Official Sony HX929 Owner's thread (46HX929, 55HX929, 65HX929) No Price Talk - Page 399

Originally Posted by Toyo321

Does anyone here have a build date later than November on their 65" set. I have had mine for a week, with an October build date and got everything dialed in but the banding on my set is terrible. I watched another hockey game last night in HD, and I love hockey and this set has prominent dual bands in the middle of the set 12 inches apart and they go from the top of the sceen all the way to the bottom. This is also so evident on white, blue or light brown sandy color images. As other members have also mentioned here. I am not being fussy but when you see guys skating up the ice you swear they are going to skate into the bands or speed bumps as I call them , and get wiped out on the ice its so bad.

I know that everyone has had different luck with their sets and this banding issue in general. I just think it is very disapointing because I just sold my SXRD set to get this set, it had absolutely no banding issues, and this banding problem is really not acceptable on any $5k set or any set over $2k IMO.

I compared this set to a 60" Elite and also the latest 64" Samsung plasma at the Hifi shop before I bought the Hx929. I knew that there was no guarantee on the panel quality that I might get after I bought it but, I have almost no DSE or black uniformity issues with this set, and the staff at the HiFi shop where I bought from were unaware of the banding issue with these sets until I sent them some pictures.

This set was so much better with motion processing than the other two sets I compared it to, and the motion superiority alone made me spend the addition $ and buy this HX929. The Elite and the Samsung on 24p material had terrible panning judder compared to the Sony. This is a very important to me when you watch action scene footage, sports, Blu-Ray action movies. There was no comparison, the Sony won hands down. I made sure that all the sets were running with the same motion processing disabled and then enabled to compare them side by side in the same room with the same source material from a OPPO BD player..

Some people here have said that their banding issues have gone away after a 100 hours of use. I just don't know how this could even be possible on a lcd panel since its truely a manufacturing defect in the lcd panel itself that causes this problem in the first place.

I would like to ask if any one has bought a set that has a November or 2012 build date yet. I would like to know if they have had much better luck with their sets on any of these issues.

Thanks hopefully the new replacement set that arrives is a 2012 manufacturing date and Sony had done some better QC on the LCD panels in these sets.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Originally Posted by poakes

As Moshster was saying I also believe all 65HX929's have this banding issue & it's unnaceptable.
I went through an Oct/2011 with light banding, light clouding in 3D & an awful stuck red pixel.
Sony replaced it with a Nov/2011 build that is so much worse; extreme banding, heavier clouding in 3D & still a stuck sub-pixel but less apparent than the original.
This november built TV is unwatchable in 2D due to the banding at 1/3 & 2/3 of the screen. It's also unwatchable in 3D due to large clouds in the middle-bottom area.

Sony finally decided to give up & are refunding me the full purchase; I tried to get another exchange but they won't.
I decided to call back the tech who came to my place twice for this issue & he also advised me to give up & take my money back as he never saw a set who didn't have the issues....He told me most customers don't notice it or are not bothered by it.

How can a customer buy a $5k to $7k TV and not want an almost perfect picture is beyond me.

I'm terribly disappointed, I wanted to keep this TV as I love everything else but I just can't accept this poorly engineered/built device...

Originally Posted by poakes

I'm terribly disappointed, I wanted to keep this TV as I love everything else but I just can't accept this poorly engineered/built device...

Originally Posted by biggstuu

Is there a picture you can take to show how bad this banding is? There are other people that seem to regard this set as one of the best on the market who have made no mention of this issue.

Originally Posted by BulletzBill

Would a 9ft viewing distance be too close for the 55" version of this set? The center of the TV would be more or less at eye level, and viewed straight on.

Also, how does the gorilla glass screen compare to other sets that use glossy screens (say, a 2011 samsung LED) in terms of ambient light reflectiveness/glare? Better or worse?

I've only seen the set in person at a Best Buy, which does have a lot of bright ambient light obviously, but when there were dark areas on the screen you could easily see your own reflection. The room where I intend to use it is relatively dark in the daytime, there is one big window directly across from the TV but it has blackout curtains. There is a room adjacent to it with a wide opening between them with no doors, and in that room there is a few windows with only miniblinds, and they do let in a little sunlight when closed, but not that much.

Originally Posted by Kolenka

I've got a swap coming up for my set because of it.

As far as I can tell, it varies from set to set. But when someone says "banding", "blotching", or "DSE" in relation to this set, I bet they are actually all one and the same for the most part. When watching content, it shows up as DSE. On a white screen you can see blotches and/or bands. When watching 3D it shows up as a weird clouding or DSE that is on the plane of the TV. It is more visible when there is nothing on the same plane as the display itself. It also shows up as clouding if you turn off the local dimming.

In my case, I have two vertical blotches as others have described. I also have a series of 45 degree 'bands' across the entire display, and the left blotch has a dark spot compared to the rest. The upper corners are also noticeably dimmed. The effect is very similar to blotching from adhesive when bonding glass to a display. So people who say it will go away in 100 hours (mine has gotten a bit better) are seeing this sort of effect. It doesn't appear to be a defect in the panel itself, but rather uneven illumination that makes it out of the panel + glass.

