topic Did I buy a good TV? in Android TV

Did I buy a good TV?

YoMcCurdy — Sun, 29 Nov 2015 22:20:28 GMT

Model Number: KD-43X8309 (CBU)

Saw it in my local currys and the picture Quality was beyond amazing, so I decided to buy it I just want to know if it's a good TV and if it will support HDMI 2.0a and if it's a good purchase. I haven't got round to using the TV yet as I'm waiting for it to be delivered.

I paid £649 for it and had the choice between a Samsung Curved 4K 40" but chose this one over it based on Picture Quality.

So if anyone can let me know, that'd be great I'm starting to think i've made a bad decision in buying this TV.

Re: Did I buy a good TV?

YoMcCurdy — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 11:28:04 GMT

Bump

Re: Did I buy a good TV?

YoMcCurdy — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 21:42:19 GMT

No one going to reply?

Re: Did I buy a good TV?

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 21:47:33 GMT

Im getting there, im getting there!

Re: Did I buy a good TV?

YoMcCurdy — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 21:52:45 GMT

Thanks I'm just getting worried, that I should of spent some more money. But, the reviews say it's good. However, apparently the software isn't great.

Re: Did I buy a good TV?

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 22:02:10 GMT

Hi there

I cant tell you that you bought a good TV, simply because you are the judge of that. However, what I believe you want is re-assurance.

Firstly, for a 4K TV for the price you paid is excellent, only a year or two ago you were looking at over £1000.

It is well known that the picture quality on Sony TVs are supurb and well above the rest of the competition.

As this TV is Android based, there are a few issues that at current time needs to be fixed - however, the vast majority that use the basics of the TV have not experienced any issues.

The TV does support HDMI 2 with HDCP2.2 on a couple of the HDMI ports, so you should be fine with that.

Once you get the TV, please post back on your opinion.

Cheers

Re: Did I buy a good TV?

YoMcCurdy — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 22:02:07 GMT

Thanks for the reply, I had the option of going for the Samsung 40" 4K for an Extra £50 but I chose this one as when in the shop, the colors were absolutely amazing. The colors to me, literally felt like they were jumping out of the screen.

I have a few questions for you and hopefully you could answer them for me

1) Is this TV locked at 4k (3840x2160) at 30fps

2) Is this TV going to support HDR fully and HDMI2.0(a)

In person this TV looked absolutely fantastic, I've noticed the reviews have said their are a lot of problems with the software but hopefully this isn't a hardware limitation and that it can be fixed by a patch/update from Sony. This is my first ever Sony TV.

So, I'm just hoping for the best. Smart TV isn't "that important" to me, the reason I chose this TV was purely for the picture quality. Thank you for your reply, and I hope you can provide another one and like you said I just need reassurance!

Re: Did I buy a good TV?

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 22:19:50 GMT

Hi there

At the end of the day, this model is aimed at the lower budget for a 4K tv, hence some of the features are reserved for the higher end models. Such as HDR and HDMI 2.0a.

However, if you read this review, here:

http://www.trustedreviews.com/sony-kd-43x8305c-review

According to Sony’s proclamations on the subject, the KD-43X8305C also shouldn't have received the brand’s recently rolled out High Dynamic Range (HDR) update, which enables its 2015 4K TVs to play content mastered in the new high-brightness, expanded contrast range HDR format.

Oddly, the KD-43X8305C proved able to read HDR content we have on a USB stick, while also displaying it with apparently more brightness and a slightly expanded luminance range. However, the KD-43X8305C’s Amazon app wasn't capable of reading Amazon’s HDR streams; this is possible with the app on Sony’s more expensive TVs

But its not officially supported.

In regards to resolution/video signal, the following are supported:

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Re: Did I buy a good TV?

YoMcCurdy — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 22:27:33 GMT

Is that Information for the KD-43X8305 or the KD-43X8309 because I have the second model in that comparison. So, is the 8309 better than the 8305 and is the 8309 a lower end 4K TV and thanks for your reply just want to make sure we're both talking about the 8309 which is the one I bought.

Re: Did I buy a good TV?

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 22:33:35 GMT

The KD-43X8305C is essentially the same as the KD-43X8309C, except that the KD-43X8309C has a different stand and supports MotionFlowXR 1000. Whereas the KD-43X8305C has MotionFlowXR 800. So yes, slightly better.

However in reality, you wont really know the difference between motionflow 800 to 1000

Re: Did I buy a good TV?

YoMcCurdy — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 22:40:00 GMT

Well, all I want to use the film for is watching movies and gaming, I want to be able to watch the occassional 4k film on Netflix and 4K Videos on Youtube and Game on 1920x1080. I'm not going to be watching tons of 4K content and my old TV wasn't 4K. so I think I've made a good decision in buying this TV.

Re: Did I buy a good TV?

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 22:45:43 GMT

I cant see any reason why this tv would not do everything you listed there. So once the tv comes, i think you will be happy. Have fun

Re: Did I buy a good TV?

TheGeeG — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 10:20:32 GMT

From my experience, definitely not. We returned ours (KD-43X8305C) after weeks of poor responsiveness, shocking lag when changing between functions, programmes etc., intermittent YouView availability, uncommanded switch-ons and -offs. I could go on.

Sony support was quick to respond - do a factory reset. Really, on a TV that is just out of the box? Very poor.

Intriguingly, when I went back to the retailer, they were completely unphased by my request to change sets. In fact, in an unguarded comment, one chap noted that he was dealing with several Sony returns a week.

It seems clear that Sony have released beta-standard software and are using customers to bug-test.

Such a shame after many years of happily watching Sony TVs. The picture itself was faultless, but that can't make up for the many other faults.

Switched to LG. Their WebOS is stable and fast.

Re: Did I buy a good TV?

rooobb — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 15:32:25 GMT

@TheGeeG probably WebOS is stable compared to AndroidTV (even if probably you missed the latest fw releases), but what about the picture of your brand new LG looking at a movie in the dark? Does it look similar to the Sony one? Unless you bought an OLED, that's another story and another budget....

Re: Did I buy a good TV?

TheGeeG — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 10:41:53 GMT

@rooobb My experience dated from late-Jan to mid-Feb. I received the latest 2 Feb update which was first installed OTA, then, on Sony advice and after a factory reset, via USB, each time delivering an 'update successful' message. The latter improved things for a couple of days then the same issues reappeared. If it wasn't counter-intuitive, given the underpinning Android system, I would have said these exhibited signs of inefficient memory management, with instructions stacking to a point where they could not be processed. Whatever, and maybe I was just unlucky and got a bad 'un, my experience is of an unstable OS that could not drive the advertised functionality. That functionality was the USP of this TV and it didn't deliver, for me at least, so back it went.

Re: Did I buy a good TV?

rooobb — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 11:06:36 GMT

I didn't want to argue with your experience on android I was just asking about the picture experience on the LG compared to the Sony one. In my personal opinion it is the final purpose of a tv.