Hi all,
Any Sony KD-55X8005C 55-Inch 4K UHD owners here?
This community is amazing i found so many solutions and I took a plunge to give my solutions here. It's hard to search for a solution for a particular TV in Sony community because search is ***** in this forums. So I decided to create this thread.
Please feel free to add any issues and solutions here Thanks. These solutions may work for other models.
Ok, It's been 2 months since i am on this thread and reading each reply. I had this TV for almost 2 months also this is my second TV as Amazon already replaced one (I still have time to return until 31st Jan for a full refund) so far I tested most PC related and all external inputs/outputs especially people who like DTS Dolby 5.1 sound may contact me for any doubts as I had enough tweaking to get best output of this TV.
The issues with this TV are not many from my side, I never test SKY or Youview or any tuners, as I don’t have at home. We recently moved if anyone could comment on lip sync issues that would be really great for my conclusion.
I am writing conclusion first because some people don’t want to read all the below info > I was in the impression that Samsung 55 4k 6800 or LG 680V model will be the best TV for my match and bug free, so I went to JL and Curry’s showroom yesterday with my 128GB pen drive loaded with all the files I want to test. Basically i like to test Upscaling, Picture quality, Brightness and Blacks. As a software engineer i like to see my TV playing most of the file formats with different frame rate, image resolution with various codecs.
I have files for videos to test Upscaling and different formats whether those TV's able to play. (SD / 720p 1080p, 4k res videos in .mkv .vob .ts .M2TS .FLV .Mpeg .YuV .mov .mp4, with H.264 Mpeg-4/AVC and HEVC 4k codecs)
I have videos which audio stream (DTS, DTS MA, DTS EX, DOLBY TruHD 7.2, ATMOS, Dolby 5.1, with ACC, AC3 & FLAC codecs) I also like to test Pass-through as i have AV receiver.
So I took a chance and asked them if I can test the TV for sometime before I buy.. The gave remote to me, after couple of minutes I tried to install some external players on those TV's, but I unable to install KODI!, any way I want to test with default player, then I plugged my pen drive and started opening files one by one.
Below is my summary: 
SAMSUNG 6800 >
+ It's quick to open or load any file on default player.
+ If it can't play then it will staring away show message saying file format can't support in Sony TV it will sometimes goes blank screen and we have to understand lol.
+ Picture brightness is high compare to my Sony.
+ Blacks are very slightly better.
+Very responsive no hanging or slow.
- The Upscaling is very bad especially SD and 720P videos in default player don’t know about any 3rd party players in SONY Upscaling is 100% better.
- Menu system or layout is not as good as Android.
- No Audio pass-through as in Sony also I need to use KODI to select different Audio streams.
Both TV's (Sony & Samsung) cant handle .mov, 4k Mp4, 4k in .yuv, Dolby-TruHD. In Sony i have some tips mentioned below. May be Samsung might have 3rd party players to handle these.
LG > I don’t have chance to plug my USB but by looking screen Definitely not better than Samsung but brightness may be similar to Sony and I love Sony Colours and Bravia engine compare to LG. Samsung will trick people by boosting colours to VIVID and those AMOLED screens of course I love those in Samsung lol.
Conclusion: I can be happily live with my SONY with below bugs as i have few solutions for those hoping they will fix or I don’t even bother if they didn’t fix. I definitely don’t need USB recording i hate seeing TV serials recording and seeing it again and again lol its personal choice any way.. I love Sony “Picture quality” and “Upscaling”, this is MOST imp thing in TV’s. Audio is better in Sony's inbuilt speaker (for me i use AV receiver so i don’t bother) and i need Upscaling SD and 720P videos mainly as all my back home videos are SD. All TV's handle similar file formats and none of them will play actual 4k format videos smoothly. So i prefer Sony here as I have freedom to install many players especially KODI for Upscaling / 5.1 audio and VLC for most 4k videos.
+ Sony has 3 USB
+Android OS has ability to install more Apps and it is flexi, not limited. You can connect all your data servers and media servers. Teamviewer is a plus, I can do my office work straight in my TV this eliminates me to buy a MAC mini.
+TV has 5-band equalizer I love equalizer always.
+ Twin FreeviewHD tuner and Twin FreesatHD tuner
+ WIFI is stronger than Wife never lose connectivity and able to stream all 4k videos from Internet (My router is 1 room away from TV)
+Ports and connectivity you can see it from Specs it has plenty also ARC, high HDMI 2.0
+Sony colours are natural not like BOOST VIVID in AMOLED or Samsung, you eye will attract to Samsung panels but in long run you cant see that brightness every time and its pain..you can achieve that also in Sony by settings.
I also found Casting screens is most easy in SONY i can cast my web page straight away in chrome PC/Mac instantly 
and it's ANDROID you can install most apk files via ES file explorer ex:CHROME 
The major issues are below (With updated firmware UK) :smileysweating::smileyquestion:
1. NEVER SHUTDOWN: TV never ever shut down (if you press power button for 3 to 5 sec) TV says shut down and it will turn on again This is for all Sony TV's especially this model i checked in Curry’s and John Lewis I can replicate this issue in Sony TV. SOLUTION> I will turn off to standby then i will either remove my USB external HDD or turn the mains off (NOTE this is very important > if you leave the TV standby with any external HDD connected it will damage the external HDD because the USB power never stop and HDD will keep alive always and try’s to off and on. I tested leaving TV for a while to see USB power will go off on standby mode! it never off.. UPDATE: I able to shutdown with latest update.
