Online reviews seen before purchasing were mixed for Sony KD-65X80J. Personal experience was different. Bought the television online but visited the new Seef stores. The sales staff was quite knowledgeable but they were more keen to position other brands. Looked at the 55” models but chose the 65” to suit the living room dimensions. Watching distance is 7-8 feet. Quite an immersive experience with the Yamaha AVR and JBL E80 Northridge Floor-standing speakers. Airplay was a must have requirement. So was the deep blackness levels. Desired dark levels were achieved using built-in settings and controls. Connectivity with the Bose SoundTouch 20 and MacBook Air was amazingly smooth and strong. The KD-65X80J has a cool appearance with its amazingly attractive screensavers.

Consistent Quality,

I have aways been impressed with the picture quality and product range from Sony, and this TV again provides an overall great viewing experience, with just a few gripes mainly around setup/installation.My previous 2 Sony TVs both had swivel stands, where this no longer seems to be available, or is extremely limited. The new feet like stands were very easy to install but leave the set primarily static and it would be nice to see the flexibility of swivel stands back. The install setup was also a little repetitive and at times confusing (for instance, the TV identified my Sony BluRay Player on HDMI2 but then later asked me to assign a device to HDMI2, which I did, and now shows the BluRay twice).Otherwise the UI is aesthetically pleasing, current and relatively ... MoreI have aways been impressed with the picture quality and product range from Sony, and this TV again provides an overall great viewing experience, with just a few gripes mainly around setup/installation.My previous 2 Sony TVs both had swivel stands, where this no longer seems to be available, or is extremely limited. The new feet like stands were very easy to install but leave the set primarily static and it would be nice to see the flexibility of swivel stands back. The install setup was also a little repetitive and at times confusing (for instance, the TV identified my Sony BluRay Player on HDMI2 but then later asked me to assign a device to HDMI2, which I did, and now shows the BluRay twice).Otherwise the UI is aesthetically pleasing, current and relatively easy to use. A little more personalisation would be a great addition; changing order of apps (workaround to this by using "inputs" rather than "apps" on screen) and ability to remove, or least hide, channels or categories that are of no interest and permanently dismiss them from recommendations (Sports, TikTok...)

Flawless streaming, upscales many TV,dvd,vcr items

Owned 6 months now. Picture superior, colors are realistic the shades of them not overdone. Streaming, mostly YouTube vids flawless. No buffering ever. Purchased the needed adapter for my 10-year-old DVD and VCR players. Most all of my older discs and tapes appeared upscaled as well as were most older TV shows except for ones that probably were recorded at a different speed, as Sony upscaling starts at 480p. 4K is the big plus. I feel like being immersed within the Picture with the larger 50" screen. Preferred 55"+ but my home area is small. 2 calls to Sony Customer services were very positive. From other reviews I read about certain issues I felt that some of these were addressed within my tv from the start up. Example: when turning on it will always go to the ... MoreOwned 6 months now. Picture superior, colors are realistic the shades of them not overdone. Streaming, mostly YouTube vids flawless. No buffering ever. Purchased the needed adapter for my 10-year-old DVD and VCR players. Most all of my older discs and tapes appeared upscaled as well as were most older TV shows except for ones that probably were recorded at a different speed, as Sony upscaling starts at 480p. 4K is the big plus. I feel like being immersed within the Picture with the larger 50" screen. Preferred 55"+ but my home area is small. 2 calls to Sony Customer services were very positive. From other reviews I read about certain issues I felt that some of these were addressed within my tv from the start up. Example: when turning on it will always go to the google start page and from there I hit TV button and it will always go the last channel I watched. I like the remote it has it all on one platform including operating my Sony dvd player and Sony sound bar.I also found the screen on mine can be seen clearly from almost up to an 180 degree angle. I even see it clearly from my kitchen which is about 15 feet away. At 180 angle the pic loses some of the color. The "night" views of say Las Vegas vids and others are super clear, the lighting is so bright and enhanced it is like your there. I had a Sony Vega Trinitron 32" for 12 years and finally decided it was time to upgrade. Two great choices.

