Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Sony XBR65A1E 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart BRAVIA OLED TV (2017 Model)

Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2017

Bought the 65” version of this TV from Amazon. Originally I bought a 65” Sony X900E set from Best Buy. While it is a nice LED set with full array local dimming and looked good in Blu-Ray HD and 4K I just could not get the 900E to look as good as my older 55” 1080p set with my HD cable. Tried every adjustment I could find. A couple of people said it was because of the larger set and a crappy cable signal. I just did not believe that. After posting a question here about it I received a couple of really helpful responses. I finally decided to take the 900E back to Best Buy. They did not have a 65A1E so I decided to get one from Amazon. My 55” set came from Amazon a few years ago so I did not hesitate to buy from Amazon again.

The delivery people called the day before the delivery and setup a time to be here. It was delivered by XPO logistics. They arrived even earlier than promised. Box was in perfect condition. Two guys brought it in the house and even helped me move my old set out of the way and setup the A1E. Super nice guys and very helpful.

Once they left I did the rest of the setup of the A1E. Just followed all the steps and connected my wired network to the TV and it found an update. After that was all done I setup everything else and was ready to go. I connected my cable box via HDMI and tuned in a football game. All my previous fears went away and I knew I made a good choice. Set the TV to the Cinema Home setting and I could tell immediately that the picture from my HD cable box was excellent. Just like my old set. Up conversion on this set is really good. That night I watched some more football and it looked really nice. I have not changed another thing in the settings. Later that night I started watching Stranger Things on Netflix via the internal Netflix App. Season 1 was in standard HD but Season 2 is in HDR and it looked amazing. The black levels on this TV are just stunning.

I also bought a OPPO UDP-203 UHD Player and 4K discs look fantastic also. I just keep finding new things to watch. I downloaded some 4K Sony demos and added them to a USB stick and they are stunning. That is what I use to show off the set to people that come by. Most people comment on the unusual stand the Sony uses. I originally did not like it either but I will admit after having the set a few hours you never notice it leaning back. Set has excellent sound also. Really amazing what Sony did with the sound on these sets.

If you are on the fence about this set then do yourself a favor take a look at one and you will see what a great picture it has. Very pleased with my purchase.

5 people found this helpful

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Mike

Even my wife says the picture is amazing!

Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2017

Verified Purchase

Chose to purchase the TV through Amazon rather than Sony or Best Buy. It was a very wise choice. Amazon customer service is simply the best, Representives seem to genuinely care about customer satisfaction. They actually called me back when they said they would! Follow through was amazing. Initially set up installation with Amazon and the installer was listed as a moving company. I found that odd so I called Amazon saying didn’t think that was the best choice and they switched the installer to Dish tv installer who knew what they were doing about mounting a TV. It is valuable to know that the mechanics of mounting will be the installers expertise but may not the be their picture, sound and surround sound and remote connectivity speciality. That will need to be discussed with Amazon. Though the Sony sound was good, I soon after purchased a Bose lifestyle 650 system. This was set up by Bose recommended installer. Great system to go with TV. Sound seems to come from everywhere but the location not identifiable. Clear at low sounds to get the surround sound experience without blasting. Some issues with the Bose pass through to Sony TV. SONY ARC feature worked perfectly but needed to connect Apple 4K TV directly to Sony TV to obtain HDR and Dolby Vision picture. Also needed to use the Belkin 2.1 HDMI cables sold by Amazon. Unfortunately Amazon wait time was several weeks on that product so got it through Apple. The Bose remote was cumbersome to use and preferred using Harmony Elite immmediatley available through Amazon that turned on all devices and selected input with single touch. Amazon customer service assisted with the Harmony system as well. All in all, it is not easy to get everything from one supplier but Amazon does the best of the all. After purchasing the TV, I tried to get an extended warranty due to the complexity of the systems. Sony warranty does not go beyond a year but Amazon sells a Sony TV Warranty at a reasonable price for 4 more years. Customer service assisted arranging that as well.

16 people found this helpful

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Philip Trubey

Colors are super vibrant. The google TV apps work well

Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2017

Verified Purchase

Oh my. What a TV! HD programs are upscaled really well. 4K looks stunning. Colors are super vibrant. The google TV apps work well, and navigating/using the apps is easy. It also starts up pretty fast for a modern TV (faster than LG or Samsung for instance). I mounted my TV using a third party wall mount, and am using a receiver/speaker set up for sound.

Some integration issues: I couldn't figure out how to use the IR in port to send it IR commands, so I had to resort to an IR emitter. You must place the emitter in the very center at the bottom. One inch either way and it doesn't work. But once there, it has been reliable.

There are only two HDMI ports that can accept HDR/4K, and one of them is the ARC port, so forget using ARC if you have two HDR/4K sources. Also ARC doesn't output dolby digital sound, only stereo!! So I didn't use ARC, and instead used optical from the TV to the receiver to output dolby digital sound to the receiver. The other way to do this is to have an HDR/4K compatible receiver (mine is not, and I didn't feel like upgrading it) and plug all HDMI sources through the receiver. I just plugged my sources directly to the TV and used optical out from the TV for sound.

