If you go online and read the reviews of this set you will find that they are almost universally favorable and I wholeheartedly agree. First and foremost, this television has exceptional picture quality. It nearly matches the quality of OLED sets, but at a much better price. In addition to the better price, this TV is not susceptible to the burn-in and fading to which OLED sets are prone. Sony has always been famous for exceptional picture quality and this set will not disappoint. If you are like me and your main criteria for choosing a television are picture quality and price, then this is the ideal set for you since it is a great balance between quality and price – offering exceptional picture quality at at good price.
Of course, with any item there is room for improvement. After using this set quite a lot before I wrote this review I can honestly state that both the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are sub-standard. The Wi-Fi is prone to being dropped for no reason at all. For example, I have an Amazon Fire TV stick plugged into one of the HDMI ports of this et, so it is obviously in exactly the same position relative to the Wi-Fi router, yet the TV often drops the Wi-Fi connection when the Fire TV stick has no issues at all. This is surprising because the Fire TV stick is behind the TV and that undoubtedly blocks some portion of the Wi-Fi signal, yet it has a better Wi-Fi connection than the TV. Similarly, the Bluetooth is also troublesome, although it is a different issue. The trouble with the Bluetooth is that when I switch apps on the TV, the Bluetooth connection to my headphones often drops. I often have to re-pair my headphones every time I change apps. I find this unacceptable. The Fire TV stick plugged into the TV has no such issue.
The remote control unit is only fair. I like that it has voice commands and a light sensor to adjust the picture, but it is poor in several other regards. It has no backlight, so using it in a dark room is pretty much impossible – the buttons do not even glow in the dark like the remote for my AV receiver. The remote also has neither numbers, nor letters, so entering numbers or text into the TV is painfully slow. There are also no dedicated fast forward or rewind buttons.
Unlike some other brands like LG and Samsung, I found the technical documentation for this set to be quite good. The included instructions were basic, but clear and legible with good English grammar and spelling. If you want more advanced technical specs for this set, they are readily available online.
I use this TV with the Bravia Cam webcam. This is a webcam specifically made to be used with selected Bravia televisions. The Bravia Cam can, of course, be used as a webcam for video conferencing on the TV with Google Meet and other similar apps. The Bravia Cam also enables the TV to automatically adjust the picture for the room, and the sound for your seating position. The Bravia Cam also can put the TV into power saving mode when nobody is in front of the TV. The Bravia Cam also allows the TV to be controlled by hand gestures, although I found this feature to be very problematic. The real problem with the gesture control system is that it relies on the camera, and the camera needs light to function, so the whole system does not work in a darkened room. I find it ironic that the gesture control system does not work in the dark because the remote has no backlight and so it also does not work in the dark. So whether you wish to use the remote or the gesture control system, you will need to turn on some lights in order to control this television.
Overall, I think this is an excellent TV. It seems to me that picture quality and price would be the top criteria for most TV shoppers and in my opinion, there is no better picture quality for the price available out there. Combined with the great reputation of Sony for picture quality and reliability, I think this is an excellent television for the price. Of course there are better televisions out there, but they also come with a much higher price. This set is in the sweet spot where you get a really wonderful picture for a reasonable price. I give it five stars.