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Official Sony HX820 Owner's Thread (46HX820, 55HX820)

472K views 3K replies 308 participants last post by  Al Sole 
#1 ·
Welcome to the Official Sony Bravia KDL-HX820 Owner's Thread (46HX820, 55HX820)


This is the place to share information, questions and settings about the Bravia KDL-xxHX820 series


I have had my 55HX820 for almost a month now and am very happy with it. Of course I upgraded from a 5 year old Westinghouse LVM-42W2 so the jump from that to a new Sony was bound to impress.


No one else had started a official thread on this model yet so I thought I would get things started.
 
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#3 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by LuV2SPD /forum/post/20662042


I have mine since June 13th and was lazy to start a thread.

So far I like the TV.

I was wondering if there is any difference in the built-in speakers on the HX820 vs NX810, since you have owned both? I am running it through an AV receiver and 5.1 speakers but the built-in audio, while lacking in bass, isn't that bad IMHO for a TV so thin.


I had heard the sound quality on the NX810 was terrible so I am curious if there has been an improvement?
 
#4 ·
Glad to see a thread started. Got my 55HX820 on July 1. Mine replaced a defective KDS-50A200 through Sony Listens. Got a great deal on the set, $950 including tax and shipping. I think the set looks awesome even when it's off! Everything about it is great so far.
 
#5 ·
Can't wait to see some official input lag times. From all the user reports so far, input lag seems to be fairly minimal without officially testing it.
 
#6 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by MaBek /forum/post/20662337


Glad to see a thread started. Got my 55HX820 on July 1. Mine replaced a defective KDS-50A200 through Sony Listens. Got a great deal on the set, $950 including tax and shipping. I think the set looks awesome even when it's off! Everything about it is great so far.

How did you manage that?
 
#7 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by gregzzy22 /forum/post/20662515


How did you manage that?

In the sentence right before you bolded that part, he says it replaced a defective set. I think it can be assumed that it was under warranty and he was given the option to upgrade to a current TV given he puts up an extra $950.
 
#8 ·
The 50A2000 that I had was a RPT for which Sony acknowledged had optical block issues. Many of these sets do not last much longer than 4 years before the optical block failed. Replacing the optical block does not really fix the problem as they generally will fail again. Mine went out after about 4 years, well past the original warranty. Sony decided to save multiple court battles by offering a deal on a replacement set at a reduced cost if you agreed to not hold them liable for the problems associated with the old set. I took the offer and got a great set for $950.
 
#10 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr-Homer /forum/post/20664245


Found a very thorough review of the 820 (two days after I bought one)
http://www.televisioninfo.com/conten...DTV-Review.htm


From what I read, it's a decent tv that is over priced-- but so far I am likeing mine. I haven't bought any glasses yet though.


BTW, are there any good 3d kits that don't include a transmitter? Or would I be better off just buying glasses separate?

I want to say thanks for the review but it is really scaring the crap out of me. There are so many negatives in that review, especially in the motion area.


For those that have the TV, please check out the review's "motion" area and report back if you can see what they see.
 
#12 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by mystic54 /forum/post/20664519


I want to say thanks for the review but it is really scaring the crap out of me. There are so many negatives in that review, especially in the motion area.


For those that have the TV, please check out the review's "motion" area and report back if you can see what they see.
I know what you mean, I just bought it and now I see this review.....


So, I have had the tv 2 days. I can say I really haven't noticed any major motion problems (and I am pretty picky). I replaced a samsung un55c6900 which had a TON of motion blur. Literally if a 1 inch white square panned on a black background, you would see a 1.5 inch grey rectangle. It was bad.


There is a website http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/response_time.php that I used to convince me to get rid of the samsung. When I looked at it with the sony, it was much much much better.


I can say, the small amount of time I have tried it out, I have not noticed any motion problems that have made me regret getting it. I have looked at a few movie clips and played a few ps3 games. I have not tried the 3d yet, as I have no glasses.


I also have not had enough time to play with the settings yet.
 
