Official Sony HX850 Owner's Thread (46HX850, 55HX850) - Page 30

I had been sitting on the fence post for a while undecided on 46" or 55" and went for
the 850 over the 950. got in while sony had dropped the price $200 about a week and 1/2 ago
and also went for the 5 year warranty they offered ($250.) after reading of some problems some have
had the extension made sense.
I have the 46HX800 and will admit the 3D looks much better on the 55".
it looks to be a good screen so far but I've only had it for a day or so.

Hi all,

Here some images, same as I sent to Sony tech support. Disclaimer: it looks mostly worse in real life, my camera is actually covering for the Sony more than it should (couldn't bother to find a full manual setup on the camera to keep it more real). All pics shot in the evening, had 2 smaller lights on in the room, some flare from these 2 lights can be seen on some shots, ignore that.


First off, some over-whiting examples. These are from a clean reset, changing to Cinema and leaving all else as is. This is worse if I turn off the light sensor, but with light sensor on, the image gets just more bland, same whiting effects can be seen.





Now here is an image I snapped almost by accident. I am almost sure this commercial does not look this way and is supposed to be solid red? (Not 100% sure, there's always this slight chance this is the way the commercial is, too lazy to go back, this one was in my snap roll )



Playing around with all settings as mentioned earlier, this is about 'as good as it gets'. Notice that it doesn't yell 'in your face contrast and excellence'. Anyways, it is still very, very, very bland



Now, to give some perspective, I shot some 'side by side' images of stills (cable and blue ray of Fargo) both on the HX850 and my older XBR2. Needless to say the XBR2 looks way better on all, and interestingly also some additional artifacting / effects I didn't notice before.

ESPN 720p cable shot. Few things to notice; inevitable (purplish right, greenish left) light haze, poor PQ.
HX850:

XBR2:


Here's Ezra Klein on MSNBC, hazy 850 and more clear XBR2 still:
HX850:

XBR2:



Stills from Fox NFL. Notice the green (like the earlier RED on previous pic) seems to bloom to a strong green in the center, while if you look at the (correct) XBR image, the grass is evenly colored (NFL would shame itself if it would allow such color variations on their ~grass~ ) The green on the right side of the HX850 is kinda more close compared to the XBR (and reality) Also note blue blur in Fox logo:
HX850:

XBR2:



Here are stills from a 'Fargo' Blue Ray disc. Watch the hazing off colors of for example the rear wheel, the green hue on the car's underside, the windows, the snow, there is the ladiy's boots, the tail lights, the orange on the ambulance, etc. It's a clear example of where my HX850 is not doing explicitly 'bad', but where the more you look at it, the more you notice things being 'off' color, too white or hazed, etc. It's what I have had bugging me all days since I had this. I watch it, and while it's not terrible, it does not look 'right' a lot of times.
HX850:

XBR2:



Now, one of the most striking stills from cable. I'd buy the XBR car from clean santa, not the bland greenish hazed up car from HX850 santa.
HX850:

XBR2:



I have also made up my mind on the return: It's going back as there are only 2 options: 1) (Most likely) this is a bad specimen, no reason to keep it or spend weeks with Sony doing 'repairs' and 'ordering parts' 2) This is simply how the TV looks in which case I also don't want any of it

Thanks for listening
Cheers

I just purchased the 55HX850 from BBY last night, it has a build date of Mar. 2012, should this be a concern since it is such an early production date for this particular tv?

Hey Marmos ,

Thanks for providing us with your pic`s.

We both have the XBR2 ! , mine is a 40" and was thinking of upgrading to the HX850.

Your XBR2 does look better than the HX850 , I had the same problem ( well almost ) with the XBR929 and LG`s 8600 series.
Had to send both back because my older XBR2 just looked better than the newer models.

It`s not so much that I want 3D ( of course I do ) , but dad needs a new TV to replace an old tube XBR.

Have you tried adjusting the "contrast" on your HX850 ? the color difference can come from many problems or adjustments or a bad component or even a bad solder joint somewhere on the "main-board" ( no adjustment in the world is going to compensate for a cold solder joint ).

So if you had , and I`m sure you have , played around with the adjustments. How long as the HX850 been turned on ? might need some "burn-in time" ?

