Sony XBR65X850C Review
The Choice
As my aging LN-T4066F was too small for my new family room, I decided to go shopping for a new TV due to the good holiday pricing. My debate was between the Sony XBR65X810C ($1500), Sony XBR65X850C ($1800), and Samsung UN65JS8500 ($2000).My primary sources of information, was rtings.com, amazon.com, and bestbuy.com.
| Model | Rtings.com | BestBuy.com | Amazon.com |
|---|---|---|---|
| JS6500 | 8.3 | 4.7 (377 reviews) | 4.3 (195 reviews) |
| X850C | 7.7 | 4.6 (455 reviews) | 4.2 (187 reviews) |
| X810C | 8.0 | 4.2 (64 reviews) | 4.3 (38 reviews) |
Notes:
- Rtings.com ratings are for 55 inch , both Sony models have material differences in 65 inch:
- X850C has a Full LED backlight, which should improve uniformity
- X810C switches to an IPS display, which would reduce black intensity, but improve viewing angles
- Amazon.com ratings are for all sizes combined
Key factors in choosing the X850C:
- In person picture: very similar between all 3 at the store
- Android TV: while still young and needs some refining, I believe this will be the future so I wanted this type of TV
- Ability to do 24p via almost any source
- Full Array LED Backlighting: Samsung was only border lit
- Low input lag for games
- No additional connections box (This could have been a plus with a longer cord)
- Small not distracting bezel: the Samsung model had a bright stainless steel looking metallic border that I found to be very distracting
The Review
The picture on this TV is absolutely amazing. The upscaled 1080p contact looks life-like as we have been binge watching BBC's Sherlock. Netflix SD content looks okay, but that is more likely due to the source material.Pros:
- Excellent picture without requiring any tweaking
- No flashlighting or dark corners as far as I can tell
- Netflix and Amazon Instant Video built in
- Access to all my Google Play Movies
- Casting built-in
- Ability to install Kodi (and decode MPEG2 content from MythTV)
- Standard remote works well (haven't tried smart remote)
- Ability to rename inputs and the easy switching from the home screen
- Some glare from windows
- TV button on remote can only be mapped to an input and not an app
- Inability to create a "favorites" app list: Built in apps are separated from installed apps
- Update 1/12: You can now rearrange the apps, but I wish you could turn off featured apps and suggestions
- No included 3D glasses, not a big deal for me, but something to be aware of
- Remote is not universal
- Cannot go back to the home screen via input button
- Sound is decent, but not much is expected from TVs this thin and is about the same as my old one
- Android TV requires some refining, have had to reboot the TV because of dropped frames in Kodi
- No context menu button on remote, had to map Stop to it in Kodi
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