Good TV but with one significant issue

Initially the TV worked but after a few weeks ceased to work with my Sony surround system. Thinking it was likely to be the surround sound, after all it was a new TV, I replaced it with a new Soundbar! That didn't work either! Sony maintained it was the fault of the Soundbar their opinion being that it was software incompatibility. I Bluetoothed the two and that worked but sound cut out for a second or two every now and again. Finally I made an optical fibre connection and all is now fine! Sony were no help and didn’t even suggest an optical connection! That couldn’t work could it? After all it was a software problem wasn’t it! I have been a Sony devotee for many years but no longer.

Great 4K tv- an 8 out of 10 !

THE GOOD:My first 55" tv ever and the first Sony in 25 years! First, the picture (4K) is superb and worth the cost. It walks all over ANY 1080 image! Plenty of adjustments you can make )some required reading to see exactly what they do). Another positive is the weight at appx 50-55 pounds. Not bad because it is a big TV and should have some heft. Finally, sound is surprisingly GOOD for flat screen TV speakers. These speakers can get loud while staying quite clear, but this is no hard hitting subwoofer! As it sits, I had an easy time adjusting settings for loud/clear audio for NASCAR races and Indycar races. I wish this Sony had 4 corner woofers for tight bass accompanying the good high and mid range sound it already has.The Neutral: I'm not happy, nor mad about ... MoreTHE GOOD:My first 55" tv ever and the first Sony in 25 years! First, the picture (4K) is superb and worth the cost. It walks all over ANY 1080 image! Plenty of adjustments you can make )some required reading to see exactly what they do). Another positive is the weight at appx 50-55 pounds. Not bad because it is a big TV and should have some heft. Finally, sound is surprisingly GOOD for flat screen TV speakers. These speakers can get loud while staying quite clear, but this is no hard hitting subwoofer! As it sits, I had an easy time adjusting settings for loud/clear audio for NASCAR races and Indycar races. I wish this Sony had 4 corner woofers for tight bass accompanying the good high and mid range sound it already has.The Neutral: I'm not happy, nor mad about the constant gagging to "setup your Google Tv channels now. Well I use a ROKU with about 6 pay-for streaming channels and none are Google TV that the Sony software pushes so hard. It wasn't very difficult to setup my ROKU, yet it wasn't CLEARLY STATED / recommended for the best HDMI cable needed for true top of the line 4K viewing, great sound. Sony should offer a TOP version HDMI cable for a great HDMI experience.PRICE: Obviously not cheap or free, but under $1000 with taxes and shipping. $865 shipped by FedEx 2-day delivery was fine with me.The BAD: I feel Sony could have given a stronger warranty for a new, higher end set with a load of tips and tricks. I think a solid 6- month FULL COVERAGE warranty of items with shipping, handling, wear and tear, AND a comparable to even 1 step-up better model TV set to take its place in the event something goes afoul.Finally back to speakers: these are great but with some Sony engineering magic, add a true bass speaker in the lower left and lower right front fascia to broadcast out hard hitting, tight, snappy BASS! Not a subwoofer; they would need too much room. 2 or even 4 square woofers would add next level sound! David