Anyway , the orange is what I noticed the most and the "fuzzy" quality , there is something not right.

I wish I had a dollar for every bad LED/LCD TV I have seen in my search , I mean it`s crazy !!!!! Can`t anybody build a great 3D - LED/LCD TV

Take care , and lots of luck to you , Happy Holidays and welcome to this forum !

Later

Gary 

PS:

Camera Roll ????
U must have either an iPhone or iPad , have you figured out a way to sync without using iTunes ?

Hey Cwave ,

If your HX850 is great out of the box , then the date will have no bearing what so ever.

Maybe a mid production run is better than a later.

Of course there are so many variables , that either way it`s a roll-of-the-dice !

So if your happy , then great , but I would not be concerned about the date.

Take care , Happy Holidays

Gary 

While watching football, or any sports for that matter, I get pixelation around players when they are running with the crowd in the background, Is there a way to reduce this?

Thanks

I tried a lot of settings, my starting point being calibration settings from cnet, flatpanelshd and people on forums like these. Tried scenes, with and without the eco and dimmer settings, maxing picture, backlight and contrast related settings work to some extent, but the side effects on the colors and are bad, and it mostly results in bad darks with haze and color fading brights. Nothing really works, I think ending up with brightness 30, gamma on min, and nowhere near being close to decent clear pq and colors is kind of the endpoint now. I doubt it's worth the trouble to have a guy come in for a pro calibration as it's too far off and not a matter of tuning it correctly. It's going back to Amazon. I am asking them if they can confirm this one being bad (in which case I'll try my luck with an exchange), or if they judge this one within tolerances or good enough, a refund.

Re 'burn in time', never heard of that, again, I'm not an expert but that sounds like a snopes candidate
Thanks for the welcome. I hope I'm not p-ing people of with being a Debbie downer on this TV. It's a pitty as I have owned various Sony TVs, and including the last XBR, I have nothing but raving reviews on them. Perhaps I'm an old school ccfl guy, lol, I may have to look at 47 full arrays or plasmas perhaps if this is the state of side lit LED? I went to J&R and they had an HX850 on display, and that looked really good, tons and tons better than my specimen, even assuming they crank it up, none of the hazy look and feel as I have.
Nah, panasonic compact camera, I love old school terminology And I am fully PC (Linux/Win) , my significant other has all the apple gadgets.
Cheers

Nevermind, This did the trick - http://www.hometheater.com/content/sony-kdl-55hx850-3d-lcd-hdtv-settings.

Only things I changed to my taste:

Backlight - 6
Color Temp. - warm 1
Motionflow - standard

I thought my tv looked good before, but these settings made it look totally different! Again, these are to MY taste. So, keep the "too bright" and "Inaccurate color" talk to yourselves . There's enough of it in this thread...

Your experiences with the HX850 together with others in this thread are making me rethink my decision to get one.

I have the 46XBR5, which has a killer PQ IMHO. My only reason for wanting to change is to move up to the 55" as long as I can get as good or better PQ along with improved motion handling. The XBR5's native 60Hz CCFL-lit panel (with Motionflow 120) does an acceptable job, but I would expect the 240Hz LED panel of the HX850/929/950 to provide a noticeable improvement.

Three months ago Sony replaced my 4-year-old XBR5 with a refurbished set. The replacement has a brand-new panel in it and came with a 2-year Sony warranty. If you really consider yourself more of a CCFL guy, you could do worse than to look for one of these refurbished sets on the reseller market. Look for model no.'s KDL-46/52XBR4/5. Those four models all have pretty much the same features and the same performance specs.

I've owned nothing but Sony XBR's for the last 20 years. But I'm starting to think that I should hold off making another purchase until Sony (or some other manufacturer) comes out with a more reliable product.

For problems people are having with standard def content versus PQ on older Sony's... how much bigger is your HX850 versus your older set?

While it does seem that Sony could possibly have improved the upscaler, standard def does have its limitations.

sorry for what is happening to you marmos.
when you go from cable box to BR it will probably change the scene mode to scene mode you last used there.
and back again, to what you might try general mode with your cable box.
you may need to reset each mode you have.
my new 55" set looks almost perfect out of the box a few days ago.
like looking through a window at the world with out any adjustments.

