Sony X85J 50 Inch TV: 4K Ultra HD LED Smart Google TV with Native 120HZ Refresh Rate, Dolby Vision HDR, and Alexa Compatibility KD50X85J- 2021 Model , Black

So far we've been in love with this TV. This was kind of a family splurge in response to extra money coming in but honestly it cost less than the 50" I bought years ago, shhh. Its huge taking up majority of a wall (in a good way) but light enough me and my 5' wife could lift it to the mount without too much effort. Read the instructions upon opening though. The box is a genius design wasted as we opened it like a book (in our defense it practically opened it self at barest pull on a seam). The brightness and the picture have been great with a certain glare that plagued our old tv not being a problem. The sound is so good that its rarely turned on. We had an existing LG soundbar and its own remote which no one bothers to keep up with so I stuck it in a drawer and haven't been bothered to try and get it controlled some other way. On the rare occasion we sit down for a spectacle movie I may turn it on for more sub woofer bass but it mostly adds some depth. The software brings a tear to my eye, as a software developer watching the increasing software based world we live in becoming commoditized garbage that works properly so little that people have become used to it even in critical situations, in contrast this TV has been a dream. Responsive not buggy, but also thoughtfully engineered and ergonomically design for great user experiences. I chose it specifically for google tv because I trust no company to have microphones and internet connectivity in home without control (no you don't have any even if they say you do and thats been proven repeatedly) but my 8% trust in google is higher than my 0% trust in Alexa. Plus I have a pixel phone so I can at least limit the number of companies listening to every word. Somehow Amazon still displays listings for things I mention to my wife in person when the microphone is supposedly disabled but I digress. We cut the cord over 5 years ago and it mostly means navigating simple ui to select apps whether on the TV itself or roku etc... This is streaming service management done right making it feel almost like these are channels just playing their whole catalog all the time. At Christmas its category on holiday movies pretty much presented every available holiday movie we could find with deep searching in the apps themselves. A few years ago we used an old laptop for playing PC games on the family TV but it was in the way and the fam rarely did anything with it if I wasn't setting it up. I saw a steam app in the app store and installed it... then began playing all but the most graphically intense with an xbox controller bluetooth paired to the TV directly. The ones it can't play are not even the TV's fault its the network unable to handle the latency even with ethernet. No idea how successful using wireless would be but I imagine all the family and party games would be ok. Which brings me to the one and only con I can even reach for and it is a reach. Cons: Since phone apps usually require you to be on the same wifi as the device, even though the device is on ethernet on the same network, it won't work with wifi turned off. The two biggest headaches aren't even sony's fault entirely (maybe not at all) since they are likely caused by the apps. With the the above even when wifi is on some apps seem to have trouble working properly with it mostly using ethernet. Google apps seems to work fine but I doubt it maintains a stable wifi connection when may be used for 1 second twice a day at best. The other issue is misbehaving apps (looking at you steam when I let my PC go to sleep you won't let go of control while presenting a black screen). But in an seemingly obvious but apparently genius stroke, some buttons like power, settings, input and usually home work even when the thing appears locked up so I can hit settings go to apps and force stop the app in about 6 seconds. Our roku in similar situations may need the power cord yanked. The other change is in the previously unused, unwanted and seemingly redundant service of Stadia. Streaming games has latency issues and isn't ready for primetime, but my xbox controller is already paired and I got months of free trial due to pixel phone and youtube music accounts I should fire it up out of boredom and mild curiosity right? Its not like I'm going to pay for another service, right? Especially for games when it can't do VR and many of the games I play don't work well for streaming due to latency so what would be the point... its just curiosity while its free... crap.

