Sony’s latest mid-range LCD improves in all the right places
4K TV | £999| whf.cm/Sony_X85L
For the past couple of years Sony’s X85 series has represented the cheapest part of the brand’s TV range where you could feel confident of still getting a seriously satisfying level of picture quality. This year’s X85Ls, though, as represented here by the 55in KD-55X85L, have taken a step forward by adding local dimming to their specification, opening up the possibility of a much better contrast and HDR performance.
There are plenty of well specified 55in rivals around that cost less than the KD-55X85L, but the addition of local dimming to a direct LED lighting system, VA panel and Sony’s renowned video processing ensures that it doesn’t look expensive. If you want to step up to the 65in X85L you will need £1299.
The most prominent budget competition for the X85L comes from TCL’s C845K, which offers Mini LED rather than regular LED lighting, massive amounts of brightness, and hundreds of dimming zones for just £849.
Less is more
Sony’s TV design department is all about minimalism these days, and the X85L fits this brief to a tee. There’s a bare minimum of black frame sitting around the 55in screen, and the screen and its frame blend together to form a single elegant flush surface.
Sony thoughtfully allows this screen’s blade-style feet to be attached in a wide or narrow configuration, to suit the width of whatever bit of furniture you want to sit your new TV on – or depending on whether or not you want to place a soundbar under the screen.
The Sony X85L ticks most of the boxes serious AV fans shopping to this budget will be looking for. For starters, it uses a contrast-rich VA type of panel (though this does limit its effective viewing angles) that it illuminates using LEDs positioned directly behind the screen rather than around its edges.
A quick ‘head count’ of the dimming zones of our 55in sample reveals that there appear to be only 24 of them. That really doesn’t sound a lot in relative terms but we have had plenty of first-hand experience over recent years of some TVs delivering better results from limited dimming-zone counts than others manage from high zone counts.
The X85L’s connections comprise four HDMIs, two USBs, one composite video input, satellite and terrestrial tuner inputs, one digital audio output and an eth
