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Sony’s 2021 TV lineup runs Google TV and fully embraces HDMI 2.1

Warnen

Don't pass gaas, it is your Destiny!
HDR is available on all ports, just only at 30hz on ports 1 and 4 (60hz on 2 and 3). Only two of those devices require 4K60hz output surely though, the consoles.

I don't know why you'd need the Apple TV or Roku to output 4K@60hz, since all the content is 24 or 30hz. On both Apple TV and Roku you can set it to output at the refresh rate of the content its playing at the time, that way you can enjoy HDR on all ports of the TV, since there aren't really any films/TV shows above 30hz. I only know of one: "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk".
Yeah that’s a new updated (mine didn’t say 4 though). Used to for over a year on newer one with hdr only on 2/3 and 2-3 years on the older one. Got that update late last year.
 
I do wish we could get a proper 4K flagship LCD again, I was hoping for an X95+J with dimming zone count equalling the 4K flagship from Samsung in 2018 and 2019, but it was wishful thinking given the 2018 ZF9 only had 104 zones in 65".

We'll have to see how the X90J and X95J works out in that regard, but I bet its the same as XH90/95. The XH90 isn't as good PQ as the X90E a lot of people here own. That had 35 zones and XH90 has 32 zones, which doesn't help, but its really the processor that makes the difference, the X1 chip in the XH90 isn't the same X1 as is in the XE90, it doesn't support Super Bit Mapping and has a much lower brightness levels across different situations.

I know I sound like a broken record going on about zones all the time, but you really have to see a FALD LCD with 300+ dimming zones to see how fucking amazing it looks. On my ZD9 (646 zones) some HDR TV shows are almost too bright because they are made to look good on TVs with much worse contrast/HDR tonemapping, torches and other bright lights look like actual IRL lights on the screen, in something like The Expanse for instance, it just adds so much depth to the image.

Is someone here in the UK? You can come round to my house and I'll show you what I mean in person, then they can come back here and post "Okay, Kuranghi wasn't bullshitting, it was fucking ace" :messenger_tears_of_joy:
I'd take you up on that mate if I was there! I've never seen a z9D in person, but given the specs combined with the same processing family as the 900e, but a step up, yeah I can only imagine lol. HDR brightness and un interpolated cinema watching has to be the best to this day. I've used the A8G which has the same processor, and it was incredible in motion besides the lack of 120hz bfi, which is why i took it back and got the A8H. After using 120hz bfi on the 900e I couldn't go back :p

It seems the 900h has a comparable brightness to the 900e, but yeah that new chip has cut plenty of corners. We'll have to wait until next year for Sony to beat their incredible 2017 lcd lineup.
 

Goro Majima

Kitty Genovese Member
Do you personally notice a big difference in softness when comparing the 4K60 output to the 4K120 output? Although it might be hard to do an objective test without a PC since 4K120hz modes in games may lower the IQ in other ways compared to 4K60 which would mess up a comparison.

Yeah my understanding is that even the PS5 doesn’t really do 4K120hz so it might not even amount to anything major for me. I’m not sure if I could tell a difference because a lot of upgrades after 1080p have been harder and harder for me to notice. HDR maybe was the most noticeable?

The VRR update is more interesting to me and that is theoretically coming. The biggest upgrade for me was going from 55 to 85 inches which is just absolutely impressive.

I moved up from a 2018 55” Visio P Series which was straight garbage with flickering lines, washed out HDR that was far too bright, and a picture that felt like it suffered greatly from crushed blacks maybe? It’s hard to explain but I wasn’t happy with that TV at all even though it was supposedly the best TV for gaming in its price range at the time.

This new TV reminds me of how I felt about my 2014 55” Sony 1080p TV (some Bestbuy low/mid exclusive) which was great at the time. Great clear picture with very vibrant colors. I never should have strayed away from the “good” brands.

tl;dr I’m old and not a videophile and this new Sony TV looks great to me. The extra 30” over a 55” was really the biggest selling point.
 

GriffinCorp

Member
Samsung better start supporting Dolby Vision. They are Going to be a distant third choice after LG and Sony if they don’t.
This is the same for me. Samsung is dead last. I think a Sony 4K OLED is what I'm going for. I'll need to see about LG but I haven't felt like Sony has wanted to be out on front in years, but after today maybe Sony is back. I still remember the 90's/00's when Sony was unbeatable in the TV department.
 

