The Sony X77L is an entry-level 4k model in Sony's 2023 lineup. It sits above the Sony X75L and below the Sony X80L, which aren't widely available. As an entry-level model, it offers very few extra features, but it's powered by Sony's 4k Processor X1, which is designed to deliver the same great Sony picture processing you've come to expect from a Sony TV. It uses an ADS panel and lacks local dimming, so it targets users looking for a basic TV for an extra room or a moderately lit living room.
Our Verdict
The Sony X77L TV is a mediocre TV overall. It's decent for watching shows or sports during the day or if you have a wide seating arrangement. Unfortunately, it can handle some glare, but it's not well-suited for a bright room. It's okay for gaming overall, with low input lag and an alright response time, but it doesn't look good in a dark room due to its low contrast ratio. This also makes it a poor choice for watching movies, as dark scenes look horrible and blacks are washed out. It supports HDR, but this adds almost nothing, as it can't get bright enough to bring out bright highlights, and it can't display a wide color gamut.
- Good accuracy before calibration.
- Image remains consistent at an angle.
- Flicker-free at all brightness levels.
- Terrible contrast and no local dimming.
- Low peak brightness.
- Poor low-quality content smoothing.
The Sony X77L is decent for watching shows in a bright room. It has a wide viewing angle, which is great if you have a wide seating arrangement, as the image remains consistent when viewed from the sides. It has okay peak brightness and decent reflection handling, so it can handle some glare, but it's not good for a bright room. It upscales low-resolution content well but can't smooth out artifacts from low-quality sources, like most streaming services.
- Good accuracy before calibration.
- Image remains consistent at an angle.
- Flicker-free at all brightness levels.
- Low peak brightness.
- Poor low-quality content smoothing.
The Sony X77L TV is decent overall for watching sports in a bright room. It has a wide viewing angle, making it a good choice for a wide seating arrangement, as the image remains consistent when viewed from the sides. It has just decent reflection handling and okay peak brightness, so it's best suited for a moderately-lit room, as it can't handle a lot of glare. It has okay motion handling and good gray uniformity, so the center of the screen where most of the action is is clear, and fast action is easy to make out for the most part.
- Good accuracy before calibration.
- Image remains consistent at an angle.
- Good uniformity.
- Flicker-free at all brightness levels.
- Low peak brightness.
- Poor low-quality content smoothing.
The Sony X77L is okay for gaming. It has low input lag, ensuring a responsive gaming experience, and its response time is okay, with just a bit of blur behind fast-moving objects. On the other hand, it's limited to a 60Hz refresh rate and doesn't support any advanced gaming features like VRR. It has an auto low latency mode (ALLM), but for some strange reason, Sony has decided to only support this feature on one HDMI input, which is also the eARC port, so it's not very useful.
- Good accuracy before calibration.
- Low input lag in the 'Game' Picture Mode.
- Flicker-free at all brightness levels.
- Low peak brightness.
- Limited to a 60Hz refresh rate and no VRR.
- Auto low latency mode (ALLM) only supported on one port.
The Sony X77L is a poor choice for watching movies in a dark room. It's accurate even without calibration and tracks the content creator's intent well, but that's all it has going for it. The TV's contrast ratio is very low, so blacks appear raised and washed out, and there's no local dimming to improve dark scene performance. It also can't remove judder from any source nor smooth out artifacts from low-quality content very well.
- Good accuracy before calibration.
- Excellent PQ EOTF tracking.
- Flicker-free at all brightness levels.
- Terrible contrast and no local dimming.
- Low peak brightness.
- Can't remove judder from any source.
- Can't display a wide color gamut.
- Poor low-quality content smoothing.
The Sony X77L is just okay for gaming in HDR. It has low input lag, ensuring a smooth responsive gaming experience. It also has an okay response time, so motion is fairly clear, with little blur behind fast-moving objects. On the other hand, HDR adds almost nothing to this TV, as it has a very low contrast ratio, low peak brightness, and no local dimming to improve its dynamic range. It can't display a wide color gamut, either, and overall, HDR looks flat and dull.
- Good accuracy before calibration.
