Our Verdict
The Sony W850B LED TV is really great. If you are a gamer and are looking for a TV in 60", look no further; this Sony W850B is the one you want. For mixed usage, you can save a few hundred by going for the Samsung H6350 instead, which also has a better smart platform.
- Very low input lag. In conjunction with the almost blur-free Impulse mode, it is the best gaming TV you can buy in this size.
- Great overall picture quality, both in dark and bright rooms.
- Laggy smart TV interface. Also, it only comes with a standard remote, unlike other TVs in this price range.
- Beautiful design, but it is very heavy and thick.
- Limited viewing angle. Like most LED TVs, the colors change when you sit at an angle.
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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 W850B is really heavy - almost twice as much as the W950B. It has the same triangular shape, which is thicker at the bottom, but with a black finish instead of an anodized finish.
The stand is also the same as the W950B. It can be used in two positions, a close one (as pictured), and one as wide as the TV.
The contrast ratio is great, right in the same ballpark as most LED TVs. The color calibration out of the box was also very good.
Unfortunately, our unit had a relatively severe case of clouding. It wasn't noticeable with normal content - only in dark scenes with the lights turned off.
At about 25°, the picture loses contrast and saturation. If you have an L shaped sofa, you will see a difference in color depending on where you sit.
The picture quality is also good in a bright room, as it can get very bright.
When MotionFlow is turned off, the motion blur is very good. The motion blur trail is one of the shortest we have seen for an LED, although it doesn't insert black frames. Also, it features a strobed backlight mode called Impulse, which doesn't increase input lag (see picture in the Q&A section).
In game mode, this Sony has very low input lag. It doesn't get much better than this, and it is great for fast moving games like FPS.
Sony's smart TVs interface is laggy. It takes a while to boot when first opening the TV. Forget plugging a big USB drive in it; it took us 15+ mins to load up the list of files on ours. Check out our review of Sony's 2014 Smart TV platform.