2 people found this helpful

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TrueLook

Updated from Best TV I ever owned to Worst Experience Ever!

Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2017

Verified Purchase

I’ve had the TV for a couple days and I’ve tested from the best 4K videos to bad home made videos. The upscaling is so impressive you won’t believe it. Color accuracy is impressive. Images are incredibly crisp and natural.
I’m so glad I did the jump from regular LED to OLED.
The dark scenes in the movies. Finally I can watch a long dark segment of a movie without being frustartaed if not being able to see anything. I tried on Netflix the new Defenders Marvel series. The opening scenes are quite dark and a perfect test for this TV. You will be impressed!
Even though I will not use the TV speakers as I will have it connected to a high end home theater equipment, but out of the box the sound is really good. I am also currently testing in a more less well lit area and no complaints at all! You don’t need a dark room to watch OLEDs.
Incredibly easy to setup even though it’s an Android TV.

1/5/2018
So Dolby Vision works sporadically, the HDMI3/ARC stopped working. There seems to be known issues, but even after trying them all, still doesn't work. Funny things is that the Tv failed just after the warranty ended. I also had their top of the line Ultra HD DVD player that doesn't play 4K DVD's anymore.
Support is useless as my warranty is past the timeframe.

I will never ever buy a Sony product again.

15 people found this helpful

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jjohnohara

Simplicity, quality, and a gorgeous picture!

Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2017

Verified Purchase

Excellent TV with vibrant colors and deep blacks. I read every review here on Amazon (and elsewhere), before my purchase. Here's how I feel about my concerns going into the purchase:

1. Audio: No, you don't need an external audio system or playbase, etc, unless you absolutely want 5.1 Dolby separation. The on-board audio is that good (mine is not wall-mounted).

2. On-board apps like Netflix and Amazon: the network connection, and operation of the apps is as good as my Roku 3, so I won't have to upgrade to the new HDR Roku. The on-board apps stream infinitely better than my Roku 3 did, for 480p-1080p material. With the Sony A1E, the HDR streams are smoother than 1080p was on my older set-up. Wait until you buy the A1E before upgrading your media streamer to UHD capability....like me, you may not have to.

3. Simplicity: for the first time in 30 years my setup is simply one large TV, and one remote, period. No HDMI or audio cables, no media streamers, set-top boxes, audio systems, etc. And yet, I've never had better picture quality or streaming capabilities.

What's wrong with this TV?
The remote is poorly designed, buttons too small, and not backlit. The world as we know it is imperfect.

36 people found this helpful

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Mike J.

Fantastic TV, extremely buggy smart TV apps

Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2018

Verified Purchase

The picture of this is awesome. The 4k is the best I'd ever seen anywhere. Event 1080 games look fantastic.

I could literally see the hair follicles on someones nose from my couch.

The refresh rate is not bad. I didn't notice any excessive when playing games.

The sound was surprisingly amazing. I didn't have to buy surround sound like I thought I was going to have to.
When I first got this TV I have live PD on in the background while I making dinner. I got spooked because I heard sirens and it sounded like a cop car was in my drive way! Super trippy to have sound quality that is that good.

All around this is a fantastic TV. But I do have one issue with it, which is why I didn't give it 5 stars.
The smart TV Apps are WAY to buggy.
Everytime you leave the TV idle for an hour or so it cuts internet connection. Which makes sense. Helps save energy. BUT it seems a lot of apps struggle with re-connection issues.
A big one is sling. 7/10 times when I came back to my TV after I had been previously watching sling, it refuses to load any channel unless I do a hard reboot or changed apps. Even when it does work, I often get buffering or dropped frames. Which is def the TVs fault as I do not get this on any other device!
Netflix also locked up on me once when my TV went idle in the search menu and I came back. I could not exit the search or click on any titles. I have to restart my TV.
Honestly, Sony need to realize that making smart TV apps is not a simple task and they can't just leave it to a team of sloppy careless outsourced developers and expect good results.

However the smart TV apps being awful isn't a huge issue as I have a backup firestick and my xbox one that can do the same job but actually work :)

But still, for 3.5k I expected everything to be perfect.

3 people found this helpful

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m

Sound is better than most flat TVs but not good enough..

Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2018

Verified Purchase

This is a great TV. I was concerned because it seems to be pretty new technology and a lot of reviews out there cite dead pixels as being a chronic problem, but I have run mine for several hours now and I cannot detect any dead pixels. Back in the day I had a Plasma TV and I think this display is better. Very clear and crisp. Lots of options for color saturation and other adjustments. The only less than perfect thing is the sound. It's great to have decent sound in a thin bezel screen and the sound is definitely better than any other flat TV I have heard, but it is not nearly good enough to really enjoy music concert DVDs or even get the full impact of movies. I gave it 5 stars because mine is connected to a better sound system so not a problem for me, but if you are counting on the subwoofer and screen generated sound, you might be disappointed. Nothing a good sound bar and external subwoofer or running through your surround sound can't fix. Just don't spend your last $1 on the TV cause you'll want better sound.