- Low input lag in the 'Game' Picture Mode.
- Excellent PQ EOTF tracking.
- Flicker-free at all brightness levels.
- Terrible contrast and no local dimming.
- Low peak brightness.
- Can't display a wide color gamut.
- Limited to a 60Hz refresh rate and no VRR.
- Auto low latency mode (ALLM) only supported on one port.
The Sony X77L isn't suitable as a desktop PC monitor, but it's okay for PC gaming. It has low input lag in the 'Game' Picture Mode, ensuring a responsive gaming experience. It displays chroma 4:4:4 properly in the 'Graphics' Picture Mode, but sadly, switching to this picture mode increases the input lag considerably, and mouse movements feel sluggish. This means that on the desktop, you have to choose between responsive inputs or clear text; you can't have both.
- Good accuracy before calibration.
- Low input lag in the 'Game' Picture Mode.
- Good uniformity.
- Flicker-free at all brightness levels.
- Low peak brightness.
- High input lag in the 'Graphics' Picture Mode.
- Poor low-quality content smoothing.
- Limited to a 60Hz refresh rate and no VRR.
- Auto low latency mode (ALLM) only supported on one port.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We bought and tested the 65-inch Sony X77L, and these results are also valid for the 43-, 55-, 75, and 85-inch sizes. The 50-inch model most likely uses a VA panel, and as such has much higher contrast and a worse viewing angle, but we don't know for sure, as there are 50-inch ADS panels available as well. This TV is a variant of the Sony X75L, which isn't widely available but performs about the same.
There's also a warehouse variant of this TV, the Sony X77CL, which is available in a 65- and 75-inch size at the time of this review. There's no difference at all between the Costco and regular versions of this TV, but the Costco version comes with a 3-year warranty instead of the standard 1-year warranty.
| Size | Model Number | Costco Model |
|---|---|---|
| 43" | KD-43X77L | - |
| 50" | KD-50X77L | - |
| 55" | KD-55X77L | - |
| 65" | KD-65X77L | KD-65X77CL |
| 75" | KD-75X77L | KD-75X77CL |
| 85" | KD-85X77L | - |
Our unit was manufactured in July 2023; you can see the label here.
Popular TV Comparisons
The Sony X77L is a disappointing TV with poor picture quality, and you shouldn't buy it. Despite Sony's excellent picture processing, it doesn't look very good, and multiple strange quirks about this TV make it unusable for many users. There are much better options available for less from competing brands, like the Hisense A6/A65K.
See our recommendations for the best budget TVs, the best TVs under $1,000, and the best smart TVs.
The Sony BRAVIA 3 is better than the Sony X77L/X77CL. The BRAVIA 3 is the brighter of the two, especially in SDR, and has a much wider color gamut, giving it a more impactful viewing experience. Finally, the newer BRAVIA 3 also has better image processing, so it outpaces the X77L on almost every metric.
The Sony X90L/X90CL is far better than the Sony X77L/X77CL. The X90L is far brighter in HDR and SDR, with much better contrast. It also has a wider color gamut and better image processing, so everything pops more on it than on the cheaper X77L. The X90L is also the much better choice for gaming due to its 4k @ 120Hz support and wide VRR range, while the X77L is limited to 60Hz with no VRR.
The Sony X85K is better than the Sony X77L/X77CL. The X85K has HDMI 2.1 bandwidth for up to 4k @ 120Hz and supports VRR, so it's a much better option to pair with modern gaming consoles. The X85K has better contrast for deeper blacks and a faster response time for less blur behind quick motion. The X85K is also a brighter TV, so it can handle more glare in a bright room with SDR content, and highlights pop more in HDR content. Finally, the X85K supports a wide color gamut and has better color volume for more vibrant and lifelike colors.
The Sony X77L/X77CL is a bit worse than the Sony X75K. The X77L has worse contrast, lower peak brightness, and worse gradient handling. It also has a slower response time, especially in shadow details, resulting in more noticeable black smear in dark areas of the screen.
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 use 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
Older Test Bench: This product has been tested using an older TV test methodology, before a major update. Some of the test results below aren't directly comparable with other TVs. Learn more
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