Official Sony XBR HX909 owners' thread (52HX909, 46HX909, HX9, HX900) - Page 89

still thought the old standard factory is stil better compared to others

Hey everyone, I just purchased the 52" version of this TV at a great price and am super excited about it. I have been researching which TV to buy for a couple of months and given the price, features and looks of this tv, I can't think of a better choice.

I have a couple of questions:

-do all of Sony's 3D glasses work with this model? of course with the 3D transmitter.

how many glasses can work with one 3D transmitter?

lastly, what is the vast majority's preference for video settings?

Thanks so much for the input.

Has anyone purchased a refurbished XBR52HX909 or XBR46HX909? Comments or concerns? 52" is going for $1600+tax, 46" for $1300+tax. I've never purchased a Sony refurbished product before, but I haven't found a local store with a new one still in stock to date. 48 month interest-free financing is enticing too.

id say go for it if the warranty is there.. tv is defintely a worth set

Those settings posted are from a professional calibration, you can raise the backlight but then the gamma, color etc will not be within ISF specs.

Can you post videos/pics of the dse / banding your getting with your new 52hx909? Lets see if it is the same as mine and others I have seen.

I paid $1800 about two months ago for a display model 52hx909, I would not hesitate to get a refurb for $1600 from Sony. Chances are someone returned the set because of blooming or somthing else that is NOT a fault of the product but design. I would go for the bigger size if you can as movies/games are grat at bigger sizes but you cant go wrong with either!

which are the best 3d glasses for the HX909?

do this years' models work with the 909? are there any differences between this and last year?

thanks,

The 250 models are the best that I have used because compared to their predecessor, they are much more comfortable while not having much of a difference in visual quality.

Professional calibration doesn't really mean anything since each set is unique enough to be different. Also everyone's eyes do not see the same exact thing either. I calibrated my TV once with DVD Essentials BD and it came out pretty lame. I just played around with the settings that looked good to me and kept them there. I'm VERY happy with how it looks, on all sources.

Guys

Just received my TV today and everything looks good except there is a big smudge in the top and a little on the right side of the screen. I tried to clear it out by wetting some facial tissues but can't get rid of it. If the TV is turned on, it won't interfere with your picture quality at all but if you stare at the dark screen from an angle, you'll definitely see it

Any other way to clean it out? If it doesn't go, should I return the TV?

Thanks

Hello Blackvette94,

I keep your settings ... they are perfect!
By increasing the backlight, it accentuates the DSE / banding.

I tested two 52HX900 in a specialty store to see if they were just as DSE / banding:
They date back to November 2010.
They have a slight vertical banding (and horizontal).
They have the same amount of DSE on mine.
I do not have material for film.
The DSE is rather annoying for watching broadcast football and video games (PES: football games)
For the rest, it is not a problem (just a little on clear images of FPS as the sky for example).


I also test the 55HX920 exposure (May 2011) :
He had a lot of banding (wide vertical stripes on a background fixed of light color)
I saw them on a image on light-colored!
I could not test the DSE, but I guess it should not be better than the HX900. (???)

Like you say, the HX929 is less uniform than the HX909.
Apparently sensitive people (like me) also complain about DSE on this new model.

I had the choice between the two. And I chose the 52HX900.
I must not regret my purchase.

But le DSE still bothers me ... My old 46HX900 had the same amount of DSE.
Unfortunately, we can not escape this phenomenon on the new generation of flat panel displays.

I've never had DSE on my old LCD ... it disturbs me

But it is not possible to have a better panel, I would be satisfied.

I hope to adapt to the future.

I wish we still reassures me (please)

Blackvette94, do you see DSE on broadcast sports (hockey, football)?