Great features, but... bugs

It thinks my XBOX is an Apple TV - DESPITE - me telling it otherwise.Also, something puts it into a state where pressing Home on my Sky Remote (which is NOT paired with the TV btw) switches HDMI ports. A reboot of TV clears that problem.These are both devices that were previously connected to my older Sony Bravia TV and had no such problems.Apart from those annoyances (bugs) the TV itself is performing very well, as a TV. Pick a program, it appears on the TV, typically not in 4K.Android TV user interface? Could be better. It's very Amazon Prime-esque. Plenty of apps. Some work better than others.4GB internal memory is far too stingy. It's just enough for the pre-installed apps. If you want to add more than a couple of other apps, you will need to add ... MoreIt thinks my XBOX is an Apple TV - DESPITE - me telling it otherwise.Also, something puts it into a state where pressing Home on my Sky Remote (which is NOT paired with the TV btw) switches HDMI ports. A reboot of TV clears that problem.These are both devices that were previously connected to my older Sony Bravia TV and had no such problems.Apart from those annoyances (bugs) the TV itself is performing very well, as a TV. Pick a program, it appears on the TV, typically not in 4K.Android TV user interface? Could be better. It's very Amazon Prime-esque. Plenty of apps. Some work better than others.4GB internal memory is far too stingy. It's just enough for the pre-installed apps. If you want to add more than a couple of other apps, you will need to add storage. I purchased a 512GB USB thumb drive for that purpose.It's not clear if the drive can be used for both recording (a feature of the TV) and storage expansion, I hope its both. However, having assigned it to storage, and moving data to this device (ie the USB drive) the apps still say their data is on internal storage. Attempting to "format" for recording fails, and it looks like it would have overwritten the storage anyway so it seems it can't be shared for storage and recording.Alexa was a pain to hook up, but it is possible.

It's OK.

It is an OK TV, which is not much better than my previous 4K LG TV. The colours on this one are pretty good, but thats about it. The light distribution could not be worse: multiple lightbleed spots on the black background and visibly darker corners on the bright background are a HUGE let down, expected much more from a brand like Sony Bravia.The one massively lacking function is the ability to use it as a wireless display with Windows 10 computers ( a functionality, which is present even on the low-end Hisense and JVC TVs). It does sort of has Google Cast, but it is soooo terrible, that it is almost unusable and compared to native support for Windows 10 Miracast wireless display is a bloody joke anyway (no ability to extend the display, rather than duplicate, ... MoreIt is an OK TV, which is not much better than my previous 4K LG TV. The colours on this one are pretty good, but thats about it. The light distribution could not be worse: multiple lightbleed spots on the black background and visibly darker corners on the bright background are a HUGE let down, expected much more from a brand like Sony Bravia.The one massively lacking function is the ability to use it as a wireless display with Windows 10 computers ( a functionality, which is present even on the low-end Hisense and JVC TVs). It does sort of has Google Cast, but it is soooo terrible, that it is almost unusable and compared to native support for Windows 10 Miracast wireless display is a bloody joke anyway (no ability to extend the display, rather than duplicate, etc). At the same time, it does support Apple Air Play 2, so this TV is a massive F you from Sony to the Windows laptop users. Had to shell out 40 pounds for a Microsoft adaptor which replicates this functionality, because hey, Sony did not bother including one of the most basic functions into their super duper 2021 line up. Or maybe it did, but for more expensive models, which, tbh, smells a bit elitist to me, coupled with them only supporting AirPlay natively.Overall, one would expect MUCH more from a TV which retails for £1K. Seems like the times when Sony Bravia equalled unprecedented quality have passed, so don't be under an impression that you will get something which will make you go "wow, that's bloody good". This TV is not better and maybe in some aspects even worse than some others on the market.

It's uncanny

I've had this TV for 2 years. It's not new, but it's remarkable. My wife and I continue to marvel at the colours and clarity. Things really appear three dimensional. Sometimes it's a bit uncanny. If you give it a good 4K signal - wow. If you give it a good 1080 signal, it'll upscale. If you give it photos (obviously over 8Mpix), be ready to be impressed and impress those who you share them with.My wife plays games on the screen and it performs really well here.PRO TIP for B&H photographers: I selected this TV because I wanted a good, high def (4K) screen to share photos, knowing the colour and contrast would be Sony terrific and OMG, it renders them beautifully without dinking around with the colours, saturation and contrast, simply true to the edit. I only show ... MoreI've had this TV for 2 years. It's not new, but it's remarkable. My wife and I continue to marvel at the colours and clarity. Things really appear three dimensional. Sometimes it's a bit uncanny. If you give it a good 4K signal - wow. If you give it a good 1080 signal, it'll upscale. If you give it photos (obviously over 8Mpix), be ready to be impressed and impress those who you share them with.My wife plays games on the screen and it performs really well here.PRO TIP for B&H photographers: I selected this TV because I wanted a good, high def (4K) screen to share photos, knowing the colour and contrast would be Sony terrific and OMG, it renders them beautifully without dinking around with the colours, saturation and contrast, simply true to the edit. I only show JPEG's but wow, it doubles as an awesome (true sense of the word) picture frame.It had some basic screens, say from LG or Toshiba, and I can tell you this is in another league. It's a bargain. I recommend these screens to family and friends. Now to you.Good luck and good viewing, whatever material you choose.

