Sony Bravia KD43XE7093BU 43" 4K HDR Smart TV (2017 exclusive model) - Black [Energy Class A+] [Energy Class A]

I managed to get this TV for £549 and let me tell you, that was a steal. Now let me start off this review by saying I'm not one of these guys that gets a new TV every year, and my previous TV was a very early 1080p LG TV. So naturally my first point of comparison would be that 8 year old LG, and boy does this thing blow it out of the water. The picture quality on 4K Netflix is impeccable; I had to make a few adjustments to get the perfect picture (naturally) but watching Chef's table in 4K is truly something special.I cannot speak to the issues people are having with wifi, my connection seems to be fine; although I will say my Virgin Media box does offer me a cable option anyway so wifi is less important to me. Also it should be noted I'm using the top of the range £400 ASUS router on the 200mbps network from VM, so that would be likely why I'm not experiencing issues. The sound leaves a bit to be desired, it's not bad by any means, but after much tweaking and adjusting it certainly doesn't have much 'ooompfff' to it. Again, I'm sure most of you (if upgrading to a 4k TV) will have a sound system/ speaker system that you can use with this screen to compensate.In terms of normal HD (1080p) resolutions this TV looks fantastic! It's still miles above all my regular HD TVs, so I can attest to the up-scaling that this one uses. The only real issue is with standard definition channels, such as ITV +1 or DAVE... These channels (the non HD variants) look terrible on this screen. Let's get this straight, standard definition does look bad in this day and age, but when scaled and stretched on a 55 inch UHD TV they look really bad. So needless to say, if you don't have HD channels, or access to 4K HD online content then this TV is probably pointless.When it comes to gaming the TV performs exactly as you'd expect with a PS4, that is to say, "'dis look gurrrrrd!". Colours are sharp and the inout delay seems non existent. I'm a big PC gamer myself, and whilst it doesn't look as good as on my ASUS monitors, for a console experience this is pretty impressive. It's also nice to have the integrated operation with the PS4 controller, turn on your PS4 with your PS4 controller, and on comes the TV as well, pretty simple but it adds to a seamless experience. It should be added that the screen sharing works well with my Samsung phone, no disconnects and a nice way to quickly put YouTube videos straight to the screen.For those of you looking to pay over £600 for this screen, I'd say it's still worth it. I'd go as far as saying I'd have been happy up to the £799 mark for this TV. At the price I payed this TV is more than adequate. Is it better than a Samsung at £1800 with premium UHD? Probably not. Is it a good mid budget 4K TV? Absolutely! I'd say, if you're big on Netflix with a 4K account or just grabbed a PS4 Pro and have a little money left over, this is the TV for you.