I've had the Dynamic contrast set to Low instead of Standard for the past couple of nights and the DSE during upward pans has gotten better. (with the Doug Blackburn settings) It's a very minute difference in contrast from standard, if anything positive there's a more natural gradation between colors. You can notice the difference as the local dimming zones engage with significantly less intensity allowing clouds, smoke and liquids being displayed to blend back into backgrounds without the on/off effects of the dimming zones. I don't know if anyone has seen the Molson "M" beer commercial which is an awesome example of how the local dimming zones can become extremely visible on a black background.

I might leave it set to Low, we'll have to see what happens when hockey season starts and the tv has to process some bright white ice with dark team colors.

If anyone else tries the Low setting, feel free to share your thoughts.

Sorry, but I see no difference.

can anybody help me out here?
Guys

Just received my TV today and everything looks good except there is a big smudge in the top and a little on the right side of the screen. I tried to clear it out by wetting some facial tissues but can't get rid of it. If the TV is turned on, it won't interfere with your picture quality at all but if you stare at the dark screen from an angle, you'll definitely see it

Any other way to clean it out? If it doesn't go, should I return the TV?

Also, sometimes I see a big lag with channel change like I'll press the button once and nothing moves. Then a few seconds later, I press a few buttons and nothing. Then after 5-7 seconds, all commands that I put in take effect

First of all NEVER use anything like that to clean your screen. Facial tissues are made out of trees! Does that seem like a good thing to rub around on your TV screen? Buy a high quality lint-free cloth. The best TV/LCD/Glass cleaner I've used is from http://www.purosol.com/ company. I suggest everyone invest in a bottle to safely clean their LCD's and TV's.

thanks - my neighbor came over and used a similar LCD cleaning solution he had and the smudge is still there. If I call sony, will they send someone over to inspect the TV? What are my options here? It's a hassle to ship it out and get another one

Just a few thoughts on my new 52HX909. I've had both a samsung plasma (hpt4264) and lcd for a couple of years (with the original 1080P panel that the XBR used, can't remember the model), and think the plasma has the much better picture.

I set the TV up with basically Doug Blackburn's settings. To me they are more than bright enough. I've played Transformers in HDDVD and Cars, Fifth Element in DVD. Overall, as I think everyone knows, this is probably one of the top 3 LCD tv's ever made and the blacks are stunning, as is shadow detail. However, the following is what I see that makes it less than perfect:

1. I actually did see the blue tinged blacks after initially setting up the tv. I don't think the blacks themselves are like that, but as light spills into some darker areas it can create this effect. Setting backlight from 3 to 2 and picture from 85 to 82 has helped minimize this. Also, I believe going down to gamma -2 from -1 helps. Not a huge deal, but could certainly be improved. (I'm sure adjusting white balance correctly would be the icing on the cake)

2. Clouding is obvious on the set when the menu is up (no local dimming) but that's nothing new.

3. Viewing angles are really bad compared to a plasma. The LG IPS set is the only one I can remember that has acceptable ones.

Despite the above, I love the TV. The design is great, it does not hum, it does not heat up the room, it has no dithering problems, and it is super sharp in a way that only LCD's seem to be (but at the same time the naturalness of the picture is there, like plasma). Also, I just set up the outdoor antenna and am watching the tv without local dimming, and wheel of fortune looks amazing.

Overall, after the little use I have had with it, I would recommend this tv to everyone. Also, I dislike Sony as a company, since they have done very little in the last 15 years in the way of products that live up to their once high standards. This TV (and their digital radio tuner) seem to be the exception.

i disagree with you in everyway i spent big bucks on this tv im gonna b happy and enjoy every bit of it no complaints no crying no nothing just all smiles

Why would you turn off the local dimming? If you really don't like it, then there are plenty of top notch edge-lit panels from Samsung and Sony at a much cheaper price. Have you looked at blu ray material on your panel. I strongly recommend "The Thin Red Line" which imho represents the pinnacle of reference grade video quality. I have rarely seen blue tinged blacks on mine and when I do it tends to be a product of the media rather than the panel. Indeed, I believe this HDTV brings out a lot of flaws inherent to various source material better than most.

anybody here has that alice n wunderland 3d starter package? where it comes with 2 glasses, hdmi cable, transmitter, and the movie?? quick question.. is the glasses in these bundles the rechargeable ones? or the ones that require battery

No, what I'm saying is that for an LCD panel (without local dimming on) it still looks good (which you can't say for every LCD). Of course, you would not buy this TV unless you truly believe in the benefits of local dimming, which I do.