In the two years I've owned this TV, I absolutely love it. Great blacks, outstanding color accuracy as always from Sony, 120 Hz native refresh rate, VRR, optional Dolby Vision, HDMI eARC, and optical audio output are just some of the highlights. It only gets up 575 nits peak brightness, but you wouldn't know that from looking at it in HDR. I also love that this TV is running Google TV, as I find to be far easier to navigate than Android TV(in many ways it's better than Android TV, though still based on it). I have two minor complaints with this TV. First, while you have 4 HDMI ports, one 2 of them are HDMI 2.1 48 Gbps, and one of them is the eARC port(invest in a HDMI switch). I would prefer if all ports on the TV were HDMI 2.1 48 Gbps. There's no reason not to as they would be fully backwards compatible anyways, and it make it easier to connect a gaming PC, Xbox Series X, and PS5 to same TV. With this TV I need an HDMI switch to actually do that. Second problem I have is that you cannot do Dolby Vision and 4K 120 Hz VRR at the same time. It has to either be 4K 60 Hz Dolby Vision or 4K 120 Hz VRR. Personally I tend to keep it in 4K 120 Hz VRR, as both 120 Hz and VRR are far more beneficial to gamers by reducing input lag and screen tearing. Not the biggest deal breakers, just things to be aware of. It still upscales low resolution content like 480i and 480p PS2 games quite well(I would know because I used to use PS2 and OSSC with it), and 1080p and above looks amazing on this thing. Other nice features are ones that carried over other Sony Smart TV's, such as HDMI CEC, HDMI eARC(older ones had ARC, but it's functionally almost exactly the same), USB ports, headphone jack, and Bluetooth Audio. I will note that eARC and ARC will almost always include some kind of HDMI CEC functionality, mainly volume control and powering on and off with the TV. Overall this TV is amazing for what it is, and I would recommend buying it.

My old TV was just wearing down to the point that a "Burn Mark" took form at a couple of corners. Figured it was time to invest in a new TV. I figured if I'm gonna get a new TV, get a 4K with a higher refresh rate. I won't lie, I did a lot of research just trying to find any TV. A lot of TVs made the promise for a refresh rate of 124hz, but a lot of public reviews for those same TVs note the HDMI ports were all 60hz. Eventually I come across this Sony TV X85J series and while it does have 4 ports, two of them only support the 124hz while the other two is 60. Which is fine, at least when I get a 4K Blu-Ray or a PS5 (which will be a LONG time before I can, thanks to Parasite Scalpers) I'll be prepared to maximize the potential. The Smart part of the TV honestly caught me by surprise, I wasn't expecting for my TV to just connect to the internet and yet, it did. Set up was kind of confusing too but once I fiddled around I understood and got a more comfortable set up. Watching movies and shows is REALLY night and day from the old TV. Granted the old one still did 1080p but honestly the X85J squeezes the color, it looks beautiful. While the Nintendo Switch can't get the 124hz refresh rate, games like Smash Bros. DragonBall FighterZ, and even Monster Hunter Rise just makes all those colors pop. And when I do make use of the the refresh rate, it makes a lot of movies and shows I watch on here look smooth and clean. The only downside is I can only make use of the 124hz refresh rate from streaming apps at the moment because I don't have the hardware means... yet... But I took full advantage of when I connected the TV to my internet and downloaded a lot of apps. The first movie I played was Godzilla vs. Kong when my Blu-Ray copy came with a free digital download, and I doubt I will ever go back to the 1080p for movies. I do love this TV and I can't wait for the day I get a PS5 because that's gonna make a lot of games I got look beyond great. You might notice though I did 4 star the money value. While this is still a pretty affordable high-end TV, the 55 model was actually going for the same price as the 50. Why is that a problem? The problem is the 55 was too big for my current entertainment center while the 50 inch fit perfectly so I got the 50. I had to pay the smaller one for the same as the bigger one and I won't lie I'm a little bummed about it. One other note that I find a bit annoying at the beginning is every Input has its own visual settings (Brightness, Contrast, ect.). In the long run it's kind of smart, you can literally have every input be a different visual output for certain media preferences. But its annoying in the beginning because if you have multiple devices to hook up, you got to set it to how you want it for every single one which makes it a little inconvenient. But once its set, it stays like it until you change it. All in all, I really do enjoy this TV. Was it expensive, yes, oh very much so. Did I have to pay that much... no. Do I regret it? Not in the slightest. This TV has opened a whole new way of watching movies and games even look gorgeous with the color that pops out.