If you're looking for a reasonably priced and stylish (in an clean, understated way) big screen 4K TV with a very fast OS, this should definitely be top of your list!SMART FEATURES AND MEDIA PLAYERIt doesn't have Android (go up the Sony range to the XE8004 and above series for that) but its app selection covers everything the average user will need, with 4K YouTube, Amazon, Netflix and all the UK TV catchup services (plus Freeview Play). If you want more, you can always add external streaming sticks/boxes to one of the HDMI ports. The UK catchup TV apps all work without an aerial, although you'll need an antenna to watch live TV.The built in media player is simple to use and extremely responsive and allows for multiple options to sort files.  Plays every format I've thrown at it, too. PICTURE QUALITYPicture quality is excellent. Natrual, clean and sparkling with depth in a realistic, unprocessed looking way that you just don't see on lesser TVs. HD looks stunning upscaled - brimming with detail, 4K is perfect of course and even SD doesn't look any worse than on a good Full HD TV. The X-Reality PRO chip really brings out the best in bad quality material and makes good quality content look three dimensional.I recommend changing the colour temperature to 'Expert 1' and backing off the brightness slider (it really adjusts the backlight) and turning Live Colour and Black Adjust off to start with, as these settings are by default doing more harm than good to today's sources.Gamma at -1 is a good match for industry standards also (it's equal to gamma 2.2 for the technically minded).If you're not a fan of the soap opera effect (I'm not), kill Motionflow too, or make a custom one with smoothness 1, clearness 0.The 55" and 65" both use VA panels (without local dimming, but provided the Brightness is set at 25 or below, the dark room black levels are excellent for an LCD TV and only the most demanding users could really complain about this TV's pictures, especially for non-HDR sources, which are likely to be the bulk of your viewing).Gamers have no excuses either as the lag is below 18ms in Game mode.The viewing angle is pleasingly wide for a TV with a VA panel too and native motion performance is great, but I'd expect nothing less of Sony.SOUNDYes, the sound is pretty average, but still sounds fine for day to day use and has some weight to it, especially if you disable Auto Surround and any surround effectsbin the 'Sound' menu.If you're a serious viewer it's wise to invest in some kind of separate sound system of course.If you've got an old amp with analogue stereo inputs you're in luck too because this is one of the rare TVs to offer analogue stereo audio out (the headphone jack doubles as this and you change the setting in the 'External Inputs' submenu).You can also add your own external subwoofer to beef up the sound using the headphone jack too (settings in above menu). Unusual and thoughtful feature!INPUTSIt has 3 HDMI (1 ARC compatible for an HDMI soundbar or amp/two of them for 4K sources), Composite in (for legacy analogue devices), Ethernet and dual band WiFi, Freeview tuner, Headphone/analogue audio out, Optical surround out and 3 USB ports.Many people often complain that they can't access picture and sound settings via the Options button on the remote control with Sony TVs when they're using external devices (pressing it brings up the device's Options menu instead because of HDMI-CEC, here named Bravia Sync). This setting can, somewhat confusingly, be changed in the menu so that the TV control always brings up the TVs menus but still allows you to control your connected device's play/pause/rewind, etc using the TV remote control. Just go to Home > Settings > System Settings > Set-up > (scroll all the way down to Bravia Sync Settings) > and set Device Control Keys to NORMAL.REMOTE CONTROLI like Sony's remote control. Like fellow Japanese company Panasonic, they haven't changed it in years or gone for gimmicks that end up making simple commands require on screen submenus (not mentioning any names!), and everything's clearly laid out and it's satisfyingly responsive and the control sits well in your hand. It has shortcuts for the YouTube and Netflix apps which open in a matter of seconds. YouTube can be controlled by an Android phone too (with 'casting' from the phone YouTube app to the TV).PRICE AND CONCLUSIONAt aound £650, this TV is a bargain for 55". The 43" and 49" have IPS panels (which means lower contrast but excellent viewing angles - contrast issue not so bad if you watch in a bright room).For full HDR impact, you need to go up the range to the XE85 or, if your budget allows, the XE9 series which have VA panels, high brightness, 10bit panels and local dimming at every size.If you're not so demanding and want a solid 'all-rounder', this is hard to beat and I'm extremely happy with my new TV!**UPDATE**Having used this TV for a little while now, I have come to the following conclusion.Although the picture quality really is excellent and the sound is much better than expected and good enough for day to day use (for movie night and games I'd always use a separate system), it's a shame that the smart software has taken a step backwards from 2011 and 2014 Sonys (which I also own).In 2011 on even entry level Sony TVs, you could customise the apps in an order you liked. The menus had animations too.In 2014, the TVs media player had a more advanced and better design (It was based on Android although it wasn't an Android TV). In 2011, it also resumed playback on last stopped point from USB files and there used to be a popup that asked if you wanted to start the media player when you inserted a USB device.They really should have an option to reorder and disable apps you don't want on this model.Although this model looks nicely designed and is no worse built than any big brand TV (and is probably going to last forever like most Sony products), older Sony TVs were more solidly built and had nicer designs with metal stands and a shiny or light up logo on the bezel.I'd still recommend the TV (it gets the basics right and is better than rivals at the same price, plus has a VA panel in 55/65"), although it's clear little things have been cut to keep the price very low (when on offer). When it's being discounted, it's the cheapest price Sony 4K TVs have ever been sold at, but I would probably have paid a little more for an all-metal design and more advanced smart patform. Just note that the XE7002 also being sold here is the same TV.Still, it's a five star buy.

Great looking TV - thin profile, and small bezel make it look really slick. Easy to set up - took about 5 mins. Has a proprietary OS however it does include a lot of key apps (netflix, prime video, bbc iplayer, itv etc...). BBC iPlayer includes a 4K ultra hd trial and it looks amazing on this TV - the colours and the clarity are superb. The sound isn't great - but it never will be coming from a TV, however relative to other TVs it's not too bad. I would imagine majority of people will hook this up to speakers/soundbar.Granted - this isn't the best 4K TV Sony do, however for the price this is a bargain. If you want to compare or see other review online the universal model number is KD65XE7003.