Rant about XE9005 and HDR

nicolaidenmark

Established Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2017
Messages
257
Reaction score
41
Points
104
Age
39
Location
Denmark
So, the 9005 is my first LCD TV and... I must admit that I''m disappointed with it's performance. I had (and still have a Panasonic 37 inch C10Y Plasma) before this screen and enjoyed it.

I hate the zone light on the 9005. On normal SDR I can live with it but for HDR, the max brightness of the screen makes my "cinema bars" go somewhat grey!

Whilst I'd hate to have to replace this TV after a mere 2-3 years of ownership, I just don't use the HDR because I cannot stand the "black" levels with such content.

Before I bought this TV, I was warned that Plasmas are better for blacks. Should have tested the 9005 with HDR before purchase.

Based on this experience, are there any TVs out there today which rival Plasmas for Black Levels, superb back light control and handling of movement?

I'm thinking something OLED?

Also, the 9005 has a mere 100 Mbit LAN port, which means I cannot Plex HDR as those sometimes peak well over 100 mbits.
 
ALL tv's as of today still have 100Mbps ports.
OLED of course is the most obvious answer to black bar problems. Other than that something like Samsung Q85 or Q90R and maybe even Q80 and Q70R (read AV Forums review) that focus more on keeping the bars black at the cost of dimming other elemens on screen more than they should.
 
Samsung Q90 is the closest you'll get to OLED blacks. I'd not bother looking at the other models. Maybe wait until the next generation of models. Hisense have developed crossover technology and microled shouldn't be too far away.

It's worth mentioning the XE isn't the top end Sony LCDs. So have a look at the XF, XG, XH. I've got an XF and rarely have any issues that you're describing.
 
I would second the recommendation for the Q90R if you don't want to go OLED. It seems to be the best LCD available today.

I have a Sony 65ZD9 one the last great LCDs from Sony with 640 zones and great brightness and blacks. Sony seem to have stopped making top end LCDs since then though. (The ZF range released 2 years later were compromised by poor contrast resulting from their wide viewing angle tech. This years ZG range could be great but they start at 85" and over £10k.) Personally I found the ZD9 to be a significant step up from my Panasonic 50GT60 plasma - even for black levels. The Q90R seems to be as good as the ZD9.

I now have a Sony 65AG9 OLED too and that is a step ahead of the ZD9 with perfect blacks and wide viewing angles.
 
What you are noticing is inherent of LCD technology and is one of the reasons all of the manufacturers are moving away from it in favour of OLED.

I think in a few years time LCD TVs in the high end anyway, will be mostly obsolete. Perhaps Sony will still sell some, but even Samsung who have been ardent to continue LCD TV production in the past have given up and intend to cease production by the end of this year.

Yes you can aim for an LCD TV with more dimming zones like the Q90R, but you are still limited by each zone of the TV, and you'll find complaints about screen uniformity within even the best LCD TVs owners threads.

It's also worth considering that 1. You musn't be viewing a TV like the Sony XE9005 with a VA type panel off centre. The TV must be viewed only head-on. 2. You must make sure you are using the correct picture mode and not the crappy 'standard' or 'dynamic preset. (noted already above).
 

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom