A bargain telly box from the best in the business

Sony is the undisputed king of 4K. It owns an entire movie studio in LA dedicated to filming 4K movies and TV shows, it manufactures the cameras that shoot the footage, it builds the projectors for displaying the movies in cinemas, and of course it also makes 4K televisions for watching Ultra HD in the home. 4K is at the heart of everything Sony does, and it shows – its 4K products have been consistently excellent.

This X85 sits at the bottom of Sony’s 2014 4K line up, so it’s by no means the best the brand has to offer, but did you see that price? Just shy of 50 inches, this excellent-value 4K screen looks great with both native 4K and upscaled HD. Sony TVs are possibly the best upscalers in the business, using the firm’s 4K X-Reality Pro processor to not only supersize HD pictures, but also create extra detail that otherwise simply wouldn’t be there.

The IPS panel inside does struggle a bit when it comes to contrast and moving pictures – dark scenes lose a bit of detail next to some of the more expensive TVs tested here, but the Triluminos screen tech does make bright scenes really vivid, with red colours being particularly eye-popping.

The other major drawback of this Sony is that fast-moving pictures tend to suffer from some motion blur, a common problem with similar TVs in this class, which is shown up by fast-paced movies and sports, like football – but again, did you see the price? And unlike some of the other models on show here, it’s fully compatible with Netflix’s Ultra HD service and has built-in HDMI 2.0.

If you’re going to spend upwards of a grand on a 50-inch HD TV, this set makes a strong case for going 4K instead. But the competition is stiff, as you’ll see here. Rivals challenge on both performance and price. Love The truly bargainous price. Upscaled HD movies look better than they would on an HD TV. NFC makes device pairing quick and easy Hate Issues with contrast are exposed by dark scenes. Some motion blurring. Not that good looking T3 Sa ys It’s not a perfect 4K, but for the money this Sony is still a good value option

Chromecast

This TV has a less comprehensive roster of smart features than some of the others, making Chromecast a worthy addition.

£30, google.com