They require the battery. The newer 250 model glasses are much more comfortable and are the ones that can be recharged I believe.

Yes, DSE/uniformity is there with sports and games. I have seen it on all tvs, both lcd and plasma, including my Elite Plasma. Sadly this is how flat panel tvs are, and we are in a small category that see this, alot of people it doesnt bother them.
Sit back and enjoy the tv my friend!! It is fantastic!!

Best regards

I think I snatched up the last XBR52HX909 off of Sony's site. I placed the order shortly after the backordered message went up, and it shipped on Wednesday. Should arrive tomorrow! This will be my second TV, and by far my largest (other TV is a Sony KDL-32XBR4, which is still going strong). I'm really glad I pulled the trigger.

just rented my bloody valentine and coraline but it doesnt work with my 3d glasses.. when i put it on 3d mode, all u see is green colors on the edges.. its really annoying.. does any1 know why or how to fix this problem? my chronicles of narnia works just fine

A couple of observatios...

1) Unit clicks when television is in the off position, but still has power applied.
2) Netflix continues to give DRM errors, (Digital Rights Management)
- Only way to clear, is to reboot TV and a full power recycle.
- Happens about 1 every two weeks.

DSE sucks. I wish I wasn't able to notice it, everytime I get lost in the beautiful images on this set, DSE snaps me out of it. As i posted earlier, setting the dynamic contrast to low has helped, but it's still less then ideal for a TV of this high calibre/price range.

bass462,

You mean "local dimming"?
The exact term? please...


I changed three times in TV.
They all DSE with banding (horizontal and vertical).
I took the one with the least vertical banding (light bands when you look at the slab on the side).
Unfortunately, this one has the most DSE. :/

I took the TV expostion the store.
Blackvette94, should I take the Sony extended warranty (5 years) to 250 €?

Yes the dynamic contrast is the control for the local dimming, setting it on low helps a bit since you don't see changes in brightness firing through the screen during vertical pans. My previous unit didn't have it as much as this one but i got an exchange because of a dent in the frame and now i'm stuck with more DSE.

Like i said earlier i'm waiting for hockey season to start to see how this will look on the white ice. I'm expecting the worst.

Last week I posted an S.O.S. regarding my 46HX909. I mentioned several issues, including issues with the image quality - especially with skin tone - and some mechanical problems I was having with my set. A few nice folks here asked me to post my picture settings, which I'll do below, but unfortunately, in trouble shooting with Sony, I had to reset everything, so I'm kind of back at square one, with regards to settings. I also have an update regarding the mechanical issues I was having. I would love some additional feedback in both these areas.

First, regarding image quality:

After drawing several comparisons between the image quality of my 40-inch Samsung edge-lit LED TV and the HX909, I finally set them up side by side, with the Samsung running via HDMI and the Sony via component cables. Watching the same cable feed, I was able to get the settings pretty close between the two. The main differences I'm noticing in terms of color reproduction is that with both units in the standard setting, and color temp set to neutral:

Whites:
The Samsung's whites are "whiter" - perhaps with a very slight blue tinge compared to the Sony. The Sony's whites have a warmer or browner tinge. I tried setting the the Sony to "cool" which I hate, but wanted to see if I could match the shade of white, but it looked REALLY cool and didn't match the Samsung at all.

Reds:
My biggest complaint of Sony's color reproduction. Compared to the Samsung's reds, the Sony's look almost "mustardy." The reds have a slight burnt orange tinge to them - it's really apparent when viewed side-by-side.