Way to bright and what's with the colour? Completely inaccurate ; )

I jest :P

Hey all,

After finally ditching my old 32" CRT TV, and much research, I jumped on the 55HX850. Man, this thing is a beaut even without turning it on. Anyway, I've got one area of concern, maybe I can get some peace of mind. I purchased the TV off of amazon last week and it arrived yesterday. Amazon offered advanced delivery for free, which let me schedule the date and time and gave me a helping had with the setup. Awesome. So the delivery dude brought the TV in, helped me attach the stand, and I worked with him to get it up on my entertainment center. When we powered on the TV for the first time, it came up like a charm, but didn't offer any initial setup. Instead it put me on channel 9 with a whole lot of static. I didn't even think about it until the dude who delivered it said "that's weird". He said he sets up a lot of TV's and most have some sort of initial setup when first powered on.

My question - Does anyone recall if this TV had an initial setup when first powered on? I know I can choose the option from the menu, which I did after the fact. I just want to make sure I'm getting a new TV, like the one I purchased from amazon.com. The TV was shipped from amazon, by amazon (not any of those marketplace companies).

I've made sure the serial number on the box and the TV match. Also mfg date is September, which was just a couple-few months ago.

Thanks guys, I look forward to enjoying this piece of art.
Zach

yes that does sound weird. although if you have absolutely no problems with the tv other than that... i would suggest keeping it and not making a fuss. with the panel lottery going on with tvs now I would be concerned about getting a bad tv as a replacment. I hope you enjoy ur new set. I am jealous!

I had to do an initial setup on my 55HX850, around 18 steps in total. Does sound a little suspicious but if it looks ok and you have no faults it's up to you.

Aaron

My 46HX850 started out on a TV station with static, then a little while later, it went to a screen saying the TV had to do a 40 second initialization, which it did. Then it took me through an initial setup. You may be able to view power on hours by following this procedure:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1025939/sony-w4100-series-thread/2760#post_18515927

Mine was missing the remote batteries and all documentation except the one page sheet with stand assembly instructions. Sony is of course sending me the missing pack. If your TV is satisfactory, I sure wouldn't exchange it just because it didn't go through the setup. Reset the TV and be happy. If you're still worried, call Sony and verify the warranty is good for your serial number.

yes on the initial set up with my 55hx, it came right up on turning it on, maybe 30 seconds or so.
I how ever bought mine from sony, they had a free set up. even thought I waited for about 1 week delivery from Ca. to the local installer.
two people showed up installed the stand for me. I also went for the 5 year sony extended warranty.
the makers date of mine is Oct 12....one week old this coming tuesday.

I had an epiphany this morning lol. I have decided to try and sell my Samsung D6000 I got last year and pull the trigger on this set. After some debate I feel the step up from the HX750 with the better blacks and monolithic design are worth it. If I can get 700 out of my Samsung on craigslist and this HX850 drops again like it did around thanksgiving I will definitely jump on it. I was considering the Samsung ES7100 but it just doesnt seem to pack the punch like HX850.

Now... where to buy? Amazon? Sears? Wal-Mart? Wal-Mart has a generous return policy if something went wrong but they usually dont adjust their prices all the time to match amazon or sears. Does amazon charge sales tax on TVs. Im an amazon prime member and would receive free shipping.

No experience with Wal-mart, I can only vouch for Amazon. The free shipping is great and their return policy is very easy (at least in my experience), I have sent various things back this holiday (including my Hx850 which is going back "no questions asked' for a pending replacement), I have no idea how wildly you have to start returning items before they even start raising an eyebrow.

I noticed that amazon does not offer the HX850 directly from them?

Amazon usually does that when they run out of their own local stock. Usually if you wait a few days they offer it directly again when they get new stock.

They do, but I think they ran out of stock? My return for my HX850 is on hold for an exchange (I am still unsure, may change it to refund) as the rep said they're not shipping it currently, no idea if that is a deliberate choice or circumstances. You may pick up my return in a days perhaps, lol

At the same time, all this jostling (and realizing how relatively strong my older XB2 CCFL still is) have made me rethink purchasing a new edge lit TV as a whole. I am tempted to see what's moving on the OLED front, OLED is definately the way of the future. My only (seriously) reason to replace the good old XBR is beause of the lack of internet options (Skype, streaming movies, DLNA) but those came be overcome for less than $100, I may just watch my XBR2 until the OLED thing launches. If it is THAT good, I don't mind forking out a K more on it.

