|  | | | Used and New: | | |
| All | |
| To see price, add to cart.+ $38.03 *Shipping This item is eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. | New | | |
| To see price, add to cart.Shipping Free | New | | |
| To see price, add to cart.Shipping Free | New | | |
| $1,388.51 This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. | Used
- Good | | |
| $1,388.51 This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. | Used
- Good | | |
| $1,388.51 This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. | Used
- Good | | |
| $1,388.51 This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. | Used
- Good | | |
| $1,388.51 This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. | Used
- Good | | |
| $1,467.40 This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. | Used
- Mint | | |
| $1,549.98Shipping Free | New | | |
| $1,798.00 This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. | New | | |
| $1,798.00Shipping Free | New | | |
| $2,399.00Shipping Free | New | | |
| $2,598.00Shipping Free | New | | |
| New | |
| To see price, add to cart.+ $38.03 *Shipping This item is eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. | New | | |
| To see price, add to cart.Shipping Free | New | | |
| To see price, add to cart.Shipping Free | New | | |
| $1,549.98Shipping Free | New | | |
| $1,798.00 This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. | New | | |
| $1,798.00Shipping Free | New | | |
| $2,399.00Shipping Free | New | | |
| $2,598.00Shipping Free | New | | |
| Used | |
| $1,388.51 This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. | Used
- Good | | |
| $1,388.51 This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. | Used
- Good | | |
| $1,388.51 This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. | Used
- Good | | |
| $1,388.51 This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. | Used
- Good | | |
| $1,388.51 This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. | Used
- Good | | |
| $1,467.40 This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. | Used
- Mint | | |
| | Customer Reviews: | | | Average Customer Review: ( 99 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
98 of 99 found the following review helpful:
 Beautiful Picture! Surprisingly Thin! May 14, 2011
By electronics guy
Mine arrived this week and it is beautiful! The monolithic screen design with the Gorilla glass / Opticontrast panel is totally black when the set is off. When it is on, the image is stunning. Pair this with a nice Blu-Ray player and it will knock your socks off. It's bright and clear with great colors and the blackest blacks I've seen on a TV. The MotionFlow 480 makes for extremely smooth motion with no snapshotting that you see in sets with lower frame rates. It's also very light. One person can pick it up with no problem as long as your arms are long enough to reach.
It comes with a nice pillar and plate stand but I think I'm going to move mine to the wall. I'm really tempted to put a nice frame around it. Seriously. Another very nice feature is you can turn off the light behind the Sony logo at the bottom center of the screen. It's visible enough for me as is and I personally don't like all the extra lights that so many sets use to light up their logos. So nice and subdued it is. The set also locates where people are in the room. It has a camera (not sure how I feel about that on an internet-connected TV) and captures full-on images of you as you watch it. It uses this for adjusting the internal speakers, the 3D effect if you are off center, and to determine if nobody is watching to turn the set off to conserve energy. I might just put a bit of black tape over it and turn off the energy conservation so it doesn't always think it is alone and shut down.
This thing also synthesizes 3D from 2D images. You can watch regular TV or DVD's/Blu-Ray, or any of the streaming functions in 3D if you want. It actually does a pretty good job and for the life of me I couldn't tell you how they pull it off. It's basically magic. For true 3D input it is absolutely amazing. You also have the ability to adjust the apparent depth to the 3D effect.
I looked at other 3D sets and the images on the Sony don't pop out into the room like some of the others. (Edit - this is a setting and you can bring images out into the room.) It's almost like you are looking into the 3D scene as opposed to having it come out into the room (on the default settings). I think looking into the 3D scene is a bit more natural though not as startling or stunning as having things look like they are basically in your lap. That has lots of wow factor but seems more gimmicky and less realistic. There are a number of adjustments for the 3D image and it's possible the Sony will push them out into the room too. (It can.)
One other thing about the 3D effect - the Sony uses active glasses to produce 3D. Most others do too but one manufacturer does not - LG. Their 3D uses circularly polarized glasses just like the ones at the theater with the RealD 3D. Those are cheaper, lighter, and you can even turn your head sideways and still see the image perfectly. I liked the Sony's features better than the LG which is why I went Sony. One was that the set with the plain polarized glasses is only 120 Hz while the Sony is 480. On the Sony with active glasses, and again most others, if you lay down where your head is 90 degrees from vertical, the images go dark. It's surprisingly tolerant of head tilt, though, and stays bright until you are just about horizontal. This will also be a function of the glasses and I did not use Sony glasses. I used Xpand Universal X103 3D Glasses Compatible with Active 3D TV's, Black.
Other points - the unit is very well packed but the shipping box is almost as thin (6") as the set itself (1.1"). As far as shock damage if you have this unit shipped, I doubt there will be much of a problem unless the shipper is extremely careless. Something sticking through the box is going to stand a good chance of hitting the screen or the back of the unit though the cardboard box itself has very thick walls. Even the box was is great shape and the TV was perfect.