Beyond that, it is a very good set. The PQ is excellent, even without a full blown calibration. The monolithic design is very slick and actually does a good job making the bezel feel smaller than it is. I don't notice the DSE all the time, but it is annoying enough that I am trying a swap. Animated content and 3D suffers for it the most.

Originally Posted by bareyb

Whew! Just uncrated the new HX929 and thought I had "DSE". Unfortunately I had to set up the whole thing before it would let me connect a cable box.

I finally got it hooked it up to one of my cable boxes and put it and my 2006 Sony LCD (with another DVR on it) on the same channel and compared. Guess what? They both had exactly the same artifacting. This intrigued me so I went into my TiVo and got the same show that we had recorded and matched it up to the live version on the TV. Paused it at the same spot and found the exactly same artifacts...

Obviously they both don't have the exact same "backlighting problems" (aka DSE) as my old Sony doesn't even have LED backlighting. Just to make sure it wasn't an LCD issue, I went over to our Tube TV in the playroom and played the same show and paused it in the same spot. You guessed it. Whatever was uneven in the background on the show was present on all three TVs. In other words, what I was seeing was coming in through cable box and had nothing to do with my TV all.

Anyway. Thank God. I was seriously DREADING making the call to Amazon to return it. I wonder how many people are mistaking digital artifacts for DSE? It certainly looks like what I saw described in this thread. I think this thread planted the thought in my mind! Damn you Internets!

Anyway, if you have a set and you think you may have DSE, see if you can directly compare to another TV with the same channel on or a recording. It might make you feel a whole lot better and save you a bunch of shipping hassles.

Originally Posted by BenDover

I find myself wondering how noticeable, if at all, are these issues during normal viewing since I generally don't butter up a bucket popcorn on a Friday night to watch test screens

Originally Posted by sangean

This DSE/banding is present on all these screens more or less (even in other brands Samsung, Sharp etc), because of the current technology that is used. The vertical lines are present about every 2 cms.

The big question is whether it is visible in normal content (usually panning scene) or not.

Unfortunately this is like a panel lottery. If you are lucky then its not noticable in normal viewing. Sony should have better quality control at least for this TOP model, but thats not the case. Instead if the customer complains then Sony replaces with a new set which is again a panel lottery.

So if you dont notice it then you are lucky while others are annoyed because DSE-banding can have very bad cases ruining the normal viewing as you can read in many posts in this forum.

Noone wants to watch test screens, but thats a good way to test the new replacement set right away from DSE/banding point of view. The best way is to put on some gray pictures going from light gray to dark gray and at the darkest you will see the the vertical lines. The best is to put those JPEG files to USB stick because the TV has the local dimming feature OFF by default when the media is USB stick and then you can see the problem easier, plus it shouldnt be a too bright room.

This USB stick is a good method to test the TVs in the store to avoid the hassle of TV replacement later.

Originally Posted by poakes

As Moshster was saying I also believe all 65HX929's have this banding issue & it's unnaceptable.
I went through an Oct/2011 with light banding, light clouding in 3D & an awful stuck red pixel.
Sony replaced it with a Nov/2011 build that is so much worse; extreme banding, heavier clouding in 3D & still a stuck sub-pixel but less apparent than the original.
This november built TV is unwatchable in 2D due to the banding at 1/3 & 2/3 of the screen. It's also unwatchable in 3D due to large clouds in the middle-bottom area.

Sony finally decided to give up & are refunding me the full purchase; I tried to get another exchange but they won't.
I decided to call back the tech who came to my place twice for this issue & he also advised me to give up & take my money back as he never saw a set who didn't have the issues....He told me most customers don't notice it or are not bothered by it.

How can a customer buy a $5k to $7k TV and not want an almost perfect picture is beyond me.

I'm terribly disappointed, I wanted to keep this TV as I love everything else but I just can't accept this poorly engineered/built device...

Originally Posted by MacMeister

Can anyone help me out here. See image. I got off the phone with sony support and they are calling this issue 'white mura' and say its normal for high end lcd displays. The movie shown is 'The Crow" on blu-ray, and the white mura is along the left side of the screen. Is there anything I can do about this? Its not as prevalent when more colorful images are displayed. Sony's wonderful support staff recommended I turn down the backlight and turn on the auto contrast enhancer. From what i read about mura, this is not normal and generally appears from one of the following:

• Impurities or foreign particles in the crystal matrix
• Uneven distribution of LCD matrix during manufacturing
• Non-uniform luminance distribution of the backlight
• Panel assembly induced stress
• Flaws in the LCD cells
• Thermal induced stress - high temperature operation over long periods of time

All of these seem to me to manufacturing defects of some form or another. Any recommendations on how to proceed with sony support would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by MacMeister

Any kind of movie, from any input device, nexflix app on tv itself, blue-ray, and from cable television feed. when watching more colorful images, the colors show very minor hazing. but when you watch anything that is very dark, it really is eye catching and distracting.

