Introduction and features
While the 65S8505C is a curved TV, there are times where you forget that it is.
This is because it employs a markedly gentler degree of curvature than rival sets from Samsung and Panasonic, based on Sony's belief that a shallower curve has a less disruptive impact on the picture's geometry.
Especially during off-axis viewing.
It's also likely that the gentler curve will cause less dramatic distortions of any onscreen reflections than more steeply curved screens.
It has to be said that the less dramatic curve doesn't deliver quite such a futuristic aesthetic impact as its more curvacious rivals. And I guess it perhaps raises the question of whether a screen so subtly curved is actually worth curving at all.
Personally, though, I don't mind the more gentle curve, chiefly because you don' t have to sit in such a precise position to enjoy it.
Flying without wings
As with Sony's flat 8505 TVs, the 65S8505C doesn't boast the huge speaker-bearing 'wings' sported by the brand's 93/94 TVs, like the beautiful Sony KD-75X9405C. In fact, with its thin frame and 'barely there' stand its physical impact on your living room - for better or for worse - is startlingly minimal for a TV with a 65-inch screen.
Though of course, the downside to this is that it won't give you the same sensational audio thrills that the X93 and X94 models do.
The 65S8505C's curved screen sports a native 4K UHD pixel count of 3840x2160. But as we're increasingly coming to expect from flagship TVs, this native 4K resolution is actually just part of the picture quality story.
The 65S8505C also gives us the third generation of Sony's Triluminos technology, designed to deliver a more expansive but also more subtle colour palette.
This latest take on the technology no longer uses the Quantum dot approach of the original Triluminos, but it's reckoned to be capable of delivering 150 times as many colour tones as last year's Triluminos system.
Powerful processing
This is chiefly down to the introduction of a new Sony-designed X1 picture processing chipset capable of handling far more colour address points than the previous X-Reality Pro system.
The X1 chipset isn't just about colour, though; its tentacles also extend into areas like detail resolution, noise reduction (which works on a much more local and 'intelligent' level than before), the 65S8505C's edge-lit backlight system, shadow detail reproduction and motion clarity.
We've already seen the X1 system work exceptionally well on previous Sony TVs this year, so hopefully it will continue its run of form on this 65-inch model.
The latest panel design Sony has used in the 65S8505C is reckoned to be capable of delivering much more brightness than previous generations of Sony 4K TVs. As well as giving images generally more punch, this extra brightness should prove handy in realising the set's high dynamic range ambitions once these have been unlocked by a promised firmware update.
All about the Android
As well as revamping its picture engine for 2015, Sony has given its smart TV interface a massive overhaul. This sees the previous home-grown Sony Entertainment Network (SEN) platform being replaced by Google's latest stab at introducing an Android TV platform.
It's easy to understand the appeal of integrating Android into a TV. After all, it means that TV will have access to the vast Android app development community, leading to a potentially limitless source of apps for populating the TV's online world.
There are already hundreds of apps on Sony's Android TV platform, thrashing the amount of apps you used to get via SEN.
These apps are presented in a new 'shelf'-based interface, and include the 4K Ultra HD streaming versions of Amazon and Netflix. They don't, though, include any of the usual UK catch-up apps aside from the BBC iPlayer.
The missing UK-centric catch-up stuff is supposed to have been introduced via a YouView firmware upgrade by the summer, but it has been recently announced that the YouView update will come to the Android TV range on November 4 this year.
And yes, this TV will be due the upgrade.
Final features of the 65S8505C worth pointing out are the presence among of its connections of four HDMIs and three USBs; support for 3D using the active system (though no free glasses are provided); Bluetooth/NFC wireless streaming from your smart devices; and the ability to stream files from networked, DLNA-enabled computers and storage drives.
Thanks to Android TV you can even stream to the TV using the Googlecast system without needing the usual external dongle. Neat.
Picture Performance
For the majority of your viewing time the 65S8505C's pictures are up there with the best the TV world has to offer right now. But Sony's curved set also feels a little flatter during dark scenes than I might have hoped based on my experience with some of Sony's 2014 TVs.
First impressions, though, truly are dazzling.
The extra brightness Sony has been able to achieve combines with the extreme vibrancy and subtlety of the Triluminos colour technology to deliver a gorgeously dynamic but also exquisitely nuanced and expressive colour palette. It's the sort of thing that would have your eyes sighing with pleasure...if they were capable of such a thing.
The precision and range of the 65S8505C's colour performance also helps the set deliver outstanding impact from its native 4K pixel count. Detail levels from native 4K/UHD content look nothing short of incredible, especially given the large size of screen they're appearing on, maximising the return on the considerable investment you've made in the next generation of TV picture resolution.
Upscaling
Just as impressive, though in a different way, is how well the the 65S8505C upscales HD material to its native 4K curved screen.
The X1 processor proves superb at recognising the type of HD content being received and quickly applying the best picture settings accordingly, resulting in a stellar combination of enhanced detail and sharpness that doesn't suffer the loss of colour naturalism often seen with upscaling engines.
I would recommend, though, that you shift down the Resolution element of the upscaling engine, as this can cause some video noise using the out of the box settings.
More good news concerns the way the outstanding sharpness and detail of the 65S8505C's pictures doesn't reduce during action scenes. This is because the motion processing provided via the X1 chipset is powerful enough to reduce - even remove, if that's your wish - judder and blur without leaving the picture looking processed or affected by unwanted side effects.