This unit was definitely worth waiting for. Also, if you buy this from Amazon, you get a 2 week price guarantee. (Note - Amazon can change the guarantees at any time. Be sure to know the conditions and details when you buy yours.) The day before mine was to be delivered, Amazon dropped the price. I just notified Amazon and the refunded the difference. Nice. You also get a 30 day shipping-paid return if you decide you don't like the set. I'll only use that if something fails. This set is worth the price.
Also, I am always leery of buying LCD screen items if returns are going to be a hassle if there are stuck or dead pixels. None of either on my set. I'm exceptionally happy about that! But had there been, Amazon's return policy is better than the local stores' policies. I've got 30 days for something like that to develop (always possible) to make sure I've got a good set. It's hard to beat that.
At least in my case, Amazon shipped using CEVA. I had not heard of them before and was a bit nervous watching the CEVA tracking page. I don't know what they are doing there, but it doesn't seem to have any basis in reality. It showed the TV going around the country in a big circle basically and finally arrived right back where it started. I thought for sure they would blow the promised delivery date. Amazingly, a few hours after tracking showed it arriving back at origin, I got a call from the local shipper to arrange delivery and it actually arrived a day early. Nice. But just a heads-up if you buy one and it ships CEVA. Something is very odd about their tracking page and it is basically worthless IMHO.
I gambled on buying this through Amazon since they aren't local to go see someone in person if it had been necessary and there was the risk of shipping damage. Neither was an issue. Not only did I get price protection (I waited through one price drop but a 2nd one came within days of ordering so price protection is nice), but there was no damage whatsoever and I didn't have to get someone with a truck to help me pick it up at the store. I just helped the delivery guy carry it from his truck to my living room.
The set itself is everything I had thought it would be and more. I had seen other Opticontrast panels before but it is absolutely stunning in my living room. As some apparently say about these sets, it does look more real than real.
5 stars without a doubt. I have no problem recommending this set to anyone.
212 of 224 found the following review helpful:
 GREAT TV,GREAT PIC AND THIN BUT FACTORY DEFECT SONY REFUSED TO REPLACE Aug 15, 2011
By ALEXCAT
I purchased this TV on Jun 17, 2011 and would like to say that out of the box it needed zero adjusting. Great picture and the 3D is excellent aside from a little ghosting. My only issue that I am currently trying to reslove with Sony as I write this, is the tv is very thin and borderless. Pretty much the gorilla glass used is the whole front part glued to the back(no screws visible). The glass on my unit has begun to be unglued on the left side of the tv about 2 inches. It is not peeling off but to the point where u can clearly see light coming out of the side of the Tv. This I am sure is not good and am in the process of getting it repaired. Will add to my review if Sony charges for any repairs to this already expensive TV that is clearly a Factory defect.
I am updating my review today October 9th 2011. I am dissapointed to say Sonys warranty and repair Department is the worst I have ever had to deal with in my life. Needless to say, they refused to properly repair this very expensive tv of mine. After 1 month and a 2 week stay at there local repair shop, my tv was returned to me in the same exact condition it was received. Not only did they not repair it but the have refused to replace it for a nondefective one, as the concluded the tv is suppose to be that way. I have posted a Pic of the problem with the glass ungluing and you be the judge and decide if that is normal. I am not telling anyone not to buy Sony products but just be aware they dont live up to there warranty. All this being said, after 1 month of dealing with Sony and there terrible warranty dept., I called Amazon out of desperation to see if they can assist me in dealing with Sony. After explaining the situation to them and a 5 minute hold, I was greeted with a suprise I was not expecting. Amazon rep told me, they were sorry what had happen to me and would be sending out a replacement television and accepting my defective one. All this well beyond my 30 day window. 3 months beyond to be exact. 1 week later my new TV arrived and it is in perfect condition. I am very greatful to Amazon for this and this should serve a lesson to Sony on how to handle a defective product and how to treat loyal customers. Cheers to Amazon and a million jeers for Sony. Thank u Amazon.
40 of 41 found the following review helpful:
Sexy with no bleedthrough Jun 02, 2011
By Danation
I spent a long time reviewing TVs before making a purchase and I'm very glad I took a chance on this relatively new Sony. It appears to have all the features of the more expensive XBR series but uses local-dimming edge lit LEDs rather than back-lighting. This makes it thinner, which was more important to me than image quality for my application. I also like that it has a uniform thickness and looks great mounted on an island in my home. It is strange how few companies care about the view from the back...
Update the firmware as soon as you get it so that the newer features like video streaming and iPhone media remote (available through app store) work properly. Qriocity didn't work due to the recent security breach but should be back up soon. Netflix streaming and Pandora work perfectly. The presence sensor is nice when set to only do motion detection otherwise it performs poorly for facial recognition when you are heavily backlit. I have windows behind me and many times the settings page would say the presence sensor is not functioning properly. I thought it was broken until I tried later at night. It worked great then and was almost creepy how it changes the sounds and picture based on where you are in the room. I also like the feature which prevents children from getting to close to the screen. The facebook and weather widgets are based on Yahoo! widgets and I have to say that they are pretty gimmicky. They aren't fast and navigating within them is nowhere near as nice as the other built-in features. Weather, Facebook, Stocks, etc are so much easier to get to by grabbing my phone than working with the remote. Speaking of, the remote is strange in that it is big. It also has an extra power on/off button on the back. It looks really cool and is recessed to prevent inadvertent presses.
