try and overcome them. The issues were prevalent on both models I had in my home. Firstly the negatives: THE ANDROID OS - looks great and 'should' operate brilliantly being Android, but is/was not ready for primetime. It would randomly turn itself off. Sound was out of sync (on my second 850C), I got random black flashing screens on some apps on both sets I had, and even worse on a few occasions I had a black screen appear every time I hit the remote which pulsed red and blue. The OS is also very laggy; often you'll think the remote has not been recognised and suddenly after your third touch it moves 3 x times. It's like our 3 yr old Roku stick it's so bad. I do not expect this of a $2k brand new TV. Both sets I had exhibited VERTICAL BLACK BANDING to the right of the screen. The first was replaced for this reason and the second set was not as bad, but still evident. VIEWING ANGLES are atrocious. I mean, the worst I've seen on any TV. Some would argue this is because it's a VA panel... Well, why does my Samsung JS8500 not exhibit anywhere near the degradation of colour at even a 10 degree angle. The sweet spot on the 850C is tiny, so if you sit dead centre on all planes (e.g. up/down, left/right) you will not notice it. Sit even the slightest bit off centre however or watch while standing? Colour at the diagonally opposite side will be badly degraded, especially blacks which turn to mid-grey at this minuscule angle. To me it was too much to live with after 12 days. Hence, in line with the other issues, why I replaced it with the JS8500. A better all around TV. There is a "grain" to Sony's picture at times, and for most movies, which is insurmountable with any level of calibration. Some movies.TV shows, even in 4K (House of Cards) looked much smoother on a TV like the Samsung/LG and had a weird grain on both my Sony 850C's. If you don't mind that, it's not a big deal, but it was a giggly thing for me. It's fine on shows that are filmed with a gritty look (e.g. Fury, as shown in the images) but not so much on slick movies. However, everything I said in my initial review still stands, as below. It is a VASTLY superior set to any of the LG's (bar OLED) and anything up to and on par with it from Samsung, with excellent screen uniformity, superior colour (even better than my JS8500 Samsung actually) and an exceptional 4K upscaling engine. In fact, at the $1998 price point, where it sits at the time of writing this, it is the best TV in the price bracket by some margin so if you are on the fence trust me; having tried out many TV's in this price bracket, the Sony is a "go". -------------------------------------------- Original Review: This TV came as a replacement for a purchase I made of an LG UF8600 (65") for around $2.5k. That TV arrived and promptly went back because, while it had exceptional daytime picture quality, nighttime viewing was a nightmare with massive light bleed on various points on the screen on any semi-dark scenes, making viewing a chore and a major distraction. So I decided to go with (what was actually my original plan of) the Sony XBR65X850C. It had all the things the UF8600 had (except local dimming) but also had the benefit of HDR for future proofing. There are a number of key issues that factor into this review, from the design, screen, User Interface and Hardware so I'll break most down into Pros and Cons... PROS The Design & Build Quality. One of the reasons I chose the LG over this in the first instance was its' aesthetic design. It was a slick looking TV with lovely steel inserts and trim, a flashy reflective screen (and great demo content in Best Buy!). The Sony is very understated and is not as striking on first glance. However, when it's in situ, with its' classy deep grey frame, slick-looking power light, beautifully muted bezel and lovely, solid dark chrome stand, it really is beautiful and elegant. I underestimated it in the store setting as it was hanging from a wall, but I love it in my room. BEAUTIFUL screen. I mean, glorious on all viewing scenes with deep contrast, inky blacks and brilliant whites. Also 4K content is crisp on this (albeit not quite as fluid as the LG, but I think that's down to the LG's motion technology, excellent upscaling from 1080p content, Blu-Rays look just amazing. The viewing angle is much better than I expected for this non IPS panel and it works for my room where anyone in the area is almost always nearly directly viewing the screen. The reason I sent the LG back was a backlight bleed issue and also terrible black uniformity on screen. This screen thankfully has superb blacks and very good uniformity - there's a little light bleed at the bottom right but it's fairly uniform and therefore not particularly obvious - in fact nobody would notice bar me because I've researched these TVs ad nauseam. It may even settle as the screen wears in, we'll see. The Colors are... Incredible and beautiful. That TRILUMINOS display Sony has makes a HUGE difference to the colour quality and not in an 'overly saturated' way, but in a way that makes the colours draw you into the scene, where appropriate. Thankfully, more muted scenes do not get oversaturated and colourful scenes are just a joy to watch with deep colour detail and rich, vibrant (and importantly, faithful) colour reproduction (see some pics attached). Sound is fairly good for a TV this thin. I've heard reports saying it's not, but I have no complaints with it. Granted I have a soundbar for personal viewing but the TV does adequately for normal sports & movie viewing on