Skin Tones:
Okay, maybe THIS is my biggest complaint with Sony. When viewed side-by-side, skin on the Samsung had more red/pink "pigment" where skin on the Sony looked greenish/yellowish in comparison. Skin on the Samsung just looks more natural and healthy to me; I had been using the word "pasty" to describe skin on the Sony and it was strikingly apparent when I had the sets running side-by-side.

Black and White:
Viewing black and white footage, on the Samsung the blacks and grays looked, well, like normal black and white footage; on the Sony, the image looked almost like sepia in comparison. Very weird. Perhaps the same yellowish quality that I'm seeing in the whites, reds, and skin tones is what I'm seeing here.

If anyone has any suggestions how I can better match the whites, reds and skin tones to be closer to the Samsung's - most importantly getting the reds to be more true red and skin more red/pink and less yellow - I would GREATLY appreciate it.

Here are the current settings of the Sony that are as close as I can get them to the Samsung's image so far:

Picture Mode: Standard
Backlight: 6
Picture: Max
Brightness: 50
Color: 55
Hue: 0
Color Temp: Neutral
Sharpness: 65
Noise Reduction: Low
MPEG Noise Reduction: Auto
Motionflow: Clear 1
CineMotion: Auto 1
Advanced Settings:
Black Corrector: Medium
Adv. Contrast Enhancer: Off
Gamma: -1
LED Dynamic Control: Standard
Auto Light Limiter: Medium
Clear White: Low
Live Color: Off
White Balance: default
Detail Enhancer: High
Edge Enhance: Low

I'm sure most of you who are using professional calibration settings are cringing at these settings, but I'm simply tweaking my newly reset default settings to match my Samsung's image as closely as possible. Like I said, it's pretty close, except for the whites, reds and skin tones.

*****

Now, as far as the mechanical issues are concerned, the most troubling issues I've experienced so far are the following:

Random/intermittent lag/delay in the onscreen menu.
I'll be pressing the volume up button, for example, and suddenly, even though the green light on the TV is flashing (receiving the signal) the horizontal blue bar and the numbers on the far right stop responding. Then, suddenly, they will JUMP to the proper position. I also noticed the same behavior when scrolling through the menus, where the onscreen menu will basically freeze and jump ahead to catch up with itself. Unfortunately, this issue is extremely random and, therefore, very hard to reproduce. I had an authorized Sony repair guy come take a look and, while he did catch the volume bar lagging and then jumping ahead, he didn't consider it a particularly serious issue. What do you think? Has anyone here experienced this type of menu "lag?"

Set turned itself off and then back on
This happened twice. The first time, I attributed this to the fact that I was repeatedly turning the set off and on, trying to reproduce a random delay I had noticed, where the set wouldn't immediately turn back on after a power off. The second time, however, it occurred a about 5-10 seconds after powering up the set for the first time that day. I turned the set on, saw the image come up, then the set shut off and then back on. I thought I was sitting on the remote, but I wasn't. This happened a week ago and hasn't happened since, but it really had me upset. Of all the issues I mentioned to the Sony repair guy (random delay turning on immediately after a power off, lagging menu, etc.) this was the one issue that troubled him.

As I'm mentioned numerous times, I can't find any more 46HX909's at any Fry's in southern California, so exchanging this unit for another one is not an option. The Sony repair guy, after contacting Sony for their take on the issues, recommended replacing the main board and, possibly the remote pre-amp board. The main question I'm faced with right now is whether I want to have a brand new, two week-old TV taken apart and repaired. I'm very OCD about these things and one slightly dinged or stripped screw on the back will drive me nuts! On the other hand, if the only alternative is to return the TV and have to settle for a different model somewhere down the line, perhaps it's the right thing to do.

Is what I'm experiencing just the normal, idiosyncratic behavior of modern TV sets? Since these behaviors are so random, am I better just living with the set as it is or should I be running to Fry's to get my money back?

As always, any and all feedback would be GREATLY appreciated.