KD-43XE8005. Response Latency - Bluetooth compatibility - Build quality.

[JezCurnow]

So I bought KD-43XE8005 at the start of the year and it has been nothing but utter disappointment.

I wanted to upgrade from my smaller 2012 LG - prdominantly because I was frustrated with laggy response times on smart functions. I thought that Sony had a reputation for leading the industry with high quality components and a price tag to match so expected super fast response to commands. The updated Sony is worse than the LG - now I go through to another room and watch my old smaller LG to prevent my blood pressure rising.

Bluetooth Rant - I am testing out my third pair of bluetooth headphones (sony ones). Not only do the headphones not 'pair' (or even be seen) but I don't appear to have a bluetooth device in the house that can be 'paired' with the TV. What was the point in adding a Bluetooth function if nothing connects? Does anything connect to the strange flavour of bluthooth that doesn't appear to have any functionality? Why would you put restrictions on this type of connectivity? It makes no sense, apart from being able to put the bluetooth symbol on the product to mislead customers. Oddly, in the Bluetooth connection screen, the only thing it lists was the voice control remote as an option to connect to (which I'm pretty sure is not even a bluetooth devise), and unsurprisingly failed even pair with that, now even the list that used to show that has disappeared.

The build quality is pretty appaling. Since buying it at the start of the year, this is my second incarnation of this model. The first one went back within a month as one of the HDMI ports wouldn't even accept a standard HDMI plug (one that had no problem in the other 3 ports). On the replacement unit the screen doesn't appear to be fixed to the frame and I'm sure this wan't the case with the first one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q63KEeIaoSA

I feel sick with anxiety when I consider what I have paid and the disappointment I feel now.

[dutchice]

Hi JezCurnow,

Welcome to the Sony Community! You mention quite a number of matters. I'm not sure I can help you with all. Since you emphasise on the Bluetooth issue, I could try to help you on that and clear up matters for you.

As far as I can verify for you, the XE80 does not support connecting headphones nor audio devices through Bluetooth. You could try to verify this yourself just to be sure by going to HOME then on the SETTINGS menu, you can check whether your TV model supports Bluetooth headphones or not. If your TV supports Bluetooth headphones, A/V Sync will show under HOME> Settings> Sound in the TV category. For a full list of Sony Android TV's supporting Bluetooth headphones or speakers please read this article. There you can also read which Sony headphones will connect and work with the TV's in the list, as the only codec used when transmitting the Bluetooth audio device is SBC (Sub-Band Coding). So headphones using codecs like LDAC, AAC, aptX, eSBC, etc., are not supported.

You could however purchase an external Bluetooth transmitter like this one. Investigate first though which codecs does your current headphones support to buy a compatible transmitter. A Bluetooth logo on the box of any consumer electronics device is no indicator as to which Bluetooth functions it supports. It is merely a sign that the device uses Bluetooth technology. Sales people have the responsibility to inform and advice customers about support for functions desired by customers.

Also if you would like to read more about suggestions on how to improve the response times of your Android TV please take a look at this post.

Cheers,

Dutchice