Also, Sony added $150 to the price (which all shops must follow)

OLED is definitely the advertising buzz word of the future.

I doubt it'll be a useful technology that you'd really want for quite some time. They've been tinkering with it for many many years and still can't get them right.
New technology is a good way to improve profit margin. It's not necessarily an indication of quality.
Don't get me wrong, there will no doubt be some beautiful looking OLED TVs on show room floors, but be prepared to repair or replace early and often.

I agree on the 'not useful; partially in that they obviously are struggling with production. What I read from all news is that the biggest challenge is reliable production methods, they may have some horrible rate of 9 in 10 production faults per display? (which imho is the only reason for the delays and immense price more so even than reliabillity?). That said, OLED does offer the best of plasma and LED, the technology (on smaller screens) is proven. Which also makes me scratch my head on why they would not aim first for more modest sizes like 42" / 46"? The mind boggles. Especially in the perspective of $25K (what I would regard 'niche') 4K screens, I am curious in why OLED has quited down so much.

I think (if I read the current OLED signs right), 'reasonably' price OLED (which I would consider $3K-$4K) may be around somwhere say 2014? Sony and Panasonic are vowing to make < 10K OLED TVs, LG and Samsung are still very much going for OLED. It might be like some other technologies we have seen accelerate all of a sudden faster than anybody expected such as DVDs adn blue ray, digital sales, online shopping looking to accelerate fast, etc.

With all of the above in mind, I am considering 'bridging' that gap. A reasonably priced Full Array Smart TV (no 3D required for me, I find 3D as it is gadgettery). I think the industry as a whole is too much committed to side lit LEDs that you'll find many of those, but even if you go to current CNET reviews and opinions, other than plasma, side lit LED with local dimming is not beating full array with local dimming and most times below. If Sony would make a 46" XBR-HX, I would buy it today, blindfolded and handcuffed and all that.

I went with Sony online or phone it in. they had a company they contract with come to my house install it and
connect it to one thing. 5 year warranty was $250 more at their site.
every place I went to to see if it might be on sale, every salesman told me it is sony that sets the price.
so it will be the same everywhere. but I think sears had a refurbished set at $150 less on their web site.
PS sony had free shipping and at the time free installation. so I did pay a sales tax but it is a new set that will
be serviced by a sony authorized repair person if I ever have a problem, shipping free.
anything cheaper might just be a copy or bootleg.
think about it.
I know I fell better for it.

a wall mounting might be extra, if they install it.

I don't want to get off topic with OLED, and I am definitely not an expert. I'm just not sure they ever solved the colors-aging-at-different-rates issue and just Google "OLED Mura Effect" and you'll see why you probably wouldn't want to invest even $3-4k in one of these for a while.

OLED will no doubt eventually become common, but unless you are an early adopter looking for braggin' rights, 5 years is probably a more likely time frame.

Buy an HX850 now... or wait a few more months and see what the spring brings from Sony.

Zberg -

Mine as well had an initial setup. I purchased mine thru amazon also. I am curious, did the equipment (remote, stand, etc.) come with plastic that you had to take off?
The reason why I ask is because I had two tvs that had SEPT manufacture date that ended up with one dead pixel in the middle. I ended up returning both of those sets.
I would not think you would have gotten mine, mainly because I said it was a defect when I returned it in exchange for a replacement, and that amazon has warehouse sales for used units.

I think I am going to get this set. Hopefully the new year will see the price drop again. Also trying to sell my current set right now. Will most likely still jump on the hx850 either way. I may take as low as 600 for my 55 samsung just to put a dent in the high price tag.

I actually contacted Amazon about this after confirming that there should be an initial setup. They didn't flat out tell me that it was used, but they did say that they'd either replace it or give me a 10% refund. Seems a little strange.. after more observation I found a noticeable scratch in the upper right of the screen and a dent in the back of the TV. Leaning more towards a replacement now. With such a large cost I want this bad boy pristine. Now I've just got to hope that I don't get a defective panel!
Edited by ZBerg - 12/4/12 at 7:51am