In 2022, the company has launched Sony X75K in the TV segment, with TVs available in sizes ranging from 43 inches to 65 inches. Today I am going to review the 43 inch variant of this series which is Sony KD-43X75K Ultra-HD LED Smart TV, Its price is Rs 53,190, which is listed on Sony’s own online store. Companies like Xiaomi and Realme provide 43-inch 4K TVs in the range of up to Rs 30,000, compared to them, the price of this Sony TV seems very high.
However, this new TV from Sony comes with the promise of better performance for its price and has been positioned as a premium option for those customers who want to go a little above the budget TV range. Is the Sony KD-43X75K premium enough? Find out in this review.
Sony KD-43X75K Ultra-HD Android TV design and specifications
Sony X75K is the most affordable TV in the company’s Ultra HD TV series. But the 43X75K is not as affordable as it has been made out to be. Priced at Rs 53,910, it is quite expensive as compared to other companies and for its 65 inch size, the price reaches up to Rs 1 lakh. All TVs in the company’s X75K range come with Ultra-HD (3840×2160 pixels) LED LCD displays with support for High Dynamic Range, HLG and HDR10 formats.
When it comes to design, the Sony KD-43X75K TV looks a bit classier than the 43 inch TVs you usually find. The credit for this goes to the beautiful finish of the thin borders around the screen. Sony logo is given in the front. The TV is as thick as you would expect from an LED TV of this size. The TV has a slight slope at the bottom, due to which the bottom-firing speakers are slightly visible.
The TV can be table mounted or wall mounted, although only a table mount stand is available in the box. You can use any VESA compatible wall mount to mount it on the wall. Sony offers free technician service for installation, if you want a wall mount, it is provided by the company through a technician.
One set of ports and sockets are placed at the back of the TV while the other is placed on the left side of the screen. Ports at the back include an HDMI port (with ARC), video-in socket, Ethernet port for wired connectivity, digital audio out (Toslink) port, and power socket.
Wall mounting the TV makes accessing all of these ports very difficult, which can cause cables and plugs to bend to the point of damage. Before mounting on the wall, you must make sure that all these connections are properly made.
For side-facing connectivity, two HDMI ports, two USB Type-A ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and an antenna socket have been provided. They’re all easy to access, but I was disappointed that none of the HDMI ports support Audio Return Channel (ARC). However, all HDMI ports support the latest HDCP 2.3 standard.
Talking about its other key specifications, it has a refresh rate of 50Hz, Sony Motionflow XR200 interpolation algorithm, and 16GB inbuilt storage for apps and app data. The TV has a 20W bottom firing, open baffle speaker system with support for Dolby audio. Wireless connectivity includes Bluetooth 5 and dual band Wi-Fi connectivity and wired Ethernet connectivity.
Sony KD-43X75K Ultra-HD Android TV remote and features
The company ships a large, fully functional remote with the TV. It has infrared emitter and Bluetooth connectivity. When connected via Bluetooth, its infrared emitter is used only to turn the TV on or off. Apart from this, all other functions like voice commands from the microphone on the remote, etc. also use Bluetooth connectivity. For that you do not have to point the remote towards the TV.
The number pad, direction pad, back and home buttons are provided for navigation on the remote. Apart from this, hot keys have been given for playback control, and Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, and YouTube Music. A dedicated button has also been given to activate Google Assistant. Apart from this, an information button has also been given in it, which gives information about the resolution of streaming content, connection speed and many more things. Remote looks good, works great.
The Sony KD-43X75K includes built-in Google Chromecast, Sony X1 4K processor, Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and AirPlay 2, and comes equipped with HDMI CEC support for controlling connected devices. You can also use the TV’s Bluetooth connectivity for wireless headphones and speakers.
All these features work as expected, but do note here that for Apple devices you will need a separate app to make wireless connectivity to the TV. I used AirScreen for Android TV available on the Google Play store and it worked well.
Sony KD-43X75K Ultra-HD Android TV software and interface
The Google TV user interface was launched in 2020 alongside Google TV with Chromecast. But most of the TV manufactures are preferring to go with the already tried and tested Android TV interface. Sony adopted the new user interface long ago and the KD-43X75K runs Android TV 11 with Google TV UI on top. It comes with the Google Play Store for Android TV, with over 5,000 apps designed and optimized to be used on the TV. Apart from this, Google Assistant and Chromecast are also easily accessible.
