Sony Bravia KDL50W800B (50")

Cactus TV – My smart 3year old Sony Bravia TV had sound but no picture just coloured vertical lines. I googled the problem and it looked like an easy fix take the back off and unplug a few leads plug them back in and off she goes. It didn’t work so I took it to the technician and he said he tried a few new parts and it didn’t fix it so put it down to the screen being cupoot. So looks like a new TV?  Show details

Three years later I need a new TV – The issue for me hasn't been picture quality, good. Speaker, not so good, ports, difficult to access, operating system ok. Cost of repair. Forget it. The issue is the SONY wall mount. It was difficult to install and now I must decide if that is to be replaced as well. I wish I had brought something with a universal fitting.  Show details

LCD Panel fault after 2 years – The Bravia is a sleek and great looking TV but it is a shame the same attention to detail wasn't paid on the parts that matter. While it was working we were very happy with it, good picture and decent enough sound, and it was another part of our Sony arsenal of products. It is now the last as I definitely won't be purchasing again and will be… Read more

advising others the same. To have a major fault on a +$1000 premium brand TV after 2 years of light use is appalling. It would have been fine if Sony customer service made any attempt to appease the situation but to charge over $150 for just the assessment and then parts and labor on top of that is disgraceful. A quick search online shows that this far from an isolated incident with this product but Sony refuse to acknowledge it. The telltale sign was when dropping it to our local repairer for an assessment, the two customers in front of us were doing the exact same thing with TVs very similar in model and age, and lined up along the entrance way were 4 more Bravia models that were dropped there that week.

Unfortunately I've now lost all confidence in Sony products and will be going back to Samsung as our old LCD is still going strong after 9 years. I hope Sony has worked to rectify the problems with the W800C series but not addressing this problem with respect has in my eyes, tarnished a brand which I had always held in high regard.

Breathtakingly Mediocre – The picture is good, the sound is acceptable, but there's nothing smart about this TV. The YouTube app stutters and hiccups (despite a strong WiFi signal and a super-fast NBN connection), the ABC iView app stopped working sometime last year and hasn't worked since, and the media player can't play half the formats that I give it. Every press… Read more

of the remote control incurs an annoying delay, and some features are virtually unusable due to their lagginess. Even basic channel changing can be incredibly frustrating due to the device's lack of responsiveness. My brother-in-law has a cheaper LG TV that is 3 years older than this and every interaction with it is instantaneous. How Sony gets away with releasing products built on such an inferior platform is beyond me.

My advice: buy a cheap basic TV and use a Chromecast/Roku/Apple TV to get actual content onto it.

A great Sony TV – I've had this TV for about 4 months and can say I'm very happy with it. I was never fully happy with previous LED TV's I've owned from LG and Samsung, the colours and picture quality (for me) where never quite right and I could never adjust them to how I liked it. This Sony, while straight out of the box can produce a great picture, after a few… Read more

adjustments of picture settings, can produce a natural and very enjoyable picture quality, colour and blacks are very good, even with a standard def Foxtel signal. The sound quality after a few adjustments can also be OK given the size of the speakers but of course an external amp and larger speakers or a sound bar is the way to go. I also like the minumal matt finish bezel frame and the stand is very unobtrusive. The remote is not too bad given the price of the unit, the TV doesn't come with a full printed instruction manual so you have to use the built in menu which can be a bit involved as some features a bit hard to find, I don't use any of smart TV features such as the Sony Apps etc as I just want great picture quality for free to air, Foxtel, DVD and Apple TV. Overall recommended.

CHOICES – Ticks most boxes for basic users.Totally disappointed with Store that sold me the set-- told them it was wall mount and would there a bracket problem-- played dumb-since found out SONY ONLY TV NOT COMPATABLE TO OTHER WALL BRACKETS. Sony brackets flimsy and dont feel secure. Next time i buy one compatable to universal brackets.

I will never buy a Sony product again – Picture quality is average, sound quality is terrible, smart functions are laggy and broken, media server constantly locks up and won't play certain files download from the internet (built in copy protection of some kind), 3D has bad ghosting, USB ports are inconveniently located and the EPG is a mess. Bluetooth Is crippled (deliberately) and… Read more

will not pair with any Bluetooth headphones or most other Bluetooth devices. Sony customer service is non existent, the worst I have ever encountered. I regret purchasing this television as well as other Sony products I own and I will never purchase Sony again.

Brilliant tv, value for money – i only paid sub $850 for this at Costco recently. even came with it's own wall mount (the stand turns into a wall mount) so didn't even need to buy extra wall mount. picture is a lot clearer than my samsung plasma from 2yrs ago. Had mine for 1-2 weeks so far. the navigation of the remote is poor, but i haven't seen a tv with good navigation. i still use my beyonwiz dp p2 to watch TV bc it's a million times faster

Good overall but some nagging issues (no TV is perfect!) – I tend to agree with all reviews here (even the 1 star). The TV looks great and works well. The picture is good (I prefer plasma to LCD but Panasonic stopped making the best plasma TVs) but you may find better picture depending if you like the way-too-vivid-and-raw picture quality from the likes of LG or Samsung. There can be the problem of lag… Read more

when images move too fast on the screen, this is so noticeable on all LCD (not an issue at all on Plasmas or old CRTs).

What annoys me is that the remote is not good, main nav buttons are too close or not well laid out, the sound and channel are right at the bottom (most used buttons should be in the middle, how often do u use the keypad?)

The ABC iView app is different to other TV in that is specific to Sony and is absolutely bad. all you see is tiles (with low res thumb nail images and not title under them!!!). So at a glance, u need to know who the hell is in that programme to know what it is or scroll with the cursor on all the thumbanils to find out....

what the hell is that about).

I use a hometheatre so sound is no issue.

I like the style, performance is just ok, the price was right for me $998 :) at the Good Guys.

On noticeable good point is that if you connect your devices via HDMI to the TV and you do not have an HDMI amp, the full digital bitstream can pass through by connecting hte S/P Dif optical cable from the TV to the amp. (I know this may not be of value to many people).

Would I recommend? May be, Try it and compare with a Samsung.

No TV is perfect but there is always a price point ;)

(Bring back Plasmas!)

Great picture - sub-standard sound, inaccessible control panel – This 50 inch Sony TV is elegant and light weight with optional shelf or wall mounting accessories included. Both high and standard definition TV viewing are excellent... sit close and you are in a movie theatre! However, Sony's once renowned audio quality has been sacrificed for appearance. The small, centrally located downcast speakers are… Read more

'thin' and 'raspy' and the voices of TV presenters sound to be coming from their navels.

Standby power is extremely difficult to switch off as the manual control panel is beyond finger reach on the back of the panel.

The 'Football' button on the remote control adds clutter and only suppresses the commentary and boosts the crowd noise. Elegant appearance, excellent picture. Poorly positioned manual control panel. Needs a $200 soundbar to get acceptable TV sound.