Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsXBR55X850D-TV so nice I bought it twice!!
Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2016
EDIT: Seems Amazon doesn't permit us to post multiple reviews for the same product. Suffice it to say, I bought this TV in late 2016 for our master bedroom. Redoing the guest room now and I bought my 2nd XBR55X850D. I don't know a better way to say I love this TV. Having lived with it, the only suggestions I could add are 1) upgrade the remote (and that goes for most TVs these days...featureless, dark remotes don't cut it at night and that's what most TVs come with). I got a Harmony 650 and it is more than up to the job of controlling my system. For under 50 bucks it is money well spent and will make it easy to get the most out of your Sony and 2) a Bluetooth keyboard is also a nice addition if you like searching Youtube for videos, etc on your smart TV. If you plan on doing much text entry, consider a real keyboard. Again, a small upgrade that will just make the whole experience smoother. Did I mention I love this TV yet? Here's my original review:
Love my new XBR55X850D! It replaced a Panasonic 42" TY-42TM6D EDTV monitor that weighed almost 70lbs and cost me 3 grand in 2004. Loved that Panny for over a decade. It served me well and still works, but the video world has changed so much. I finally decided to let go of it and upgrade.
With so many models, features and wide price differences on today's flat screen TVs, it was a tough choice. Did a lot of homework. Looked at objective testing data, published reviews and many, many owner's comments. I found that this TV scored very favorably overall. When the price dropped below a grand before Thanksgiving, I bought it on Amazon with the TV sold by World Wide Stereo. Shipping was quick and I was able to pick the day and 3 hour delivery window. It arrived on time. The two delivery guys were great and set it up quickly to my complete satisfaction.
I'm no videofile and have just recently updated my education about things like judder, UHD, 4K, upscaling, various frame-rates, etc. I have a basic understanding now, but am no expert. That said, to my eyes, this TV looks stunning, whether I am watching DirecTV, streaming content from Netflix, Amazon, etc, or watching DVDs and Blu Ray discs.
There is a vast array of adjustments that can be made. I have done some fiddling and found my favorites. More times than not, when Auto is offered as a choice, it is a good choice. That makes it easy for a novice-intermediate user to get it dialed in and looking good pretty fast. It is probably possible to improve the picture a bit with a calibration disc (Like Disney's WOW-Wonderful world of Blu Ray), but I don't feel the need just now. Maybe in time I'll feel I can squeeze a bit more out of it, but for now, it takes my breath away. Perhaps more discriminating viewers would feel the need to dial it in as close as possible to perfection, but I'm just blown away with it, as is.
Beyond the great picture and features, I was extremely impressed with how fast and how well the streaming apps worked. I have an AppleTV and a Sony Blu Ray player which both have Netflix. The Blu Ray also has Amazon. The 850D has these apps (and many others) but the TV loads and plays streaming content much faster and more reliably than my other devices. I have yet to see a stream stutter or pause to buffer on the XBR. Those were frequent annoyances with the AppleTV and Blu Ray player. They are all connected via ethernet cables to the same home network (Comcast 32 down/6 up), but the streaming performance of the TV shames the peripherals. I don't know why, but I am thrilled. Just for fun, I tried streaming content via WiFi and the TV never dropped a frame. The external boxes were barely able to stream anything worthwhile via WiFi. Don't know how Sony does it, but the apps on the smart TV are a quantum leap forward compared to anything else I've tried.
I am a delighted new owner. The XBR850D surpassed my expectations in all categories. As far as I'm concerned, it's a great TV at a reasonable price. It ain't cheap, but well worth the $898 I spent on it.
One more thing. There is scant information on the internet or in the included documentation about wall-mounting this TV with anything other than the Sony companion wall mount (not included) or similar mounts. I already had a nice wall-mount with articulating arms and it worked great. The 850D has holes to accommodate standard 200mm Vesa mounts. That made hanging this mere 35lb TV on the wall a breeze and I can pull it out for easy access to the connections on the back panel. Don't expect to be moving it much, but it sure was convenient as I was pulling cables to the TV to hook it into my system. It will also make it easy to dust periodically which is always a good thing to do with electronics you care about.
