Sony - 55" Class X800H Series LED 4K UHD Smart Android TV
Model: XBR55X800H
SKU: 6400732
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Customers admire the 55" Class X800H Series LED 4K UHD Smart Android TV for its exceptional picture quality, with many noting how bright and vibrant the display is. The easy setup process is also widely praised, with users appreciating the straightforward navigation of the TV's settings. While some customers have concerns about the Bluetooth connectivity and the smart TV's functionality, the overall positive feedback on the picture quality and user-friendly design make this TV a popular choice.
I would consider myself about as average of viewer as there is. I've got this TV in a smallish 14 ft x 16 ft room with a couple of windows but it isn't too bright, and lit with a couple of lamps at night. I watch all of the standard streaming services, Netflix, Amazon, HBO, some sports (hockey) and a lot of over the air TV. I am by no means a home theater enthusiast. This TV replaced a 10-year-old plasma, which in it's day had a pretty respectable picture. I actually went the budget route at first, and bought a TCL TV, which was pretty good but developed a problem with it's panel roughly 6 weeks after I bought it. I returned that TV and spent a little more on a Vizio M series, which had a really good looking demo, but was otherwise dead out of the box. So, based on recommendations from friends, and previously owning Sony's CRT TVs back in the day, I returned that Vizio M series, and ponied up the extra money for the 55" 800H. After I bought the Sony, before I set it up, I made the mistake of reading Reddit recommendations and watching some YouTube reviews about this TV. I thought I had made a mistake, according to the so-called experts, this TV is a washed out, dim, trash, peasant TV. If you've seen the same reviews, take them with a grain of salt. After spending some time with this Sony, and comparing it to the TCL and Vizio TVs I owned for a short time before, I find those reviews to be completely inaccurate. So, what do you get for an extra couple hundred bucks compared to the budget brands. Well, for one this TV in the 55-in and larger features an IPS panel rather than a VA panel. This gives you better, wider viewing angles, but does not produce the deep blacks that the VA panels are capable of, nor the contrast. Honestly, this is not very noticeable, not to me anyway. I would not recommend this TV for a completely dark room, but any amount of light, and blacks look black, contrast is fine. The wide color gamut that the Sony can display is great, and the presets are fantastic. That's one place the Sony stands out, I didn't have to fiddle with the picture much at all, the presets are very, very good. Compared to the budget TVs, the Sony has great motion handling. This is one thing that really bothered me with the TCL, the jittery, skippy motion in slow panning shots, and the distortion around fast moving objects. Coming from a plasma this was very noticeable, not so much on the Sony. Everything is smooth, without the soap opera effect. Brightness is great as well, a better TV will get even brighter, but the 800H is bright enough that I have to avert my eyes during some scenes. In HDR, it's not a huge boost in brightness, and that's one place where I think an even better TV would shine, but HDR programming on this TV is definitely noticeable compared to SDR content. Dolby Vision content is even better. Going back to the "expert" reviews, the Android TV operating system is supposedly a slow, clunky, buggy mess. Again, I found this not to be true. Everything moves as fast as I can push the buttons, streaming apps launch in a matter of two or three seconds. Not much to complain about, the Roku operating system of the TCL was a little nicer, but I'm not running out to buy a Roku streaming stick just to use it over this Android system. If you watch a lot of over-the-air TV like I do, the Sony's rolling guide is great. Once you scan in your channels, it pulls in programming information from the internet, going out several days. Upscaling is about as good as it's going to get, even signals down to 480i are watchable. I just realized I haven't even mentioned the sound, but really, it's pretty unremarkable. I mean, it sounds okay, dialogue is nice and clear, but like any TV's built in speakers, there's no bass. It does sound better than both the TCL, and the Vizio. So, to summarize this long-winded, and very untechnical review, the Sony has turned out to be a great TV. Yes, the Sony is more expensive, and when it comes to things like local dimming, on paper, it has less features with it's direct lit panel in the 55-inch size (edge lit in smaller sizes). But after comparing it, in the same room, to the budget brand TVs that do have these features, the Sony 800H stands pretty tall. I think some of the extra cost in this TV is the Sony name, but it also has superior processing, better motion handling, and better upscaling. I see zero of the dirty screen effect, important to someone like me who watches a lot of hockey, and I did see the dirty screen, along with some banding in both the Vizio and the TCL TVs. If you want a TV that's going to pop with super bright colors, this is not the TV for you, it seems to produce more natural and lifelike colors. It's also not a TV I would put into a dedicated home theater room without any other light. But for sports, over the air TV, and watching in your average room, for the price, I think the 800H is a pretty good buy. After owning what are supposed to be better, more feature-packed TVs from TCL and Vizio, even though I had to spend the extra money, I'm completely satisfied with the 800H. There are some things that the phrase "you get what you pay for" rings true, and in this case, I believe that phrase applies. I'm going to add a few photos to this review. One showing the OTA guide, one showing broadcast TV upscaled, and I'll try and capture a darker scene from a film showing some HDR "pop". Thanks for reading, if you made it this far that is.
Posted by Jrjach75
I am very pleased with this TV. I purchased my last TV in 2009, so this was a big upgrade. The picture is beautiful, and it has lots of great capabilities. The user interface is responsive and easy to use. It was very easy to set up. The instructions say the set up requires two people, but I was able to do it by myself. I’m sure it would be better to have 2 people but if you’re able to lift the TV, you should be able to do it yourself. The TV is very thin and light, but it is big, so keep that in mind! Overall I think this TV has been a great purchase and I recommend it highly.
Posted by calvinandlocke
Setup was straightforward, picture was great, TV did an amazing job of scaling lower quality streaming shows, lots of apps and easy to use remote (including voice navigation), sound is adequate for a TV BUT when I turned it on this morning at first there was no picture but after a few minutes I got a bunch of vertical stripes, see picture.
Posted by Branson