Official Sony HX850 Owner's Thread (46HX850, 55HX850) - Page 8

There was another update yesterday! Thankfully, no random reboots

Hi guys!

I'm a half happy 55HX850 (EU) owner. Half happy because I found vertical banding on my TV. It's really annoing and distraction thing. You can clearly see backligh issues when the background has solid color and camera makes a panning movement - eg. football, other sports and some movie scenes. Besides that TV displays crisp and great picture quality. Could you check your TV backlight and post pictures. My TV gray backlight looks like this:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/948496/avs-hd-709-blu-ray-mp4-calibration - mp4 - 11 Step Grayscale.
10% gray, led dydamic control off, backlight max - http://zapodaj.net/acd0e48651d68.jpg.html and http://zapodaj.net/0bf1dd6482a8a.jpg.html
10% gray, led dynamic control on, backlight 5 - http://zapodaj.net/c4273a0b7e9ad.jpg.html
20% gray, led dydamic control off, backlight max - http://zapodaj.net/052bd2baf1546.jpg.html

Has anyone noticed that after a software update on the HX850 that the date and time gets reset? It happened to me yesterday for the second time and I think it was related to the software update.

I too have vertical banding that is most noticeable in sports like golf, clay court tennis, baseball, soccer etc. I did not know that its related to backlight issues. Why don't you exchange it?

hiii frnds plz help me

seriously tell me which tv is good for 2d picture
plz help me lg 47lm6700
47lm7600
sony hx850...
which one is good tv.....
thanks in advance

Has anyone noticed that after a software update on the HX850 that the date and time gets reset?

Yeah that's annoying. I can't believe something connected to the internet has no idea what time it is...

As for Geminator, that looks terrible! I am not sure if mine is that bad, but I will try those tests this weekend. Mine is not very noticeable; but I prefer a bright picture. Is Light Sensor off? Light sensor is the devil. I turn off everything in the ECO menu, as well as the Light Limiter thing in Advanced Picture Settings. I like using Scene General Standard, Backlight 6, Dynamic LED Standard. It's bright but not too bright, but if turn off Dynamic LED, the flashlighting/clouding is significant.

I'll be getting my 55HX850 in a couple of weeks in exchange for my 55HX800 in which I got in exchange for my 50A2000(green tint). I'm starting to feel like I'm leasing Sony TV's instead of buying them. Hoping I don't have the issue you have with the reflection. Would it help to keep a light on in the room, maybe a light that is on the side of or slightly behind the TV?

AZTONY- I use only one light in the corner behind the TV. The windows to the side do not cause any glare problems, but I imagine a light or window behind me would. But that is true of any TV, really. Louky is correct- in a dark room with the TV as the only light source, you can see yourself. Maybe turning down the backlight would help. Personally, I never watch TV this way. It hurts my brain.

Ouch, that doesn't look good. My set has pretty severe vertical banding and 3 horizontal bands. For this reason it is going back, its a great tv but i can't be doing playing the lottery. Also has slight clouding.

It's a shame because certain content looks stunning, but over in the Uk (where i bought my set) others are having similar issues, so it just doesn't seem worth exchanging to get a set that's the same.

Aaron

Well I didn't exchange it because I've checked few other 55HX850 models in stores and all have worse (both vertical and horizontal issues) or only a little bit better backlight. The camera pictures exaggerate the flaws, because shutter was opened for 2-3 seconds. In real time backlight looks better, and from house members only I can see the vertical banding But I can't say that it isn't noticable, specific movie enviroments occour the vertical banding defect. I can live with it or try to exchange for plasma eg. ST50 or VT50 with no backlight problems like almost all LCD LED TVs. But I've liked this TV, colors are beautiful and vivid, contrast is great, blacks are great. My model haven't got many clouding issues noticable in day and night use. So I think I'll stick to this TV until OLED comes out in reasonable prices.
Edited by geminatores - 6/29/12 at 4:34am

Hi all, just got the 46HX850 and it's still in the box. I have 55HX929 so would expect this one has similar quality. I got this one from Sony for the 55A2000 that they screwed up with. Paid $565. I need to mount it this weekend. Any suggestion?

btw, anyone in Houston area want to buy my old 55A2000 for cheap? I still have 6 month warranty left on the TV (bought it in 2007). The TV set is still perfect but took the opportunity to upgrade to LCD

I too went from a 50A2000 to an EX720 to now an HX850. The 720 had much worse banding issues. It even had a vertical stripe from top to bottom that was slightly discolored, but only visible against a light gray or blue background, so I could live with it. This HX850 is so much better that I cannot complain. Some little flaws are to be expected. However, the banding never really catches my eyes like it did on the 720. Like I said, I think this is because the TV is so much brighter and clearer. The 720 had kind of a screen door/smudgy window effect not unlike the SXRD. This HX850 is so clear it's like a window to another world.