#13 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by joeskie /forum/post/20664863


I just installed mine yesterday. I'm no videophile so I'm perfectly happy with the set.

Just make sure to do the firmware update to activate skype and for the media remote iOS applications to work.


Any settings people want to share?

My link above (post #9) to the review has some prof. settings-- haven't tried them. They claim out of the box, it's pretty well calibrated.
 
#16 ·
have had my 55HX820 for over a week with some solid gaming time via xbox through an onkyo receiver and noted minimal lag. I have yet to do an official time on it via stop watch prog but hope to do that within the next week. Once I have results i'll be sure to share with the community. I noted that switching to game mode made a huge difference with minimizing lag while still producing very good PQ. For an edge lit model im super happy with the colors and brightness. I havent personally noted any flashlighting but haven't been specifically looking for it either. Black levels were very good when I watched the dark night on blue ray via ps3.


so far very happy with the tv and will try to post more later
 
#17 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by wlm300 /forum/post/20667411


have had my 55HX820 for over a week with some solid gaming time via xbox through an onkyo receiver and noted minimal lag. I have yet to do an official time on it via stop watch prog but hope to do that within the next week. Once I have results i'll be sure to share with the community. I noted that switching to game mode made a huge difference with minimizing lag while still producing very good PQ. For an edge lit model im super happy with the colors and brightness. I havent personally noted any flashlighting but haven't been specifically looking for it either. Black levels were very good when I watched the dark night on blue ray via ps3.


so far very happy with the tv and will try to post more later

How manageable was the lag when you didn't switch to game mode? I know you said game mode still had a decent PQ, but I just want to see if playing an FPS like Call of Duty was possible without game mode.
 
#19 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by mah702 /forum/post/0



I was wondering if there is any difference in the built-in speakers on the HX820 vs NX810, since you have owned both? I am running it through an AV receiver and 5.1 speakers but the built-in audio, while lacking in bass, isn't that bad IMHO for a TV so thin.


I had heard the sound quality on the NX810 was terrible so I am curious if there has been an improvement?

Honestly, people compare sound to an AV receiver or to a TV that can fit same size speakers as a receiver. The sound wasn't that bad at all as people describe it. For a while I watched Netflix movies via my NX810 and the sound was OK. Ofcourse the HT system I have beats the crap out of TV speakers. For the HX820 speakers I don't know because I only used the HT system.
 
#20 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr-Homer /forum/post/20664245


Found a very thorough review of the 820 (two days after I bought one)
http://www.televisioninfo.com/conten...DTV-Review.htm

I wouldn't trust that review entirely, for 2 reasons.


They test black level after turning off both the ambient sensor and the Led Dymanic control, the later is important for the screen uniformity. They even calibrate it for 100% backlight.


They tested the 46NX720 and had similar results with black level and uniformity, but they mentioned under Viewing Control the following:


"Sony tucked away a really awesome feature: LED local dimming. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this feature, if you have an LED backlight, it’s possible to program the TV to dim or brighten each light-emitting diode depending on the picture in front of it, boosting the effective contrast of the picture without actually changing the performance or programming of the TV. It’s not perfect, as it can lag a little bit from time to time, but it is pretty cool to mess around with if you want an even wider contrast ratio.


When we enabled the LED Dynamic Control setting in our tests, the KDL-46NX720’s contrast ratio exploded, giving us a deepest black of 0.01 cd/m2, and a peak brightness of 311.13 cd/m2, for a total contrast ratio of 31113:1. "


Yet they fail to mention this in the review of the HX820, this Panel is designed to have its Led Dynamic control enabled and will give its lowest black level and best picture quality with it enabled. Turning it off is fine for testing as long as you also test and report findings with it enabled, which they didn't do.


Anyhow I have a 55HX820 and I absolutely love it.
 
#21 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by imolator /forum/post/20668032


I wouldn't trust that review entirely, for 2 reasons.


They test black level after turning off both the ambient sensor and the Led Dymanic control, the later is important for the screen uniformity. They even calibrate it for 100% backlight.


