Sony KD-43X80K

Picture Quality

After screen size and resolution, the next most important feature of a display is its Color Reproduction Accuracy, which is defined by its color gamut specification.

This TV doesn't provide a color gamut specification, so we have to take a guess.

As this TV comes with a 10bit IPS panel, we can safely assume its equivalent sRGB coverage to be 100% or above. Undoubtedly The color accuracy on this TV will be Lifelike!

Understanding Color Gamut

Color gamut spec of a TV is a measure of the range of colors that the display can produce.

What this means is, it indicates the ability of a display to produce accurate colors. A TV with low gamut coverage will miss out on some colors (such as deep red), thus producing a "washed out" picture.

Different manufacturers use different measurement standards to specify color gamut. Such as — sRGB, NTSC, DCI P3 Adobe RGB and rec.2020.

But you don't need to worry about that, below is a chart that will help you choosing a TV with good color accuracy.

Now, after color gamut, you should look at the static contrast specification as it impacts the picture quality the same way.

Understanding the static contrast specification

There are two types of contrast specifications for a TV. Static and Dynamic. We are interested in static contrast ratio as dynamic doesn't matter much.

This specification tells the intensity of black levels. That is, a TV with static contrast ratio < 1000:1 may produce black images something like this:

Note that, such TVs are also prone backlight bleeds that will rob your experience — as shown below.

The image is an example of another display, it is not this one

Like resolution, the static contrast ratio is also equally responsible for details. To put it into perspective, a TV with low contrast ratio will show both dark gray and black as black, so lesser detail overall.

This TV comes with a static contrast ratio of 8000:1., well enough to display deep blacks and eye-catching visuals. For the record, it also comes with local dimming technology which is a plus.

HDR is also supported on this TV in form of Dolby Vision, HDR10 and HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma).

As for brightness, it can go as bright as 250 nits. The backlight of this TV is powered by Direct LED technology.

Gaming Performance

If you are planning to use your TV just for content consumption, you can ignore these specs. But if you are also going to use the TV for playing games or use it as a PC monitor, make sure to take a TV with the lowest input lag and response time.

Sadly, Sony did not specify the input lag on this unit. But since this is not a cheap TV from Sony, input lag on this TV could be 20ms or below.

Dimensions and Ergonomics

Vertically, the TV measures 43 inches and horizontally 37.95 inches. In terms of thickness, it is 2.72 inches thick. In total the TV weighs 10.7 kgs including stand. Without stand, it weighs 10.1 KGs. So plan your space accordingly.

Speaking of ergonomics — a VESA mount with interface size of 200 x 200 mm is provided for wall-mounting. There is no Swivel, Tilt or Pivot feature support on this TV.

Hardware and Audio

The Sony KD-43X80K comes with a 1.8 Ghz Quad Core (ARM Cortex-A73) CPU along with a (ARM Mali-G52) GPU. The available RAM on this TV is 4 GB.

For display connectivity, Sony has provided four HDMI 2.0 (CEC) ports and one AV Composite In 3.5 mm jack port on this TV.

For connecting USB devices, you will have two USB ports. Other connectivity ports include — 1x Satellite In (F-type female), 1x Antenna (RF) (female), 1x CI+ 1.4 and 1x Ethernet RJ45.

Wireless connectivity options on this TV include Wi-Fi (5Ghz + 2.5Ghz), Wifi-Direct, Bluetooth and DLNA.

Now, speaking of speakers, Sony has provided 2 x 10W built-in speakers on the KD-43X80K.

Now, coming to power consumption, on average, it uses about 49.73 watts. On standby, it takes 0.5 watts.

Both 110V and 220V outlets are supported on this unit.