Sony BRAVIA KD49XE8396 49" Smart 4K Ultra HD HDR LED TV

I spent a long time researching HDR TVs before purchasing this model and I am really pleased at the result. Set-up was simple, yes you do need to go in and disable Samba if you don’t want it! but that’s pretty straightforward. My setup has a SkyQ and a Sony NT5 soundbar and all work brilliantly together using the ARC ports (so one remote controls everything). I don’t need the Android connection but I will use Netflix so it’s great it’s built in. The picture quality is very good on the HD channels, yet to test the 4K but I don’t expect to be disappointed. Some of the SD stuff looks a little naf if you are close to the screen but I personally don’t really notice it. All in all very pleased and the kids Love it!

For this price I had naively thought this well respected brand would have been properly thought out in the software department. The main issue was with its recording function. With a decent external USB drive connected and formatted it soon became apparent that it was unable to record TV programmes while Sony’s ‘YouView ‘ gimmick was enabled. Turning YouView off allowed recording but disabled the ITV/Channel 4 and Channel 5 player apps (it also changed the channel guide/EPG appearance to a more bland version).I knew this only has one tuner so if recording you cannot watch a different Freeview channel at the same time but it was disappointing that you cannot watch an internet based stream (eg BBC iPlayer) while recording a Freeview programme as these obviously are totally different video sources. On a couple of occasions testing the programme recording timer it cut off the beginning of the recorded programme- this may be because unlike a dedicated PVR, it is unable to adjust to changes in broadcast timings.When you first set this up and it scans all the available Freeview channels there are inevitably loads of unwanted channels clogging up the EPG so I tried to customise this by creating my ‘Favourites’. It turned out that I could not get the EPG to default to this every time the TV was switched on and had to access this manually.I obviously updated the (Android based ) OS and spent a long time online looking at solutions in the Forums and it just seems that this is simply how the TV software is designed.Generally the TV was ok with a nice screen but the software was quite sluggish eg switching between different screens/TV/internet services but I had expected better for this price.Well done ‘District Electricals’ for arranging a straightforward return and refund.

Pros- Excellent picture with vibrant colours- 4K TV with all-important HDR is a significant improvement over Full HD TV - clarity and detail is amazingly good- Thin and mounts well to a wall- Very small border around screen- Stand below centre of screen allows you to place the TV on a small table (unlike TVs with stands at the edges of the screen)- Pure Android operating system is slick and better than previous Sony OS versionsCons- Sound is poor - to be expected though and no different to other similar TVs on the market - you will want a soundbar or speaker system- Blacks not as good as OLED or even the old plasma TVs- OS can be slow at times and therefore frustrating- Samba TV is an annoying app that it tries to force you to use to capture your viewing information and send you ads - it is not obvious how to disable it but if you access the 'privacy / terms and conditions' screen and select 'disable' it should stop annoying you.- Lack of instructions is inexplicable

Good picture does what it says on the tin

Although NOT bought from Amazon, this TV is a pile of crap. As others have discovered although the picture is OK some of the time, SD channel pictures are absolute crap. The way the Android software is layed out makes for a very poor, frustrating and painfully slow experience. Although 4 satellites are provided in the setup menu, only ONE can be tuned in with other satellite channells lumped with the first satellite program list. Again although it is possible to set up 4 FAVOURITES in the menu only 3 can be used. In order to acess these you have to first press the DISCOVER button that then offers a sub menu which contains the new "Favourites". Switching off and then on next ime around you find you've lost the 4th FAVOURITES. There is NO dedicated "FAVOURITE" button on the remote control. ITV in particular are NOT properly identified in local regional stations list. No transponder or channel frequencys are given. Only streams of duplicated "ITV" channel names. NO user manual. The "on-line" version of a user manual is a generic one that does NOT apply to the XE8396 model. A complete waste of £600. My loss. Never again will I buy a Sony TV. Retail shop so called "experts" are clueless and unable to help.