They tested the 46NX720 and had similar results with black level and uniformity, but they mentioned under Viewing Control the following:


"Sony tucked away a really awesome feature: LED local dimming. For those of you who aren't familiar with this feature, if you have an LED backlight, it's possible to program the TV to dim or brighten each light-emitting diode depending on the picture in front of it, boosting the effective contrast of the picture without actually changing the performance or programming of the TV. It's not perfect, as it can lag a little bit from time to time, but it is pretty cool to mess around with if you want an even wider contrast ratio.


When we enabled the LED Dynamic Control setting in our tests, the KDL-46NX720's contrast ratio exploded, giving us a deepest black of 0.01 cd/m2, and a peak brightness of 311.13 cd/m2, for a total contrast ratio of 31113:1. "


Yet they fail to mention this in the review of the HX820, this Panel is designed to have its Led Dynamic control enabled and will give its lowest black level and best picture quality with it enabled. Turning it off is fine for testing as long as you also test and report findings with it enabled, which they didn't do.


Anyhow I have a 55HX820 and I absolutely love it.

Would you mind sharing your settings ?
 
#22 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by joeskie /forum/post/20669000


Would you mind sharing your settings ?

You really need to calibrate the display for the room that it is in but feel free to try these out.


Picture mode = Custom

Backlight = 5 (this is with Ambience sensor active if you want it off I would suggest setting it to 1 or 2 for a dark room)

Picture = 90

Brightness = 45

Colour = 48

ColourTemp = Warm1

Sharpness = 35

Noisereduction = off

Mpeg = off

Dot = off

Reality Creation = Off (for movies) on Auto for TV

Smooth Graduation= Off (for movies) on low for TV

Motionflow = off (for movies) Smooth for TV

Cinemotion = Auto2


Advanced settings

Black Corrector = off

Advanced Contrast = Low

Led Dynamic = Standard

I leave the rest defaults except Edge enhancement which I have on low for TV
 
#23 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by mystic54 /forum/post/20667724


How manageable was the lag when you didn't switch to game mode? I know you said game mode still had a decent PQ, but I just want to see if playing an FPS like Call of Duty was possible without game mode.

I was playing mostly fps specifically cod and I noted it was tolerable when using what I believe is called standard mode. It was playable but something seemed to be off I couldn't specifically put my finger on it. Once I changed to game mode I was pleasantly surprised. Didn't note any degradation in PQ but i'm in no means a pro critic.


has any one noticed the "crease" as noted in the HX929 forum? I'm not sure if mine has it or not from what I can tell it may only be in the right hand side but again it might be just my seating position as im slightly off the sweet spot to the left. I'll try take some photos next time im home.


love the tv so far looking forward to trying those settings posted as well.


keep the comments coming
 
#24 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by imolator /forum/post/20671589


You really need to calibrate the display for the room that it is in but feel free to try these out.


Picture mode = Custom

Backlight = 5 (this is with Ambience sensor active if you want it off I would suggest setting it to 1 or 2 for a dark room)

Picture = 90

Brightness = 45

Colour = 48

ColourTemp = Warm1

Sharpness = 35

Noisereduction = off

Mpeg = off

Dot = off

Reality Creation = Off (for movies) on Auto for TV

Smooth Graduation= Off (for movies) on low for TV

Motionflow = off (for movies) Smooth for TV

Cinemotion = Auto2


Advanced settings

Black Corrector = off

Advanced Contrast = Low

Led Dynamic = Standard

I leave the rest defaults except Edge enhancement which I have on low for TV

Thanks. Looks good and real in terms of picture... but the motion I can't stand any of the soap opera effect. I'm not sure if it's the reality creation, motionflow or cinemotion.. lol I'll figure it out when I get home from work.


Thanks again. Cheers.
 
#26 ·
I only found out about Sony's replacement program three weeks ago and tomorrow they're delivering my 55HX820. I've only read two reviews of the set and they were pretty good mostly with a few harsh remarks. But the consumer reviews are positively glowing. Oh well, I'll soon find out for myself.
 
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