Sony X700D TV Review

 The X700D has the same design as the larger model X750D. It is similar to many of the Sony TVs released in 2015. It looks quite good, with all black plastic borders and a simple metallic stand.   

The stand is a single metallic support. It is very minimalistic, and looks good. It also supports the TV quite well.

Footprint of the 55" TV stand: 24.75" x 9.125"

The back of the TV certainly isn't something to show off if the TV is placed in the middle of a room, but it is very functional and allows easy access to most of the inputs. If wall mounted, some of the inputs may be more difficult to use.

The borders are quite simple and made of plastic. They are quite thin, which is good.

The thickness of the X700D is about average, but it will stick out from the wall a little bit if mounted.

The contrast ratio is bad. This TV has an IPS panel which generally have worse contrast than VA panel, but for the X700D, this is on the lower end. Blacks appear gray when seen in a dark room.

The X700D doesn't support local dimming, but we have included the video for reference.

The SDR peak brightness is average for the Sony X700D. Since it does not have local dimming, all the different sized windows have the same level of brightness and at 450 cd/m² it should be good enough even for a bright room.

The peak brightness is better than average. There is no local dimming, so the result is the same across all window sizes and does not vary over time. The whole screen brightness is enough to deal with glare even in a bright room.

Update 10/20/2016: We have retested the peak brightness with the newest firmware update which enables HDR10.

The Sony X700D has an average gray uniformity. Both sides are a bit darker and there is also a warmer horizontal band in the middle of the screen. Even with this little imperfection, the screen is pretty even and dirty screen effect should not be too much of a problem.

When viewed at an angle, the picture quality remains very similar. For those with wide seating this is a great TV.

Black uniformity is below average for an LED TV and is comparable to its bigger sibling the X750D. Even if there is a lot of clouding on our test picture, the clouding is pretty much even on all the screen and when viewing normal content, the picture quality is still good and you can't really notice it. That being said, we have seen a lot worse on other IPS TVs.

The Sony X700D has a good 10 bit panel and the color reproduction is pretty even. There is not really any obvious banding problem that can be seen on our test picture that could cause a problem when watching movies.

Prior to calibration the results are average. There are some more significant issues in the white balance, especially at 80 - 100 IRE. For most people this should be fine, but a calibration definitely helps to fix some of the more significant issues.

The calibration works well to fix issues with the white balance, by adjusting the 2 and 10 points method. There are still some issues with the colors which could not be fixed, but for most people this is not a problem. You can see our full picture settings here.

Lower quality content such as DVDs are upscaled well. Details are preserved, and the image looks clean.

720p content such as cable TV looks quite good. The image looks sharp.

Blue-rays and other 1080p content looks great. Some moire can be seen in our test picture due to the camera, but details are preserved and the image looks very sharp in person.

Native 4k sources look good.

The X700D doesn't support a wide color gamut. The supported color space is only enough for Rec. 709 content.

The Sony X700D does present some image retention. The retention is pretty strong and you can easily make out the original picture from the test video. Some retention is still present after 10 minutes of recovery, even if it is very faint. The image retention is not permanent, but is definitely lasting longer than on other IPS TVs.

This is one of the worse image retention that we have seen on a LED TV. The image retention will be visible after watching a TV show in 4:3, a letter box movie, a news TV show with a static banner and even sport channel with static scoring banner. Note that the image retention will fade completely with time.

Deals quite well with reflections. Semi gloss finish diffuses direct reflections on the screen, but works quite well to reduce their intensity. For an average room this is a good result and should not be a problem.

This TV does not support any 3D features.

The response time is great, and results in very little motion blur following the logo. Some slight overshoot is visible as a lighter trail following. The backlight does not flicker on this set.

The X700D is able to flicker the backlight by increasing the 'Clearness' slider. This helps to clear up motion blur caused by eye tracking.

Watching movies from a 24fps source such as a Blu-ray player is smooth. Those that are sensitive to judder will notice it when watching movies over a 60fps source such as cable TV, or a home theater PC.

Unlike the larger size X750D, the X700D has a 60Hz panel. It is only able to interpolate 30fps content. Those who like a strong soap opera effect will not be able to achieve it.

The 1080p input lag is quite low and is the same as the X750D, which is great. For most people, this will not be noticeable when playing game. To get the lowest input lag, set the picture mode to 'Game or 'Graphics'. The input lag stays low even in 4k.

Update 10/20/2016: We have retested the input lag with the newest firmware update which enables HDR10.

Like the Sony X750D, the X700D can display Chroma 4:4:4 at 4k @ 60Hz only on the HDMI port 2 and 3 and you need to switch the 'HDMI signal format' to 'Enhanced format'. When the picture mode is set to 'Graphics' or 'Game' the input lag is 31.4ms.

The TV doesn't support HDR10 at time of the review, but is planned to support it in the future with a firmware update.

Update 10/20/2016: The review has been updated with the newest firmware which enables HDR10.

Decent performance. Frequency response and maximum loudness are above average, however pumping and compression will be present under heavier loads, and the TV doesn't produce a lot of bass either.

Poor distortion performance. The amount of harmonic distortion at 75dB and 85dB are low. There was audible aliasing present even at 85dB. However, aliasing starts to creep in at volumes louder than 85dB. At 100dB there's a dramatic jump in the harmonic distortion, which is typical of most Sony TVs. However, these artifacts will be less audible in real-life situations.

The Google Play Store provides access to many Android apps, and there is also support for Sony's PlayStation Now for even more apps and games. All of the major apps such as Netflix, Amazon Video, YouTube, HBO Now and Showtime are available.

The X700D includes the latest Android TV version (6.0.1 Marshmallow). There is a huge variety of content available, due to access to the Google Play Store. It is very stable and works well. The home screen is a bit confusing to navigate though. After turning on the TV it does take a while to load, but after a few minutes this is not an issue. There are 3 USB ports on the TV, and the Android OS is able to play content directly off USB flash drives.

While no ads appear on this TV, apps and featured content are shown on the main page.

The controls are located behind the left side of the TV. They provide basic functionality, but may be difficult to access if wall mounted.

The remote is exactly the same as the one found with the larger X750D. It has the familiar Sony layout, but lacks the voice control feature found on higher end models such as the X800D.

• Manuals
• Remote
• Batteries
• IR blaster