DLNA streaming leaves a little be desired because it doesn't support MKV files, XVID, or other popular video formats. It also took a long time to start rendering/playing a plain mpeg file I sent via my Windows 7 laptop. Simply plugging in my WDTV Live for DLNA streaming from my laptop solved all that and worked so much better. Pictures and music seemed to work fine however. When hooked up to a Windows 7 Media Center PC via HDMI or DVI, the screen looked better than my own computer's LCD. It was so clear and crisp that it can easily be used instead of a projector for presentations and Starcraft II looked amazing.
The Gorilla Glass monolithic design is just plain sexy. I like it better than the D8000 Samsung. To me, the Samsung sets looked a little too plastic-y even though the very small bezel looked so awesome from far away. The HX820 looks like a solid piece of black glass when it is off. I receive a lot of comments from people just walking past it in the room. The stand it comes with is a very nice and sturdy with a sort of brushed/anodized look to it. It is very classy.
Even though the screen is very bright, the glossiness is troublesome at time. There is a lower end Sony that comes with a matte screen and slightly lower feature set that would provide me with better viewing but it just doesn't look as badass sitting up there.
The internet browser doesn't really work well and I found it troublesome that it tries to load Sony's own web page upon startup and then after a couple minutes(!) fails with a message that the page is too large. So much for testing before shipping. I'm sure future firmware updates will resolve this and I love the idea that it updates itself. The only real area I feel Sony missed the mark with this TV is that they went through the trouble of adding the presence sensor and Skype but you still need another camera to use Skype. I know the built-in one is very poor quality but it seems like it would have been easy to make a dual purpose camera.
Overall, this is the best TV I've owned. Add to that Amazon's price protection policy if the price decreases after you buy it for refunds and you really cannot go wrong pulling the trigger.
A note on shipping: It was delayed more than 4 days from the estimate given to me due to some ambiguous "external factors". I'll let that slide though because I assumed it was due to the tornado(s) in the middle states. The delivery service was very good about calling to schedule times and the guys that came did an nice job plugging it in to be sure it worked before leaving.
Overall, great buying experience, great TV, and great shipping.
31 of 34 found the following review helpful:
Compare with Samsung D8000 55" Jul 04, 2011
By Suman Chakraborty
So I have owned both of these TVs over the last month. I am no expert and will break my review based on my subjective experience.
Design
This is a subjective matter (would encourage others to take a look at both the TVs at stores before final purchase). However I felt that the Sony TV has a much better finish as compared to the Samsung D8000 (My Samsung had top right end slight protruding out of the bezel edges). The Sony looks just like a picture frame and feels picture perfect with the all glossy Black finish. With a Sony you can also tilt the TV to a certain angle (The angle is fixed though), similar to tilting a laptop screen while working.
Picture
Most important part. The Samsungs have really Vibrant color and they seem to come and hit you right in your face while the Sony seems more balanced and authentic (Compare a Bose system {Samsung} to the high end audiophile systems like a Aperion or Klipsch {Sony}.).
The 3D, I felt looked better with an WOW factor (like in Movies) in Sony as compared to Samsung. Things seemed to fly out of screens unlike in Samsung.
However I had a very interesting observation. While watching movies on Samsung I felt I was watching a Home Video (Video shot on your personal Handycam). With Sony I felt I was watching a real movie. Do others feel the same while watching a Samsung??
Sound
Sony performs much better here and also has 5.1 output when connected to external speakers through an optical cable from the TV.
Implementation
Sony has some cool features like Presence sensor and automatic adjustment of picture while watching TV but they are not completely bug free. However compared to a Samsung this is an added advantage and just builds the WOW factor.
Additionally the Sony has a Corning Gorilla Glass which is great (compared to the Sony, the Samsung screen feels like cheap Plastic.)
15 of 16 found the following review helpful:
Phenomenal tv, with 1 caveat Aug 06, 2011
By ALR
Most other reviewers (especially electronics guy) have commented on key details, so I'll only offer the following observations:
* the motion flow does make a difference. We compared this in home to the latest Sharp and Samsung TVs (love generous return policies) and it was clearly evident in a number of sports broadcasts
* I find that the Internet widgets are really really easy to use. I have a Mac Mini hooked up to it for things like ESPN3, but I do appreciate the Sony interface
* the tv does look great. Other people posted about it and I scoffed, but the monolith design really looks amazing when it's off. If you put the tv in a room you do other entertaining in, you'll love it
The only negative I have to share is:
* there is *significant* glare from this tv. If you have it in a media room, or have curtains in the room, you'll be fine. But if you try to watch this tv during the day in a sunlit room, there is a ton of glare that can be very distracting.
See all 99 customer reviews on Amazon.com
|
| | |
