Sony sells TVs that cost just a bit more than the competition but you can easily not opt-in to ads during initial setup (they are not selected by default!).

Sadly Google seems to insist on showing YT recommendations to matter what on Google tvs, but you can just opt into "app only mode" and then you get none of that.

I would put Sony in my second category above. High quality TVs, and a price to match.

The fact they use Google gives me pause. My last TV was a Sony with Google and it was slow as dirt (Sony’s fault, since fixed on newer models). And it was a great TV otherwise. But I don’t trust Google not to find a way to shove ads in later.

Sony's tvs are broken into price tiers, they have low end ones with garbage picture quality, medium tier tvs with better picture and a better CPU, and high end ones with excellent image quality.

Sadly neither Sony tv I have had (including one I just bought) are able to stay connected to my wifi for more than an hour or so before losing connection....

Sony is not known for the quality of their software...

Yeah I’ve been on the wrong side of their software quality before. It’s too bad. The electronics are top notch, as always.

PlayStation has the religion, but the rest of their consumer stuff doesn’t.

Our 55" A95K has Google TV built in but we never use it and it has never seen a packet from an outside network since we got it. We use Apple TV with it, and for that purpose, it is very fast and easy to use.