Official Sony HX850 Owner's Thread (46HX850, 55HX850)

Thanks, DSE (Dirty Screen Effect) are blotches/marks on the screen that are easily noticeable when the TV does a panning shot vertically or horizontally and more so when the background is a solid color, such as a blue sky or a soccer pitch.

Thanks Greg.

Here are the links / info on the slick Monolithic stands that are available as an added option.

Here is how it looks mounted with the TV:
http://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php...&id=1326241462


$150 for the 46"
http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/sto...#compatability

$180 for the 55"
http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/sto...52921666424876

Picking this up soon!

So has anyone here been able to see an 850 in person and compare it to the picture quality on a 750 to ensure the blacks and contrast are better?

Still on the fence if I should wait to get the Panasonic WT50 series instead of this.

With the news about Sony and their business and moving away from TVs....

What adjustments did you have to make? Was it for example to turn the backlight down, and in that case to what level?

Also, how does the HX850 compare to the HX820? Any major differences, or are they similar?

Really interested in this set.

Any chance of some pictures of owner set ups?

I know you can see pictures online but its good to see real pictures so to speak.

Thanks,

Aaron

Thanks. Could you please elaborate a bit regarding what you think makes the picture on the HX850 better? Are you for example referring to viewing angles, less motion blur, or something else?

Also, did you get any flashlighting before turning the backlight down? What if you watch letterboxed movies in a completely dark room for example?

Having seen a few of these in the store the picture quality in cleary better than the hx750. I do think the 820 is a much nicer looking set though. Have no idea which one has a better picture though. I would be intrested to know if it is clearly beter. I like the silver lining, but the stand, lack of logo, and remote are terrible.

Yes, that is the same experience I have from the two HX820 sets I've seen. At least on those two sets there was a little flashlighting in the bottom corners when watching letterboxed movies in a dark room (not very pronounced however, sometimes depending on content you really have to look for it to see it). Also the flashlighting is not visible when watching normal 16:9 content (even in a dark room), and not when watching letterboxed movies when the room is lit (even if the lights are quite low). I should also add that when watching off angle more than ~ 20-30 degrees, blacks gradually turn grey/blueish. But that is common for all LCD TVs due to poor viewing angles for the LCD technology.

Also turning down the backlight helps to reduce the flashlighting a bit, but not completely. Unfortunately, turning down the backlight also results in black crush (i.e. loss of contrast in dark areas, where dark grey also looks just black). So ideally I like to keep the backlight at 7 (i.e. default setting), since then there is no black crush, and the image looks fine for most content I watch. But in Cinema mode when watching movies I have set it to 5.

Finally, I might sound a bit negative above, but that's probably because I am somewhat of a perfectionist always looking for things to improve. So just to clarify, in general I have to say I am very pleased with the picture quality of the HX820. Compared to other TV sets on the market it is definitely one of the best out there, and other sets have similar flaws too (most have many more flaws!). Many people just don't know what flaws to look for and how/when to spot them. Hence they often do not notice them (poor bastards, they don't know what they are missing! ). Also, I must add that the HX820 set itself really looks amazing!

But it will be nice when OLED TVs start to arrive at decent prices, and we can all forget about flashlighting, backlight bleedning, clouding, black crush, low contrast, bad viewing angles etc that are all common for LCD sets.

Sorry that is not quite right, brightness controls blacks and controls the amount of detail you see. Backlight is purely the luminance of the display or the amount of light the display outputs. Brightness should be set correctly with a proper test pattern so you get no black crush or over exposure of dark areas.

Aaron

There can be no comparison pricewise as the hx823 on release was more expensive?? Sony outlets are selling off hx823 sets to concentrate on the hx853. As they possibly will with the hx853 in 7-8 mths time. I say possibly because they have cut back 50% on tv production,last year i would have said definately! Also had a look at this baby today in my local A/V superstore,picture-wise looks similar to the 820 with minor flashlighting in corners,but it was barely noticiable,nice blacks on cinema mode with lovely colourfull picture it would be hard to point out picture differences within 20 mins.

It looks smaller than the 820 with a slightly slimmer bezel,but the silver coloured strip adds class. Sound is v.good for a edge-led tv,again with the noise i cudnt really tell any comparison,but it sounded "bassy". Like all the monolithic sony sets,it looks v. classy without overdoing it,again the silver strip giving the extra look to the overall tv. It was on a stand almost identical to the hx800 stand,but sturdy enough,with the monolithic stand costing extra?? as i didn't see 1 there. Well if i had 1700stg & was in the market i would take a real close look at it,it had Underworld 3 playing & the dark moody scenes,looked detailed & clear,i saw the same movie on the hx820 & it has very similar approach to darks & blacks with great shadow detail. V. nice tv...keep it up Sony

If you turn down the backlight it will affect the brightness of the colors as well. I.e. light grey becomes dark grey, and dark grey becomes black and so on. I.e. if turned down too low you'll get black crush.

Just turn it down to 0 and watch the black crush. It will be very obvious to you.

That is why you adjust the brightness accordingly, low backlight doesnt instantly mean black crush, you set the backlight to the light output that suits your environment/preference, then use test patterns to set brightness, contrast, colour and sharpness etc.

Aaron

If you compensate a low backlight setting by increasing the brightness setting you'll get white crush instead, which is no better.

You make it sound like it's a no-brainer to turn down the backlight to zero. If that would be the case and there would be no negative side effects, why doesn't the manufacturer have that as the default setting?

I did not say that at all or made no suggestion of backlight at minimum as being best, what i said was -

"you set the backlight to the light output that suits your environment/preference"

If you are going to quote me, actually quote me.

Also brightness controls black intensity not white.

I think you will find manufacturers have bright default settings because, bright and punchy sell to the majority that don't know any better.

I actually came here for owner pictures, not for a disagreement.

Thank you very much, what a looker

Aaron

PS was the hard2beat deliberate?

Thanks again.

Let`s play some rounds of MW3, and we shall see who is hard2beat.

Sorry i am a Gears Of War 3 man.

Can anyone tell me how the 850 stands up against the 929 3D wise?

Thanks.

I appreciate your opinion of 3D on Sony TV's.

The 3D on the GT50 is outstanding, hard to pass out.

Still considering on going with a larger size GT50 since I do a variety of viewing styles in general.