Originally Posted by MacMeister

Can anyone help me out here. See image. I got off the phone with sony support and they are calling this issue 'white mura' and say its normal for high end lcd displays. The movie shown is 'The Crow" on blu-ray, and the white mura is along the left side of the screen. Is there anything I can do about this? Its not as prevalent when more colorful images are displayed. Sony's wonderful support staff recommended I turn down the backlight and turn on the auto contrast enhancer. From what i read about mura, this is not normal and generally appears from one of the following:

• Impurities or foreign particles in the crystal matrix
• Uneven distribution of LCD matrix during manufacturing
• Non-uniform luminance distribution of the backlight
• Panel assembly induced stress
• Flaws in the LCD cells
• Thermal induced stress - high temperature operation over long periods of time

All of these seem to me to manufacturing defects of some form or another. Any recommendations on how to proceed with sony support would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by IMRIZZO

I would insist an in-house inspection by a Sony rep to evaluate this problem it is not a common problem I do not have that specific disc but SinCity is a very similar disc being basiclly a B&W movie and if what they told you is correct it should present the same results which it most certainly doesn't as a matter of fact I use Sin City as a reference disc simply because of the way it handles those incidents.

Originally Posted by poakes

I decided to call back the tech who came to my place twice for this issue & he also advised me to give up & take my money back as he never saw a set who didn't have the issues....He told me most customers don't notice it or are not bothered by it.

How can a customer buy a $5k to $7k TV and not want an almost perfect picture is beyond me.

I'm terribly disappointed, I wanted to keep this TV as I love everything else but I just can't accept this poorly engineered/built device...

Originally Posted by bareyb

Whew! Just uncrated the new HX929 and thought I had "DSE". Unfortunately I had to set up the whole thing before it would let me connect a cable box.

I finally got it hooked it up to one of my cable boxes and put it and my 2006 Sony LCD (with another DVR on it) on the same channel and compared. Guess what? They both had exactly the same artifacting. This intrigued me so I went into my TiVo and got the same show that we had recorded and matched it up to the live version on the TV. Paused it at the same spot and found the exactly same artifacts...

Obviously they both don't have the exact same "backlighting problems" (aka DSE) as my old Sony doesn't even have LED backlighting. Just to make sure it wasn't an LCD issue, I went over to our Tube TV in the playroom and played the same show and paused it in the same spot. You guessed it. Whatever was uneven in the background on the show was present on all three TVs. In other words, what I was seeing was coming in through cable box and had nothing to do with my TV all.

Anyway. Thank God. I was seriously DREADING making the call to Amazon to return it. I wonder how many people are mistaking digital artifacts for DSE? It certainly looks like what I saw described in this thread. I think this thread planted the thought in my mind! Damn you Internets!

Anyway, if you have a set and you think you may have DSE, see if you can directly compare to another TV with the same channel on or a recording. It might make you feel a whole lot better and save you a bunch of shipping hassles.

Originally Posted by sangean

This DSE/banding is present on all these screens more or less (even in other brands Samsung, Sharp etc), because of the current technology that is used. The vertical lines are present about every 2 cms.

The big question is whether it is visible in normal content (usually panning scene) or not.

Unfortunately this is like a panel lottery. If you are lucky then its not noticable in normal viewing. Sony should have better quality control at least for this TOP model, but thats not the case. Instead if the customer complains then Sony replaces with a new set which is again a panel lottery.

Originally Posted by MacMeister

Yes, the tv is wall mounted, and I dont think the screws are too tight, but I'll definitely check them and see if it has any effect. I'm going to try their recommendations of adjusting the backlight and turning on the auto contrast enhancer (already done this a few times, so why not try again), it never has corrected the problem, and I don't expect it too this time. Sony said it was normal, so I don't know if them coming out to fix it is even on the table at the moment.

Originally Posted by gbaby

A couple of days ago my 55HX929 automatically updated itself and afterwards, I thought the picture was brighter and improved, but can't say for sure. Anyone else receive an update recently and saw a picture improvement?

Originally Posted by gbaby

A couple of days ago my 55HX929 automatically updated itself and afterwards, I thought the picture was brighter and improved, but can't say for sure. Anyone else receive an update recently and saw a picture improvement?

Originally Posted by IMRIZZO

Demand a rep come to your home to confirm and verify your complaint they are required to do that and try to get something in writting from the rep.

Originally Posted by KDH

Finaly some one on with some sense. This set has some of the best unaforimity as any set out there. Its in the source most of the time like 99%

Originally Posted by unixguru

So to be completely fair, the quality failure is with Sharp (and secondarily with Sony for allowing the tolerances to be too wide).

Originally Posted by BenDover

I would have to believe that the only reliable way to test your screen for any issues would be with test screens, otherwise I might tune to TCM and find that my screen is only showing black and white

Bareyb, definitely a good point to raise...

I find myself wondering how noticeable, if at all, are these issues during normal viewing since I generally don't butter up a bucket popcorn on a Friday night to watch test screens

I'm certain that because of my raised awareness I will likely see some of this stuff, but I wonder if uninitiated observers will see it...with the exception of dead pixels, obviously.