The picture quality is great and the audio is decent enough. My only issue with it is the Google TV. Your home screen is loaded with recommendations, but unlike Android TV you can't turn them off in the options. There is an option to put your device into an app only mode, which removes the recommendations but also turns off voice search and commands. Also the recommendations only really show you things to watch on services you don't have installed. I have Netflix, Prime Video & Disney+ installed and I think I've only ever since a recommendation for Prime Video one time. I understand that Google is trying to make money off advertising other services, but the recommendations should also include things for the services I do have as well. Another issue with the Google TV which may or may not be specific to this TV is that frequently when powering down the TV my apps disappear. I have a few sideloaded apps installed and they show up on the home screen just fine, and they also show up in a popup menu when you click the input button on the remote. However these apps stop showing up on the home screen and input menu ever now and again and the only fix is to restart the system. Also I feel I should mention that one time (so far) when restarting the TV it got stuck in a loop for about 5-10 minutes. It would restart, show the sony or whatever logo, then go black and do it all over again. Normally it takes maybe a minute to boot up, but just that one time it was stuck for a bit. All in all, I wasn't expecting a top tier product seeing how this would be classified as a mid range TV, but my main gripes mostly pertain to software installed on it and not the actual device. If you can pick this up at a reasonable price I would say go for it. I just hope they can tackle some issues with updates.

The X85J gives you cinematic and immersive picture quality that delivers content exactly how its creators wanted it to be viewed. Pictures are powered by HDR and Dolby Vision. The TV also comes with a 4K reality pro engine that upscales all HD media viewed on the TV and brings it as close to 4K as possible. The Triluminos Pro feature gives you intense colors that make media displayed on the X85J look life-like. It’s one of the first things you notice when viewing content on this television. The X85J comes with a 120Hz refresh rate, which is viewed as the optimal rate for gaming. A high refresh rate allows for graphics to load smoothly with no interruptions, making content feel more immersive. The X85J is ready for next-gen gaming consoles like the Playstation5 and Xbox Series X. It comes with HDMI 2.1 ports that deliver 4K quality pictures and a 120Hz refresh rate. It comes with two room compensated and X-Balanced speakers that provide 20 watts of audio. It’s more than enough to fill up most rooms and sounds are enhanced by features like Dolby Audio, Dolby Atmos, and DTS Digital Surround.

Sony makes great looking TVs and this is no different. I had an earlier model 43" Bravia that had to be replaced (through no fault of its own) so I wanted to get a similar model. I was a little concerned about ordering one to be shipped sight unseen, but it was no problem at all. Setup was fairly easy; less than 30 minutes from unboxing I was watching video both from my cable box and all of my streaming apps. Later I found out that the TV was running an old software version, but the update process went smoothly. The only negative in the setup process is the number of solicitations and offers that one must navigate through. This was significantly more onerous than even with my previous TV four years ago, which tells you how much more commercialized this process is becoming. The picture is very good, the remote functions are intuitive and easy to use, and navigating the on-screen menus has also been very easy. Only one thing I would mention about the physical setup: the older version had a very sturdy bracket for tabletop use where this one has two bat wing shaped legs which are not as sturdy. However this is a minor fault in an otherwise excellent product.

Purchased to replace a 10+ year old TV. It is a night and day difference. Out the box the image was good for me. My PS5 and PS4 both calibrated visually upon turning on the first time. Horizon Forbidden West looks tremendous. Has a cool feature that if you turn on your PS5 the tv will turn on automatically and change inputs to it is pretty cool. Doesn't seem to extend to the PS4 though. Can also turn on your cable box thru the TV too. Only couple things are issues. One, the feet seem just so small, don't know why Sony put a delicate piece of electronics on basically 4 tiny points of contact probably less than a square inch total or something. Two, during video games, the screen can go black for a second at random times when transitioning from one screen to another. It is not every time but maybe 10-15% of the time. Overall, loving it so far. Big change from my old just HD tv of 40in to this 4k 50in. Seeing my consoles at their fullest potentials is so crisp. Regular tv is even that little bit sharper (probably the better cable I got helped too). Recommend this for sure.