its' own. If I didn't have 2 young kids in the house every night maybe I would think differently! Sports viewing - I watched a ton of football on this over the weekend and it was without exception, exceptional. No motion blur whatsoever. Of course it's technically a 120hz panel (but Sony has their fancy 960hz claim with Motionflow). I don't know what difference it really makes, but there are zero issues with handling motion on this TV. Movie Viewing - The TV really shines here. Due to that TRILUMINOS display, beautiful contrast, inky blacks and great upscaling for HD content, movie viewing is a real joy on this set. Grey uniformity - Contrary to the Rtings.com review which said grey uniformity was terrible, my experience has been quite the opposite. As per the attached images, you'll see uniformity on grey screen is absolutely superb for a panel this large, as well as the red and black pictures. There is some banding on black screens (dark vertical lines) but they're barely noticeable and I guess I would have to trade the consistency across all colours as per the attached images compared to pure black consistency when it's so unnoticeable. Also bear in mind, if reading the rtings.com review of this TV they review the 55" version which is edge lit (potential for more uniformity issues). CONS The remotes are a pain and both are cheap. The touch control is finicky... Sometimes the power on button just doesn't work, sometimes the swipe doesn't pick up, other times the scroll flits about the screen more than you feel you tried to scroll. It is also VERY cheap in feel, weight and design - why they couldn't have added a bit of lead to give it some weight or made it larger to incorporate the other buttons which they put on the second (basic) remote, is beyond me - WHO wants TWO remotes these days anyway!? I don't know what the decision-makers at Sony were smoking that day but it didn't work with logic. It also seems a bit lazy on Sony's part. Either way, the things work so it's not the end of the world. I just feel for a $2.5k TV they could give us users a little more for the money. IF, however, the extra effort went into the screen and TV hardware (which I dare say it did based on the quality of the panel and build), then it's hard to complain too much. I'd have paid an extra $100 for a great remote, that's all I know. The cheapskates at Sony also made this TV 3D, and then didn't provide any glasses with it, so I've no idea how good it is in that regard! That's disgraceful and truthfully, almost put me off buying this in the first place. The "Active" 3D on this TV means you can use glasses like Samsungs' (which cost $16 each on Amazon)... Hardly a huge outlay for Sony as their own couldn't be more, right?? Some vertical banding on pure black screen - not noticeable in general watching however and certainly not noticeable on sports viewing (contrary to the rtings.com report which scored sports viewing fairly low). Relatively poor viewing angle - inky deep blacks turn to a dark grey if you're not directly in front of the TV. Not a big deal for me as our living room is set up in a way where everyone is sitting pretty much directly on. Android TV is ok. It does the job and the voice control is good, but it's nowhere near as nice to navigate as LG's WebOS (which was one of the elements I really liked with the UF8600). I assume it will become much more fluid with upcoming updates so it's not a dealbreaker to me and it works decently. Some apps (specifically Sling TV) won't load on occasion and the only way to fix is a restart of the TV. Unsure as to whether it's Sony's issue or Sling's. It's the only app it's happened on however. Some issues on Netflix where a program will load and stick at 25%. I used to have this exact problem on my PS4 and Sony Blu Ray Player, but firmware upgrades eradicated the issue so I assume the same will be true for this TV in time. In summary, no TV is perfect these days. The LG had a beautiful look, nice UI, great remote and excellent daytime picture. Night-time viewing or dark scenes was beyond bad and totally unacceptable due to the sheer lack of black uniformity and distracting light bleed. The Sony on the other hand has exceptional picture quality at ALL times of the day or night in dark or bright rooms. Therefore, by default it wins my vote and also scores heavily for the most important factor of any TV - picture quality. However, it has some minor drawbacks - poor remotes and an average UI being two, albeit not deal breakers and ultimately why I'm giving this a 4.5 star rating instead of 5, compared to what I gave the LG, at 3 stars. If, like me you can live with these very minor complaints, you will not be disappointed with this TV. I can't speak to the quality of the 3D, but I largely don't care about this feature. Plus I haven't been able to test it because cheapy Sony decided it was too much of a stretch to include even a single pair in the box. Boooo Sony! In conclusion, if you're looking for a brilliant 4K TV with exceptional picture quality in all settings, across all resolutions (and excellent 1080p upscaling), mind-blowingly beautiful colour and a slick but understated look, this Sony is the perfect balance of value vs. quality. Trust me, not only did I try the LG before this but I spent a MONTH researching all the TV's in this price bracket between Sony, Samsung, LG, Vizio and even Sharp and Panasonic. This was in my shortlist of 3 and the LG was a major let-down (I went for style over substance, shame on me!). In the end I'm so glad I got this TV.