Sony 4K Ultra HD TV A80K Series (Refurbished) (Open Box)

VERTICAL LINE Five weeks after delivery, about a week after writing this review, a thin vertical line has developed on the TV about 1/3 from the right side. It's about 2-3 pixels wide and persistent. It changes color depending on the background. Guess this gives me a chance to update the review with Sony's support and service. I'm trying not to be too judgemental, otherwise I'm still very happy with the TV. Though the line is obviously a deal breaker. So far, I've spent 20 minutes chatting with support. I've uploaded photos to their support portal. Now I'm waiting 2-3 business days for their "concierge service" to get back to me. In the mean time, I'm going to start investigating my extended warranty options. PICTURE This is my first OLED TV and I'm pretty much blown away by the picture quality. I'm upgrading from a 50" Samsung LCD, circa 2010, and the difference is astounding. The pureness of the black and saturation of the colors is simply stunning in comparison. I gathered my normally indifferent family members and even they were forced to admit that the differences are staggering. Then, just for giggles, I set up both TVs, side by side, to play "Dune" - I can never go back to a regular LCD. That said, I have no idea how this OLED compares to other OLEDs. But, this is my ignorance speaking, I just can't imagine it being so much better that I could care or even notice the difference. To my untrained eye, this appears to be the pinnacle of television quality. Perhaps in another 13 years, if/when I get a new TV, I'll feel differently. GLARE My main concern was glare. This is not being used in any sort of home theater - just a normal living room with a big bank of windows. I specifically bought this model because it supposedly handled reflections really well - and it does! Whatever coating they use, along with its brightness, make daytime viewing a non-issue. Easily as good as my old Samsung, which actually had a semi-matte screen. GOOGLE TV And here's where my review is deficient. I have no idea how well this TV uses Google TV as I refuse to use it. I have never, and hopefully never will, connected this TV to ethernet or WiFi. I have little desire for Google and/or Sony to track my viewing habits to serve me ads. If you do a little sleuthing, you can find many reports of Google TV putting ads on your home screen. Who wants that? As a Dumb TV, this works perfectly well. There's nothing that forces you to connect it to the internet and setup any sort of account for it to work. MENUS The on screen controls and menu are nice enough. Sometimes, I feel like a few settings are buried too deep. But the overall layout is sensible. I prefer, "less is more" and the TV mostly gets that right with the on screen displays. Pressing "input" brings up a menu that has a little animation and colors. It's not too bad, but all I need is for it to read "HDMI 1" or whatever. REMOTE It feels great in the hand. And it has some nice button action. As I never use them, I wish it didn't have dedicated "Disney," "Prime," "Netflix," and "Youtube" buttons. Wouldn't it be better to have that area have non-permanent, user-assignable buttons? But I'm sure most people will appreciate the convenience. I'll stick with my universal remote. Overall, I'm really pleased with this A80K. I paid $1000 for it feels like a relative bargain. If you too are upgrading from a regular LCD, prepare to be amazed.