8/30/2021: Note - My trouble started after taking the one update Sony offered on the first day. It required two factory data resets afterward, and then another one the next day, my second day of ownership. If you buy this TV you are playing Russian Roulette with your money. I played and lost. Just over two months from purchase date and this TV is a useless piece of plastic and chips. It has given me problems from day one, requiring multiple factory data resets previously just to work right. Today I woke up to the Sony logo followed by the outline of a TV surrounded by spinning colors yet again, and it won't do anything else. Rinse and repeat, over and over and over and over. This time the factory data reset did not work. I worked at it for an hour to no avail. Only way to turn it off is to unplug it. 8/21/2021: Not as great as I thought and getting worse every day. I will NEVER buy another Sony, period. I'll stick with Samsung. I was concerned about this very thing but at first it behaved perfectly after I reset it three times. Everything else in my original review still stands, but I now hate the TV. Original 5-star review: I don't need a lot in a TV, great picture, decent sound, big screen. With this beauty I got all that and more. I'm not a fan of anything "smart" due to privacy concerns so none of that is activated and it's not connected to wifi right now, though I do intend to test the wifi through the TV itself to make sure it will function. The picture is big and beautiful and the sound is good enough for now. If I want better sound later I'll handle that. My content looks great thru my Roku Ultra and I gave control of my volume back to my Roku after TV setup completed. Settings are really easy to access from the remote and the remote is the perfect size for me. My last TV was a Samsung 40" and the remote always felt ungainly and off balance. This remote is beautiful and well-balanced. Per one of the questions answered here, I set up my Roku on HDMI 3 with enhanced... to take advantage of all the beauty available. I am pleased. Up-scaling of 1080p content is very nice, and content looks great. Haven't tried any 4k content yet since I just installed it last night, but I expect to be wowed by that too. The packaging was fantastic with styrofoam all around, as expected, and a cardboard cover over the screen for protection while setting up the stand, wall mount, or in my case the table mount. I got this one and it does not disappoint. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08JGY4HC9 Easy assembly, well-packaged, with great instructions. Altogether, the whole stand and TV setup took less than an hour, and probably much less but I didn't time it. I am a handy 65 yo and the whole process, start to finish for both purchases, was a breeze. My thanks to Sony for a really great TV and to Perlsmith for a beautiful and well-engineered stand.

This TV is definitely top tier when it comes to quality ,color and speed This TV is extremely fast and has a beautiful 4K120 diplay that comes with Imax enhanced, Dolby atmos, Dolby vision, and full 4K UHD. It also has this amazing acoustic calibration which makes sure that the sound gets to your ears at the right time while content is being played on the screen. The controller is also extremely comfortable and has a nice grip to it which stands out from other Tv's I have owned in the past. It also comes with Google TV which is extremely fast and has really good recommendation choices for movies that may interest you or TV shows that you might wanna binge. The picture quality and color accuracy out of the is outstanding and is by far the best out of the box experience that you can get for this price. If you're looking for a budget friendly high quality luxurious TV to watch a lot of intense movies with extremely accurate colors and amazing sound quality I would highly recommend purchasing this tv immediately because it will not let you down. 10/10

Great TV. Well worth the price and the sound is actually better than I thought it would be. Picture is nice and clear and we have had no issues with it for over a year now. I would highly recommend this TV!

Loved it

This is a great tv for the price, I don’t think you can find a better budget tv on the market in this size. The picture quality is excellent and the sound is what you’d expect from a TV, nothing special. The one grievance I have with it is that it can be non responsive and buggy. Sometimes you’ll go to open Netflix and the app will just crash, or you go to play Spotify and the app is unresponsive. It can be annoying but isn’t a deal breaker in my opinion. If you’re looking for a great gaming tv or just something to watch 4K movies on this is the best bang for your buck.

Have had this TV for about a year, and have tried a couple of others at the same price range. While you get what you pay for in terms of picture quality, the TV software does not shove ads in your face like other TVs do, and is responsive. The 120hz and Dolby Vision is amazing- I have used these modes with a PS5 and an Apple TV without incident. I have never had any issues with this TV and I'm very satisfied.