Contrast and black level
With the intense brightness and colours to bounce off, it initially looks as if the 65S8505C's black colour reproduction is decent too. Certainly where a dark area appears amid a predominantly bright image the sheer verve of the bright areas creates the impression of good blackness in the dark area.
When I shifted to predominantly dark scenes, though, especially if I was also watching the TV in a dark room, it became apparent that the 65S8505C's black level performance isn't actually as good as I'd initially hoped.
For starters, there's a grey mist hanging over dark scenes that no amount of tinkering with the TV's settings can completely shift. Reducing the backlight a lot helps, but also, of course, leaves the picture looking much less bright and dynamic. Setting the TV's Advanced Contrast Enhancer can reduce the impression of greyness too, but it, too, has a nasty side effect. Namely that it turns off its backlight system during extremely dark shots before switching the lights back on when some bright content re-enters the image.
Flashy distraction
The moment where the backlight turns off is quite noticeable, and the moment when it flicks back on, with a perceptible flash, is REALLY noticeable. Which means, of course, it can distract you from what you're watching.
What's particularly strange about this issue is that Sony has made a point of demonstrating on previous generations of its TVs how it doesn't like the idea of shutting the backlight off, for exactly the reasons now evident on the 65S8505C.
Given that I've seen better black levels and backlight handling on older Sony TVs as well as one or two of its 2015 models (such as the brilliant 75X9405C), it seems as if the combination of higher brightness and the curved screen have forced Sony's engineers to make compromises in a key picture quality area where they've previously excelled.
Something to reflect on
One other issue with the 65S8505C worth noting is that a combination of a rather glassy finish and the curved shape can cause reflections of bright objects in the room to be distorted across more of the screen than would be the case with flat TVs.
While there's room for improvement with its backlight performance, though, the 65S8505C is easily good enough overall to deserve this section of the review to go out on a high.
So...3D
The 65S8505C does a mostly excellent job of bringing the third dimension into your living room, putting its brightness, colour precision and remarkable upscaling and detailing to great use with 3D Blu-rays to create bright, vibrant, depth-rich 3D worlds that feel almost as tangible as real life.
There is occasionally some crosstalk ghosting noise, and you need to use Sony's motion processing on quite a high level to take out the extra judder that starts to creep in with 3D content.
But with the curved screen adding a touch more depth to your 3D experience, this is definitely one of those times when I'd recommend that you invest in some 3D glasses.
Usability, Sound and Value
There are some aspects of the 65S8505C's operating system that work well. The OneFlick remote is quite intuitive, for instance, and I also like Sony's home-grown 'Discover' interface.
Unfortunately, though, the simplicity and focus of this interface just highlights the numerous issues that affect the main Android TV menu system.
The layout of the Android 'shelves' seems almost random, showing no real understanding of the sort of services and features TV (rather than phone) users most want to get to easily. The top 'recommendations' shelf seems too random in its recommendations too, making it feel more like it's suggesting things it wants you to like rather than things you might actually like.
The sheer volume of apps feels overwhelming at times too, as Android currently seems more focused on quantity over quality.
And perhaps worst of all, the implementation of Android on show here seems to cause the TV to run quite sluggishly at times as well as causing a handful of full-on, reboot-the-TV crashes during my testing period.
I'm not saying Android TV doesn't have potential, but it certainly needs to learn how to streamline and focus its approach.
Sound
First the bad news: inevitably the 65S8505 doesn't sound anywhere near as potent as Sony's 93/94 TVs with their large, forward facing speaker arrays.
On the upside, it does manage to overcome the svelte-ness of its frame to deliver a respectably loud, clean, open and detailed sound.
There's not all that much bass to provide a foundation to action scenes, and there's nowhere near as much width to the soundstage as you got with Sony's debut curved TV, 2014's 65S9005C, which used an innovative multi-angle speaker system.
But at least the 65S8505 never tries to push past its speakers limitations to a point where things might start to sound distorted or harsh.
Value
The 65S8505 is £400 cheaper than the rival curved UHD Panasonic 65CR852 - as well as performing better.
And it's a cool £800 cheaper than Samsung's HDR/SUHD UE65JS9000 TV - though Samsung's model is a strong performer with a proven HDR track record.
Overall, while it's not a perfect performer, the 65S8505 still feels like you're getting a lot for your money.
Verdict
For its second generation of curved LCD TVs, Sony has stripped back the design and audio capabilities from those used on its 2014 curved TV debut in a (mostly sensible) bid to hit a much more approachable price point.
The 65-inch TV can hardly be considered a compromise option, though; it's still a native 4K TV, it's still got Triluminos colour technology, it's still got Sony's top-tier picture processing system and it's still equipped with the Android TV smart platform.
We liked
Sony's new processing system combines with the screen's Triluminos technology and 4K resolution to deliver pictures of spectacular detail, colour subtlety and brightness.
The design is attractively minimalistic too, and the introduction of Android TV adds lots more apps than Sony has been able to offer before.
We disliked
Black level response during dark scenes is solid rather than brilliant, and the dynamic black system causes some distracting flashes.
The menus can run sluggishly too, and the Android interface feels unfocussed and cumbersome.
Finally, the curved screen can cause some slightly distorted onscreen reflections - and the relatively shallow curve arguably doesn't contribute much.
Verdict
While a slightly average black level response and some clumsy dynamic contrast controls on the 65S8505C seem a little odd given Sony's previous prowess in such areas, the fact is that for much of the time the 65S8505C's pictures are actually outstandingly good.
Especially if you're looking for a quality 'family TV' rather than a dedicated screen for a home cinema room.
from TechRadar: Technology reviews http://ift.tt/1PFZWkq
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