2. NO SAFE REMOVE USB: For people who are thinking about SAFE Remove USB > This TV's don’t need one as there is no Write functionality. So assuming they never put Safe remove or unmount USB. I research Samsung and LG forums both models have no safe remove and form some articles I found it because of no Write we don’t need one. SOLUTION> Just close all the apps that are reading / playing from USB make sure you exit from KODI (by pressing power off button in KODI) close / exit from EX file explorer. If you open ALBUM this sucks it keep on reading the USB and tries to show thumbnails so never open ALBUM app when you have lots of data in HDD, so FORCE STOP ALBUM app & pull the usb. If you don’t have much data or if you don’t play your videos from HDD on various players then it's ok to pull straight from TV. :smileyplus:
Also don’t worry if you have warranty for External HDD and it has only videos and no important data then pull off whenever you want. Above solution is for people who had some high TB's of storage like me.
3. TV SCREEN FLICKER UP ON TRYING TO SHUTDOWN.: sometimes when you press and hold power button in TV, TV screen will flicker meaning off and on off and on off and on then it will turn off standby not shut down. This is happening occasionally reason is if you are trying to shutdown TV while playing any videos this mostly happen. SOLUTION> Release the button when you see this behaviour then press HOME button on remote to come home then try to shut down. As i mention this mostly happening when TV is busy playing something if its in HOME menu it’s not gona happen mostly.
4. TV HANGS or SLOW ISSUES:
4.1) TV is very slow sometimes and blank screen: When you have lots of data in any external drive the default app ALBUM / Video apps struggle to cache those data. Basically its will take time to show Thumbnails, and sometimes crash and wont respond and you need a restart. SOLUTION 1> (Always use ES file explorer and try to open whatever the video file, from that and you have the great ability to choose what app/player you want to open with (LOVE ANDROID HERE lol ) SOLUTION 2> Try to clear App cache from App settings like once a week.
4.2) TV hangs without UBS plugged in: if you open many apps continuously one after another then this TV has limited memory and there are definitely some memory leaks on the app's basic android issues. SOLUTION > you need to restart TV, or force quit applications some times work.
4.3) TV hangs if i press Discovery or Action menu while playing some videos: This is because if you use TV for a while and open lots of apps, the memory in the TV cant release or it will not be free and results in making slow. I found this by observing memory in KODI system information page. There it shows how much RAM left on our Sony TV. So each time i found open some app and goes back to check is memory free or consuming memory. I found default Apps like Youview and ALBUM would take more memory. SOLUTION> If TV hangs when you press Action or Discovery menu try not to keep on pressing more buttons try to handle slowly for example in Action menu if you want select picture try to click slowly, one after another with one or 2 sec gap, then TV won't crash or you can simply come out and close all apps or a reboot. I don’t know if that will fix soon i explained this to SONY engineer.
5. NO DTS 5.1 output via OPTICAL: I found TV deliver superb Dolby 5.1 always but sometimes it will not able to deliver DTS via optical when playing on KODI, this is not a bug in KODI as I tried different versions of KODI. AV receiver says no audio when you play DTS videos. SOLUTION> it took me a month to investigate the issue. I almost changed my AV receiver thinking it was faulty and changed many cables lol. It’s the issue with TV. TV loses the ability of passing DTS via optical sometimes. To be get back I simply turn on my Sony Blu-ray player and select TV to different input ex: HDMI-2 then I will go back to normal then this DTS output works don’t know why but this works. Strange maybe I need more time to figure out 
6. TYPING IN SEARCH IS HORRIBLE: yes, sometimes it's hard and jumps YouTube makes difficult with Android App or any external keyboard. I found some times when we type in Android app the characters will miss and even with keyboard I can't type in some scenarios ex: in Opera browser i cant type with my wireless keyboard. Its frustration to use Opera browser and its the ***** web browser i ever use.. Hope will see chrome soon on Android TV's, even NVDIA Shield don’t have chrome 😞 SOLUTION> Just remove entire string and retype. Solution by Sony lol. My solution is you can do this with Any TV android app ex: Android TV Remote Control / SideView by Sony.
7. APPS MISSING FROM HOME SCREEN: I notice sometimes Apps missing from home screen apps section, also if i install apps not from TV play store ex: i installed Chrome and this will not show in TV i believe the Icon.png file has different size for chrome, but the apps will be in TV and SOLUTION> even though the apps sometimes missing on home screen we can access all of them via ES file explorer. Go to ES file explorer > on top click on USER apps magic you can see all your installed apps there you even uninstall from there. Chrome and Dolphin browsers I will open from there. TIP for ES file explorer I always use my keyboard mouse its easy to click than remote.
