Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This TV is a great upgrade if you’re looking for UHD, DolbyVision/HDR, and the newer eARC and 120 Hz HDMI 2.1 ports. The picture quality is very good in typical Sony fashion. The X1 processor and Triluminous Pro display produce great colors. The direct lit backlighting give you nice range for HDR and DolbyVision content. Before I go any further I want to make sure you know about two setting changes which I consider crucial: 1. Before you do anything else on this TV I highly recommend you go into the picture settings menu for each input or app and turn MotionFlow off. MotionFlow is the artificial motion enhancement that makes the picture look unnatural and too smooth (pretty much every brand has this but it goes by different names). Basically the TV will create extra frames that don’t actually exist in the source content. Turning this off makes sure you are seeing exactly what is being sent to the TV. Some people might like this look, but I suspect most don’t… and I also suspect that a lot of people don’t even know why things look weird since this setting comes turned on by default.
 2. The second thing to do is to go into the input settings, into the HDMI Signal format setting, and set the HDMI 3 and HDMI 4 ports to use “Enhanced format (Dolby Vision)”. By default all the HDMI ports are set to “Standard format” which means they will not support the capabilities that the high speed HDMI ports are capable of. If you don’t make this setting you’ll be wondering why your fancy PS5 or Apple TV or whatever else can’t use Dolby Vision or 120 Hz modes even though it’s plugged into the right port on the TV. If you still have issues after changing this setting you’ll want to make sure that you are using high speed HDMI cables that can handle the HDMI 2.1 bandwidth. Don’t think that all HDMI cables are the same. Many times you will need to replace your HDMI cables if you are using old ones from a previous TV. The TV is super easy to setup. It has two legs that snap into place if you are going to use it that way, and it also includes some stand-off spacers that will put the mounting bracket screw holes at the right depth for wall mounting. The wall mounting bracket is not included, but if you do decide to wall mount it you should know that the ports are all on the side of the TV rather than the back. Depending on your setup this may be a good thing (can easily access them), or a bad thing (visible cables versus them going out the back and into the wall directly). Once you have it wherever you want it just plug it in and you’re ready to go. When you first setup the TV you’ll be prompted to login with a Google account. If you want to use all the features of the TV you’ll need to put the TV on your home network, login with a Google account, and agree to allow Google to collect information about what you watch and how you use the TV. You actually have to agree to the Google terms to use the TV at all, but if you don’t login using a Google account you can at least stay somewhat anonymous. This is where these newer TVs get a little annoying. You basically have 3 options for how you use the TV:
 1. Don’t put the TV on your network at all. You can still use the TV as a display for other devices such as an Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV, etc. but you won’t be able to use any of the built-in apps for streaming.
 2. Join the TV to your network, but don’t sign in with Google. This will allow you to use the streaming apps that come built into the TV (YouTube, Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, but you won’t be able to add any more apps since you have to download them from the Google Play store, which requires a Google account.
 3. Join the TV to your network and sign in with Google. This lets you access all the features of the TV including adding more apps and streaming services plus the ability to use the included voice remote to ask the Google Assistant for things. The option you choose will really just depend on how comfortable you are with Google getting more information from you versus what you need. If you already plan to use an external device for streaming then there’s really no need to even put the TV on your network. Below are the key features that I think set this TV apart from lower end models. If these things don’t matter to you then it’s likely you can get by with a “lesser” TV, but if can benefit from these things then they are definitely worth having: - Direct lit display - This means that the light source for the TV is behind the screen shining at you. Lower model TVs usually use edge lit displays where the light source is on the edges of the screen. Direct lit displays like this one will give you better dynamic range when you’re using the HDR modes because the screen can get brighter. Take note that direct lit is actually not the best type of light source for a LED display. If you go up one more level you can get Full Array Local Dimming displays which are similar to direct lit but allow the TV to brighten and darken specific areas of the picture separately rather than changing the brightness of the entire display. If you can afford to step up to the full array local dimming models then I highly suggest you do so.
 - HDMI 2.1 / 120 Hz - Up until recently TVs could not accept an external 120 Hz signal. Also up until recently there weren’t any devices that could output a 120 Hz signal so it didn’t really matter if your TV could accept one. However, with the advent of the latest gaming systems such as the Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X, along with the latest Apple TV and some other devices, there is now a demand for having a TV that can display 120 frames per second. If you have one of these newer game systems or just want to make sure you are somewhat future-proof then you definitely want to make sure your next TV supports HDMI 2.1 and 120 Hz displays modes. This can be a little confusing as many TVs claim to be 120 Hz, but that just means that the display panel itself can process images at 120 Hz, it doesn’t mean you can actually feed an external signal into the TV at 120 Hz. For that you need to make sure the TV supports HDMI 2.1 and 120 Hz input.