I most know from playing Forza 4 on Xbox. On my 720, you could see dark streaks in the blue sky when the camera panned as you took a turn. It was so bad it would pull my eyes off the vanishing point of the track (I'm a practiced vidgame racer :P). With the HX850 however, I never see this flaw.

The one suggestion I can make is buy the mount from monoprice.com and not from a retail store, but you probably already know that being that you're on AVS.

Question on your exchange: Just wondering how did you exchange the 55A2000 if it's still perfect? I thought you had to have a problem with the OB (green tint, blue blob, etc) to do an exchange.

I changed the TV color settings to make it look green and took the picture with my very old cell phone (I have Canon 7D but didn't want it to look so clear). I didn't do any post processing since it was good enough. I didn't even know about the program until I went back here a few weeks ago. I don't know what I am going to do with the 55A2000. If I can't sell it, I might have to sell the HX850 I had a problem with the OB (the color was so bad) once about 15 months ago but Sony sent someone over and replaced it with a brand new OB. Once it's replaced, it was back to original color. Amazing.

btw, just ordered the "Cheetah Mounts APTMM2B" from Amazon. very good review. hopefully have it here early next week.

Hmm, okay. Glad it worked for you. I think you should be able to sell it on CL. Probably won't get more then a few hundred bucks for it since it is six years old. Don't you think you should maybe have waited on ordering the mounts until you were sure you could keep the TV? Just a thought.

I picked up a 46 inch hx850 this week (Australia), Sony are running a google tv redemption promotion on this model. It's a great tv but I'm having some 'flash lighting' only on the bottom left and right hand side corners on dark scenes- mostly when the screen goes black or some other dark colour. Ive ignored it for a while but now it's really starting to bother me. Is there any way to fix this? I've heard loosening screws might help. It's not a major issue but an annoying one considering the price I paid for this tv.

For all interested I've figured out a fix for this. It's not a 100% but it's much better than previous. If you put dynamic edge lighting on standard, it substantially reduces the flashlighting effect in the bottom corners. On most dark scenes now it's almost negligible. I figure it's the local dimming.

What picture mode/scene are you using for LED Dynamic Control not to be on Standard to start with? Game mode?

I personally use Cinema mode and these settings.

Scene: Cinema
Backlight:3
Contrast: 89
Brightness: 49
Color: 49
Hue: 0
Color temperature: Warm 2
Sharpness 40
Noise reduction :Off
Dot noise reduction: Off
Reality Creation: Off
Smooth gradation: Low
Motionflow: Off/Clear (personal choice)
Film mode : Auto 1
Black corrector : Off
Adv. Contrast Enhancer: Off
Gamma: Default
LED Dynamic Control: Standard
Auto Light Limiter: Off
Clear White: Off
Live Color: Off
Detail Enhancer: Off
Edge enhancer: Off
R Gain: -2
G Gain: 0
B Gain: -8
R Bias: 0
G Bias: 0
B Bias: 0
Eco: Off

Aaron

Going to eat my own words.

Going to try a replacement, i just have to know if i can get better, so worth a shot.

The banding rarely shows but the content it does it looks pretty messy. Also have slight clouding upper right and lower left, this shows on certain scenes where the zones are lit so even in certain dark scenes.

Curiosity killed the cat as they say, but without trying i wont know.

Aaron

I had calibrated it according to the Flatpanels HD review (http://flatpanelshd.com/review.php?subaction=showfull&id=1336720019). For some reason I had dynamic LED off. But yeah definitely makes a difference but does not eliminate the problem completely but I'm much happier now.

I'm still hunting around for the best cinema calibration. I'm new to the 'AV' world so to speak and just learning how to get the most out of my equipment. This is my second Sony LCD, and doesn't disappoint it terms of picture quality.

Definitely set Dynamic LED to Standard for everything! Otherwise the flashlighting/clouding is terrible. I have actually been using Dynamic LED on Low lately, because I am starting to notice the auto-adjust and I HATE that. :P The flashlighting is not TOTALLY gone, but overall picture consistency seems better. Black levels are definitely much better on Standard.