Kuranghi

Gold Member
Yeah that’s a new updated (mine didn’t say 4 though). Used to for over a year on newer one with hdr only on 2/3 and 2-3 years on the older one. Got that update late last year.

This is a common misconception with Sony sets for a few years now, all the ports support 4K + HDR, especially the 2019 sets. Its just that you can't output 4K @ 60hz and still get HDR on ports 1 & 4. I agree thats its annoying definitely, but its incorrect to say you can't input 4K + HDR into ports 1 & 4, thats all I'm getting at.

I'm sure you've got it in port 2 now, but if you put it in port 1 or 4 and set the Roku to output at the framerate of the content you'll get HDR fine as long as the content is 24hz or 30hz, which it will be 99.9999% of the time:


It says otherwise all output will be 60hz, so probably this will still give you a 4K60 menu, but without HDR (Most of the time the menus look horrendous in HDR anyway) and it will switch to 4K@24hz + HDR when you play a movie.
 
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Kuranghi

Gold Member
All oled use lg panels, i have a panasonic right now with an lg panel.

I usually don't care about audio stuff, i'm not exactly an audiophile, same for the stands or remote or general look of the tv, i only care about the image quality.

I'd like to hear (no pun) your opinion of the Sony Acosutic Surface even if you don't gaf about audio. I think its a pretty great upgrade over 99% of shitty, down-firing, built-in TV speakers and you get it in all Sony OLEDs anyway if you are buying one.

Several actuators inside the screen vibrate the glass and this enables the sound to pan across the screen according to the soundtrack, so for something moving from left to right it actually does that, the first shot of this trailer is the example I used when working:




It won't match the bass response or midrange clarity of the better Pana OLED built in soundbars, but the highs are amazing because its using the whole glass panel as a tweeter essentially. You can connect a subwoofer to the headphone port to redirect bass there as well. On the Sony 65" AF9 I was able to fill a small aircraft hanger with music on a daily basis and I never broke it lol.

Bonus - You can get your wife to sit on it and please herself while you play vidya games.
 
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kyliethicc

Member
My future looks beautiful.

yaMI2tp.jpg
 

kyliethicc

Member
So the XR range is replacing the current x900h models? Should we expect a price increase over it this year due to the new processor? Much improvement for IQ?
Yeah the X90J is replacing the X900H. It should be same price, maybe a bit better IQ due to new processor inside.
 

kyliethicc

Member
Only 3D audio will be remaining. Wonder if those new TVs will get 'ready' tag for PS5 3D audio.
Interestingly, these new TVs will actually have a new 3D audio upscaling feature, unrelated to the PS5 3D audio.

Who knows if it'll actually sound good, but could be cool. Obviously it won't actually sound as good as real surround setups.

9OnZtdi.jpg
 

kyliethicc

Member
The X95J not coming in a 55" or 49" this year. That sucks, specifically the 49" for me. 49" is not even a size this year. They upped it to 50" and put it in the X90J lineup. Will have to get the 50". That will barely, and I mean barely, fit in the space for me. There's no way I can go bigger.

Super happy with HDMI 2.1 and VRR right out of the box, hopefully full bandwidth just cause. If the X90J is as good as my 49" X900E (which I'm sure probably will be given new tech, I really regret selling this tv), I will be a happy camper.
Sony said its because the 55" X95J would be too similar in price to 55" OLED TVs and they think most people would prefer OLED over LCD for the same size and price. So they are only offering LCDs at prices and sizes that are lower than OLED TVs.
 

BlackM1st

Banned
Sony failed me once again. Still no all-in-one solution to fight CX48 as a PC monitor/console gaming device.

If LG will not announce new 48" Flat screens I would flip my shit ☠☠☠
 
I'd like to hear (no pun) your opinion of the Sony Acosutic Surface even if you don't gaf about audio. I think its a pretty great upgrade over 99% of shitty, down-firing, built-in TV speakers and you get it in all Sony OLEDs anyway if you are buying one.

Several actuators inside the screen vibrate the glass and this enables the sound to pan across the screen according to the soundtrack, so for something moving from left to right it actually does that, the first shot of this trailer is the example I used when working:




It won't match the bass response or midrange clarity of the better Pana OLED built in soundbars, but the highs are amazing because its using the whole glass panel as a tweeter essentially. You can connect a subwoofer to the headphone port to redirect bass there as well. On the Sony 65" AF9 I was able to fill a small aircraft hanger with music on a daily basis and I never broke it lol.

Bonus - You can get your wife to sit on it and please herself while you play vidya games.