 - eARC - eARC is a newer version of the ARC standard which allows the TV to feed sound back out one of the inputs (ARC standing for Audio Return Channel, with the e adding “enhanced”). If you aren’t familiar with it, it simply means that any sounds that the TV would be playing can be redirected out one of the HDMI ports so an attached device such as a home theater receiver or sound bar can then play the sounds through separate speakers rather than using the ones built into the TV. The big benefit with eARC is that it allows audio signals that require higher bandwidth to pass through the TV. This allows things such as Dolby Atmos surround sound to be passed back out to your audio equipment. Without eARC some equipment can’t receive the full signal. For instance, I have an Apple TV and a Sonos Arc sound bar. Both devices support Dolby Atmos sound, but on my old TV all I could get was regular Dolby Digital 5.1 sound because the TV itself couldn’t pass the Dolby Atmos signal from the Apple TV out to my sound bar. With eARC it can. I tested this setup and my Sonos app immediately showed that the sound bar was receiving the full Dolby Atmos signal from the TV.
 - Dolby Vision - Dolby Vision is an enhanced form of High Dynamic Range encoding that offers even better colors and dynamic range. Many movies and shows are now encoded with Dolby Vision so this TV will let you take full advantage of them. - Built in apps and ability to add pretty much any streaming service - The built in apps along with any other apps you want to add mean that you can stick this TV somewhere and as long as it has power and a network connection you don’t need to add anything else. As long as you are okay with logging into your Google account as previously mentioned then you can forego the need for any kind of external streaming box. The TV is very responsive and the apps all run great with little delay in loading.
 - Apple TV app is available - For one reason or another many older Smart TVs don’t have the ability to load the Apple TV app. If you aren’t into the Apple ecosystem then this probably isn’t a big deal, but if you are then this means you can access all of your purchased Apple content such as TV shows and movies and also access the Apple TV+ streaming service.
 - Apple AirPlay built in - If you have an iPhone, iPad, or Mac computer you can directly connect to this TV via AirPlay. This means that you can mirror your computer screen and easily share photos from your phone right to the screen without having to install anything extra on the TV or on your phone or computer. I found this feature to work great for sharing photos, but unfortunately the 4K video playback from my iPhone 12 had constant stutters which does not occur when I AirPlay through a dedicated Apple TV device. Another important note about AirPlay. When you first setup the TV you will be asked if you agree to various Sony privacy policies. You can opt out of all of them and still use the TV, however, the AirPlay functionality will not work properly if you don’t at least accept the “Sony Smart TV Services” privacy policy. The bad part is that the TV will not actually tell you about this, and AirPlay will seem to be working (it will display a 4-digit code on the screen for you to enter into your device, but the code will never be accepted by your device and you won’t be able to send things to the TV). You’ll just think there’s some mystery problem. If you happened to opt out of this particular policy when you setup the TV you’ll need to push the Help button on the remote, then go to Status & Diagnostics, Privacy Settings, and scroll down through all the text until the checkboxes appear on the right side of the screen. Make sure you at least agree to the Sony Smart TV Services policy. Once you do this AirPlay will work properly. Overall Pros: - Very nice picture with direct lit display - DolbyVision, HDMI 2.1 120 Hz, and eARC (passes Dolby Atmos sound correctly) - Smart TV features load quickly - Has the ability to load basically any streaming app that you need - Google voice remote with added functionality (for instance, the playback buttons such as pause and fast forward will control my Apple TV box) - AirPlay built in Overall Cons: - You may have privacy concerns about using a Google connected TV and you must accept Google’s terms in order to unlock the full functionality of this TV - The TV defaults to using MotionFlow on every input and on every app - You have to change this setting manually multiple times if you don’t want to use it - Even the enhanced HDMI ports default to standard interface - You have to manually set them to the enhanced mode or else your connected devices won’t use all the advanced features that you’re paying for with this higher end TV - The advanced HDMI functions are only available on 2 of the 4 HDMI ports - This means that if you connect a sound bar to HDMI 3 for eARC you will only have one input that is capable of using the Dolby Vision and 120 Hz functions. If you have a second advanced device (such as if you want to connect both a new generation game system and a streaming device) then you’ll need to use some sort of extra switching device since both won’t be able to be connected to the TV at the same time. In summary, I highly recommend Sony TVs. The picture quality is the best you can get and the extra features are always on the cutting edge of current technology. There are a few concerns and quirks with how the TV implements the “smart” features and the way the default settings are configured, but overall this is a great TV that will definitely be an upgrade for you if you haven’t had these kinds of features before.