Our Verdict
The Sony W850C LED TV is a good TV, but not a great one. Last year's W850B was a better gaming TV, with less motion blur and input lag. The contrast ratio and black uniformity is great, so it is a good choice for movies or TV shows.
- Great blacks and native contrast ratio.
- Good motion controls.
- Limited viewing angle.
- More motion blur and input lag than average, which is not ideal for gaming.
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We buy and test dozens of TVs yearly, taking an objective, data-driven approach to deliver results you can trust. Our testing process is complex, with hundreds of individual tests that take over a week to complete. Most of our tests are done with specially designed test patterns that mimic real content, but we also use the same sources you have at home to ensure our results match the real-world experience. We use two main tools for our testing: a Colorimetry Research CR-100 colorimeter and a CR-250 spectroradiometer.
Test Results
The stand of our Sony KDL65W850C has a footprint of 24" by 10.5", which is relatively small for a 65" TV. It wobbles a little bit back and forth though.
The Sony W850C has a sleek design, with thin borders. However, the TV is a bit thick and heavy.
The contrast ratio is 4867:1, which is great, and means the blacks are deep.
Our unit has a few visible vertical bands across the screen, as well as darker edges.
At a wide viewing angle, the colors are not the same as in front. The blacks are not as good, either. The picture quality is better when you sit directly in-axis.
Update 01/06/2017: We have changed the methodology of testing. Since this is an old TV which we don't have anymore, we extrapolated the results from 2016 TVs.
The black uniformity is great. There is a slight clouding spot in the top left quadrant, but it wasn't noticeable with normal content.
It reflects slightly more light than average, but it doesn't have the rainbow glare that most other TVs do.
The maximum brightness is a bit below average. Nothing to worry about with one or two windows, but it isn't the best choice for more than that.
We changed our test for motion blur. The score is now only based on the response time and overshoot of the pixel transitions. We test 12 different transitions. Click the response time number to see all the data and graphs. We retested all our 2015 reviews with this new methodology. We also capture how the backlight handles different luminosity settings. We will update our motion blur article in a few days to explain how all of this works, and how it translates into practical application.
The Sony W850C has more motion blur than average. The trail length for dark to bright transitions is a lot longer than bright to dark. At least it has very good backlight control. See here for details on how the 'Clearness' setting affects the clarity of movements via the backlight.
Set 'Motionflow' to 'True Cinema' to enable 24p playback without judder, even over 60p.
The input lag under game mode is 36.2ms, which isn't bad, but not great. The input lag with motion interpolation is really low at 50.5ms, which is definitely playable. So it is a good choice if you want your 30 fps console game look like a 120 fps game.
To get chroma 4:4:4, set the picture mode to 'Game' or 'Graphics'.
This TV gets loud. Good frequency response at moderate levels, but at higher volumes the frequency response suffers and pumping may be present. Low-end cut off is not very good.
Very clean sound at lower volumes, but like other Sony TVs, there's a big jump in distortion level when the TV is pushed hard.
The current selection of apps on Sony's Android TV is a bit limited, but most of the main ones are there, and the Google Cast functionality is a nice touch.
See our full review of the smart features.