Can confirm, the A8g and A8h are the only tvs in recent years that I could easily live with in terms of sound quality. It's clearly not as good as a dedicated set up, but it also has a unique quality ; it really does sound like it's coming from the screen itself. I use a soundbar on the A8h, but yeah, good stuff!
 
I don’t mean to derail the thread, but did anyone see that Panasonic OLEDs are available in the US from Value Electronics?!

 
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dolabla

Member
I don’t mean to derail the thread, but did anyone see that Panasonic OLEDs are available in the US from Value Electronics?!

Yep, heard about this a few weeks ago. They're selling those Hollywood color graded OLED's. The panels are supposed to be of the highest quality with no dirty screen effect, no banding, calibrated out of the box. They don't have HDMI 2.1 though. They're more for movie enthusiasts.

I wish Panasonic would fully return back to the US as I 'd like to try a Panasonic one day.
 

Shmunter

Member
No mini-led? Massive blunder frankly, this was the year to make the leap into better backlighting tech. Sony will get wrecked by the competition sadly.
 

Shmunter

Member
This is a common misconception with Sony sets for a few years now, all the ports support 4K + HDR, especially the 2019 sets. Its just that you can't output 4K @ 60hz and still get HDR on ports 1 & 4. I agree thats its annoying definitely, but its incorrect to say you can't input 4K + HDR into ports 1 & 4, thats all I'm getting at.

I'm sure you've got it in port 2 now, but if you put it in port 1 or 4 and set the Roku to output at the framerate of the content you'll get HDR fine as long as the content is 24hz or 30hz, which it will be 99.9999% of the time:


It says otherwise all output will be 60hz, so probably this will still give you a 4K60 menu, but without HDR (Most of the time the menus look horrendous in HDR anyway) and it will switch to 4K@24hz + HDR when you play a movie.
Correct. I use a 4k Apple TV on the 900e and you can set it to flip match framerate/hdr. All working fine on a regular port because it’s 24/30 4k hdr when it kicks in.
 

Deanington

Member
Love Sony tv's. Still rocking with a 900E as my monitor, 950G in the bedroom, and a 810C in the front room ( non illinois residents, living room ). The 810C is the only tv that I am not happy with and cant wait to replace it. Once these new models come out ill probably swap the bedroom 950 with the 810 and get a new model for the bedroom. I wouldnt mind upgrading this 900E either.
 
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kyliethicc

Member
No mini-led? Massive blunder frankly, this was the year to make the leap into better backlighting tech. Sony will get wrecked by the competition sadly.
Not if their LCDs are significantly less expensive than other Mini LED TVs.

Samsung are gonna charge a fuck ton for their QLED Neo Mini LED TVs.
 

Tschumi

Member
I want a 4k tv that's not much bigger than my old 1080 one, and i don't wanna spend as much as people who are happy to buy giant tvs spend. When it comes time for me to buy a 4k, I'll research bravia to see if it fills the requirements
 
Really, Sony? No mini-LED? Come on my guy. Hopefully they at least increased the dimming zone count higher than 32 zones. Was hoping Sony would knock it out of the park with a high quality and more affordable mini-LED set. Samsung's Neo range will probably perform great but will also cost as much as a large screen OLED.

TCL, now's your chance to bring your Vidrian tech to the forefront.
 

kyliethicc

Member
Really, Sony? No mini-LED? Come on my guy. Hopefully they at least increased the dimming zone count higher than 32 zones. Was hoping Sony would knock it out of the park with a high quality and more affordable mini-LED set. Samsung's Neo range will probably perform great but will also cost as much as a large screen OLED.

TCL, now's your chance to bring your Vidrian tech to the forefront.
Sony TVs are never cheap, but they'll definitely be less expensive than Samsung's Mini LED TVs.

Sony's TVs this year will live or die on how good the panels + new XR processor is and if it really improves the IQ. And they'll all have good build quality and HDMI 2.1.
 
No mini-led? Massive blunder frankly, this was the year to make the leap into better backlighting tech. Sony will get wrecked by the competition sadly.
It's better for them to wait and perfect mini led than to get something wrong, in a rush. Equally it's a cost\supply issue, as they don't make their own panels. To your opinion, you're right but only at the high end lcd market. Midrange is a different story, plus there's oled for the enthusiast.
 