Please For The Love Of Your Wallet Do Not Buy This

The picture is clear and definitely high-quality 4K. But it's ruined by the, idk what it's called even though I know there's a name for it, 'phantom brightness' on the screen. During dark scenes it's like it's noon outside in the sunlight. Bright as can be. Strange white light shining through the black. I wish I'd never bought this TV. This purchase was the first time I've ever bought a 'big name brand' TV, preferring in the past to buy TV's from Sceptre and Onn, and I wish I'd never heard of Sony. This TV makes me so mad every time I watch it that I have to stop myself from throwing my remote at it. After tax and mounting I spent about $1050. Over a thousand dollars for what I thought would be a years-long investment in a quality TV from a prestigious brand name ... MoreThe picture is clear and definitely high-quality 4K. But it's ruined by the, idk what it's called even though I know there's a name for it, 'phantom brightness' on the screen. During dark scenes it's like it's noon outside in the sunlight. Bright as can be. Strange white light shining through the black. I wish I'd never bought this TV. This purchase was the first time I've ever bought a 'big name brand' TV, preferring in the past to buy TV's from Sceptre and Onn, and I wish I'd never heard of Sony. This TV makes me so mad every time I watch it that I have to stop myself from throwing my remote at it. After tax and mounting I spent about $1050. Over a thousand dollars for what I thought would be a years-long investment in a quality TV from a prestigious brand name like Sony, and I just want to rip it off the wall and throw it across the room. I'll never buy anything from Sony again. Please buy somewhere else. Please don't make the same thousand-dollar mistake I made. As Ron Swanson would say: "0 stars."

Really pleased with this product

One of the reasons I chose to replace our existing (13 year old) Plasma screen tv is because of its high energy consumption. This new television uses approximately a quarter of the energy of the old television and in view of the current rising energy prices this was quite an important factor for me. I also was looking for a television which has in built Freesat which operates directly off our satellite dish. The new Sony television not only has this but also has digital tv which we can also run using the standard type of external aerial.It is straightforward to be able to switch between the two operating systems. Being a smart TV, there are numerous in built apps, which provide further viewing opportunities and avoids having to have additional devices such as a ... MoreOne of the reasons I chose to replace our existing (13 year old) Plasma screen tv is because of its high energy consumption. This new television uses approximately a quarter of the energy of the old television and in view of the current rising energy prices this was quite an important factor for me. I also was looking for a television which has in built Freesat which operates directly off our satellite dish. The new Sony television not only has this but also has digital tv which we can also run using the standard type of external aerial.It is straightforward to be able to switch between the two operating systems. Being a smart TV, there are numerous in built apps, which provide further viewing opportunities and avoids having to have additional devices such as a 'fire stick' which we had to use on the previous television in order to receive these additional programmes/channels.Setting up the new TV was reasonably straight forward, although we did initially have a slight issue in that we could not download apps such as BBC i-player and ITV hub. After some on-line searching, we found that we need to run a software update on the television and then do a 'Restart' after which we could then add these and our now easily available. The instructions supplied mainly cover the fitting of the stand and connecting the tv up. Further instructions are available using the on-screen help, although my personal choice would be to have a proper printed instruction manual as I find this easy to use/follow, but understand this probably helps to keep costs down and also save a bit on the environment.I am very pleased with the excellent picture quality and would rate sound quality as good. I am going to add a sound bar in the not too distant future to further enhance the sound as this for me adds to the effect when watching movies.