Sony KD-85X8500G (85")

Sony, not the brand I thought it was – Just after Christmas 2019 I purchased what I thought was my dream TV and brand, a Sony 85 inch. By February the television randomly started losing sound. Not being able to identify the fault a technician replaced one of two main computer boards within the unit in late March early April. All was good for several weeks until May when the television… Read more

started playing up again. We completely disconnected it from the hi-fi unit thinking we had unknowingly changed a setting and reset the tv to factory settings. It was good for a while and within a few weeks the random loss of sound occurred. Through June to August this was intermittent, probably once a month then by September a little more frequent and then by November several times a week. Again we reset to factory settings in October as we know that is what Sony would ask, we did this three times over October. By last weekend we would randomly lose sound or picture or both and then we lost Air Play as well. As three failures across one weekend was the last straw I contacted Sony who have done nothing about this other than to ask for a factory reset. I complied and all is good for now once again. A technician was sent out who stared at the television again and could not identify a fault. Now before you think I am making this up, I have sent Sony and their 3rd party technicians video after video after video of the faults occurring. Their service is that bad that when the technician turned up he was unaware of the videos and the specific problem. I even asked them not to send someone out without reviewing the videos to understand the problem. I sent Sony an extract under Australian Consumer law that by now I am entitled to a replacement television. Several days earlier they promised customer relations would call me, I am still waiting. Until now I was a devoted Sony purchaser with two other Sony televisions across the bedrooms but they do not back up the warranty and do not seem to care about Australian consumer law and the customer. My understanding is that Panasonic has withdrawn from the Australian market so my recommendation to you is buy Samsung because Sony just do not care.

Buyer BEWARE Sony KD-85X8500G has Beautiful picture... BUT...pathetic performer for external USBs and HDD usage! – One rates this television 3 stars for picture quality only! Got this Sony KD-85X8500G (85") lil' bundle at a super discounted price at The Good Guys here in Townsville at over $2300 off, normally $6,599 In the Sony Store!!! (See screenshot below). Naturally being a compulsive shopaholic one could not resist the temptation of getting this one for… Read more

the downstairs lounge to replace the sony 65 inch KD-X7000F ( see my reviews of the 65 inch here on ProductReview).

Love this new addition to my entertaining family of contraptions!

Sony KD-85X8500G (85") has Android capabilities too, only drawback with this Sony KD-85X8500G (85") bubby is that one cannot record onto hard drive like with the (2 year older) KD-X7000F.

** C o n s u m e r w a r n I n g ** If you are looking for a t v that you connect your usbs or hard drives (up to 2tb sony says) forget it! The substandard processors in these just cannot cope most of the time with these and it's a constant "Peek-a-boo" battle to get them up! See google reviews etc, sony has learnt nothing in the years and one had the same problems with Sony's KD-X7000F 65 inch Corporate turnover.

If you are looking for a big TV for picture quality (only) the Sony KD-85X8500G (85") is Highly recommended. Get em while they're cheap folks they are not worth anywhere near the full price for!!

Has anybody else had problems with this televisions channel info coming up and icons, emoticons music and video files not showing up that worked and showed up prior Sony's mid December 2019 firmware 'update' (for want of a better word)? Send me a message.

If you have one of these televisions one highly recommend you connect an external USB and HDD whilst it is under warranty, SONY specs state you can use up to 2Tb, and considering that there are 3 USB ports USB1 5V 500 Ma MAX, USB2 5V 500 mA MAX and USB3 5V 900 mA MAX one can safely assume that it is OK to use them all if need be or they would not be there (right).... Must add that (as one was told by technical support) if connecting an external HDD that USB2 is the one to connect it to.

Am also in the process of purchasing the dirt cheap TCL and Polaroid televisions for USB and external HDD for performance comparisons for when one drags Sony kicking and screaming to the Federal Court AS the 'cheap and nasties' seem to perform better! The Polaroid 65 inch PL6517AUD Android television has the same USB ports with similar USB multimedia playback formats with 3840x2160 screen resolution. The USB can also handle 2Tb external HDD (a lot quicker too) and for its paltry $999.00 seems to be a better performer than Sony's (reg price) $6,700 showpony. Still waiting on TCL.

[[[[Update 16 April 2020 One has found the cheap 'n' nasty $369.00 Kogan Series 8 JU8100 (43") just purchased (see my review) is far far quicker and better in handling a 1Tb external HDD full of music folders, and that is with a 128Tb USB also plugged in to it!! (Sad but true).]]]]]

Meanwhile, see my Youtube videos, here's a link to my newest https://youtu.be/xIq9g4bG8fM

Sony take heed, on Friday 20 December 2019, the Federal Court of Australia (via the ACCC) fined Volkswagon $125m for making false claims about their 'turnover'. And one reminds Sony that a company/distributor that knowingly sells a product that is faulty or flawed in any way in Australia is illegal (even at a discounted 'special' price)!

Stay tuned!

For consumers experiencing similar problems with Sony televisions here's the contact telephone number of the Federal Australian Competition And Consumer Commission (ACCC).

1300 302 502