This is what I have been using lately. I notice some shimmering on the grass in Skyrim, so I tried putting on Game Mode or turning XReality to Manual and Resolution to Minimum, but this is a little blurry for my taste. As a gamer, I like things sharp, bright, and pixely. This is my standard set-up:

Scene: General-Standard
Backlight:6
Contrast: MAX
Brightness: 50
Color: 52
Hue: 0
Color temperature: Neutral
Sharpness 50
Noise reduction : Auto
Dot noise reduction: Auto
Reality Creation: Auto
Smooth gradation: Low
Motionflow: Standard (Clear is good too, but I up the backlight to MAX to compensate)
Film mode : Off (Auto 1 gives soap opera dizzy effect; auto 2 doesn't seem to do anything)
Black corrector : Off
Adv. Contrast Enhancer: Off
Gamma: Default
LED Dynamic Control: Standard
Auto Light Limiter: Off
Clear White: Off
Live Color: Off
Detail Enhancer: Off
Edge enhancer: Off
R Gain: 0
G Gain: 0
B Gain: 0
R Bias: 0
G Bias: 0
B Bias: 0
Eco: Off

I'll try these settings for some gaming. I tried Gran Turismo 5 in 3D last night and it was actually better than anticipated. I only get flashlighting in the bottom left and right corners without dynamic on. I didnt notice it elsewhere.

Also try Scene: Game: Original with Backlight 5, Picture MAX, Color/Bright 50, everything OFF except Dynamic LED to see the "raw" picture. This should be the most lag-free experience, but when I switch between General: Standard and Game: Original, I just love the XReality picture too much. I do not notice a difference in lag but there must be a little; turning Xreality engine ON causes the audio to resync so it must affect display speed.

For me, flashlighting is terrible with Dyanmic LED OFF. A black screen looks like an inverted Rorschach test. :P Setting it to LOW makes the screen brighter and more uniform, but there is very slight backlight bleed in the corners. This is only visible on black screens. Dynamic LED Standard removes all traces of backlight bleed, but at the cost of overall picture brightness. However, I am using fairly high backlight settings (5/6, all ECO off), and turning Power Saver or Light Sensor on does reduce the flashlights significantly, also at the cost of brightness. Something I tried tonight with good results: Motionflow Clear, Backlight MAX, Dynamic LED LOW. Picture is super bright and clear without visible backlight bleed.

I really would like to know exactly what each Motionflow setting does, and each Cinemotion setting too.

Oh and screw those FlatPanels calibration settings- they are basically the same as Game: Original. Then he uses Live Color and Clear White to fix the muddiness of Warm2 when he could just use Neutral.

Hi everyone i just bought Sony Bravia HX850 and i think it is one of the best tvs available right now..

My picture setting:-

Scene GENERAL
Backlight 3
Picture 90
Brightness 30
Color 50
Hue O
ColorTemp WARM2
Sharpness 50
Noise Red OFF
MPEG Noise OFF
Dot Noise OFF
Reality Crea OFF
Video Area OFF
Resolution OFF
Noise Filt OFF
Smooth Grad OFF
Motionflow CLEAR
Cinema Mode AUTO 1
Black Corrector OFF
Adv. Contrast LOW
Gamma DEFAULT
LED Dynamic STANDARD
Auto Light Limiter OFF
Clear White OFF
Live Color LOW
White Balance R GAIN: 0
G GAIN: 0
B GAIN: 0
R BIAS: 0
G BIAS: 0
B BIAS: 0
Detail Enhancer OFF
Egde Enhancer OFF
Skin Naturalizer OFF
I/P Conversion QUALITY

Eco OFF

Wide Mode FULL
Auto Wide OFF
4:3 Default OFF
Auto Display Area OFF
Display Area FULL PIXEL
Screen Position N/A
Vertical Size N/A

Any suggestions for better picture let me know. I used THX Optimizer. I am confused whether to switch on noise reduction, mpeg noise reduction, dot noise reduction, reality creation, video area detection, smooth gradation, black corrector, auto light limiter, clear white, digital enhancer, edge enhancer and skin naturalizer. Should i switch on auto wide, 4:3 default and auto display area.

Thank you.

Can anyone that owns an HX850 comment on how reflective it is? I'm choosing between this and an HX750 from Sony's replacement program for a defective LCD rear projection. There will be several windows directly in front of the set so I'm thinking of getting the 750 as it's supposed to have a matte screen but I would rather buy the 850 if the reflections aren't too bad as it's not that much more. This is not an issue with my current set (other than it not being bright enough).

I tried these settings on my test blu ray ( Ghost in the Shell 2.0- lots of black scenes) and it eliminates my flashlighting altogether. I'm very happy with them.

If glare is a problem then this tv might not suit you. It's a gorilla glass panel, which is not highly reflective but still with a bunch of windows in front of the set during the day this might be a problem. That said I have this tv in a room that's on the roof of an apartment building that's mostly glass but no light comes in directly against the tv. It's not a problem in that scenario.

Glad they helped, they work for my set.

Aaron