In all these review quite a lot of focus on Whathifi calls the 'dodgy backlight'... but this is only minor and nothing more than an exaggeration. F.i. the so beloved Samsung edge-LED's are also (very) far from being perfect in this respect, and having a worthless 'laptop' sound. Still it got five stars. The Sony 5500/5800 range has a lot more qualities and features, overclassing any competition. The Bravia engine 3 is without any doubt the best motion engine on the market. No Philips or even Samsung will match up with this technology. Philips is even with new models to my own perception still suffering from viewing angle artifacts, far more than this Sony. This Sony is with the right settings approaching the picture of a professional monitor - such an excellent quality it has. Not too sharp, a little too 'colorized', but that's what the market wants now.  It doesn't fit either in the far too overhyped LED-league, but that's only a problem to consumers making their choice on specs, not on real impressions.

I bought one of these units end of August this year.

Admittedly it was end of line but it was still brand new.

Initially I thought it was brilliant as far as styling and picture quality, but the the backlight issue started to get annoying.

Best way to describe it was like you were looking through a window that had grubby edges.

The screen was replaced under warranty, but the new screen was just as bad.

Today (2 month later) a third screen has been fitted.

This even worse as there is now a deffinate grey band down the right hand side.

Because of this I am totally fed up this this TV and will never ever entertain a Sony TV again.

In my view. Stay well away from this so-called top of the range TV.

PS. Don't buy from a Sony shop as they are nothing to do with Sony. They are just a franchise.

You might aswell shop around. Get a better deal and still have the same so-called back up from Sony.

Very very dissapointed in the product and Sony.

Mark