Sony 4K X90CL Series TV (2023) (Refurbished) (Open Box)

I should have known a Google tv would be creepily intrusive and buggy. After hanging the tv, I went through the basic set up process, skipping the option to sign into a Google account, because, why? The process still took several minutes, and in the end I ended up with two different TV inputs, one of which didn’t work and was somehow the default. I only have one tv - the set up process actually asks you to set up tv twice. At one point it even told me to switch my HDMI input too. I thought this was a nice tip - “use this input for better quality because when you set this up the first time it wasn’t optimal” - but little did I know it was trying to configure a second tv input. Which, why did it recognize my tv signal and then ask me to set up another input WITH THE SAME SIGNAL? I’m one of those who read all instructions, and no where did it make it clear what was happening. The setup process is long and not totally clear. So after the setup, the tv watching interface is actually nice. It tried to get the remote to sync with my cable box, but that didn’t work, no biggie. The basic user interface is nice. You can switch inputs while still watching tv. Navigating and downloading apps is simple. The remote control feels good in your hand and seems simple enough. It has 2 “settings” buttons…one with a gear icon and one with a wrench icon, that do different things, go figure. There is a pause/play button, but no fast forward/rewind, so I had a hard time navigating to my favorite spot in Avatar 2. The remote has pre-set buttons for Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, YouTube, crunchyroll, and Bravia core. These are the only apps you can use without signing into a Google account, unfortunately. So in order to download Max and Paramount+, I started the process to sign into a Google account. This experience was amazingly bad. There was no option to use a QR code or other device to sign in - I had to type my email into the tv using the remote. And then the worst part - it hit me with a CAPTCHA. Except you can’t use the remote control to choose all the pictures with traffic lights or motorcycles. The remote control literally does nothing on the CAPTCHA screen. At this point I was blocked. Couldn’t sign into my account, couldn’t back out of the screen, couldn’t get past the CAPTCHA. Turning the tv off and on brought me right back there. How could this process get past the QA team? So I found instructions online to factory reset the tv. This time I went through and signed into my Google account in the initial setup process. This time was much smoother with no QR code. Tip: if you intend to use the smart features of this tv, sign into Google upfront. I haven’t yet mentioned the number of opt-out options there are going through set up. You have to agree to various privacy policies and 3rd party agreements. Anyone remember the old days of downloading shareware and having to click “I don’t accept” to all the bloat-ware that would try to be installed? That’s what I was reminded of. There are at least 6 different things I had to say no to. And of course the tv doesn’t really give you hints on what is required or optional, from Sony or from Google or another 3rd party. It was like walking through a row of carnival barkers. I’ve bought several other tvs recently (two last Christmas) that were not Google tvs, and those experiences bore no resemblance to this privacy-stealing circus. But wait, you still can’t use all the features - like the “power on” experience - unless you also register the tv using an email. I can’t believe a tv this expensive requires so much data from you. Let’s talk about the picture quality. It’s crisp and has dark darks. It doesn’t have any banding or compression artifacts (you know, those fuzzy spots in dark scenes) like I did on my last tv. It is quite dim by default, even with eco-mode turned off, but changing the image mode to “vibrant” brightened everything up. The annoying frame interpolation mode is on by default, but what tv doesn’t do that nowadays. At least it’s a better quality interpolation. The back of the tv is nicely designed, with inputs and power plug located on the edges of the tv, where they’re easy to reach while the tv is still mounted. The VESA holes are kind of low, which means the tv sits higher than you’d expect when mounting. You might want to get very long mounting brackets so you have more adjustment options. The processor on the tv is fast too. It starts up pretty quickly, and navigating menus or starting/switching apps is responsive and smooth. Sound quality is fine, nothing to write home about. So to summarize, the basic things you’d watch this tv for are good, but not amazing. The rest of the experience made me go into a green Hulk rage. I would not recommend spending $1300 on this tv. You can get just as nice picture quality without the hassle for much less. You’d think a Google subsidy would actually make this tv cheaper. I won’t get another Google tv, but this one I think should only be in the $700 range.