Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

UPDATE (September 7, 2015): Amazon briefly suspended sales of this model while they communicated with Sony about the manufacturing defects with early iterations of this TV model. The fact that Amazon has resumed sales likely indicates that they are satisfied that Sony has resolved the manufacturing defects (light leaks) with early production models and that they now have fresh stock. UPDATE (August 20, 2015): I spoke with Sony today (another 20 minutes on the telephone) and they finally admitted and confirmed that their engineers are looking at a known manufacturing issues with light bleed on early production units of this model (with serial number 5002237 and below). Apparently some resellers (like Best Buy) have been notified to suspend sales until this issue is rectified. If you're thinking of buying this television you may want to hold off for a bit. ORIGINAL REVIEW: It really was time to replace my 9 year-old Sony Bravia 1080p flat panel and make the upgrade to 4K. I've been waiting for this television since I saw it last winter at CES. So I was excited to finally receive my new television (XBR-55X900C) just a few days ago. Unpacking and set-up took a bit longer than I expected. This television is more complicated than any I've owned in the past. It's not just a matter of plugging it in, connecting it to cable/blu-ray and starting to watch TV. This thing is essentially a computer with all manner of built in apps, network settings, and terms of service agreements allowing Sony and Google to essentially know what I'm watching and what apps I'm using, etc. which is annoying. Anyway, after I connected the TV to my wireless network it told me there was a firmware update available. I began the update and an animation popped up on the display indicating that I shouldn't unplug the TV while the firmware update was happening. But what was really dismaying was that – unlike any computer downloading and installing firmware or software – there was no progress bar or timer. So I had to watch an animated arrow spinning in a circle for 30-40 minutes with no information about how much more time I'd have to wait. It just shows a lack of thought for the user experience and to me is emblematic of why Sony has been lapped by companies like Apple that put so much thought into how people are going to use their products and that have really raised the bar on interface design and information architecture. After the glacial firmware update (despite my 1 gig fiber Internet connection) then there was Android software that needed updating. Ugh. So in all, the unpacking, precarious one-man installation of the feet so the display would stand, firmware and software updates, I finally was able to look at something on the TV after about 90 minutes. So how was the picture? Gorgeous. Stunning. 1080p Blu-ray discs looked absolutely incredible with the 4K upscaling. I did have to adjust the frame rate as right out of the box the TV had everything looking like video which was weird. I won't get into it here but it has to do with a disparity between filmic frame rate (24 frames) and video frame rates (30 frames) and systems in the TV that deal with motion smoothing, etc. It was an easy fix. But again, all things considered the enormous color space, the clarity, the thinness of this television are all state-of-the-art. I don't even think I've seen any 4K footage on it yet either. So if anyone out there is concerned about the lack of 4K content, the upscaling features of this television do deliver on their promise of upscaling content. 1080p video on this television is beautiful and cut glass sharp. But alas, this television is going back. There is unevenness and light leaks all around the sides of the display. It is especially bad on the bottom right and right side of my panel. Not noticeable during bright scenes, but incredibly distracting when watching something dark. I was referred to Sony customer service to see if this could be repaired as I feared (from all the people here reporting similar defects in their TVs) an exchange would have the same problem. My call to Sony's "customer service" number went to a call center in the Philippines with representatives who all seem to have fake Western names but who otherwise aren't empowered to do anything and are useless. One actually intentionally hung up on me as I was trying to determine if my TV could be repaired as opposed replaced. When I called back to speak to a customer service supervisor I was told they don't exist, hence the reason their reps can hang up on customers with impunity. I should say that the one thing the call to Sony did produce was suggestions that the manufacturing defects in my television were not defects at all but just part of the design. Ridiculous considering that the XBR-55X900C's that I saw last January at CES were flawless. I used to be a HUGE Sony fan back in the 80's and 90's. I've owned Sony Walkmans, Discmans, record players, stereos, video cameras, VCRs, DVD players, Blu-ray players. I bought my first Sony television in 1991 and from Wega to Bravia to XBR I've always bought another Sony TV. But the quality of this television is a disappointment, as is Sony's handling of my call and for the first time in decades I'll need to seek out a new brand of TV. For a while now it seems that Apple has supplanted Sony as my go-to company for computing, music and video needs. And this Sony experience is just one of many reasons why. UPDATE: As I've been waiting for the truck to come and pick up this TV and I've had a couple of additional issues since I initially posted this review. I've noticed there is a dark spot in the upper left quadrant of the display. I can see at least one black (presumably stuck) pixel there but the area around it is also dark, about the size of a pea. It is definitely inside the display and is not just dirt on the exterior. It looks like a spot not unlike the effect that a dirty sensor on a digital camera produces. Also, the television has once refused to power up, either with the remotes or by pushing the power button on the back of the panel. After unplugging it and plugging it back in I did get it to turn on. But it seems there are even more signs that this unit is a lemon beyond the light leaks.