Shmunter

Member
It's better for them to wait and perfect mini led than to get something wrong, in a rush. Equally it's a cost\supply issue, as they don't make their own panels. To your opinion, you're right but only at the high end lcd market. Midrange is a different story, plus there's oled for the enthusiast.
Whatever the reason is, no way in hell I’d buy a low dimming zone count set when everybody else has taken the leap. TCL already using it for a year - in a budget set.
 
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MadPanda

Banned
In 2021, Sony is correcting course: all of its premium “Bravia XR” 4K (and yes, 8K) TVs support 4K at 120Hz, VRR (variable refresh rate), ALLM (auto low latency mode), and eARC. No asterisks or gotchas or promises to add stuff later with firmware updates.

Where did you get this? It's not true as on launch customers will get only 4k/120 but VRR and ALLM will come later on with firmware updates, so it's just like this year Sony X900H.
 

MadPanda

Banned
Explain your issue please, what were you trying to input on each HDMI port? You have/had more than 2 devices outputting 4K60+444+HDR?

I can see how it would be annoying if you had a PC, PS4 Pro/PS5 and an X1X/XSX.
It could be a problem for people who use eARC as it uses one out of two HDMI 2.1 ports, so you're left Knk with 1. If you have both next gen consoles you'd be in a first world problem. I don't have such problems but some people could have.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
As an x900h owner, the picture quality is already amazing. If they are making it look even better then it should be an automatic buy. Go with a bigger size. Bigger than 65 inch. My 75 inch was incredible in my small gaming room.

Also bought an lg cx oled and i swear i can't tell the difference. I definitely notice the smaller 65 inch size though. It's no longer overwhelming.

My next tv is going to be either the 83 inch model or that 100 inch. Size does matter. Don't fall for the fancy in store oled demos. Most movies and games don't use those fancy blacks.

Biggest benefit of oled is that you won't notice black bars in movies anymore. The screen goes pitch black and in a dark room it looks like your tv is displaying a full screen image. It's crazy. The viewing angle is pretty nuts too. I can literally be standing right next to it and watching it from the size and the picture quality never degrades. I mean i would never really stand there and watch tv from that angle but the tech is insane.

But that 75 inch screen man. My god.i miss it so much. Put it in the living room after i bought the oled and its just not the same in a bigger room. You should be sitting like 5 feet away from the tv. 7 max. If the 100 inch is around $2k next black Friday I'm buying.
 

kyliethicc

Member
Happy days. Did they skip calling it the x900i because of Apple and the association with their products?
Perhaps, makes sense. Or maybe just cause a capital I looks less immediately clear at a quick glance as a capital J or H.

Which is easier to quickly read and say? X90I or X90J? I think some could be confused and maybe call the X90I the X90L.

Or Sony's just being Sony lol.
 

kyliethicc

Member
As an x900h owner, the picture quality is already amazing. If they are making it look even better then it should be an automatic buy. Go with a bigger size. Bigger than 65 inch. My 75 inch was incredible in my small gaming room.

Also bought an lg cx oled and i swear i can't tell the difference. I definitely notice the smaller 65 inch size though. It's no longer overwhelming.

My next tv is going to be either the 83 inch model or that 100 inch. Size does matter. Don't fall for the fancy in store oled demos. Most movies and games don't use those fancy blacks.

Biggest benefit of oled is that you won't notice black bars in movies anymore. The screen goes pitch black and in a dark room it looks like your tv is displaying a full screen image. It's crazy. The viewing angle is pretty nuts too. I can literally be standing right next to it and watching it from the size and the picture quality never degrades. I mean i would never really stand there and watch tv from that angle but the tech is insane.

But that 75 inch screen man. My god.i miss it so much. Put it in the living room after i bought the oled and its just not the same in a bigger room. You should be sitting like 5 feet away from the tv. 7 max. If the 100 inch is around $2k next black Friday I'm buying.
I think I read for screen sizes, Sony recommends a TV with a height that is 50% of your viewing distance. So if a TV is 3 feet tall, its great for sitting about 6 feet away from the screen.
 
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Haint

Member
Samsung better start supporting Dolby Vision. They are Going to be a distant third choice after LG and Sony if they don’t.

People been saying that for 15 years, but Samsung's brand power and marketing is untouchable with the masses. They don't have to do anything, and they won't. They could put out a black and white CRT next year and sell millions of them.
 
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Bojanglez

The Amiga Brotherhood
I'm glad I've managed to hold out so far, was very close to getting a LG CX, but would prefer a Sony TV as I prefer Android TV (or Google TV as it will be now). Just have to wait and see which models fall into my price sweet spot.
 
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