8. VOICE SEARCH NOT WORKING: Basically its not bug as there is no MIC in TV. SOLUTION> So use any TV app i like Android TV Remote Control app, I feel buying a Sony Magic remote is expensive because in that you will get only Track pad and Mic you cant type. Also Voice search looks like stupid for others if they see you lol. (ok Google > please go to BBC one.. it says errrr WHAT lol)
9. UPDATE: TV IS SLOW/UNRESPONSIVE AFTER A RECENT UPDATE: Your TV will behave strange and if you find more bugs after a firmware update. This is due to apps being not optimized correctly I think. SOLUTION> many times a factory reset will solve the issues I did twice after two major updates of my TV. That really helps a lot in performance. Yes this is pain, as you loose all installed apps and settings, TV has to tune again L but this is the best way to solve any bugs after an f/w update. You can do it in the TV instructions here: RESET
I chased Sony many times one of the Sony engineer asked me to replicate issues and i explained them in lots of emails. They really trying to solve, but problem is that they choose un-matured Android OS and they failed to test all possible bugs and critical scenarios. My understanding is that they cant spend any more time to fix the old sets and may be they will release 2 or 3 more versions of firmware as they are afraid if it may become worse if they try to fix. So I don’t have hope in them, they better not to crash existing system.
I request 55X8005C owners to add more isuue and solutions in the new thread please. i can answer and help on my setup if nay one intrested.
Tips and best apps: 
1. Best players so far: KODI & VLC (Kodi upscaling is better compare to default video player)
2. Always better to use ES explorer to browse data in HDD, Android TV Remote Control & SideView from Sony is a must Apps to control entire smart TV.
3. Please remove your USB or turn off TV mains in the night for safety.
4. Always use PCM digital out in audio settings for people who use 5.1. As Auto 1 and Auto 2 are compressed formats.
5. Always Turn Light sensor OFF, this will gives you best picture quality and you can handle brightness / contrast and blacks. If you turn on, it will not only reduces the brightness, it will also mess with most of the settings to optimize in low light. Better not to use this ***** option.
6. Turn off Bluetooth if you are not using, as Android com.bluetooth function keeps alive in background.
7. If you want to use Voice search simple solution is use Remote control App in play store and from mobile it’s easy to send voice commands and also to type in YouTube search.
8. For typing in search or easy of use, I use Android app & my Logitech Wireless Touch Keyboard K400. It’s a must gadget for this Sony or any smart TV's. Mouse pointer is awesome in Android TV's using trackpad in my Logitech its easy to point and click any app.
9. Turn off WIFI if you use LAN.
10. New UPDATE: Download apk files (not every android file lol) from apkmirror like chrome and then load it to pen drive then install via ES explorer. I think you can also do this or download direct in to TV by ES explorer. I installed Dolphin browser initially it starts in portrait mode don’t worry it will turn to landscape soon and this browser is AMAZING best alternative to OPERA i can play all YouTube videos and FLASH content.
There are some more tips for people who use for Gaming please ping me in the thread I will list out best settings if you need help. I have to test 60FPS as someone mentioned this is not working!!. This is all my personal experience by spending lots if time on articles forums and YouTube. Hope this will help someone... I will also keep update/add issues in main post.
Finally the price I paid in Amazon deal is AWESOME for this TV not sure people who paid premium amount may definitely feel bad and frustrated. I understand, for them I think Samsung is better choice. And hardware & build quality is amazing, only software is buggy, i think Sony need to tweak asap.
Again I never test SKY or Youview or any tuners in depth, as I don’t have at my home. if any one could comment on lip sync issues or any other that would be really great for my conclusion.
When I moved IOS to Android and when I bought my first Android mobile I feel the same ***** as like this. Its buggy and it crashed always slow... lol sweet memories, but now I cant go back to IOS. I hope these issues will improve slowly.. I definitely support Android than WEBOS or TIZEN, only lacking here is stability and memory leaks soon developers will fix... or I will be happy with some hacks...
You can find Sony list of new features and release dates: here - List of release dates If the page shows error please click again. (sometimes it happens)
Thank you Happy Sony TV 
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Very well done. Be aware that if you lack Chrome you can already install it on Sony Andorid TV: just sideload it via play.google.com 
@rooobb wrote:Very well done. Be aware that if you lack Chrome you can already install it on Sony Andorid TV: just sideload it via play.google.com
Oh yea Thanks for reminding me, yes we can istalll any apk's on android i downloaded Chrome apk from apkmirror.com and installed via ES explorer. Cheers mate... 
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No need to install any apk just go to play.google.com with a pc and choose to install it on your android tv: it will be loaded automatically by the tv itself.
@rooobb Indeed, that’s right I tried it shows downloading chrome but didnt show up as App. I mostly use RAW method, when i used to test different versions of KODI like jarvis 16 ES is best way.
You are a GEM and thanks for the TIP mate...
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@rooobb yes i tried it, not very accurate, i tried with Android TV Remote Control app. I dont want to spend 40£ on that stupid remote i am more happy with apps. 
A kudos from me too. Well done
Can i just add another tip.
If people are experiencing weird, random or out of thr ordinary issues after a firmware update - can they factory reset the tv to default settings - as this can cure many issues.
Instruction are HERE
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