5 people found this helpful

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Amolio

Dead Pixel after less then a year and a half!

Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2019

Verified Purchase

Purchased this tv after months of research on oled tv’s. Wanted to buy the “right” tv for the amount of money oleds were being sold for. The A1e received really good reviews so I looked into it and compared with LG and Samsung. Researched the web on all specs and longevity, reliability, pic quality etc. Fast forward to less than a year and a half later and a very visible white dead pixel appeared on the lower left corner! It has not gone away and is extremely distracting. For the price I paid for this, the last thing I expected from Sony was a dead f’n pixel on the screen. The warranty expired and obviously sony cannot and will not offer any remedies except through costly third party vendors who cannot even guarantee the dead pixel will be removed! I will not buy Sony again, rather I will rely on LG or Samsung instead. Shame on you Sony!

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Miskatonic

Almost perfect but not without some big flaws

Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2017

Verified Purchase

I switched from a 10 year old plasma TV to a 65 inch XBR65A1E. My wife was not exactly thrilled at the prospect of a $4000 TV and wanted to go with a cheaper/smaller model. The first thing I put on was Moana and then Game of Thrones. All skepticism and criticism for the price of this TV evaporated.

Pros:
- Picture quality is amazing! I really can't say enough on this point. The A1 is second to none in picture quality.
- Upscaling works really well and even content in SD looks great.
- Upscaled HD content is near 4K. I watched the first five minutes of Star Wars: A New Hope and in 40 years I never once realized R2-D2 had rust on his dome. Every little detail popped out with each film that I watched.
- The TV can be viewed from any place in the room with zero picture quality loss.
- Sound is good and there is no need for a sound bar.
- This TV includes a free Sony movie from Google Play and a month of Playstation VUE.
- The Sony TV remote controls my Apple TV and my five year old Pioneer tuner through the Audio Return channel.
- Netflix, VUDU, and Google play run in 4K without the need for an additional box.
- Alexa! My entire house is automated with Amazon Echos. It is super easy to voice control some of the TV features. "Turn on the TV" turns on both the TV and the receiver though the Audio Return Channel.

Cons:
- Android TV is sluggish and seems unoptimized for a TV, there are even vertical screens for some of the option menus.
- The network connectivity options are not all that great. There does not seem to be a way to specify DNS settings.
- Documentation for this TV and the Android OS is sparse. There is a help menu but it is terrible.
- Securing the TV to the wall or mounting requires the removal and storage of the giant sub woofer cover.
- The rear kickstand is not a great design. It puts the TV at a perceptible angle when viewed from the side. Installing HDMI and other cables must be done before the TV is mounted to anything. USB ports are stored in a removable cover. The kickstand is just one of those things you sort of have to live with and get used to.
- The screen is reflective and does not handle glare very well. The A1 has a good overall brightness but does best in a very dark room.

The picture quality alone makes this TV worth owning. The flaws are annoying but are overshadowed by how beautiful this TV looks. The review would have gotten five stars had the price been a bit lower. If you are going to buy a TV this is the one to have.

117 people found this helpful

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Rich

I did see some reviews about the android OS and figured it can’t be that bad. Well let me at least let you know ...

Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2017

Verified Purchase

I don’t usually post any comments but this time I really had no choice. I have always been a Long Time Sony Customer. Almost all my TVs ever purchased have been theirs. I made the decision to buy this TV due to the fact it is one, if not the most highly rated TV for 2017. I did see some reviews about the android OS and figured it can’t be that bad. Well let me at least let you know my experience thus far. The TV itself is amazing!!! The picture quality can not be compared in my option to any other. However, the android os is a mess on this TV. I can not begin to tell you all how upset I am with the performance. From the laggy scrolling between apps and the constant app crashes, it is horrible!!! I have had the TV for about a week and I kid you not, I have factory defaulted it about 25 times already. All due to the Android OS. I do own both apple and android devices and have never had the experience I am having on this set. Very disappointed, I’m really hoping there is a patch on the way to stop the constant crashing of apps. I’m not talking about apps I’ve downloaded, I mean the apps that are pre loaded!!! Even in developer mode, with proccess limited to help and the disabling of animation, I for the life of me can’t get this set to run smooth. As I said, the TV itself, overall quality of its picture is unreal!!! With that being said, I think if you are not into the whole tweaking aspect, this is not the set for you. The marriage of android os on this set was a big mistake Sony. I really hope you guys can address and fix the issues in future patches. Sorry for rambling on but I’ll bet I’m not the only one who feels this way about this set.

27 people found this helpful

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Sony XBR65A1E 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart BRAVIA OLED TV (2017 Model)

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