However, the Google TV UI looks better than stock Android, and has some useful features. For example, Google Play Movies is no longer available on the app but is provided in the user interface. This means you can search, rent or buy movies and TV shows, all right from the UI.
It also features Rotten Tomatoes approved ratings for searches and recommendations for several titles. The system recommends movies and TV shows from multiple streaming services such as Disney+ Hotstar, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video and Voot. Overall, the Google TV UI is a fresh and needed change for Android TV, and Sony’s rapid adoption of it gives it a head start to its competitors. Especially when you are more into watching streaming content. Everything worked fine for me, and I didn’t find any software issues while using the TV.
Sony KD-43X75K Ultra-HD Android TV performance
Many well-known brands in India offer 43-inch Ultra HD TVs for less than Rs 30,000. So the Sony KD-43X75K has to offer something different from the rest, which it does. The TV offers good design, useful and premium features and great software experience which takes it a notch above the rest. The most tested parameter among these is the performance… in which this TV of Sony does not miss even a bit.
Support for Dolby Vision and HDR10+ in an affordable TV doesn’t sound extraordinary anymore, but this Sony TV only comes with support for HLG and HDR10, which may disappoint you. Nevertheless, with the help of picture calibration and superior HDR, it also fulfills this shortcoming to a great extent.
The brightness doesn’t stand out much with HDR content on the TV, but the format does make the colors of the content appear more vivid. For example, Our Great National Parks and Bulls*t The Game Show on Netflix looked great in a dark or dimly lit room. Even in ambient light, the focus from the TV side was not much diverted.
The colors of nature and the bright lights of game shows looked great on TV. Skin tone looked great. Similarly, the shade of blue and green in the forest was emerging with precision. The Sony KD-43X75K produces sharp pictures with decent colors and clean motion. Compared to other budget TVs with similar specifications of the same size, this Sony TV was able to give a more sharp and detailed picture.
This quality was shown well in the dark scenes of Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Motion on the TV also looks great, which is possible because of its motion interpolation. The action scenes of the Venom sequel were playing very smoothly. Even in the bright light of the day, there was no significant effect on the TV screen. However, the screen does not look so reflective when there is direct sunlight in the room. Black levels were pretty decent for an LED TV. Apart from this, the contrast level was also being set well.
The 43-inch TV is best suited for close-up viewing, but the small size also has an advantage that even low-resolution content looks sharp and full of details like 4K. The sharpness, clean motion and good color levels of this Sony TV look great in Full HD content. Scenes from Kim’s Convenience and Pacific Rim looked decent despite the low resolution.
Sound quality on the Sony KD-43X75K is mediocre, but it should sound adequate even if you don’t use a sound bar or speaker system. Sound is good at high volumes, dialogues are clear and the background score is decent. But even at high volume the TV does not make that loud sound. Overall, its sound is enough to enjoy watching TV in the bedroom late at night.
I ran into some issues with 5GHz Wi-Fi connectivity. At times the TV was unable to connect with my home router’s 5GHz band even though it was only a few meters away from the TV. In such a situation, there was a hindrance in streaming high resolution content. It showed stable connectivity after switching to the 2.4GHz band.
Verdict
There are many main stream Ultra HD 43 inch TVs available in today’s era. Among them, this Sony TV stands out for its performance. The TV’s functional design, decent specifications and software, HDR performance and general ability to play all kinds of content makes it one of the TVs I enjoyed reviewing. If we look at some of the shortcomings of the TV, then it becomes difficult to justify its price tag.
Above 50 thousand rupees Sony KD-43X75K TV is costlier by about 20 thousand rupees than others. If you want to buy it as a secondary TV, then spending so much money does not seem like a wise thing to do. If you want to use it as a primary TV, and you only want a TV of this size, then you can definitely buy it.
55-inch TVs like the Mi TV 5X are available for less than this, so the Sony is only for those who want decent performance and can pay the premium price for the 43-inch. It is way ahead of other market competitors of its size and will not disappoint the buyer if the buyer does not mind the price.